Ultimate AV Staff

Sharp continues to explore the frontier of what's possible in high-definition LCDs. The company recently announced a new flagship Aquos model, the 45" widescreen LC-45GX6U. The unit is based on Sharp's "next-generation" liquid crystal display panels.

New York, NY—The Home Entertainment 2004 Show, scheduled to take place on November 4-7, 2004 at the Westin-St. Francis Hotel, has been cancelled due to the hotel labor issue in San Francisco.

Texas Instruments continues to push the envelope of projector technology, and high-end manufacturers continue to adopt TI devices into ever-better projectors. TI's latest Digital Light Processing (DLP) devices are known as "DarkChips" for their improved contrast, a result of narrower gaps between mirror elements, smaller mirror hinges, higher reflectivity, and in a seeming paradox, better light absorption thanks to a new coating. DarkChips are said to offer better color uniformity and much lower dithering effects than their predecessors.

<A HREF="http://www.dolby.com">Dolby Laboratories</A>'s audio technologies have been selected as mandatory formats for both High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD) and Blu-ray Disc, according to a recent announcement. The DVD Forum chose Dolby Digital Plus and MLP Lossless as mandatory audio formats for HD DVD; while the Blu-ray Disc Association announced that Dolby Digital would be a mandatory technology on its new format, the Blu-ray Disc. Both formats are designed to deliver high-definition picture quality.