Audio Video News

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Audio Video News
Kid Vid and the Mini-DVD
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Feb 06, 2005  |  0 comments
At a time when the world is pondering the potential of 50 GB of storage on a high-definition Blu-ray disc (around 40 GB for the HD DVD format), marketing for a prerecorded 8 cm (approximately 3 inches) standard-definition Mini-DVD format is about to be unleashed. Although playable on standard DVD players, movies and other video content on Mini-DVDs are really meant to be viewed on special hand-held Mini-DVD players.
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Audio Video News
The Home Theater Amplifier and the Atkins Diet
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Feb 05, 2005  |  0 comments
It's normal for a company making amplifiers to boast about how much power, how many channels, and the massive size of some of the internal components (such as power supplies and heat sinks). Rotel's attitude toward their new RMB-1077 multichannel amplifier, therefore, is rather unique.
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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Feb 04, 2005  |  0 comments
Integra
Universal players are becoming more and more appealing to consumers, and Integra's new DPS-10.5 universal player ($2,500) is a good example of why. This THX Ultra–certified player is compatible with nearly every format in use, including DVD-Audio and SACD. It sports an HDMI output to pass video in the digital domain, plus two iLink ports to allow the digital transfer of high-resolution audio signals. The O-Plus FlexScale circuit upsamples video to customizable formats, including 720p and 1080i. A full set of 7.1-channel analog audio outputs and two optical and two coaxial digital audio outputs are also included.
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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Feb 04, 2005  |  0 comments
DVD: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella—Image Entertainment
Audio: 3
Video: 3
Extras: 4
Originally devised as a Broadway-caliber musical for CBS in 1957, Cinderella is making its very first appearance on home video since it aired live on the network to a record-breaking audience.
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Audio Video News
Super Bowl XXXIX in HD
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 31, 2005  |  0 comments

On Sunday, February 6, 2005, the 39th annual pigskin pig-out known as the Super Bowl is scheduled to kick off, with the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots in Jacksonville, FL. The game has become one of the biggest reasons that people buy an HDTV (and one of the biggest selling points for retailers), and those who have taken the plunge will not be disappointed—as long as they can receive the HD signal. This year, the Super Bowl will be broadcast in 720p on the Fox network via terrestrial and cable channels. DirecTV will also carry the high-def signal, but only in markets where the Fox HD station is owned and operated by Fox (for example, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia, but not San Francisco or Miami).

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Audio Video News
DirecTV Moves to MPEG-4
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 30, 2005  |  0 comments

One of the more interesting announcements at CES this year was from DirecTV, who revealed that they would be launching four next-generation satellites by 2007 in order to carry more than 1500 local HDTV channels and 150 national HD channels. The first two of these satellites, dubbed Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2, are scheduled to be sent aloft early in the second quarter of 2005, and they will transmit local HD channels to 12 US markets (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington DC, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, and Tampa) by mid-year.

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Audio Video News
Cinram to Offer Hybrid Discs
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 24, 2005  |  0 comments

In a move that brings to mind the multi compatibility of hybrid SACD and DualDisc, media manufacturer <A href="http://www.cinram.com">Cinram</A> has introduced a hybrid disc format called HD/DVD 9. The new format will include single-layer HD DVD-ROM (15GB) on one side and dual-layer DVD 9 (8.5GB) on the other side. This will allow studios to release titles on one disc that is compatible with current DVD players and the upcoming HD DVD players. Retailers will not be hampered by having to carry separate DVD and HD DVD inventories. And consumers can enjoy movies in their DVD players now while waiting to reap the benefits of high-def playback when they upgrade to HD DVD without having to buy the titles again. (Whether or not the studios will be uncharacteristically generous enough to use the hybrid format in this manner remains to be seen.)

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Audio Video News
FCC Chief Steps Down
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 24, 2005  |  0 comments

Last Friday, Michael Powell announced that he will resign as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission after four years of often-controversial leadership. Son of outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the FCC chief yanked more than a few chains with his policies and attitudes toward the media under his jurisdiction.

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Audio Video News
Atlantic Technology's System 4200e - New Woofer, New Look
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jan 24, 2005  |  0 comments
Not content to rest on their laurels (laurels can be so uncomfortable at times), Atlantic Technology has upgraded their well-regarded System 4200 THX Select home theater speaker system by adding an "e" to the model number. Well, in all honesty, Atlantic Technology has done more than simply reprint brochures with the new nomenclature. (Although it is a great, money-saving idea...) The new improvements include permanently attached finishing panels on the front- and center-channel speakers and a couple of improvements to the system's subwoofer.
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Audio Video News
VOOM and Gloom
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jan 24, 2005  |  0 comments
Cablevision's recent announcement of the pending sale of the VOOM satellite (along with other assets related to VOOM) to Echostar Communications Corp. (DISH Network) should cause a twinge of sadness in the hearts of all HDTV lovers. Whether you admired VOOM's pluck in attempting to go against the two established satellite services (DISH Network and DIRECTV) or thought that Cablevison Chairman Charles Dolan must have been smoking something beyond cigars when he came up with the idea for an HD-centric satellite service, the virtually certain discontinuation of VOOM (Echostar will most likely use the satellite to expand its own channel offerings) is no happy event. During its brief existence, VOOM brought more high-definition content into the homes of its approximately 26,000 subscribers than all other providers put together (cable, satellite, and over-the-air terrestrial broadcast). As many a pair of eyeballs with HDTVs sitting in front of them know, HD content is an addiction that continually demands to be satisfied. Where, oh where, will we now go to get our daily HD fix?
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Audio Video News
Winter Game Roundup
Chris Chiarella  |  Jan 24, 2005  |  0 comments
One of the most realistic World War II videogames ever created, Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Activision) presents an often frantic, unsettling true-to-life series of exploits on the frontlines at the peak of WWII. We are among half a dozen soldiers on Russian, British, and American campaigns that take us to Russia, North Africa, and Germany on both vehicle- and infantry-based missions. T-rated for its graphic imagery, the story unfolds movie-style with a musical score by The Incredibles’s Michael Giacchino; single player or up to 16 online. The PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions offer Dolby Pro-Logic II audio while GameCube and Xbox deliver progressive scan video, and Xbox alone packs Dolby Digital 5.1-channel sound.
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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Jan 17, 2005  |  0 comments
Conextion Systems
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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Jan 17, 2005  |  0 comments
DVD: Tanner '88—Criterion and Tanner on Tanner—Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
Audio: 3
Video: 2
Extras: 4
If last year's contentious presidential race wasn't enough to demonstrate how ridiculous politics can be, Tanner 88 and Tanner on Tanner should drive the point home.
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Audio Video News
Video Dreams
John J. Gannon  |  Jan 16, 2005  |  0 comments

"Rain, rain go away" was my mantra on the trek down to the annual audio-video Mecca; the forecasters were warning that the winter desert was set to deliver wet weather for the Consumer Electronic Show. I never thought my prayers would be answered so obliquely&mdash;Las Vegas enjoyed more than a few moments of <I>snow</I> on Friday of the convention. You could tell those who had never seen flurries of the chilly white stuff before: they wandered comically in circles with w-i-d-e eyes and slack jaws.

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Audio Video News
High-End Audio Makes the CES Scene
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 16, 2005  |  0 comments

According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the organization that runs the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), 140,000 people attended this year’s annual confab in Las Vegas, NV. In past years, attendance has typically hovered around 100,000. But with the shrinkage of the normally even larger computer show, COMDEX, in 2003, followed by its cancellation this past November, the Intels, IBMs, Apples, Hewlett Packards, and other assorted bits-and-bytes vendors, and their customers, descended on CES with a vengeance.

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