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Audio Video News
Humax's Twelve Days of TiVo
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 13, 2004  |  0 comments
If you're like my son, no matter how big the hard drive is in your DVR it's not big enough. Humax USA announced today the nationwide availability of the T2500, the first TiVo Series2 DVR with a whopping 300 hours of recording capability. (Although it doesn't record HD, that's still over 12 days of continuous couch-potato bliss.) It'll cost you $699 for that kind of storage capacity; but when you compare it with what it would cost to 300 hours of Super Bowl commercial air time over the next 50 years, it's a steal. Since the T2500 (and the 80-hour T800) is a TiVo Series2 unit, subscribing owners can use TiVo's new Home Media features and online scheduling as part of TiVo's standard $12.95/month service package. The new features let you schedule recordings from any internet connection and move content between two or more TiVo Series2 DVRs in your home. You can also listen to music or view photos stored on your PC if you're so networkingly inclined. Now Humax just needs to release an HD DVR, and my son won't ever have to leave the couch.
Audio Video News
Music Gets Surrounded by Award
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 13, 2004  |  0 comments
Although it's too late to become eligible to submit a surround sound music release for the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards in February 2005 if you're not already a member of the Recording Academy, fans of surround sound music will have a new award category - Best Surround Sound Album - to heatedly discuss around the office water cooler. While it's certainly not as exciting as Best Hawaiian Music Album, another new category to make its debut in 2005, it's good to see multichannel music getting more professional respect and attention. All genres of music for commercial releases on DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, and SACD with an original mix of four or more channels are eligible. We'll know multichannel music has finally come into its own when a release wins both the Best Surround Sound and Best Hawaiian Music Album awards. Could a surround remix of Zamfir's (Master of the Pan Flute) Greatest Hits be next?
Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Jul 12, 2004  |  0 comments
V, Inc.
V, Inc.'s Bravo D2 DVD player is an update of the company's award-winning Bravo D1. The D2 has a DVI output that transfers a DVD's digital video signal straight to your display, bypassing analog conversion and the resulting digital-to-analog conversion artifacts. Through both the DVI and component video outputs, the unit's scaler can convert the signal to 480p, 720p, or 1080i (except in the case of Macrovision-protected DVDs). Playback options include Picture Zoom 1 and 2, MPEG-4, JPEG, DVD-R/+R, CD, CD-R/-RW, and Kodak Picture CD. The Bravo D2 is available in a titanium-silver finish for $250.
V, Inc.
(714) 668-0588
www.vinc.com
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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Jul 12, 2004  |  0 comments
DVD: Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London—MGM/UA
Audio: 4
Video: 4
Extras: 2
If your kids are fans of the first Cody Banks movie, do yourselves a favor and just keep popping that puppy into the player. Steer clear of this strained and largely humorless sequel. What's the problem? Cody 2 has too much "spy" and not enough "kids." CIA operative Banks, now 16, is acting like a grown-up secret agent, which robs this film of the charm that Frankie Muniz displayed while learning the ropes in the first movie. There's zero chemistry between him and his female counterpart/love interest, Hannah Spearritt; and all the dads out there would probably agree that we'd rather watch statuesque Angie Harmon play Banks' "handler" than pudgy Anthony Anderson (even though Anderson tries to be funnier).
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Audio Video News
Broadcast Flag Countdown
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 12, 2004  |  0 comments

Consumers excited over the prospect of HDTV's increased clarity and audio quality may not realize that those are precisely the characteristics that terrify the motion picture industry. Fearful that high-definition broadcasts of its films might lead to an increase in video piracy, Hollywood has pressured the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A>, which has issued a proposal requiring future digital television (DTV) tuners to include digital rights management (DRM) technologies. As of July 1, 2005, all HDTV receivers must watch for a broadcast flag (a marker embedded in program material by copyright holders). This will make it impossible for consumers to time-shift or archive broadcast material (or share it on a home network, unless the router also has DRM technology).

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Audio Video News
MPAA Attacks Digital Piracy
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 12, 2004  |  0 comments

The <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.com">Motion Picture Association of America</A> has issued a strident warning that "a growing global epidemic" of Internet movie piracy is harming the motion picture industry. Citing a survey of 3600 Internet users in 8 countries conducted by online research company <A HREF="http://otx2.otxresearch.com">OTX</A>, the MPAA reported that one in four Internet users (24%) has downloaded a movie and that 17% of those who had done soreported lowered attendance of theatrical films or purchases of licensed DVDs or videotapes.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Jul 12, 2004  |  0 comments

Steven Stone reviews the <A HREF="/dvdplayers/604teac">TEAC Esoteric DV-50 universal disc player</A>, noting that this product "continues the TEAC tradition of making gear that not only weighs a lot, but also promises to deliver the ultimate in performance and durability."

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Audio Video News
Creative Slims Down
Chris Chiarella  |  Jul 08, 2004  |  0 comments
With an elegance too-rarely found in the portable MP3 realm, the Creative MuVo Slim ($200) packs 256 megabytes of digital music into a unit barely larger than a credit card and weighing just over an ounce, unobtrusive even in a shirt pocket. There's a built-in FM tuner that can even record music off-air (also a voice recorder with built-in microphone) and a five-band custom equalizer in addition to Jazz, Rock, Pop and Classical presets. MuVo Slim is a mass storage device so it does not require drivers, just the familiar drag-and-drop between PC and player with a USB 1.1/2.0 connection that also recharges the removable, replaceable lithium ion battery, good for well over ten hours.
Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Jul 05, 2004  |  0 comments
Thiel ViewPoint
Here's the solution for all of you flat-screen lovers out there who don't know what to do about the accompanying loudspeakers. Thiel's ViewPoint loudspeaker is designed to integrate with your wall-mounted flat panel. The ViewPoint combines a coaxial and coplanar driver with a 90-degree radiation pattern for a sound that covers the room. The loudspeaker features a 6.5-inch woofer and the same 1-inch tweeter that Thiel uses in their flagship CS7.2. The ViewPoint measures 8 inches wide by 5 deep with a built-to-order height. It sells for $1,990 and weighs 18 pounds.
Thiel
(859) 254-9427
www.thielaudio.com
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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Jul 05, 2004  |  0 comments
DVD: National Lampoon's Senior Trip—New Line
Video: 2
Audio: 2
Extras: 1
The longest road trip you've ever taken won't feel so bad after sitting through this 90-minute "high schoolers-hit-the-road" piece of dreck. The jokes aren't funny, every character is an overdrawn cliché, and there's absolutely no one to hold our interest, let alone root for.
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Audio Video News
CEA Celebrates "Plug-and-Play"
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Jul 05, 2004  |  0 comments

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is celebrating the official July 1 launch of the national "plug-and-play" digital cable standard, one that will deliver digital and high-definition television (HDTV) via cable for the first time without the need for a cable set-top box.

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Audio Video News
Valenti Departing MPAA
Barry Willis  |  Jul 05, 2004  |  0 comments

Jack Valenti has officially announced the end of his tenure as president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The silver-haired 82-year-old pitchman carved his niche in entertainment industry history as the originator of the movie rating system. He also fought hard against the VCR, a device he likened to "the Boston Strangler." In recent years, Valenti concentrated on a campaign against piracy&mdash;not only the wholesale industrial variety, but against small scale copying by movie fans for personal use, an effort that has not endeared him to the civil libertarian element among home entertainment enthusiasts.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Jul 05, 2004  |  0 comments

Peter Putman reviews the <A HREF="/directviewandptvtelevisions/604mits">Mitsubishi PD-5030 & HD-5000 plasma monitor & HDTV receiver controller</A>, noting that this product "represents the company's long-awaited step into flat-panel-TVs."

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Audio Video News
Matsushita Hi-def DVD Recorders
Barry Willis  |  Jul 05, 2004  |  0 comments

Score one for Matsushita Electric Industrial Company. On July 1, Panasonic's parent organization became the first manufacturer to deliver a large-capacity high-definition DVD recorder&mdash;just in time for the Athens Olympic Games next month.

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Audio Video News
New Systems From Bose
Chris Chiarella  |  Jul 01, 2004  |  0 comments
Bose was nice enough to show me their new Lifestyle 38 ($2,999) and 48 ($3,999) home entertainment systems recently, with the nifty uMusic intelligent playback system: Music can be ripped from CD and stored on an internal hard drive (capacity unspecified at press time), but even without the benefit of an Internet connection all songs are automatically tagged with extensive track information, from a vast onboard database. In addition to helping organize and access your tunes as never before, this data can be used to create "smart" playlists automatically, with variety yet a related sound, nimbly transitioning from Steely Dan to Michael McDonald (former Dan member) to The Doobie Brothers (McDonald's subsequent group), as one mellow example.

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