Audio Video News

With two days completed and two days to go, Home Entertainment 2004 is packing them in at the NY Midtown Hilton.

Integra has introduced a new six-disc DVD changer, the DPC-7.5. The affordable ($350) player features the company's "Direct Progressive" technology and true multi-disc random playback, even with MP3 and WMA-encoded discs. The DPC-7.5 has an ultra-quiet six-disc carousel with blue illumination for identifying discs in dim light - feature that should be welcomed by any music or movie fan who's flubbed a disc change in low light.

The DPC-7.5 is designed to accommodate a wide range of custom installation applications, with rear-panel bi-directional RS-232 port and IR in/out jacks, enabling easy integration with other home theater equipment and whole-house control systems.

Video performance is excellent too, thanks to 54 MHz/10-bit video processing. The player's "Direct Progressive" circuitry lets it extract 480p native encoded DVD material and pass it directly to component outputs without degradation from unnecessary video processing. Output connectors include both RCA and professional grade BNC progressive component video outputs. In addition are two rear-panel S-Video and two composite video jacks. All video outputs are always active, allowing simultaneous use of more than one display device.

Audio performance is equally good. The DPC-7.5 features 192 kHz/24-bit linear PCM Burr-Brown audio DACs enhanced by a proprietary "Vector Linear Shaping Circuit" (VLSC) claimed to render a smoother and more linear analog audio output. The player is compatible with both MP3 and WMA encoded CD-R/RWs, with ID3 tag display. It also handles discs in many other formats, including DVDR/RW, CD, VCD, CD-R/RW, and JPEG image CDs. Integra's Direct Digital Path provides a streamlined path to the coaxial digital output jack for maximum audio fidelity.

Aperion Audio has added two new products to its Intimus line. The Vertical Array Center Channel (522D-VAC) speaker and Power Tower (522D-PT) are both making their debut at HE 2004 in Hilton suites 732 and 733.

The Power Tower is a full range speaker that merges the imaging capabilities of the Intimus bookshelf speaker with the full-bodied bass response of a 150-watt powered subwoofer built into the base of the tower. "It's an elegant audio solution for someone with space constraints - like a New York apartment - or who just wants to hear more and see less," says Aperion CEO Winthrop Jeanfreau.

The company's new center channel speaker features "smart engineering typically found in speakers costing twice as much," according to Jeanfreau, with vertically arrayed tweeter and midrange drivers that expand the listening area and overcome the midrange beaming problems inherent in many center channel speakers. Aperion's new web site will debut in June with an 18-module "crash course" for home theater enthusiasts, covering many topics including choosing gear and setting it up. The company's new online store is "not built around speakers; it's built around listeners," says Jeanfreau.

Rhapsody Music & Cinema has two exhibit spaces at the NY Hilton, in the Harlem Suite and in room 704, with products on display from Joseph Audio, Theta Digital, Manley Labs, Cardas Audio, Equi=Tech, Zanden, Audiopax, and Kubala-Sosna. Executives from these companies are available for interviews throughout the show by contacting public relations specialist Stuart Levine by email or phone at 914-683-1444.

Samsung and Texas Instruments are hosting a special digital showing of the current film Van Helsing on Saturday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at the Ziegfeld Theater, 141 West 54th Street (b/w 6th and 7th Avenues). Tickets are available at the Samsung booth (Beekman Parlor, 2nd Floor of the New York Hilton), or by contacting PR agent Marion Corrigan. Her phone number is 212-355-5049 x118.