Last week, <A HREF="http://www.zenith.com">Zenith Electronics</A> and <A HREF="http://nxtwavecomm.com">NxtWave Communications</A> announced they have finalized their agreement to jointly develop compatible enhancements to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) DTV standard. The companies had previously responded separately to the ATSC's "VSB Enhancements" Request for Proposals (RFP).

<A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com">Blockbuster</A>, the world's largest video rental chain, will label video games and movies with terrorist themes, company executives announced September 26.

Switching component video sources is a double-edged sword. For a number of reasons, there's plenty of need for it; however, until recently, it was fairly expensive to do it well (read: without adversely affecting the video signal). Still, there are a number of scenarios in which video switching, transcoding, or distributing high-resolution video (particularly HDTV signals) is important.

Custom installation is <I>the</I> growth area for the consumer electronics industry. To expand training opportunities for installers, the <A HREF="http://www.cedia.org">Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association</A> (CEDIA) has announced a new partnership with the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) to bring CEDIA training to the 2002 International Consumer Electronics Show, to be held January 8&#160;11 in Las Vegas. The upcoming CES will be the first one to be held during weekdays rather than over a weekend.