Lost amid the year-end fuss was a long-expected development that will have profound effects for viewers on the west coast, in the midwest, and in the southeastern United States. The Federal Communications Commission quietly approved a merger between AT&T (as the combined company will be known) and Bell South. How will this affect nascent telco TV service? Just look at the Wiki map: Three companies now control the bulk of the traditional telecom business (not counting cable or VOIP, of course). See those two gigantic swatches in blue? That is AT&T's newly expanded territory. While Verizon's geographic territory is far smaller than that of Qwest, it includes many more subscribers. That leaves AT&T and Verizon as the most influential players. And they don't plan to compete in video services outside their defined territories. They will compete only with cable and satellite outfits within their territories. Despite rumors that the two Democratic commissioners would vote nay, the FCC vote was unanimous, 4-0, with one absention due to conflict of interest. That the surprise compromise will guarantee net neutrality is being cited as a victory for media watchdogs. Unfortunately, the promise comes with a two-year time limit, and does not apply to video-over-IP services.
What I'm about to tell you might not make any sense. In fact, it might even upset you a little. But I'm your friend, and I've promised to tell you the truth about your A/V gear, so it's a risk I'm willing to take. Here goes: Your TV doesn't look right.
Halo 3? No hurry! Rendered in heart-pounding high-def and surround, Gears of War (Microsoft, Xbox 360, Rated M) skyrockets the bar for future generations of sci-fi shooters. You're Marcus Fenix, former war hero imprisoned for treason, now set free to fight the Locust Horde - a nightmarish race of bloodthirsty beasts.
The consumer electronics industry has done a pretty lousy job of educating everyone on new audio and video technology. And by "industry," I mean manufacturers, their marketing arms, and even journalists, though none at UltimateAV. Start with your newspapers of record. Michael Fremer has palpitations reading the New York Times audio / video coverage (I get the same effect from their Op-ed page!).
The third generation of HD DVD players is likely to break through the $399 list-price barrier, the second generation already having done so at the street-price level. List prices may even hit $299 a little farther down the road, according to a Toshiba executive quoted in PC World. Look for details at CES next week. Unless the Blu-ray camp matches the deal, HD DVD will continue to retain the advantage in price. Another breakthrough came last week in the first HD DVD hack. This could be bad news for HD DVD. While the format uses the same AACS content-security system as Blu-ray, Sony's format adds an additional layer of BD+.
By now you may have read Al Griffin's review of the Sony PlayStation 3 game console featured in the January 2007 Sound & Vision. Since Sony is the major driving force behind the development of the Blu-ray Disc format, it's no real surprise that Al found the PS3 to be a stellar movie player.
In a career spanning four decades, Sunfire's founder and chief designer Bob Carver has morphed from bushy to bald, young Turk to elder (or at least older) statesman, and iconoclast to anointed icon. Throughout, one thing neither he nor his designs has ever been is dull, and Sunfire's latest "Theater Grand" A/V receiver is no exception.
<I> In this guest blog, contributor Steven Stone looks at the Algolith Flea, a $995 outboard video noise reduction box. In the blog entry following this one, I take a look at the $2995 Mosquito, Algolith's most sophisticated video noise reduction device.
