Audio Video News

Showtime Networks has begun offering its East and West Coast feeds in high-definition video mode with Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound. <A HREF="http://www.showtimeonline.com/">Showtime</A> is the first premium cable network to do so, the company claims.

The old <I>Mission: Impossible</I> TV series always opened with the head of the spy team picking up his instructions on a miniature tape recorder stashed in an obscure place. An authoritative voice would give Mr. Phelps his instructions&mdash;always with the option of declining the assignment&mdash;and then announce that the tape would self-destruct, which it did with a burst of flame and a puff of smoke.

Last week, Gemstar International Group announced that its subsidiary, <A HREF="http://www.StarSight.com/">StarSight Telecast</A>, had filed a patent-infringement suit against <A HREF="http://www.tivo.com">TiVo</A> in Federal District Court, Northern District of California. According to Gemstar, the suit claims "that TiVo willfully infringed certain Gemstar intellectual property by virtue of TiVo's deployment, marketing, offers to sell, and sale of personalized video recorder devices containing an unlicensed interactive program guide." Gemstar, which markets VCR Plus+, says it is seeking an injunction and monetary damages.

One of the most cherished assumptions about a market economy is that competition drives down prices for goods and services. Widespread availability from numerous providers guarantees low prices, the conventional wisdom has it.

Home-theater fans who hope to add a DVD version of <I>Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace</I> to their collections when the videotape hits the streets in April will have a very long wait. Possibly as long as five years, according to publicity from <A HREF="http://www.lucasfilm.com/">Lucasfilm</A>, which says director George Lucas wants to do "something special" with the DVD release, a project he probably won't get to until 2005, after he has finished the next two chapters in the "prequel" series.

A war of words has broken out between television networks <A HREF="http://www.nbc.com/">NBC</A> and <A HREF="http://cbs.com/">CBS</A> over the use of digital effects that altered the background during CBS coverage of New Year's Eve festivities in New York's Times Square. "Shocked and outraged" is one of the milder phrases used by NBC executives over the use of digital effects by CBS technicians to block a huge NBC video sign visible behind newsman Dan Rather during the broadcast. A CBS logo was inserted in its place.

NAD showcased a DVD player and an A/V receiver, both new at this year's CES. NAD's first DVD machine is called the T550 and will retail at $799. In addition to built-in Dolby Digital is a feature sure to please audiophiles using the machine as a music source: separate high-quality audio outputs when used with a 24/96 source. The T760 receiver includes both Dolby Digital and DTS and is modestly rated at 60W for all five channels. (NAD is known for conservative power ratings.) The T760 will retail for $999.