If the first week of Olympic Games coverage is any indication of <A HREF="http://www.nbc.com/">NBC</A>'s performance in Sydney, the best the network can hope for in the race for viewers is a bronze medal. The network's carefully orchestrated tape-delayed broadcasts aren't pulling in sports fans the way live action from Atlanta did in 1996. Even the Barcelona games in 1992 attracted more viewers, according to polls conducted during the first week of the Sydney Games.
If there's no computer in your entertainment system—or no entertainment in your computer—there probably will be soon.<A HREF="http://www.ti.com"> Texas Instruments</A> has announced two new digital-to-analog converters (DACs) that accept and output all available video and PC graphics formats—including HDTV signals. The new chips may make "all-formats video" economically viable for many manufacturers.
Too many home theater enthusiasts have an arsenal of remote controls. The arsenal—not the remotes themselves—can be the cause of everything from minor annoyances to full-scale domestic battles.
In the past 12 months, 1.8 million homes have signed on to <A HREF="http://www.skydigital.co.uk/">British Sky Broadcasting</A>'s digital Direct Broadcast Satellite service, the company reported in mid-October. Approximately 45% of them are completely new subscribers. With an estimated half-million homes connected to the COFDM DTV service, the total market penetration of digital television in the United Kingdom is now 2.3 million homes, or slightly more than 10%. By comparison, market penetration of digital delivery services (cable and DBS) in the US is now about 12%, after five years of service from <A HREF="http://www.directv.com/">DirecTV</A>, <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">Echostar</A>, and digital cable.
Last week, <A HREF="http://www.faroudja.com">Faroudja</A> announced that it will introduce its new flagship DVP5000 Digital Video Processor/Scaler at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company claims that the DVP5000 is the first processor to automatically upconvert 1080i (interlaced) high-definition signals to 1080p (progressive) resolution, "improving on the best that HDTV currently offers by removing the interlace stairstepping and motion artifacts found in the 1080i signal." The company also adds that standard 480i sources can be upconverted to 1080p.
According to statistics released January 20 by the Arlington, Virginia-based <A HREF="http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A> (CEMA), sales to dealers of projection televisions, TV/VCR combinations, VCRs, and camcorders each climbed in 1997 to record-setting levels. The new Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) players also showed well, selling nearly 350,000 units since the product's inception in April.
As announced last week, the 2000 Republican National Convention will be America's first political convention aired in high-definition television. But in an interesting twist, Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson noted that the party has approved the request of <A HREF="http://www.nhk.or.jp/index-e.html">NHK</A> (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) to cover the Convention in HDTV. NHK says it will make available a digital high-definition feed to other "accredited" broadcasters choosing to take the signal for transmission to their viewers.