The latest holiday season numbers are now in, and the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) is reporting that manufacturer-to-dealer video products sales in December, 2000 grew by 15% over last year's figures, giving a total of more than 6.4 million units shipped, and culminating a year of strong growth. The CEA reports that total sales of video products in 2000 reached 67.8 million units, representing a 12% increase over total sales for 1999. The trade group adds that the year finished with sales increases in almost every category.

Factory shipments of video products reached 4.9 million units for the month of August, an 8% increase from last month, according to figures released recently by the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA). The organization says that year-to-date growth resulted in double-digit gains that boosted dealer sales to 38.7 million units, a 13% increase over 1999 figures.

In a move intended to broaden its home theater product line, <A HREF="http://www.projectavision.com">Projectavision, Inc.</A> of New York announced January 21 that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase substantially all of the assets of <A HREF="http://www.vidikron.com">Vidikron Industries, S.p.A.</A>, including its US subsidiary, Vidikron of America. Vidikron, a privately held company founded 18 years ago and headquartered in Milan, Italy, is a manufacturer and marketer of high-end projection systems for the home-theater consumer and commercial markets, and serves customers in over 30 countries worldwide.

Most Net-connected movie fans have heard of downloading films. They have sampled AVI files and found the results less than satisfying. The digital video is jerky, out of focus, and suffers from terrible pixelation effects---all caused by slow microprocessors and low frame rates. The present typical state of the art isn't high enough for most folks to take Internet video seriously.