Mark Fleischmann

Formerly known under the informal project name of Blackbird, the THX Media Director has emerged from R&D and we got a sneak peak. Metadata are authored into Blu-ray (or whatever) discs. The player might handle the metadata with a firmware upgrade or you might need a new player. Your surround processor, possibly the Lyndorf pre-pro certified for this purpose, then uses the metadata to adjust aspect ratio, color temp, picture mode, surround processing, and all those other settings that are either a bear to deal with or you (well, other people) might not be knowledgable to fool with. If this thing flies, it'll bring high-end home theater performance out of the tweaker ghetto. (Pictured, two early THX Media Director certified products, top: Anchor Bay DVDO VP50 video processor. Bottom: Lyngdorf D-1 surround pre-pro.)