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Audio Video News
Discovery HD Theater Expands
 |  Jul 13, 2003

<A HREF="http://www.discovery.com">Discovery HD Theater</A> is celebrating its one-year anniversary with 25 hours of new high definition productions this season.

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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Jul 10, 2003
Proficient
It's just not home theater without some kickin' bass, and that's what you get from Proficient's new subwoofers. The S10 model features a front-firing, 10-inch, paper-cone woofer and a 120-watt internal amplifier, as well as anticlipping circuitry, which is said to provide maximum output without audible distortion. Proficient's S8 model (shown here) is similar to the S10, but it houses an 8-inch woofer. Proficient says that the S8 features a driver, amplifier, and crossover network that are optimized for its smaller cabinet and that this more-petite sub has the gusto to provide enough bass output for most midsized home theater rooms. The S10 and S8 cost $450 and $350, respectively.
Proficient
(909) 787-9940
www.proficientaudio.com
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Audio Video News
Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Jul 10, 2003
Norah Jones—Come Away with Me (SACD, Blue Note)
For some reason, I never got around to buying Norah Jones' zillion-selling CD, or maybe I misjudged her talent. Silly me, I thought she was just a hipper Sade. Now that I've lived with the Come Away with Me SACD, though, I'm a believer. I found it impossible to resist Ms. Jones' understated piano and seductive pipes. Her suite of well-crafted originals and cover tunes keeps this disc in heavy rotation in my SACD player.
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Audio Video News
ER: The Complete First Season
HT Staff  |  Jul 06, 2003
Fans of the long-running medical drama ER will be delighted to learn that the full first season will appear on DVD later this summer. Early birds will also get to enjoy bonus "promotional content" if they are among the first customers to order the ER package from Amazon.com.
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Audio Video News
Pioneer's TiVo-DVD Recorders
 |  Jul 06, 2003

This fall, <A HREF="http://www.pioneerelectronics.com">Pioneer</A> will launch a new line of DVD recorders featuring TiVo's personal video recorder technology. Almost certain to cause anxiety among Hollywood studios and network broadcasters, the new recorders will combine TiVo's versatile recording and operating features, and give consumers the choice of archiving their recordings on magnetic hard disks or DVD-R/RW optical disks.

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Audio Video News
2003 DTV Shipments Top One Million in May
 |  Jul 06, 2003

Digital television continues to gain momentum.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
 |  Jul 06, 2003

From the June issue, Joel Brinkley fires up the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?131">Toshiba 34HDX82 direct-view HDTV</A>. "At $2699, the Toshiba is among the more expensive 16x9, 34-inch direct-view TVs in the current crop," notes JB. And with a little tweaking, Brinkley says this expensive frog soon turns into a prince.

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Audio Video News
"Voice of the Theatre" Returns
 |  Jul 06, 2003

A classic is returning to the home theater market.

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Audio Video News
Hitachi Cable-Ready HDTVs
HT Staff  |  Jul 02, 2003
Hitachi's TV lineup for the coming year will be one of the first with "plug-and-play" compatibility for high-definition programming delivered over cable systems.
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Audio Video News
Fox Television Entering HDTV Era
Barry Willis  |  Jun 29, 2003

Former Chrysler Corporation CEO Lee Iacocca was famed for saying that, in the auto industry, a company "either leads, follows, or gets out of the way." Fox Television has apparently decided that where high-definition programming is concerned, it had better follow or get left behind.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
 |  Jun 29, 2003

From the June issue, Steven Stone reviews the competitively-priced HD2-chipped <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?129">InFocus Screenplay 7200 DLP projector</A>. Stone observes that the InFocus "lowers the price of an HD2 projector below $10,000." But does it deliver? "That's the $2000 question," says Stone.

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Audio Video News
HD, Networking Standards Sought
 |  Jun 29, 2003

In late June, two electronics industry groups presented proposals that could make "plug and play" a reality for high-definition video components,home networking devices, and other types of consumer products.

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Audio Video News
Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Jun 28, 2003
DVD: Anastasia—20th Century Fox
Video: 3
Audio: 2
Extras: 3
They say that, in Hollywood's Golden Age, people didn't go to the movies to see movies; they went to see stars. I can only imagine that this was the case with Anastasia, a flop that stars Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner. A story as intriguing as that of the mysterious Romanov princess has so much potential, especially when you pair it with the prospect of a Pygmalion story in the vein of My Fair Lady. No such luck, though. Star power notwithstanding, Anastasia left me numb and, at one point, asleep.
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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Jun 27, 2003
MartinLogan
MartinLogan's Cinema i center-channel speaker builds on the same foundation as the company's Cinema center channel, but it incorporates some new technologies and a supercool industrial design. The speaker includes ClearSpar technology, which is said to enhance the Cinema i's transparent aesthetic and increase both efficiency and dynamics. MartinLogan's MicroPerf design is also aboard. In this design, the stator's individual holes are smaller, which allows for more open space compared with that of the traditional ESL transducer. This 37-pound speaker is ergonomically friendly, too. Using its included stand, you can mount it on your display, on the wall, on the ceiling, or even on the floor. Just use the incorporated handgrips to aim the speaker at the listening position. This versatile center channel costs $1,795.
MartinLogan
(785) 749-0133
www.martinlogan.com
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Audio Video News
DVD Pulls Ahead of VHS
Barry Willis  |  Jun 22, 2003

The DVD format reached a milestone in mid-June, out-renting VHS videocassettes for the first time.

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