Audio Video News

<I>Voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary. Directed by Chris Wedge. Aspect ratios: 1.85:1 (anamorphic), 4:3. Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Surround 2.0 (French, Spanish). Two discs. 81 minutes. 2002. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 2004664. PG. $29.98.</I>

On January 15, the US Supreme Court refused to overturn a 1998 Congressional decision to extend previous copyright protection by twenty years.

Every year at the Consumer Electronics Show, previously unknown companies make their debut. One that caught our attention this year is Fountain Valley, CA-based V Inc. This year, the company hopes to leverage its expertise in the computer display field with a foray into home entertainment, with a line of affordable plasma displays and an MPEG-4 DVD player.

Samsung Electronics is going where no manufacturer has gone before, but where many are certain to follow.

Runco has made great strides in projector development recently. The Union City, CA&ndash;based company unveiled three new DLP projectors in Las Vegas, all of them sporting single 16:9 HD2 chips, DVI inputs, and 1280 x 720 resolution. The least expensive of the three, the Reflection CL-720, supports the primary varieties of NTSC, PAL, and SECAM, and can be ordered from the factory with a short throw or long throw lens, for images as small as 40" diagonally or up to as large as 300". Brightness is specified at 750 ANSI Lumens when the projector is calibrated for home theater; contrast ratio is a very respectable 1500:1. The CL-720 is said to be "HDTV ready," although the product sheet handed out at the LV Convention Center doesn't list any ATSC format among those supported.

On Thursday, the first <I>official</I> day of CES, attendees were treated to another day of warm, dry weather&mdash;and a mind-boggling array of new home theater products.

<I>Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor. Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. Aspect ratio: 4:3. Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 2.0 (French). Two DVDs. 103 minutes. 1952. Warner Home Video 125695621 27. G. $26.99.</I>