Audio Video News

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Audio Video News
Changing Partners
 |  Mar 30, 2003  | 

March was a month of shifting positions at several high-end consumer electronics companies.

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Audio Video News
Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Mar 28, 2003  | 
DVD: My Life as a Dog#&151;Criterion
Audio: 3
Video: 4
Extras: 3
Life and death. Love and loss. Preadolescent sexual stirrings. Sounds like heavy stuff, no? In director Lasse Hallström's hands, this story of 12-year-old Ingemar Johansson and his mother's terminal illness is told with a light touch, balancing tragedy with a cast of eccentric characters that helps Ingemar cope with his tumultuous life. The film is tender and very funny, but Hallström doesn't let its goofy sense of humor dull its emotional impact.
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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Mar 28, 2003  | 
Apex Digital
It might look a bit small if you compare it with the 50-inch big boys, but Apex's 42-inch PL 42HD12W plasma display can hold its own in the category and has a wallet-friendly price. The wall-mountable PL 42HD12W's case is 53 inches wide by 28.5 tall by only 4 thick, and it supports 480p, 720p, and 1080i material. Inside, you'll find a digital comb filter and deinterlacing with 3:2-pulldown detection. On the outside, there's one DVI input and one RGB input, as well as inputs for component, S-video, and composite video and outputs for computer audio and standard speakers. It's a nice overall package that covers all of the bases for $3,999.
Apex Digital
(909) 930-1239
www.apexdigitalinc.com
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Audio Video News
Industry News Roundup
Barry Willis  |  Mar 23, 2003  | 

The next generation of video projectors will be several magnitudes better than the best ones available now. A hint of things to come was unveiled by Sony Electronics earlier in March, with a public demonstration of its Silicon Crystal Reflective (SXRD) technology. At the heart of SXRD is a high-density fixed-pixel micro display generating over 2 million pixels (1920 x 1080 pixels) of picture data from a 0.78"-diagonal panel with a pixel pitch of 9mm each and an inter-pixel spacing of just 0.35mm.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
 |  Mar 23, 2003  | 

Can you have it all? Thomas J. Norton takes a look at the new <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?100">Marantz DV-8300 SACD and DVD-Video/Audio player</A> to determine if universal is also better. As Norton notes, this player is almost there.

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Audio Video News
SONICblue Mulls Chapter 11
Barry Willis  |  Mar 23, 2003  | 

Personal video recorders (PVRs) may be hot technology, but <A HREF="http://www.sonicblue.com">SONICblue</A>'s business is as cold as Lake Superior in February. On March 19, the Santa Clara, CA owner of the ReplayTV, Go Video, and Rio brands announced it was mulling Chapter 11 reorganization. For its fourth fiscal quarter, SONICblue posted a $33.4 million net loss, with a 16% drop in sales, a total of $66.99 million.

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Audio Video News
Analog Projection Sets Doomed?
 |  Mar 23, 2003  | 

Big-box rear-projection analog TV sets have long been a part of American domestic life. They are probably headed for extinction thanks to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandate requiring digital tuners in coming generations of TV products.

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Audio Video News
Runco VX-5000ci
HT Staff  |  Mar 22, 2003  | 
Movie fans with deep resources and a hankering for ultra-quality images should take a look at Runco's VX-5000ci. This DLP projector is built from the ground up to generate stunning 16:9 pictures.
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Audio Video News
ESPN Pushes HDTV
HT Staff  |  Mar 22, 2003  | 
HDTV is poised to take off like a rocket, believes Bryan Burns, ESPN's vice president of strategic business planning and development. His network has made a big push with high-def programming over the past year, and is pushing it even harder this year.
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Audio Video News
Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Mar 20, 2003  | 
DVD: Femme Fatale—Warner Brothers
Audio: 3
Video: 3
Extras: 2
The good news is that the lovely Rebecca Romjin-Stamos has now removed all doubt that she can act well enough to anchor a major motion picture. The sad part of the story is that Femme Fatale is a strange blend of Run Lola Run and the worst of filmmaker Brian De Palma's own canon that made me repeatedly ask both, "What the hell is going on?" and "Why does any studio finance ridiculous De Palma movies like this?" Brunette doppelgangers, double-crosses, alternate realities: You figure it out, if you have two hours to kill.
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Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Mar 20, 2003  | 
DreamVision
DreamVision's graceful gray ovule is sure to make an elegant statement in your home theater. The DreamWeaver DLP projector's design is said to provide natural airflow and eliminate stray light. It also incorporates its own cable-management system to keep your theater nice and tidy. The DreamWeaver isn't just stylish, though; DreamVision has packed some serious technology into this stunning package, including Texas Instruments' HD2 Digital Micromirror Device, Faroudja's DCDi technology, and a 1,280:720 native resolution, which makes it a natural choice for the HD buff. If you're in the market for a high-end projector, this $10,995 DLP will make for sweet dreams.
DreamVision
(800) 663-9352
www.audioplus-services.com
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Audio Video News
Rotel Bows New Pre/Processor
HT Staff  |  Mar 16, 2003  | 
Rotel is the latest company to offer a high-performance preamp/processor with an LCD video screen on the front panel. (Bel Canto Designs debuted its "PrePro" at CES in January; Parasound has recently delivered its Halo C1.)
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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
 |  Mar 16, 2003  | 

Joel Brinkley continues his never-ending quest for the latest in digital reception with his review of the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?98">Samsung SIR-TS160 DTV/DirecTV receiver & SIR-T151 DTV receiver</A>. JB notes that, while the SIR-T151 is the least expensive digital receiver currently available, it still has plenty to offer.

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Audio Video News
HE 2003 Exhibitors Line Up
 |  Mar 16, 2003  | 

Exhibitors at Home Entertainment 2003 (HE2003), the premier home theater & specialty audio show, are gearing up for one of the most important international events of the year. HE2003 will take place June 5-8, 2003 at The Westin-St. Francis Hotel in the heart of downtown San Francisco. This historic location will provide the perfect setting to showcase the latest in home audio/video and home theater entertainment. This will be the show's fourth visit to San Francisco&mdash;previous events were held in 1989, 1993, and 1997.

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Audio Video News
Cable Companies Under Fire
Barry Willis  |  Mar 16, 2003  | 

The cable industry is under fire in Washington over its reluctance to embrace digital television, as well as over rate hikes that exceed the rate of inflation. Both problems have attracted the attention of legislators.

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