Audio Video News

The home of the future will have a "Digital Nerve Center" at its core&mdash;a center that incorporates audio, video, information, and computer functions that control the house and link it to the world outside. That's the vision of <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/"><B>Consumer Electronics Association</B></A> president Gary Shapiro and the hundreds of manufacturers who comprise his organization.

<I>Voices of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, Drew Barrymore. Directed by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS (English), Dolby Surround 2.0 (English, French). 95 minutes. 2000. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 2000924. PG. $26.98.</I>

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.ravisent.com">Ravisent Technologies</A> announced a technology partnership with <A HREF="http://www.oren.com">Oren Semiconductor</A>, which sells DSP-based digital television demodulator ICs to manufacturers such as Sony, Hughes, and Global Telemann Systems for use in TVs, VCRs, PC cards, and set-top boxes. Ravisent and Oren say they will jointly develop complete broadcast reception and playback solutions for delivering HDTV broadcasts to consumers using the current generation of personal computers.

Home Entertainment 2001 arrives at the Hilton Hotel & Towers in New York this week for three days, May 11-13. There will be more than 80 rooms stuffed with the latest high end audio and video gear, including dozens of brand new products. For more information about the show, go to the <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">HE 2001 website</A>.

Better late than never, the old adage goes. The <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> and the <A HREF="http://www.nab.org">National Association of Broadcasters</A>, former adversaries in the digital television rollout debacle, have decided to bury the hatchet and begin promoting DTV cooperatively.

According to <A HREF="http://www.zenith.com">Zenith</A>, the orginator of the VSB digital transmission system behind over-the-air broadcast of DTV and HDTV, "there will be no urban-rural 'digital divide' in the delivery of digital television (DTV) service." The company says that this is thanks in large part to ATSC VSB translators that it has developed.

The entire city of Los Angeles depends on the entertainment industry, and Mayor Richard Riordan is doing his best to find a way to prevent strikes by screenwriters and actors that could have crippling economic repercussions.