Audio Video News

Despite holiday season signs of an economic slowdown, the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/">Consumer Electronics Association</A> is projecting a record year for 2001. CEA figures released at the end of December predict that factory-to-dealer shipments will increase to $95 billion, a significant improvement from the $89.7 billion total this year. Results for both 2000 and 1999 were up approximately $5 billion from the previous years' predictions. For that reason, the CEA may revise its predictions. A revision with predictions for individual product categories should appear during January's Consumer Electronics Show.

Twenty bucks buys plenty of processing power these days. If you're a manufacturer shopping for a DVD chip, <A HREF="http://www.cirruslogic.com/">Cirrus Logic Corporation's Crystal Semiconductor</A> has just what you're looking for. The San Mateo, CA-based company is now shipping its "98k"&mdash;an all-purpose, stand-alone DVD decoding device versatile enough to let designers write their own control code.

In an effort to simplify the mess that the 500-channel TV universe has become, <A HREF="%20http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A> announced last week the shipment of its new DirecTV-enabled HDTV receiver to retailers. In addition to receiving and decoding both DirectTV and DirecTV HD satellite transmissions, the TU-HDS20 is a DTV-ready multiple-format tuner capable of receiving all 18 ATSC digital television broadcast formats as well as current analog (NTSC) signals.

The year 2000 was a box office record breaker for the film industry, but the chance of repeating that feat in 2001 is being dimmed by the possibility of labor strikes that could halt film production for months.

One of the most honored films in the history of the movie business, <I>Ben Hur</I>, will make its DVD debut this coming March, 42 years after its theatrical release. On December 18, <A HREF="http://www.warnerhomevideo.com/">Warner Home Video</A> announced a March 13 street date for the disc. The film has been digitally restored and has a new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The suggested retail price will be $24.98.

Competitions and awards usually indicate that an art form has reached some degree of commercial viability. By that standard, movies made for the Internet have attained maturity: The <A HREF="http://www.sundance.org/">Sundance Institute</A> has announced that it will host parallel festivals this winter, one concentrating on traditional films and the other showcasing films made for the Internet. Both events begin January 18.