Audio Video News

Movies or music? Sony has solved this dilemma with its new Sony DVP-S9000ES, an all-purpose disc spinner that offers progressive-scan video with Super Audio CD capability. Not only will the machine output flicker-free 480p video, it will also play standard music CDs, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. Such versatility enables home theater fans to get the most from their present music and film libraries while being prepared for the future.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.fujitsu-fme.com">Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Limited</A> (FHP) announced that it has succeeded in developing what it calls the world's first 32- and 37-inch high-definition plasma display panels (PDPs). The new displays, which join FHP's existing lineup of 42-inch PDPs, use the company's proprietary ALIS (Alternate Lighting of Surfaces) drive-circuit technology and are intended for use as household television sets.

What's in a name? If it's a "Digital Television," no one has been quite sure, and the resulting confusion over basic nomenclature has been one of many factors inhibiting market acceptance of the new format. Now, the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) has decided that clear definitions are needed to cut through the fog.

San Francisco-based Parasound, long noted for making great-sounding products at affordable prices, has announced updates for two of its most highly regarded home theater products, the AVC-2500 preamp/processor and the HCA-2205A power amp.

One of the most ambitious projects in the history of animation will celebrate its 60th anniversary this fall, and Walt Disney Home Entertainment plans to make it something special. Fantasia, the groundbreaking film that debuted in 1940 and has astounded generations of kids and adults ever since, will be released on DVD this coming November 14.

A while back, we <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?269">reported</A> on the small island of Tuvalu in the South Pacific, which, as fate would have it, was assigned the international domain of ".tv." It didn't take long for a company called <A HREF="www.tv">dotTV</A> to make a deal with the Tuvalu government to administer and sell the ".tv" domains. Last week, dotTV announced that they have auctioned off three high-priced domain names&mdash;free.tv, china.tv, and net.tv&mdash;each selling for initial annual registration fees of $100,000.

The world's largest video rental chain has been slapped with a class-action lawsuit over what plaintiffs' attorneys are calling "excessive late fees." Asserting that late fees are punitive and exceed any real costs incurred, Santa Monica law firm O'Neill, Lysaght & Sunn, LLP filed suit against <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com/">Blockbuster Inc.</A> Wednesday, August 23, in Los Angeles. The plaintiff: one Monica Rocha of Hollywood, and a "class" of other Blockbuster customers.