Audio Video News

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic Consumer Electronics</A> announced the retail launch of its new digital VCR&mdash;or, as they call it, a D-VHS VCR. The new PV-HD1000 will begin shipping this month. It carries a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $999.95 and marks the first DTV-compatible VCR to hit the US market.

J<I>ason Patric, Irene Jacob, Ian Richardson, Ian Holm, Rod Steiger. Directed by John Badham. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (letterbox). Dolby Digital Surround 5.1. 108 minutes. 1997. Warner Bros. Home Video 14538. Rated R. $24.95.</I>

A payout of as much as $275 million to Jeffery Katzenberg could be in the offing for <A HREF="http://www.disney.com/">Walt Disney Company</A>, which agreed on July 6 to settle a five-year-old breach-of-contract suit brought by the former studio executive. One of Hollywood's longest-running and most bitter legal disputes was settled over the July 4 weekend at the Malibu estate of music mogul and DreamWorks partner David Geffen, who hammered out a deal with Stanley Gold, a Disney Company director and friend of Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Geffen is Katzenberg's partner in DreamWorks SKG, the film, music, and video company they formed with Steven Spielberg.

Twenty years ago, 60% of Americans said they would hesitate to see a movie if it were excessively violent. But according to an Associated Press poll released last week, a steady diet of action films over the last two decades have had a marked effect: Now, only 40% say that too much violence would keep them out of the theater.

While watching <I>Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me</I>, one can't help but notice the groovy car driven by Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham): a 1965 red-white-and-blue Corvette Stingray convertible. Wouldn't it be nice to have one of your own? And what about the silver suit worn by Doctor Evil---wouldn't it be cool to have the original for the ultimate Halloween costume this year?

Last week, the DVD Forum announced that its Steering Committee has formally approved the physical format of the DVD-RAM discs for 4.7 gigabytes (GB) as version 2.0. The Format Book for version 2.0 (Physical Specifications) will be published in the third quarter of this year. The DVD Froum says that the 4.7GB DVD-RAM format will be compatible with the existing 2.6GB (v.1.0) DVD-RAM format, as well as with other DVD formats established by the DVD Forum. The new 4.7GB format is expected to impact both PC and audio/video applications.

D<I>avid Bennett, Angela Winkler, Mario Adorf, Katharina Thalbach, Daniel Olbrychski. Directed by Volker Schl&ouml;ndorff. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (letterbox). Dolby Digital 5.1. 142 minutes. 1979. Image Entertainment/Kino Video K104. Rated R. $39.99.</I>