Audio Video News

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Audio Video News
TCI's Malone Says No to HDTV
Barry Willis  |  May 10, 1998  | 

Plans by the NBC and CBS networks to transmit 1080i HDTV this fall are "suicidal," according to John Malone, chairman of <A HREF="http://www.tci.com/">Tele-Communications, Inc.</A> On May 5, at the <A HREF="http://www.ncta.com/">National Cable Television Association's</A> annual convention in Atlanta, Malone vowed that TCI won't carry HDTV in its ultimate form. A single channel of full-bore HDTV occupies the same transmission bandwidth as 12 low-resolution channels or several standard-resolution channels.

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Audio Video News
HI-FI '98 Product Previews
 |  May 10, 1998  | 

Several manufacturers will be demonstrating state-of-the-art home-theater products at <A HREF="http://www.hifishow.com">HI-FI '98</A>, some of which have never been seen by the public before. From now until Show time, we'll be running several announcements each week to give you a taste of what to expect. Here's the first assortment:

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Audio Video News
Amazon.com Swallows Internet Movie Database
Barry Willis  |  May 10, 1998  | 

Merger news: <A HREF="http://www.IMDb.com">IMDb</A> to <A HREF="http://amazon.com">Amazon.com</A>. If this sounds like a chess move, it certainly is for a few folks at the top of the Web's food chain. On April 27, the Internet Movie Database became part of Amazon.com, the world's largest online bookseller.

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Audio Video News
The Fifth Element on DVD
Wes Phillips  |  May 03, 1998  | 

B<I>ruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Milla Jovovich. Directed by Luc Besson. Aspect ratios: pan&scan, 2.35:1 anamorphic. Dolby Digital 5.1. Two sides. 126 minutes. 1997. Columbia TriStar Home Video 82409. Rated PG-13. $29.95.</I>

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Audio Video News
NetChannel Abandons TV/Internet Service
Barry Willis  |  May 03, 1998  | 

Surprise, <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft's</A> <A HREF="http://www.webtv.com">WebTV</A> is now the only player in the TV/Internet game. On Wednesday, April 29, NetChannel Inc. threw in the towel, announcing that it was getting out of the business of bringing the Internet into homes via set-top converter boxes. The $20-per-month service never gained a large enough following to become profitable.

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Audio Video News
Build It and They Will Come?
Jon Iverson  |  May 03, 1998  | 

DVD interloper Divx has not won the hearts and minds of early adopters, but that isn't stopping its proponents from laying out some serious cash for future orders. Last week, <A HREF="http://www.nimbuscd.com">Nimbus CD International, Inc.</A> and <A HREF="http://www.divx.com">Digital Video Express</A>, developer of the Divx system, announced that they have signed a five-year, multi-million-disc replication agreement.

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Audio Video News
More Video-On-Demand News from the Cable Kingdom
 |  May 03, 1998  | 

On April 30, <A HREF="http://www.gi.com">General Instrument Corporation</A> and <A HREF="http://www.divatv.com">DIVA Systems Corporation</A> signed a letter of intent defining an agreement to market DIVA's OnSet video-on-demand (VOD) service on GI's DCT-1000 and DCT-1200 interactive digital-cable set-top boxes. This joint effort will enable cable operators who use the GI system to commercially deploy an OpenCable-compliant implementation of the OnSet VOD service by this fall.

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Audio Video News
Three Days of Home Theater, Music, and Advice Only Weeks Away
 |  May 03, 1998  | 

It's just about a month away: <A HREF="http://www.hifishow.com">HI-FI '98</A>, The Home Theater & Specialty Audio Show, will attract thousands of home-theater enthusiasts when it visits The Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel in Los Angeles, California from Wednesday, June 10 to Sunday, June 14, 1998.

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Audio Video News
Paramount Relents, Will Issue Open-Format DVDs
Barry Willis  |  Apr 27, 1998  | 

Trekkers, rejoice! <A HREF="http://www.paramount.com">Paramount Home Video</A>, owner of the Star Trek franchise and Indiana Jones movies, will release open-format DVDs this year, the company announced Monday, April 27. The decision comes two weeks after <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com/">Blockbuster Music & Video</A> announced that it would begin a big push with DVD rentals. The growing popularity of DVD was a major factor in both decisions: Consumer-electronics industry analysts predict that there will be as many as one million DVD players in American homes by the end of 1998.

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Audio Video News
Home Theater Affects Housing Design, Furniture Sales
Barry Willis  |  Apr 26, 1998  | 

The living room in most American homes has traditionally served ceremonial purposes. It's the place where your parents entertained visiting dignitaries, like the local minister who came to offer consolation after your grandmother's funeral. It's the place where they took pictures of you and your senior-prom date. As a showcase for stiff, uncomfortable, and rarely used furniture, the traditional living room is an ornamental vestige of a bygone, formal era, like buttons on the sleeve of a dinner jacket.

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Audio Video News
Digital Video for the Home: More Products from NAB
Jon Iverson  |  Apr 26, 1998  | 

The <A HREF="http://www.nab.org">National Association of Broadcasters</A> (NAB) show earlier this month featured all manner of professional high-tech toys, from HDTV cameras to the latest video-production devices. But among the broadcast-industry announcements, several products of interest to cutting-edge consumers were also presented.

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Audio Video News
The Video-On-Demand Gold Rush Continues . . .
 |  Apr 26, 1998  | 

More set-top box news this week: On April 21, <A HREF="http://www.sciatl.com">Scientific-Atlanta</A> announced an agreement with <A HREF="http://www.schange.com">SeaChange International</A> to develop a complete server-to-set-top digital video-on-demand (VOD) system for cable networks. This agreement makes Scientific-Atlanta the first company to offer cable operators all network components for an integrated, commercially feasible digital VOD service in 1998.

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Audio Video News
Computer Makers Focus on Set-top Boxes to Merge TV, PC
Barry Willis  |  Apr 26, 1998  | 

Despite the ocean of ink that has been spilled on the subject, most consumers are indifferent about the inclusion of TV tuners in their computers. "Convergence" might be simply another intellectual fad---popular among journalists because it seems so logical, yet flopping among consumers because it really isn't. Most computer users who have responded to marketing studies indicate they don't care if they can receive television on their computers or not.

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Audio Video News
The Silence of the Lambs on DVD
Wes Phillips  |  Apr 26, 1998  | 

J<I>odie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine. Directed by Jonathan Demme. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Dolby Surround (3.1). One side. 118 minutes. 1991. Image Entertainment ID4069ORDVD. Rated R. Price: $29.95.</I>

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Audio Video News
Hundreds of DVDs Available as Mail-Order Rentals
Barry Willis  |  Apr 19, 1998  | 

Hollywood is now cranking out DVD titles at a rate of more than one per day, but rental outlets have only a few of the most popular titles in stock. This is clearly a problem for home-theater owners and movie fans looking for new material.

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