LATEST ADDITIONS

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MP3 Inventor Adds Watermarking
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 13, 2006
The file format that turned music distribution into free-for-all has acquired a watermark. Actually, a method of embedding digital rights management into MP3 is nearly two years old. But this latest wrinkle is not a thou-shalt-not anti-copying flag. It's more a method of identifying who has been doing what with downloads. A combination of psychoacoustic manipulation and spread-spectrum modulation makes the watermark inaudible to human ears, but it can be picked up by a watermark detector, and can survive both encode/decode processes and analog transmission. According to the Fraunhofer Institute, developer of both MP3 and the new watermark, "watermarking can provide a useful mechanism to track illicit copies or to attach property rights information to the multimedia content." Don't say I didn't warn you.
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Panasonic TH-42PHD8UK 42" Plasma Display
Joel Brinkley  |  Feb 12, 2006

Trust me. You have seen this Panasonic plasma before. At the airport, bowling alley, department store, maybe even at a car wash. This is a professional model plasma, sold typically to businesses for utilitarian use, like departure-gate displays at the airport. But these models also hold something of a mystique for people like you and me, and as a result they have developed a cult following. And after looking at this one for a few weeks, I can see why.

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Audio Video News
Industry News
 |  Feb 12, 2006

<B>Marantz Becomes Preferred Brand Of Juilliard</B>
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Marantz has entered into a strategic marketing relationship with New York's prestigious Juilliard School, and will be recognized as "the preferred audio/video brand of The Juilliard School." Announced in December of 2005, the relationship coincides with Juilliard's yearlong 100th anniversary celebration, and will see Marantz serving as the performing arts conservatory's Official Audio/Visual Sponsor and donating its AV products for educational use and world premier performances at the school throughout the year.

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A/V Veteran
News, Weather, and Sports
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 12, 2006

Last week the local ABC affiliate in Los Angeles, KABC, became the first station in California (or so they said) to broadcast their local news programs in high definition. That includes the midday, late afternoon, early evening, and late night editions. And while that might not raise hosannas for a station whose idea of news includes shameless plugs for what's coming up that evening on <I>Dance With the Stars</I>, when you've got endless hours of news time to fill, what do you expect&mdash;an in-depth analysis of what's happening at city hall?

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Audio Video News
On the Wall We Go
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Feb 12, 2006
Two new wall-mountable LCR systems from Paradigm are now shipping. The company says that, unlike earlier Cinema models that were designed for smaller rooms, the new models were developed for use in larger rooms.
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Audio Video News
High Praise for High Frequency Inventor
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Feb 12, 2006
Unlike other notable engineers in the industry who've managed to closely associate their names with the products and technologies they've developed, William Hecht, the inventor of the soft-dome tweeter, has had a quite successful career working behind the scenes. Although most of us take the soft-dome tweeter for granted, it's been the most widely used tweeter design worldwide since it was first patented in 1967.
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Think Outside Boomtube H2O1
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 10, 2006
Unique is not a word to throw around lightly. To be unique, a product has to be like nothing else out there. Even by the strictest standard, however, the Boomtube from Think Outside can wrap itself in the mantle of uniqueness. This little emperor is well clothed.
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Audio Video News
FCC Likes A La Carte
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Feb 10, 2006
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - soon to be known as the Fickle Communications Commission by television programming providers - has had second thoughts about whether or not it's a good thing for you to be able to pick and choose among the TV channels you subscribe to.
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Audio Video News
Industry News
 |  Feb 09, 2006

<B>Blu-ray Players, Java Interactivity, And1080p</B>
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At the close of CES 2006 a few stories circulated around the Internet that some of the first Blu-ray players out of the gate would not support the full implementation of Java-based interactivity (dubbed BDJ, for Blu-ray Disc Java) touted as one of the format's chief selling points. These stories expounded that players would be classified as either basic or full profile, with the latter being the only players that would support full BD-J interactivity.

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Behind the VEIL
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 09, 2006
Here are some fun facts about VEIL, one of the technologies underlying the Digital Transition Content Security Act of 2005—better known as the Analog Hole Bill:
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