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Consumers excited over the prospect of HDTV's increased clarity and audio quality may not realize that those are precisely the characteristics that terrify the motion picture industry. Fearful that high-definition broadcasts of its films might lead to an increase in video piracy, Hollywood has pressured the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A>, which has issued a proposal requiring future digital television (DTV) tuners to include digital rights management (DRM) technologies. As of July 1, 2005, all HDTV receivers must watch for a broadcast flag (a marker embedded in program material by copyright holders). This will make it impossible for consumers to time-shift or archive broadcast material (or share it on a home network, unless the router also has DRM technology).

Steven Stone reviews the <A HREF="/dvdplayers/604teac">TEAC Esoteric DV-50 universal disc player</A>, noting that this product "continues the TEAC tradition of making gear that not only weighs a lot, but also promises to deliver the ultimate in performance and durability."

TEAC has been around since the early days of stereo, and my own history as a user of their products spans almost 35 years. My first TEAC was an A-1200 reel-to-reel tape recorder, purchased in 1968. It was big and heavy, and it worked perfectly for many years. I currently use a TEAC RW-H500 CD recorder to make all my live concert recordings, and a complete TEAC 500-series system&mdash;AV-H500D 5-channel integrated amplifier, T-H500 AM/FM stereo tuner, R-H500 cassette deck, PD-H570 CD changer&mdash;provides music in my master bedroom.