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Audio Video News
Industry Roundup
Barry Willis  |  Apr 05, 2004  |  0 comments

Retailers on the rise: Best Buy and Circuit City, North America's largest and second-largest electronics chains, both reported surges in profits for the fourth fiscal quarter ended February 28. Best Buy's profits rose 51% to $469 million on strong sales of flat-panel TVs, digital cameras, and computers, while Circuit City posted a net income of $89.6 million, a 26% increase in profits over last year's fourth-quarter $70.9 million, after making cost-cutting efforts.

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Audio Video News
New Products. Price Drops
 |  Apr 05, 2004  |  0 comments

This month, <A HREF="http://www.integraresearch.com">Integra Research</A> should begin delivering the RDV-1.1, a high-performance universal disc player announced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The THX Ultra-certified RDV-1.1 not only plays every current optical disc format, including DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, CD, and SACD, but includes a video scaler that upconverts ordinary DVDs to 720p or 1080i. The internal "O-Plus FlexScale" video scaler also works with external video sources connected to the RDV-1.1's unit's rear-panel component, composite, and S-video inputs.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
 |  Apr 05, 2004  |  0 comments

Back in 1997, Scott Wilkinson put a two-part article together on color and vision as they pertain to video displays. Video display technology has changed radically since then, and so we've updated <A HREF="/features/204eye">An Eye for Color, Part 1</A> for 2004. Part 2 of this updated article is now available in the May 2004 issue of <I>Stereophile Guide to Home Theater</I>.

Audio Video News
Coming Attractions
HT Staff  |  Apr 05, 2004  |  0 comments
Intrigue
The newest addition to Intrigue's line of Harmony remote controls is designed with your basic TiVo needs in mind. The Harmony SST-688 provides extra navigation buttons specifically for use with digital video recorders. Like the rest of its Harmony brethren, the SST-688 is PC- and Mac-compatible, and it features designated activity buttons like "Play DVD" and "Watch TV," which make the remote a breeze to operate. You configure the SST-688 online; simply answer a series of questions about your A/V equipment and then download the necessary programming into the remote via the included USB cable. The $225 remote control can operate all infrared devices, such as A/V components, gaming consoles, MP3 music servers, and lighting control.
Intrigue Technologies
(866) 291-1505
www.harmony-remote.com
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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Apr 05, 2004  |  0 comments
DVD: Good Boy!—MGM/UA
Video: 2
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
What if dogs really came from another world and were sent on a mission to Earth to domesticate humans and assert their superiority? That's the premise of this fetching family film, whose writers never met a canine joke they didn't like. The gimmick of talking dogs—especially when the voice talent includes Carl Reiner and Cheech Marin—carries the movie up to a point, but it runs out of steam about the time the Greater Dane arrives from the planet Sirius to inspect her minions. Still, the visual jokes and awwww-inspiring moments will engage most young viewers and their parents.
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Other Tech
Blu's Clues
David Ranada  |  Apr 04, 2004  |  0 comments

Almost overshadowing the rich out cropping of standard-definition DVD recorders at this year's CES was the looming presence of several prototype high-definition disc players and recorders. Many of the manufacturers backing one of the two high-def disc systems bitterly contending to become the new international standard were displaying their first go at a machine.

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AV Receiver Reviews
Onkyo TX-NR901 Digital Surround Receiver
Daniel Kumin  |  Apr 04, 2004  |  0 comments

It's a Web, Web, Web, Web world out there, so it's no surprise Onkyo's latest A/V receiver, the TX-NR901, joins that company's family of Net-Tune products, which currently include another surround sound receiver and a compact desktop "client" stereo receiver.

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HDTV Tech
An Eye for Color: Physics & Physiology
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 04, 2004  |  0 comments
An eye-opening introduction to the physics and physiology of color and vision.
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Other Source Component Reviews
Marantz DV6400 Universal DVD/SACD player
Daniel Kumin  |  Apr 02, 2004  |  0 comments

A year or so ago, a new "universal" DVD player - one that could handle both DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD multichannel music recordings as well as conventional DVDs and CDs - priced at anything less than a thousand bucks might have been big news. Today, a growing number of universal players are finding their way onto dealers' shelves.

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HDTV Buying Tips
Deep Cover Page the Second
The Editors  |  Apr 01, 2004  |  0 comments
Three HT editors don their consumer personas to find out how much the average mass-market salesperson really knows about today's most popular technologies. You've heard us say time and time again that the specialty retailer is the place to shop if you want personalized attention from a truly knowledgeable sales staff. Still, many of you insist on wiling away the hours at a mass-market retailer conveniently located in a strip mall near you. We can't really blame you. Convenience is a precious commodity in today's world. The question is, can you get a little knowledge and sound advice to accompany that convenience, or are you being led astray? We loaded up three of our editors with an arsenal of questions and sent them off to the Big Three retailers: Best Buy, Circuit City, and relative newcomer Ultimate Electronics. Their mission: Bring us back the goods and the not-so-goods from their buying experience.
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