<I>F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay, Kenneth McMillan. Directed by Milos Forman. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0. Two discs. 180 minutes. 1984. Warner Home Video 37464. R. $26.99.</I>
New generations of television products should be easier to connect to cable systems and easier to use, as a result of an agreement signed Thursday, December 19, by cable providers and electronics manufacturers.
Warner Home Video president and DVD pioneer Warren Lieberfarb abruptly departed from the company Friday, December 20. No official reason for his resignation was given, but some industry insiders alluded to his dissatisfaction with upper management at media conglomerate AOL TimeWarner.
The best rear-projection set reviewed to date? Thomas Norton lavishes high praise on the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?72">Hitachi 51SWX20B HD-ready CRT rear-projection television</A> and is especially fond of its handles.
Philips Electronics has thrown its weight behind "SmartRight," a digital content copy-protection technology developed by Thomson Multimedia, according to mid-December reports from Paris and Geneva. Originally called XCA, SmartRight is a smart-card–based technique that could allay Hollywood's fears about offering hit movies over the Internet or via high-definition broadcasts.
Thanks to consumer interest, competition, and their fundamental coolness, high-resolution audio players are falling in price to a point where almost everyone can afford them. Sony's DVP-NS755V, for example, is only $250, and it features SACD capability and progressive scanning. A year ago, this player's predecessor excited us as an inexpensive progressive-scan DVD player. Now Sony ups the ante by adding SACD and keeping the price the same.
If there's one thing I know about Arcam, it's that they like to do things their own way. Yes, this is a high-end company and, as such, is relatively small—which usually means that they wouldn't have the resources to do major product overhauls or built-from-scratch developments very often. This being Arcam, though, it didn't surprise me when I heard that they were spending gobs of time and money developing a new statement pre/pro for their top-shelf FMJ line. Back in February, I spent some time with their DV27 DVD player—another built-from-the-ground-up effort—and was sincerely impressed, so I was curious to see what these fellows across the pond could accomplish when they set their sights on the world of flagship pre/pros.