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Audio Video News
Philips Semiconductors Launches First-Ever Single-Chip MPEG2 Video Encoder for Home PCs
 |  Mar 05, 1998  |  0 comments

Last week, <A HREF="www.philips.com">Philips Semiconductors</A> announced the first single-chip MPEG2 video encoder for home PCs. Dubbed the SAA6750H, this chip provides a low-cost way to store analog (VCR) video in a digital form on various media, such as CD or proposed recordable forms of DVD. Previously, consumers had to rely on expensive professional equipment that could easily run into thousands of dollars.

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Audio Video News
DVDs Require Careful Handling
Barry Willis  |  Mar 02, 1998  |  0 comments

What's the worst thing that happens to vinyl records during normal use? Taking them out of the sleeve. The resulting surface abrasion and static charge, which attracts every dust particle in sight, cause more damage to LPs than playing them.

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Audio Video News
20th Century Fox Joins Divx Cartel
Barry Willis  |  Feb 23, 1998  |  0 comments

Media giant <A HREF="http://www.fox.com">20th Century Fox Home Entertainment</A> has joined DreamWorks SKG, <A HREF="http://www.paramount.com">Paramount Home Video</A>, <A HREF="http://www.disney.com">Disney</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.mca.com">Universal</A> in their support for Divx. The announcement was made jointly last Thursday, Feb. 19, by 20th Century Fox representatives in Beverly Hills and by <A HREF="http://www.divx.com">Digital Video Express</A> executives at corporate headquarters in Herndon, Virginia.

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Audio Video News
Digital Anti-piracy Agreement by Sony, Intel, Toshiba
Barry Willis  |  Feb 23, 1998  |  0 comments

Five electronics heavyweights have agreed on an encryption scheme for digitally transmitted movies and music that they hope will prevent widescale piracy by consumers. <A HREF="http://www.intel.com">Intel</A>, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A>, <A HREF="http://www.toshiba.com">Toshiba</A>, <A HREF="http://www.hitachi.com">Hitachi</A>, and Matsushita announced the agreement in Burbank, CA last Thursday.

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Audio Video News
Wes Phillips Takes a Look at The Saint on laserdisc
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 23, 1998  |  0 comments

V<I>al Kilmer, Elizabeth Shue, Rade Serbedzjia. Directed by Phillip Noyce. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Dolby Digital. 118 minutes. 1997. CLV. Paramount Home Video LV335363-WS. PG-13. $39.95.</I>

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Audio Video News
Oregon PBS, Microsoft Sign Data-Transmission Deal
Barry Willis  |  Feb 22, 1998  |  0 comments

Microsoft Corporation and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) have agreed to jointly participate in an educational-enhancement data-distribution system that takes advantage of unused bandwidth in broadcast television's vertical blanking interval, or VBI, according to a <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft</A> press release dated Feb. 17.

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Audio Video News
David vs. Goliath in Struggle for Titanic Copyright
Barry Willis  |  Feb 21, 1998  |  0 comments

Does the United States Patent and Trademark Office operate on a first come, first served basis, or will it bow to the applicant with the biggest bucks? The issue of legal ownership of the "Titanic" trademark---a name worth millions in the wake of the biggest blockbuster movie in history---is being contested at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in Arlington, Virginia.

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Audio Video News
Video Review: The Phantom of the Opera on DVD
Joe Leydon  |  Feb 17, 1998  |  0 comments

<I>Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Smitz Edwards. Directed by Rupert Julian. Aspect ratio: 4:3. Dolby Digital. 92 minutes. 1925. Image Entertainment ID4097DSDVD. Not rated. $29.95.</I>

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Audio Video News
Plastic TV Announced by English Company
 |  Feb 15, 1998  |  0 comments

According to a recent Reuters report, London-based Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) has announced a very original product: a plastic video display. In the report, the company said, "CDT and its Japanese partner, Seiko-Epson Corp., have unveiled the world's first plastic TV display and will set aggressive targets for commercializing the technology." According to CDT chief executive Danny Chapchal, "The announcement will demonstrate that our technology is very close to commercialization for computer and video display applications."

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Audio Video News
Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall . . .
Barry Willis  |  Feb 15, 1998  |  0 comments

Los Angeles---Visionaries and vultures, pundits and panderers, gurus and geeks. They were all here at the Beverly Hilton for the first Networked Entertainment World Conference, a meeting of computer and software representatives, cable and online service providers, and film and television executives. Co-sponsored by Softbank Forums and the American Film Institute and attended by aspiring Web producers, game designers, and screenwriters (in addition to established industry types), the N:E:W conference was the first of what could prove to be an important annual event.

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