Jeannie Kane, publisher of <i>Stereophile Guide to Home Theater</i>, is very pleased to announce the appointment of Maureen C. Jenson as Editor at Large, effective March 9, 1998. This appointment coincides with the launch of the <i>Guide</i>'s new custom-installation section, which will debut in the June 1998 issue.
Home theaters are becoming ever more affordable according to new data just released by the <A HREF="http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A> (CEMA). In 1997, dollar sales of home-theater products reached $8.2 billion---a slight drop from the $8.3 billion generated in the previous year---but many of the essential components of home-theater systems sold more units than ever before. Overall unit sales of home-theater products rose 5%.
Who'd've thunk it? The movie-going public can't get enough of James Cameron's <I>Titanic</I>, the three-hour disaster flick starring the mismatched Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as a pair of doomed lovers.
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.
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.
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>
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.
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.