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Chip makers continue to up the ante as computers and television converge. <A HREF="http://www.intel.com/">Intel Corporation</A> has announced the Pentium III, the latest in its famous line of high-speed microprocessors. The new chip, which will replace the highly regarded Pentium II, has been optimized for audio/video, graphics, and data communication with the addition of 70 new instruction codes. It will run at a basic clock rate of 450-500 MHz---fast enough to process high-definition television signals.

1999 started off in fine detail for the thousands of early adopters who have picked up a high-definition television. January 1, the 110th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, was broadcast to digital-television viewers for the first time in full 1920x1080 HDTV. Tribune Broadcasting's <A HREF="http://www.ktla.com/">KTLA-DT</A> transmitted this year's parade in hi-def using a <A HREF="http://www.nmtv.com/">National Mobile Television</A> (NMT) remote broadcast truck, known as the HD-2.

It's extremely rare for low-budget foreign films to catch on with American audiences. Most that are lucky enough to get distribution in the States spend a few poorly attended weeks in the art houses, then quietly disappear. <I>The Full Monty</I>, a British film about a group of unemployed Sheffield steel workers putting together a "Chippendales"-type revue, has done just the opposite.

In installment <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?42">one</A> and <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?48">two</A> of this series, we presaged the crawl of HDTV, the rise of the flat-panel TV, and the demise of Divx. For our final set of guesses---er, prescient opinions, we tackle four more topics.