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Audio Video News
Fahrenheit 451 Lights Up on DVD
Dave Thompson  |  Dec 27, 1998  |  0 comments

O<I>skar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring, Jeremy Spenser, Alex Scott. Directed by Fran&#231;ois Truffaut. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (widescreen). Dolby Digital (mono). 112 minutes. 1966. Universal ID4231. Not rated. $24.99.</I>

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Audio Video News
Broadcast.com's Casablanca will be 1st Internet Major Motion Picture
Barry Willis  |  Dec 20, 1998  |  0 comments

Ready or not, here it comes. Last week, <A HREF="http://www.broadcast.com/">Broadcast.com</A> announced that it will begin streaming movies over the Internet this month, starting with the Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman classic <I>Casablanca</I>.

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Audio Video News
Swept from the Sea at Low Tide
Paula Nechak  |  Dec 20, 1998  |  0 comments

R<I>achel Weisz, Vincent Perez, Kathy Bates, Ian McKellen, Zoe Wanamaker, Tom Bell, Joss Ackland. Directed by Beeban Kidron. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1. Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, Spanish, French). 115 minutes. 1997. Columbia TriStar 21649-D. Rated R. $22.25.</I>

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Audio Video News
The Future of Audio/Video Content Storage?
Jon Iverson  |  Dec 20, 1998  |  0 comments

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A> and computer storage company <A HREF="http://www.westerndigital.com">Western Digital</A> announced that they will form a strategic partnership to co-develop a new hard-disk drive (HDD) for consumer audio and video applications. According to the announcement, prototypes of the AV HDD will be developed and tested for verification of basic technologies by the end of March 1999. Commercialization of the AV HDD is being targeted for the year 2000.

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Audio Video News
But What About That Personal Copy They Promised Us?
 |  Dec 20, 1998  |  0 comments

In spite of our <A HREF="http://hrrc.org/">guaranteed right</A> to make a personal copy of the CDs and videos we purchase, <A HREF="http://www.foxhome.com/">Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment</A> and <A HREF="http://www.macrovision.com/">Macrovision Corporation</A> announced last week that they have signed a one-year agreement to copy-protect all of Fox's DVDs produced in the US and Canada. Fox will also use the triangular "CP" (copy protection) logo in a substantial number of its trade advertisements to inform video retailers that its DVDs are copy-protected.

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Audio Video News
Hughes Electronics Buyout Will Combine USSB, DirecTV
Barry Willis  |  Dec 19, 1998  |  0 comments

The two biggest names in the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) business are about to become one. On Monday, December 14, Hughes Electronics Corporation announced that it will buy <A HREF="http://www.ussb.com/">United States Satellite Broadcasting Company</A> (USSB) for $1.3 billion in stock and cash.

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Audio Video News
FireWire Home Networks Get Hot
 |  Dec 13, 1998  |  0 comments

Another step toward a standardized audio/video home network was taken last week when eight consumer-electronics manufacturers agreed to implement a patent license program for the <A HREF="http://www.havi.org/">HAVi</A> specification. The companies involved in the announcement are <A HREF="http://www.grundig.com/">Grundig</A>, <A HREF="http://www.Hitachi.com/">Hitachi</A>, Matsushita (<A HREF="http://www.Panasonic.com/">Panasonic</A>), <A HREF="http://www.philips.com/">Philips</A>, <A HREF="http://www.sharpelectronics.com/">Sharp</A>, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A>, Thomson Multimedia, and <A HREF="http://www.toshiba.com">Toshiba</A>. Under the licensing program, the HAVi home-network architecture will be made available to the electronics and multimedia industries in spring 1999. Philips has been designated to serve as the licensing contact on behalf of the eight companies.

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Audio Video News
Cable vs. Satellite vs. DSL
Jon Iverson  |  Dec 13, 1998  |  0 comments

TV life used to be pretty simple: Stick a pair of rabbit ears on the set, and if you lived near a big city, pull in a dozen channels or so---more if you had a UHF tuner. Now we have cable as well as satellite dishes big and small. In the near future, even your phone company could get into the act with some form of digital subscriber line (DSL) service. But of all these choices, which offers the best value? Two recent studies attempt to unravel the choices facing consumers with an analysis of the options.

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Audio Video News
The Doom Generation Spills Onto DVD
Paula Nechak  |  Dec 13, 1998  |  0 comments

J<I>onathan Schaech, Rose McGowan, James Duval. Directed by Gregg Araki. Aspect ratio: 1.33:1. Dolby Surround 2.0. 83 minutes. 1995. TRI6836. Not rated. $24.95.</I>

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Audio Video News
CEMA: Forrester Research Wrong on HDTV
Barry Willis  |  Dec 12, 1998  |  0 comments

Gary Shapiro, president of the <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A> (CEMA), lashed out last week at technology-trends research firm Forrester Research after FR issued a November <A HREF="http://www.forrester.com/Marketing/0,1051,58,00.html">report</A> dismissing consumer interest in high-definition television (HDTV). The report, authored by Josh Bernoff, foresees that digital TV will take off, but that most consumers won't be sufficiently smitten with hi-def pictures to go for the technology in a big way---or at least not in a way that will fully benefit makers of HD receivers.

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