LATEST ADDITIONS

"Despair all yea that hope for a true high-def movie format before late 2006."I read that in the background of one of the opening scenes in HBO's <I>Rome</I>, which looks utterly fabulous in high-def, by the way. Many videophiles, even the well-heeled ones, find it difficult to justify spending high dollars for a DVD player whose useful lifespan can be measured in months rather than years. With the new HD formats on the horizon (yes, I realize it's a receding one) the appeal of an inexpensive DVD player that can tide them over until the next technological storm is undeniably seductive.

There were a lot of announcements at Apple's recent gala press event touting the iPod nano, but conspicuously absent was any news about a video iPod. Apple, it seems, is content to let everybody else fight over the small market for portable video players (PVPs) - at least for now.

A flat-panel TV is probably in your future, if not already in your home. But many new owners of big-screen plasma and LCD sets find that their setups need some reconfiguring to accommodate these newest and leanest members of their home-entertainment families. In other words, the big and bulky cabinets designed to accommodate large tube TVs are out and thin is in.