Jamie Sorcher talks to the natural-born killer turned Nature Boy about his health-conscious documentary Go Further on DVD, his favorite flicks and tunes, and, of course, Cheers.
A new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reveals that only 33.6 million (12%) of the 285 million television sets in the United States are used to watch over-the-air (OTA) programming. CEA issued its data in a letter delivered to the leadership of the Senate and House Commerce Committees to assist them in "their deliberations on how to ensure the needs of all Americans are addressed when analog broadcasting ceases." The House Commerce Committee is preparing to consider legislation currently under development by Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) that will set a hard cutoff date for analog broadcasts. The Senate Commerce Committee is poised to release draft DTV legislation later this month.
Everybody wants a monster-size HDTV, so it came as no surprise when readers wrote in asking for head-to-head comparisons of the big-screen HDTV technologies. The first round came with "Plasma vs. LCD" (February/March, available on the S&V Web site). After reading our unflinching test of those popular types of hang-on-the-wall TVs, you asked to see LCD take on DLP.
Sharp is finally ready to begin selling - in Japan, at first, and then in the U.S. later in the year - the LC-65GE1, a jumbo 65V-inch1 LCD flat-panel HDTV, touted by Sharp as "the world's largest LCD model". The new giant HDTV uses a full-spec high-definition low reflection Advanced Super View LCD panel with 1,920 by 1,080 pixels (1080i). Sharp says that high-speed full-motion video artifacts are significantly reduced as a result of Sharp's QS (Quick Shoot) technology. In the new model, crimson has been added to the standard red, green, and blue backlighting in order to recreate previously unreproduceable colors such as "the deep red of aged wine". (No mention was made of the set's ability to accurately reproduce the color of the $3.99 bottle of cheap rose I bought last week, but I guess that's to be expected.) The TV's audio package includes Sharp's 1-Bit Digital Amplifier and bottom-mounted High-Aperture Speaker System.
Following the mantra that bigger is better and flatter is even better, Samsung tantalized flat-panel TV lovers with the announcement that they've developed the world's first 40-inch active matrix OLED display. The prototype panel has a pixel resolution of 1280 x 800 (WXGA for those computer types).
Carlos Franzetti—The Jazz Kamerata (Chesky) [SACD]
By mere coincidence (or perhaps not), I sat down to review this new hybrid SACD on the rare rainy day in Los Angeles (although not quite as rare this winter). The two were a perfect fit. The Jazz Kamerata has a comfortable warmth about it, inviting you to wrap yourself in it and settle in for a lazy afternoon.
Even as DVI and HDMI were being adopted by video manufacturers as the digital links of choice, one limitation of these connections was already well known: they don't like to be used in long lengths. The generally accepted limit for an unassisted digital video cable of this type is about 5 meters or just over 16 feet, particularly with high-definition sources.
