Audio Video News

The year 2000 was a box office record breaker for the film industry, but the chance of repeating that feat in 2001 is being dimmed by the possibility of labor strikes that could halt film production for months.

Here at S+V we spend most of our time telling you about the coolest products for listening to music and watching movies - but many of our staffers and contributors also make their own sounds , and we know a whole lot of you readers are also musicians, whether seasoned pros or weekend hobbyists. And if there's one thing we know about musicians, it's that they love cool new gear.

Musicians and record labels have long been able to back up their bragging with gold records hanging on their walls, but film directors and movie studios have had to rely on mere sales statistics when it came to a DVD's success. But last week, the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) announced the first eight titles to qualify under its new DVD Certification Program to recognize "outstanding sales performance" of DVD titles. The titles were announced during the Association's 19th Annual Convention in Las Vegas by VSDA president Bo Andersen.

High definition video may be the Holy Grail for couch potatoes, but it's not good enough for the cinema. At least that's what members of the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) concluded at a Hollywood technology retreat February 8.

Children's programming seems to fill a huge number of time slots on television these days. What once was a minor business in the broadcasting industry has become a giant in its own right. The industry is throwing increasing amounts of capital at developers of children's programming in the hope of creating brand loyalty and thereby pulling in lucrative advertising dollars.