Audio Video News

It feels like watching a tennis match—back and forth, over and over. The decision to delay the analog-TV cutoff was passed by the Senate, rejected by the House of Representatives, passed again by the Senate last week, and finally passed today by the House with a vote of 264-158. Interestingly, the number of Republicans who voted for the bill (23) was greater than the number of Democrats who voted against it (10). Obviously, President Obama will sign it, since he spearheaded the effort to delay the transition in the first place.

This morning I picked out the weekly Best Buy flyer from my Sunday paper and saw a DirecTV HD TiVo on special for $399 after mail-in rebate. My initial thought was, "cool! Looks like the new MPEG4 compatible HD DVR is finally out!" This thought died of loneliness seconds later as I realized the HD DVR in the ad is the trusty HR10-250 that sits in my own equipment rack. A terrific machine, but not compatible with the new MPEG4 compressed HD channels that DirecTV has very quietly rolled out in the last several months.

N<I>arrated by Kenneth Branagh. Series producer: Tim Haines. Producer: Jasper James. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Surround. Two discs. 230 minutes. 1999. BBC Video (distributed by CBS). CBS Fox Video 2000040. NR. $34.98.</I>