Audio Video News

Home theater just keeps getting better. New products from <A HREF="http://www.toshiba.com">Toshiba,</A> <A HREF="http://www.meitca.com">Mitsubishi,</A> and other companies promise huge improvements in picture quality and greater system flexibility. For example, Toshiba's ColorStream PRO technology in its Platinum Standard SD7108 DVD-Video player preserves the MPEG-2 480-line progressive video scanning inherent in DVDs and outputs it directly to one of the company's new Cinema Series projection TV sets, such as the 71-inch TP71H95.

"Rain, rain go away" was my mantra on the trek down to the annual audio-video Mecca; the forecasters were warning that the winter desert was set to deliver wet weather for the Consumer Electronic Show. I never thought my prayers would be answered so obliquely&mdash;Las Vegas enjoyed more than a few moments of <I>snow</I> on Friday of the convention. You could tell those who had never seen flurries of the chilly white stuff before: they wandered comically in circles with w-i-d-e eyes and slack jaws.

Last week, the <A HREF="http://www.hrrc.org">Home Recording Rights Coalition</A> (HRRC) issued a statement condemning the encryption of terrestrial broadcast television programming, which the organization says will threaten established home recording rights. The HRRC made its comments in a letter sent to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell in response to issues raised in a letter sent to Chairman Powell last week from members of Congress. In its letter, the HRRC expressed concerns that television programming producers may decide to provide content only to channels with strong copy protections.

As noted <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1131">last week</A>, since September 11 video rentals have mushroomed, as consumers have opted for the security of their homes instead of heading for the theater. The effects of this recent trend are being felt directly by video rental company <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com/">Blockbuster</A> which recently announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2001.