Audio Video News

A plasma display's compact physical size, perfectly flat screen, and pixel-sharp picture answer many prayers for home-theater enthusiasts. There are a few downsides, however, including a lack of true blacks and prices equal to a new small car. But one of the biggest drawbacks so far is far too few pixels to properly present an HDTV image. To solve this problem, several manufacturers are creating larger displays with higher resolutions.

The popularity of DVD and home theater is driving sales of big-screen television sets to new heights&mdash;despite the fact that the rollout of digital television may make them obsolete in the near future. Sales of big-screen sets are up 13% over 1998, according to the latest statistics from the <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/">Consumer Electronics Association</A>. Ninety percent of the approximately 1 million units sold in 1990 were equipped to display only NTSC analog signals&mdash;or "legacy video," as industry insiders call it.

A report from Informa Telecoms and Media estimates that the number of HDTV households will grow to over 150 million worldwide by 2011 from just under 50 million as of the end of 2006. The US leads the pack by a long shot, currently comprising 58% of the worldwide totals, followed by Japan with 20% of world HDTV households.

Can you get high-definition images from low-definition sources? Cerritos, CA&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.adstech.com/">ADS Technologies</A> claims it's possible using its new "HDTV Upconverter," a $599 outboard device.