Audio Video News

You pretty much can't read a review of a display or disc player here or anywhere without seeing references to the video processing test clips and patterns from Silicon Optix' <I>HQV Benchmark</I>. Now, the high-definiton <I>HD HQV Benchmark</I> is available to consumers on both Blu-ray and HD DVD for $20 each.

<A HREF="http://www.sim2USA.com">SIM2 USA</A>, a division of SIM2 Multimedia S.p.A., has become the first manufacturer to launch a projector and monitors using Texas Instruments' new HD2 Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) chipset. The company's new projector is the HT300 Plus, the latest addition to the renowned line of Grand Cinema DLP projectors. Also new are two models in its Grand Cinema RTX line.

High-end audio is the primary emphasis here at HE 2001, but home theater is getting plenty of exposure at demos put on by <A HREF="http://www.polkaudio.com">Polk Audio</A>, <A HREF="http://www.martinlogan.com">MartinLogan</A>, and other audio manufacturers who are pushing their products for surround sound. Polk's large suite&mdash;immediately next door to the show's Press Room&mdash;has been packed for the first two days, with show attendees waiting in long lines to get in. The emphasis: a new multi-channel audio system known as the Digital Solution 7200, which includes five two-way speakers, a powered subwoofer with an integral multichannel amplifier, and a tuner/processor/preamp.

The first projector in SIM2's new Multimedia Grand Cinema C3X series was demonstrated to the press last week at the Italian Trade Council's New York City headquarters. SIM2 invested $5 million developing the new C3X projector. The few 3-chip DLP designs that have been introduced to the consumer market so far are large, heavy, and expensive. SIM2 appears to have solved the large and heavy issues. At a svelte 19 pounds, the C3X is not much more massive than the company's 1-chip models, and only about twice their compact size.

Is computer code that allows a user to violate a copyright a protected form of free speech, or is it an "illegal device"? The <A HREF="http://www.mpaa.org/">Motion Picture Association of America</A> (MPAA) has aggressively pursued legal action against internet entrepreneurs, such as <A HREF="http://www.2600.com/"><I>2600, the Hacker Quarterly</I></A>, that promoted DeCSS, a 57-kilobyte code, invented in 1999 by 15-year-old Norwegian student Jon Lech Johansen, that allows DVDs to be copied onto computers' hard drives and then transmitted over the internet.