Audio Video News

Hoping to fulfill the long-awaited promise of delivering broadband entertainment direct to the television, <A HREF="http://www.intertainer.com/">Intertainer</A>, <A HREF="http://www.uniview.com/">uniView Technologies</A>, and Microsoft have buddied up and announced that they will join <A HREF="http://www.zoomtown.com">ZoomTown.com</A> to market-test a service that will provide asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband entertainment directly to consumers' televisions. ZoomTown.com says it expects to deploy the service to its more than 35,000 subscribers next year following completion of the trial.

Video-on-demand (VOD) is coming soon to more than 1.2 million homes in Los Angeles, courtesy of <A HREF="http://www.chartercom.com/">Charter Communications, Inc.</A>, the fourth-largest cable operator in the US. Charter has completed an agreement with Redwood City, CA&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.divatv.com/">DIVA Systems Corporation</A> to provide VOD software and hardware for customers in Long Beach, Pasadena, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Glendale, and Burbank.

I know, it's a little TBS Superstation of me to post one of "the world's funniest commercials!" But, as an A/V nerd, this one got me. While itd doesn't quite have the wow-factor of Sony's ultra-elaborate Bravia ads, it's wroth a chuckle. I won't...

Don’t you just hate it when Netflix freezes? Acutely aware of how Internet speeds affect perception of its service, Netflix regularly ranks ISPs. In the November 2015 ranking, Grande Communications was the winner at 3.90 Mbps. The small outfit outpaced a bunch of big guys including Verizon (3.86), Cox (3.76), Bright House/Cablevision (3.74), Comcast (3.69), and Time Warner (3.65). These numbers are for Netflix performance only, not overall data performance.

The final curtain has fallen for the financially troubled Vidikron, as the company's dissolution has been announced by its secured creditor, Markland Technologies. As <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?490">reported</A> nearly three years ago, in August of 1999, Vidikron narrowly escaped bankruptcy at that time by arranging a line of credit and was then <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?516">independantly financed</A> by a group of international investors one month later.

In a move intended to broaden its home theater product line, <A HREF="http://www.projectavision.com">Projectavision, Inc.</A> of New York announced January 21 that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase substantially all of the assets of <A HREF="http://www.vidikron.com">Vidikron Industries, S.p.A.</A>, including its US subsidiary, Vidikron of America. Vidikron, a privately held company founded 18 years ago and headquartered in Milan, Italy, is a manufacturer and marketer of high-end projection systems for the home-theater consumer and commercial markets, and serves customers in over 30 countries worldwide.