Audio Video News

<A HREF="http://www.jvc.com">JVC</A> should soon release its CU-VH1, a portable high-definition player/recorder intended to complement the company's GR-HD1 and JY-HD10 HDTV camcorders.

You've got great components, but how to make them easy for everyone to use? Scott Wilkinson examines the <A HREF="/accessories/1203remote">Universal Remote Control Home Theater Master MX-800</A> and finds that it has one feature that may make it better than anything else in its price range.

"Targeted marketing" is one of the most powerful buzz-phrases in the advertising lexicon. In its most benign form, it means simply offering information about products and services to those most likely to want them. In a more malevolent form, it means prying into private citizens' activities to discover what really captivates them.

From couch potato to desktop tuber: If you can't get enough TV even while toiling away at your computer, <A HREF="http://www.ati.com">ATI Technologies Inc</A>. has a family of video graphics cards just for you. In late January, the Markham, Ontario company announced new additions to its "All-in-Wonder" line of graphics cards. Among them are the All-in-Wonder 9600XT, All-in-Wonder 9600, and All-in-Wonder 9200. The All-in-Wonder 9600XT delivers more multimedia features via a graphics engine clocked at 525 MHz, with 128 MB of memory running at 650 MHz. Priced at $299 (US) this new multimedia solution includes an "FM-on-Demand" feature to receive and record favorite FM radio stations. It also offers dual VGA monitor support, integrated DVD authoring and burning, and comes bundled with MPEG-4-enabled Multimedia Center 8.8 software.

In late January, the US Department of Justice began a preliminary inquiry into the Blu-ray group, a breakaway from the <A HREF="http://www.dvdforum.org">DVD Forum</A>. Composed of Sony Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Philips Electronics NV, seven other manufacturers&mdash;and recently joined by Dell and Hewlett Packard&mdash;the Blu-ray group is suspected of interfering with the Forum's progress in establishing a standard for high-definition/high density DVD technology.