Audio Video News

Things continue to look up for HDTV fans wedded to a cable provider. Following close on the heels of a similar <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1244">recent announcement</A> from Comcast Cable, <A HREF="http://www.charter.com">Charter Communications</A> announced last week that high definition television (HDTV) programming will be made available to some of its customers during the second quarter of this year.

Ask anyone, home theater fanatic or man in the street. All agree that flatscreen televisions are the coolest thing since ice cream.

Although broadcasters still have until 2006 to implement DTV, the <A HREF="http://www.CE.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) is reporting that manufacturer-to-dealer sales of digital television (DTV) products continued to beat past year performance. For the latest figures, DTV products are defined to include integrated sets and monitors displaying active vertical scanning lines of at least 480p and, in the case of integrated sets, receiving and decoding ATSC terrestrial digital transmissions.

<A HREF="http://www.comcast.com">Comcast Cable Communications</A> announced last week that it will make high definition TV (HDTV) programming available to subscribers in its major markets by the end of 2002, beginning in the Washington Metro/Virginia region this summer.

Perhaps more than any other art form, movies are about blurring the line between reality and fantasy. For the sake of entertainment, film scripts take great liberties with historical figures and events, and the film industry spends millions on each production to create effects that could never happen in life.

Looking for a great home theater preamp that won't break the bank? Atlantic Technology's new A/V preamplifier/processor will perform flawlessly with "every consumer surround-sound processing format currently known to man," according to a recent announcement. It will also do so a price far below some of its big-ticket competitors. The P-2000 carries a suggested retail price of only $1699.

Journalists and television industry analysts have stated from the outset that three types of content would drive high definition television: adult fare, blockbuster movies, and sports.