Audio Video News

At last week's <A HREF="http://www.nab.org">National Association of Broadcasters</A> convention in Las Vegas, <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com/tvaudio">Dolby Laboratories</A> unveiled the first Dolby E encoder and decoder products, which are intended to help television broadcasters make the transition from two-channel to multichannel audio. According to the company, the DP571 Dolby E Encoder and DP572 Dolby E Decoder allow broadcasters to distribute up to eight channels of audio, as well as additional data, with a pair of channels on a single AES/EBU cable, two audio tracks of a digital video tape, digital audio tape, or video server.

Last week, an important milestone in the development of broadcasting in China was marked with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the <A HREF="http://www.dvb.org">Digital Video Broadcasting Consortium</A> (DVB), a group committed to designing a global family of standards for the delivery of digital television, and the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS) of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television of China. The ABS is a research organization responsible for formulating recommendations for digital-television standards for China.

The buzzword "Digital" is on everyone's lips at the <A HREF="http://www.nab.org/">National Association of Broadcasters</A>' NAB 99, which opened Saturday in Las Vegas. Most of the noteworthy goodies on display at the convention are designed for the digital-television market. Demonstrations feature high-definition video courtesy of Las Vegas television station KTVN (Channel 41), which will be broadcasting 720p material all week long.

Don't leave home without it---home theater, that is. You can now take your movies on the road, thanks to <A HREF=http://www.panasonic.com/>Panasonic</A>'s mobile DVD theater. The complete package---in-dash DVD player, surround processor, video monitor, and 5.1-channel audio system---was unveiled at a <A HREF=http://www.cartoys.com/>Car Toys</A> store in Seattle on Friday, April 9. Car Toys specializes in aftermarket automotive sound.

The swingingest cat of them all is 35 years old this week. Monday, April 12, marks the birthday of The Pink Panther. The urbane feline made his first appearance in the Blake Edwards comedy of the same name back in 1964.

If you want to be the first on your block to see <A HREF="http://www.starwars.com/"><I>Star Wars: Episode I---The Phantom Menace</I></A>, you'd better get in line soon---if you can figure out which theater is going to show the film. Theater allocations for the long-awaited May 19 debut hadn't been decided as of last week, but exhibitors eagerly agreed to some strict requirements for running the film. One restriction---that no tickets be pre-sold---will thwart ticket scalpers and deprive ticket agencies of sizable fees.