Audio Video News

<A HREF="http://www.brilliancorp.com">Brillian Corporation</A> is making waves among the HDTV elite with its first-ever rear projection monitor, a 65"-diagonal widescreen unit with exceptional specifications&mdash;among them a 160-degree viewing angle and 2000:1 contrast ratio. At the heart of the new BR6501m/I are three 1280x720 microdisplays, the latest in the company's patent-pending Gen II LCoS line.

Sony's turnaround plan: The electronics giant has initiated an ambitious plan to achieve a 10% profit margin by March 2007, the company stated in a news conference on May 19. Key product lines in the program include flat-panel television sets and DVD recorders. Sony is in possible buyout discussions with US film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., a move that could significantly affect the corporate bottom line for years to come. Rumored price for the studio and its 4000+ library of titles is $5 billion.

Can you really have it all with a single disc player? Michael Fremer plugs in the <A HREF="/dvdplayers/304linn">Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal player</A> to find out. MF notes, "The war of the high-resolution audio formats has ended in an unofficial truce."

With two days completed and two days to go, Home Entertainment 2004 is packing them in at the NY Midtown Hilton.

Low-cost TVs: Free trade may be good for American consumers, but it isn't always good for American workers. So concluded a US trade panel investigating charges that Chinese manufacturers have been "dumping" low-cost television sets on the US market over the past three years. On May 14, the US International Trade Commission voted unanimously to impose duties averaging 23% on imports of Chinese-made color televisions (CTVs), an action that could force up retail prices. Acting on a petition brought by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the Industrial Division of the Communication Workers of America (IUE-CWA), and Five Rivers Electronic Innovations, LLC, a TV manufacturer in Greeneville, Tennessee, the Commission found that between 2001 and 2003, total CTV imports from China rose 3000%, from 56,000 units to 1.8 million units. Imports of consumer goods reached an all-time high of $31.3 billion in March 2004, according to Five Rivers president Tom Hopson.