Audio Video News

Walt Disney Company's home entertainment division will expand its test marketing of self-destructing DVDs in Florida next month, according to an announcement from Los Angeles. In April, Buena Vista Home Entertainment plans to rollout the company's "EZ-D" disposable DVDs through retailers in Florida and other major markets in the Southwest.

DVD: Mona Lisa Smile—Columbia TriStar
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Exras: 4
In Mona Lisa Smile, Julia Roberts stars as Katherine Watson, an art-history professor who comes to teach at Wellesley College, an all-women's school in Massachusetts. It's 1953, and, naturally, Katherine teaches the women more than just Picasso. It's a predictable movie; if you've seen Dead Poet's Society, you have a pretty good handle on how this film will play out.

Archiving high-def video and high-rez audio should become less problematic for technophiles in the near future thanks to a breakthrough development by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST).

UPDATE - Echostar Communications and Viacom Inc. settled their rate hike dispute late Wednesday, March 10.

Harman/Kardon
If you've been waiting for the perfect unit to come along before replacing that obsolete DVD player you're currently using, look no further. Harman/Kardon's DVD 31 is a progressive-scan player that can chew up almost any alphabetic combination you can think up: DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, WMA, CD, MP3, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD-DA, CD-R/-RW, CD-ROM multisession, 24/96 audio discs, and videoCD. Pixel-by-pixel processing upconverts images to progressive-scan component video output. The player also features digital-video circuitry to reconstruct the 3:2-pulldown process, so you get the full 60-frame playback with progressive-scan image quality for your DVD-Video. A long list of connections rounds out the package: component video, S-video, composite video, coaxial and optical digital audio, and multichannel and stereo analog audio. One last surprise for you: All of this retails for just $349.
Harman/Kardon
(800) 422-8027
www.harmankardon.com

Thomas J. Norton listens to the <A HREF="/amplifiers/104theta">Theta Dreadnaught II multichannel amplifier</A>, the latest in a growing family from a company known for its digital converters, transports and surround processors. TJN determines if the amp, which is configurable from two to five channels, lives up to Theta's admirable audiophile reputation.