Audio Video News

Once the rarefied domain of specialty electronics retailers, home theater is going discount. Big-box discount chains like K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Inc. and Target Stores have seen their revenues surge since adding digital televisions and related products to their inventories.

<I>William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick, Paul Winfield, Kirstie Allie, Ricardo Montalban. Directed by Nicolas Meyer. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround (English), Stereo (French). Two discs. 116 minutes. 1982. Paramount 09117. PG. $29.99.</I>

Fred Manteghian wires the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?68">Krell DVD Standard DVD player</A> into his HT system, describing it as the first high-end player he's used with the latest Faroudja Laboratories chipset. Is it worth the $8k price tag? FM broadcasts all.

A red laser&ndash;based Advanced Optical Disc (AOD) format system developed by Toshiba and NEC has been chosen by the DVD Forum as the standard for next-generation high-definition DVD players. The DVD Forum will develop AOD specs and publish them in the spring, according to the Nikkei news service. NEC said it would release AOD drives for PCs next year. Toshiba plans to market AOD home recorders in 2004.

DTV bodes well for the Korean electronics industry: Korean television manufacturers better than tripled their volume of digital TV exports in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

<A HREF="http://www.runco.com">Runco International</A> has introduced two new widescreen flat-panel plasma monitors. Both are 16:9 units offering true high-definition performance, supporting 720p in its native resolution.