Audio Video News

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Audio Video News
Great Sound, Cool Look: New Montana SP Series 3 Loudspeaker
HT Staff  |  Aug 06, 2000
Tight punchy bass, incredible clarity, and high efficiency are qualities all home theater fans look for when shopping for loudspeakers. Great sound is important, but the dealmaker is often the speakers' look.
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Audio Video News
HDTV Forecast: More Delays Ahead
Barry Willis  |  Aug 06, 2000

Locally broadcast high-definition television <I>won't</I> be coming to a home theater near you anytime soon. That's the consensus of participants and observers at congressional hearings on the subject in late July, when long-simmering disagreement over a technical standard for terrestrial transmission finally got its day in court.

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Audio Video News
Will It Really Take That Long?
 |  Aug 06, 2000

According to research just released by <A HREF="http://www.strategyanalytics.com">Strategy Analytics</A>, manufacturers will increase worldwide shipments of set-top DVD players by 300% this year, while retail revenues across the three major regions (US, Europe, Japan) will rise by 220%, to $7 billion. SA says that this year's market is being driven by the launch of DVD-based games consoles, and that DVD recorders will fuel the momentum from 2001 on.

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Audio Video News
Good Guys Debuts Panasonic DVD Recorder
 |  Aug 06, 2000

West Coast&ndash;based consumer-electronics chain <A HREF="http://www.goodguys.com/">Good Guys</A> will be one of the first retailers in the nation to carry <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com/">Panasonic</A>'s new video recorder. The DMR-E10, capable of recording Dolby Digital 2-track audio and MPEG-2 video, will arrive in all 79 Good Guys locations beginning in late September.

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Audio Video News
It Takes One to Know One
Jon Iverson  |  Aug 06, 2000

If it's true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then <A HREF="http://www.dvdpreview.tv"><I>DVD Preview</I></A> is likely the ultimate review "magazine" for new DVD releases. Arriving on newsstands in a cardboard package the size of a small magazine (think <I>The Reader's Digest</I>), <I>DVD Preview</I> bills itself as "a new kind of magazine coming to you on the very medium it reports on." To bring this point home, the magazine's website even has one of the recently minted ".tv" domain names (see <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?269">previous story</A>) instead of the ubiquitous ".com."

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Audio Video News
Hackers Begin Modifying TiVo Machines
 |  Aug 06, 2000

Build it and they will come&mdash;to take it apart. Modifying original equipment has long been one of the most popular activities among electronics hobbyists. Hard-disk video recorders from <A HREF="http://www.tivo.com/">TiVo</A> are the latest consumer-electronics products to go under the hacker's knife and emerge with upgraded capabilities.

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Audio Video News
Boys Don't Cry Rings of Deep Truth on DVD
Wes Phillips  |  Aug 06, 2000

H<I>illary Swank, Chlo&euml; Sevigny, Peter Scarsgard. Directed by Kimberly Pierce. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1. 116 minutes. 1999. 20th Century Fox 2000173. R. $34.98.</I>

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Audio Video News
Style and Performance: the Marantz PD4290D Plasma Screen
HT Staff  |  Jul 31, 2000
Décor-conscious movie buffs dismayed by big, black rear projector sets have something new to look at. Marantz has come up with the PD4290D widescreen plasma monitor--it's only 3.5-inches deep, but offers wide-angle viewing from its 42-inch diagonal screen. Mounted on a wall (with cables hidden) or on its tabletop stand, the $14,999 PD4290D makes an unequivocal statement about melding technology with high style.
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Audio Video News
Panasonic Recently Announces High-Contrast Plasma Display
HT Staff  |  Jul 30, 2000
No projector, no screen, no giant box dominating the room--just a bright, clear picture hanging on the wall. It's the dream of many home theater enthusiasts, and Panasonic is helping to make it come true. The Japanese manufacturer has announced huge advances in contrast ratio––boosting it from a middling 400:1 to a mind-boggling 2000:1--and resulting in, the company says, brighter whites and darker blacks.
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Audio Video News
Denon Receiver First with DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
HT Staff  |  Jul 30, 2000
Home theater fans looking for one component that will do everything should look no further than Denon’s new AVR-5800 receiver. With seven channels of high-wattage amplification, a subwoofer output, and high-resolution internal digital-to-analog converters, the AVR-5800 is also the first home theater product designed to accommodate DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, the recently-announced surround sound format from acoustic effects pioneer Digital Theater Systems.
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Audio Video News
All Dressed Up with Nowhere to Go?
 |  Jul 30, 2000

According to figures released last week by the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA), factory sales to dealers for digital television (DTV) displays for the month of June were 26,750 units, which the CEA claims is "the biggest sales month to date for DTV." The figures also show that the June figures brought DTV display sales for 2000 to 129,438, surpassing total display sales in 1999 (121,226). The CEA adds that these figures include DTV and HDTV display monitors that require the addition of a set-top box to receive digital broadcasts, as well as DTV and HDTV sets that include a DTV tuner. In addition, the CEA reports that 17,671 standalone set-top receivers have been sold to dealers since January 2000.

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Audio Video News
Pioneer's HDTV Monitors Go Mass-Market in September
 |  Jul 30, 2000

Although prices for high-definition displays have steadily declined in the past year, the equipment hasn't moved into the mass market in significant numbers. Home-theater specialty shops and their upscale clientele haven't yet had much of a "trickle-down" effect on rank-and-file consumers.

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Audio Video News
American Movie on DVD
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 30, 2000

M<I>ark Bourchardt, Mike Schank. Directed by Chris Smith. Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (full-screen). Dolby Digital 5.1. 104 minutes. 1999. Sony Pictures 04702. R. $27.95.</I>

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Audio Video News
TiVo, Nielsen, ASI Join to Discover Viewers' Habits
 |  Jul 30, 2000

What do you watch on TV? When do you watch it? Soon 1500 volunteers will reveal all about their viewing habits as they embark on an unprecedented adventure in "big brotherism."

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Audio Video News
HDTV or Else
Jon Iverson  |  Jul 30, 2000

Testifying last week before the House Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) president and CEO Gary Shapiro described what he called a "successful consumer transition" to digital television (DTV), this characterized by broad product offerings, increased programming from alternative media sources, steady sales, and high consumer satisfaction with DTV products. But all is not rosy: According to Shapiro, broadcast-industry delays in delivering significant HDTV programming and the industry's potential misuse of the DTV spectrum to provide subscription data services could seriously slow the transition's current momentum.

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