Barry Willis

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Barry Willis  |  Mar 31, 1998

Widescreen pictures and 5.1-channel audio will soon be accompanied by stenches, scents, fragrances, and aromas. Parfum Recherche SA, a Paris-based olfactory research firm, has announced a partnership with Snout & Proboscis Development Corp. of Santa Clara, California, to license its scent-encoding and -decoding technology to film studios and home-theater hardware makers worldwide. S&P's new chip division will be known as Scentronics.

Barry Willis  |  Oct 24, 1998

Until prices for HDTV receivers come down from the stratosphere and high-def programming is available full-time, most viewers will be watching the new format on legacy TVs with the aid of set-top converter boxes. Hearing the clarion call of opportunity, <A HREF="http://www.sciatl.com/">Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.</A> has introduced a line of products to help meet the early demand for HDTV. Among these products is a new HD version of their Explorer 2000 advanced digital set-top box, which will be available in January. This "all-formats" decoder will translate incoming HDTV signals into NTSC video, easing a myriad of consumers into the coming age of digital television.

Barry Willis  |  Dec 12, 1998

Several months into one of the biggest mergers the entertainment industry has ever seen, Seagram Company has announced that many of the film and video operations it acquired in its buyout of PolyGram NV will be absorbed into its Universal Studios division. A flurry of pink slips for PolyGram employees, a shuffling of Universal management following a box-office slump, and a hefty write-down for the current quarter are all part of the script.

Barry Willis  |  Jun 21, 1998

In a move that reportedly caught <A HREF="http://www.circuitcity.com">Circuit City</A> CEO Richard Sharp by surprise, retail chain Sears, Roebuck & Co. has decided not to carry <A HREF="http://www.divx.com">Divx</A>. Apparently, the format's overwhelmingly negative pre-release publicity was taken seriously by the retailer.

Barry Willis  |  Jun 22, 2003

It's shaping up to be a long hot summer for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell and his colleagues.

Barry Willis  |  Sep 27, 2004

The long-discussed and often-postponed changeover from analog television broadcasting to a purely digital format is still somewhere over the rainbow, thanks to a September 23 vote by the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC).

Barry Willis  |  Mar 03, 2002

Excessive caution over copyrights could inhibit the already slow rollout of digital television, electronics industry executives told a US Senate committee last week.

Barry Willis  |  Jul 01, 2001

A threatened strike against the entertainment industry by actors will probably be avoided. Negotiators for film studios and television networks, and for two actors' unions, worked late Saturday, June 30 and resumed work Sunday morning in an effort to avoid a strike. The situation is a replay of one enacted two months ago by writers and producers, who arrived at an agreement May 4.

Barry Willis  |  May 10, 2001

The home of the future will have a "Digital Nerve Center" at its core&mdash;a center that incorporates audio, video, information, and computer functions that control the house and link it to the world outside. That's the vision of <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/"><B>Consumer Electronics Association</B></A> president Gary Shapiro and the hundreds of manufacturers who comprise his organization.

Barry Willis  |  Mar 16, 2003

<A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) president Gary Shapiro has pronounced 2003 as "the beginning of the end" for the transition from analog television to its digital successor.

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