Mark Fleischmann

Every review I write has an "associated equipment" graf in which I dutifully list all the major components of my reference surround system: speakers, subwoofer, surround receiver, and universal disc player. When I use my turntable, I list that as well as the phono cartridge and whatever I'm using as a phono preamp. But I never go into similar detail about another significant component in my system, namely the cables that tie everything together. Readers may be wondering what I use and why I use it. This blog will tell all my dirty little cable secrets.

A company that stamps out half a billion DVDs a month has developed a way for movie studios and other software makers to track discs from factory to store to your home. The strategy is yet to be tested but the underlying technology is nothing fancy. It's RFID, or radio-frequency identification, the same chip-based system increasingly used in driver's licenses, U.S. passports, stores like Wal-Mart, and the EZ-Pass booth on toll roads. RFID can operate in a range from two inches, like the new credit/debit-card readers, to 69 feet. In this case the range for "chipped" discs will be six meters, or just under 20 feet. The RFID reader can be built into players, which would shut down when fed discs with the wrong regional coding. The AACS system built into the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats already allows copyright holders to shut down players in the home, but thanks to RFID, it will soon be possible to do the same in existing DVD as well. Developers of the new technology are iPico, an RFID specialist, and Ritek, whose U-Tech subsidiary manufactures discs for Disney, Fox, Warner, and other studios in factories all over the world. The first RFID-enriched discs will be made in Taiwan and tested in Australia.

Has streaming killed the shiny disc? The NPD Group says otherwise. A typical household spends 78 percent of its home video budget to purchase and rent DVD and Blu-ray. The 77 percent of consumers who report watching a movie on disc is unchanged from last year.

NPD's "Entertainment Trends in America" report puts streaming at 15 percent, with VOD and PPV comprising the remaining 8 percent. Spending on home video overall has dropped by 2 percent.

The Dish Network is going 3D, at least in a small way, with an initial round of movies in 3D 1080p from Dish Cinema On Demand.

December offerings will include Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, The Last Airbender, A Christmas Carol, and Step Up 3D. In January Dish will dish out Despicable Me, Shrek Forever After, and Saw: The Final Chapter. Pricing will be $5.99-7.99, probably an improvement over your local 3D movie theater. Resolution will be 1080p but the announcement did not reveal the 3D format to be used.

Dish is also running a Home for the Holidays Sweepstakes through the end of this month. Rent a qualifying program and you may win a Sony 46-inch LED-backlit LCD TV, Sony sat nav, Sony Webbie HD camera, a Fox Family Price Pack, "and more."