The forces competing to win the prize of the next-generation DVD - the disc that will carry high-definition movies and other HD content - squared off with competing press conferences on the first day of the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show. As in exhibition sports, they played real ball, but the score counted little toward the championship.
You know movies sound more thrilling in surround sound than in plain stereo. Unfortunately, you lack the space, inclination, or décor - perhaps in a bedroom, dorm room, or weekend retreat - to accommodate all of the speakers and gear for a home theater system, or even a seven-piece home-theater-in-a-box (HTiB) system.
The soundtrack from the DVD of last year's King Arthur offers up barbarous sonic attacks and thrilling surround effects. The latest speaker release from Paradigm, the Cinema 110 Compact Theater, delivers some pretty exciting surround effects as well. But could this value-priced system produce truly civilized sound from King Arthur's medieval mayhem?
After traipsing dozens of miles through aisles as crowded as a big city subway train in rush hour, I have seen thousands of light-emitting diodes, if not hundreds of thousands. I have seen every video display technology and their variations known to civilization. I have heard nearly every reproducible sound audible to the human ear.
The first public day of the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show reached new heights with announcements from Echostar's Dish Network and DirecTV. These satellite-TV providers plan to turn the sky over the equator into the equivalent of a freeway in rush hour.
Photos by Tony Cordoza The Pioneer Elite ES-DV1000 will grab your eyes as much as the DVD movies it plays will. Its sophisticated electronics are hidden inside a beguilingly simple and elegant brushed-aluminum and gray cabinet.