Mark Fleischmann

Formerly known under the informal project name of Blackbird, the THX Media Director has emerged from R&D and we got a sneak peak. Metadata are authored into Blu-ray (or whatever) discs. The player might handle the metadata with a firmware upgrade or you might need a new player. Your surround processor, possibly the Lyndorf pre-pro certified for this purpose, then uses the metadata to adjust aspect ratio, color temp, picture mode, surround processing, and all those other settings that are either a bear to deal with or you (well, other people) might not be knowledgable to fool with. If this thing flies, it'll bring high-end home theater performance out of the tweaker ghetto. (Pictured, two early THX Media Director certified products, top: Anchor Bay DVDO VP50 video processor. Bottom: Lyngdorf D-1 surround pre-pro.)

Wow, I landed in Vegas, went to the baggage carousel, and there was this big banner that said LOSER HD DVD. Is the HD DVD camp conceding already?

One of the most significant pieces of the transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting fell into place with the recent announcement that major retail chains would carry the set-top boxes necessary to keep analog sets from going dark.

Digital television has passed what is arguably its most significant milestone, with DTV sets in half of American homes, says a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association.