China’s Home Theater Market – The Chinese home theater scene is expanding greatly just as it is in North America, but there are a number of differences. The full HD front projector with its large screen display size and excellent picture performance has become the preferred equipment of the growing moneyed class, with all sorts of playback devices furnishing the video signals. These include Blu-ray players, HD players, CBHD players, game consoles, HTPC and HD set-top boxes and Internet video sources. In addition to the upgraded video of 1080p HD standards, the traditional DTS and Dolby used on standard DVDs has also been upgraded to next-generation standards, namely lossless DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD.
In addition to the usual advantages compared to attending a theatrical showing – being able to see almost any film one desires, enjoying snacks without bothering others, lying down or relaxing instead of just sitting, being able to make sounds if one wants – there is the possibility that a good home theater can surpass both the picture quality and surround sound of many commercial theaters. Also, one cannot always get the best seats in a movie theater, and sitting in the marginal areas can seriously affect sound quality and visual effects. Additionally, in China films for release must be first submitted for approval, and only a limited number of foreign films are accepted, whereas in the home theater one can watch a much great variety of fare with hi-def picture and hi-res sound. Those attending foreign films in China must decide at the box office whether they want the original soundtrack or the Chinese dubbing – both cannot be chosen. Whereas at home most video discs offer an easy switch between original and dubbed tracks and many different subtitles.
Blu-ray Probable in Next Macs – Apple’s iTunes – which is cross-platform – is preparing for v. 9 soon and the word is that it will include Blu-ray capability. Tipsters are also saying that the upcoming new iMacs will have two features which users have been asking for, and one of them is Blu-ray playback and recording. The other may be a matte instead of shiny screen, quad-core processors, or a TV tuner. Another want expressed by some is for Macs to come with “a mouse with a scrollball that doesn’t gum up after two months of use.”
Radio Shack Becomes The Shack – In a re-branding move, longtime electronics retailing chain Radio Shack has just become “The Shack.” The company hopes the name change may improve sales, but most people still see the chain as the place to go for small electronic doo-dads, not big-screen displays and items they would get at Best Buy-type stores.
DivX Signs Up Two More Studios – DivX Inc. has convinced both Paramount and Lionsgate studios to use its compression and antipiracy technologies on movies they make available for downloading on the Internet. It already has similar deals with Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. The DRM technology is domain-based and more user-friendly than most antipiracy systems, making it easy for people to download content. Many studios, however, have made users purchase special set-top boxes or new DVD burners in order to watch downloaded movies on screens not connected to their computers. These deals with Hollywood haven’t allowed U.S. consumers to download films in DivX format yet, but that should be coming soon. However, the DivX system could be another source of compatibility problems for consumers with many different electronics. The company estimates that 200 million electronic gadgets are already in homes worldwide that are DivX-compatible. In the second quarter of this year, U.S. consumers spent more than a billion dollars on Internet-enabled TV sets – twice as many sold as during the first quarter, according th Quixel Research.
