Weekly Site Roundup (10/27/03)

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT
Home Theater - What's Hot and Not For The Holidays (2003)
Shopping for electronic gadgets isn't as easy as it used to be. A TV was a TV, a radio was a radio, and stereo was a stereo, but now there are flat screen TVs, projection TVs, plasma TVs, 5 channel and 6 channel surround sound receivers, speakers and subwoofers, and the choices go on and on and on. Sometimes a simple list of "What's Hot and What's Not" may be just the ticket to finalize that purchasing decision...

HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES
FCC May Crimp Sharing Of Digital TV Shows (USA Today)
Academy Awards DVD Ban Lifted (BBC)
What You See Might Not Be What You Get...(Audio Revolution)
Retail Goes Outside The Typical Big Box (The Washington Post)
About 850 In Florida Accused Of Piracy By DirecTV (The Ledger)
LCD Panel Crunch Seen As Demand Rises (CNET)
Sony Abandons Failed MicroMV Format, Cuts Jobs (Camcorder Info)

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
JVC AV-14F703 14-inch TV
If you are looking for a high-performance compact TV at a modest price, the JVC AV-14F703 may be for you. With its 14-inch dark-tint flat tube, stereo TV tuner, and side-mounted speakers, this unit provides excellent picture and sound from small set. Also included are stereo AV inputs and stereo headphone jack. You can even hook this TV up to your stereo system with its audio output jacks.

FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
Audio Classics
Do you long for that old stereo receiver or amplifier you had in your younger days? You just may find one in excellent condition, looking for a new home, at Audio Classics. Check out their offerings of classic used audio components.

DTS Online
DTS (Digital Theater Systems) is a leader in surround sound technology for home, car, and movie theaters. Check out all of the latest news from DTS, including the latest DTS DVDs and Surround Sound music discs.

FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
Anyone Added Tactile Effects?
From JYK275:
Tactile Effects seem to be the next thing for home theater. I have a friend who uses a unit that installs bolts inside his couch (underneath). I have heard of some new units that just slide underneath the couch leg and don't require as much power. Seems like a better deal but wondering about the performance. Any advice out there?
Join in on the discussion.

ELSEWHERE ON ABOUT.COM
Camcorders
When buying a camcorder, most of use concentrate on all of the electronic features and neglect the most important part, the lens.

FROM THE MAILBOX
From SCANCAT:
I'm about to buy the Panasonic DMR-E80H DVD recorder. My questions are mainly about the DVD-RAM disc. After I record something on the ram disc can I continue to archive my stuff onto the same disc how will it know where I left off like a regular VHS tape? Say today I archived a show the next day I want to archive something else could I do this without erasing anything?

From Your Guide:
DVD RAM discs can be added onto and erased and used again, there is a menu created on the disc that tells you what the contents of the disc and how much time is left, depending on the recording speed used -- however, DVD-RAM discs cannot be played on other DVD players (except for other DVD-RAM recorders and a few recent DVD players made by Panasonic) and cannot be played on very many DVD drives in computers.

The recordable DVD discs that can be played back on most DVD players are DVD-R, DVD-RW (video mode), DVD+R, DVD+RW -- it is also helpful that, to make the discs more compatible with standard DVD players that you use the One or Two recording speeds as much as possible.

FINAL WORDS

Special Announcement: My homepage has a new look with daily news postings in addition to my weekly article postings. Be sure to check out the new look at: About Home Theater

If you need more great info on home theater and audio, with an emphasis on the higher end, be sure to check out About.com's related partner sites:

Audio Video Interiors.
Home Theater Magazine.
Stereophile Guide To Home Theater.
Stereophile Magazine.

Lastly, I would like your feedback on this Weekly Site Update Page. If you have any comments, either positve or negative, just let me know.

A Special Reminder: Although I update this site regularly, sometimes I miss broken links, this is especially a concern as old product listings expire and new ones have different link addresses. If you encounter any broken links in my articles or listings, just bring it to my attention so I can correct the address or delete it from the site if it has expired and can no longer be accessed.

For a look at earlier Home Theater Nooz and Vewz Weekly Updates, CLICK HERE