Site created 12/15/97.		page updated: 4/7/99 General DVD News (4/7/99 - 3/30/98) ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT RESPONDS QUICKLY TO SURROUND SOUND DIFFICULTIES IN DVD VERSION OF THE BLACK HOLE Troy, MI - Anchor Bay Entertainment released the following statement today regarding the reports of surround sound difficulties in the DVD version of The Black Hole. "Last week, we received reports of a problem with the 5.1 sound in the DVD release of the sci-fi thriller The Black Hole. We've confirmed that there is a problem in the sound on channel 5 of the Dolby 5.1 mix. The problem should be noticeable in the Dolby 5.1 mode only. "As a result, Buena Vista Technical Services will deliver a new DLT on Saturday April 10, 1999. Anchor Bay Entertainment expects to ship the corrected product by April 19, 1999 and will take care of any retailer or individual customer who has experienced a problem." PREVIOUS NEWS (12/4/98) NetFlix and Amazon.com have just announced a new DVD rental agreement. Here's the full text of the press release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AMAZON.COM AND NETFLIX.COM ESTABLISH PROMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIP FOR THE SALE AND RENTAL OF DVD TITLES NetFlix.com Strengthens Its Focus on DVD Rentals While Amazon.com Handles DVD Movie Sales Scotts Valley, Calif. (December 4, 1998) -- NetFlix.com and Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) today announced a marketing relationship focused on making it even easier for online shoppers to rent or buy DVD movies. Under the terms of the agreement, NetFlix.com will direct its customers to Amazon.com for DVD purchases and Amazon.com will offer its customers special promotions for DVD rentals at NetFlix.com. The new online relationship will allow both partners to offer their respective customers even higher levels of service and selection through cross-promotions, special DVD offers and access to virtually every DVD title a customer could want to rent or buy. "NetFlix.com has chosen to concentrate all of our energies on our core rental customers, who have made NetFlix.com the world's largest online DVD rental store in seven short months," said Marc B. Randolph, president of NetFlix.com. "At the same time, Amazon.com's reputation for tremendous selection and first-class customer service makes them the ideal partner to handle the sales of DVD movies to our customers. In addition, NetFlix.com looks forward to introducing Amazon.com customers to our compelling DVD rental service through exclusive special offers and promotions." "The launch of our new video store has vastly increased our DVD selection and content," said Ram Shriram, Amazon.com vice president of business development. "Working with NetFlix.com, we can extend our service to DVD customers one step further, by offering exclusive special offers from a source that is solely dedicated to helping customers rent DVDs online." The Amazon.com video store, launched on November 17, 1998, offers more than 2,300 DVDs, all accompanied by Amazon.com's search features and unmatched editorial content, which allow shoppers to find exactly the video they want at sharply discounted prices. About NetFlix.com, Inc. NetFlix.com is the world's first and largest online DVD rental store. The NetFlix.com online store, located at www.netflix.com, carries virtually every DVD movie-- currently numbering more than 2,300 titles -- and rents them to owners of DVD video players and DVD-ROM equipped PCs. In addition to offering its customers the world's largest selection of DVD movies, NetFlix.com provides 7-day rentals, same-day-shipping to anywhere in the United States, easy-to-use search features, advance movie reservations, and multi-rental discounts. By focusing on online rentals, NetFlix.com is pioneering a new online retail model and e-commerce category. Founded in 1997, NetFlix.com is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California. About Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), the Internet's No. 1 book and No. 1 music retailer, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and quickly became Earth's Biggest Bookstore(SM). Today, the Amazon.com store has expanded to offer more than 3 million books, music CDs, videos, DVDs, computer games, and other titles, plus secure credit card payment, personalized recommendations, and streamlined ordering through 1-Click(SM) technology. Amazon.com operates two international bookstore Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk in the United Kingdom and www.amazon.de in Germany. Amazon.com also operates PlanetAll (www.planetall.com), a Web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 150,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crewmembers dating from the birth of film in 1892 to the present. This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, the unpredictability of its future revenues, and risks associated with capacity constraints, management of growth, and new business opportunities. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997, and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 1998. PREVIOUS NEWS (11/9/98) Goodtimes Home Video has announced the DVD release of a number of interesting titles, including Psycho II, Jaws: The Revenge and Airport. Here's the full text of their press release: GOODTIMES HOME VIDEO OFFERS STAR-STUDDED LINE-UP OF DVD TITLES Discs Will Be Available At Retail In January 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (November 9, 1998 - New York) Continuing its strategy to take an aggressive stake in the DVD market, GoodTimes Home Video will offer an all-new, star- studded line-up of seven feature films on DVD to the retail market, announced Jeff Baker, Sr. Vice President. Slated for release on January 15, 1999, the titles include Jaws: The Revenge, the first of the Jaws films to be issued on DVD, and Psycho II, which follows the December 1998 theatrical release of the Psycho remake starring Anne Heche (Six Days Seven Nights) and William Macy (Fargo). The DVD discs will retail for $19.98 SRP. Included in the January line-up are: Jaws: The Revenge - From the mega-hit Jaws series, Jaws: The Revenge stars Lorraine Gary (Jaws, Jaws II), Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters) and Mario Van Peebles (Posse) as they take on a Great White shark threatening the Brody family in the Bahamas. Psycho II - Oscar nominees Anthony Perkins (Friendly Persuasion), Meg Tilly (Agnes of God) and Robert Loggia (Jagged Edge) star in this spine-tingling sequel to the classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller as Norman Bates returns to the Bates Motel along with a new wave of brutal killings. Airport - The original airplane disaster movie and boxoffice hit features an all-star cast including Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Helen Hayes, Jacqueline Bisset and George Kennedy. Martin portrays a pilot who must maintain control of a 707 with a bomb-toting maniac aboard. Airport was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. White Palace - Oscar winer Susan Sarandan (Dead Man Walking) sets the screen on fire as a sexy waitress who has a torrid affair with a much younger man (Stargate's James Spader) who has just lost his wife. Double Dragon - The hit video game roars to life with amazing special effects and spectacular action sequences. This high-octane action spectacular stars Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) and Alyssa Milano (Charmed). New Jersey Drive - Sharron Corley stars as a teenaged car thief caught in an escalating cycle of violence which will surely lead to a deadly conclusion unless he can beat the overwhelming odds against survival. New Jersey Drive is set against a riveting rap sound track that features songs from Queen Latifa. Executive Producer for the film was Spike Lee. Ulzana's Raid - Legendary actor Burt Lancaster and Bruce Davidson star in this explosive Western that pits marauding Apaches against weary Indian fighters and naïve U.S. cavalrymen. "This spectacular line-up of action films gives home audiences just what they crave - A list casts and compelling storylines," said Baker. "GoodTimes Home Video is thrilled to be issuing these titles on DVD." Headquartered in New York, GoodTimes Entertainment Company is a fully- integrated, diversified, international multimedia entertainment organization. GoodTimes Entertainment Company is comprised of the following divisions: GoodTimes Home Video, GoodTimes Entertainment International, GT Licensing and Merchandising, GT Publishing, GT Productions, GT Food and GT Direct. PREVIOUS NEWS (9/10/98) Here's the text of CD PlayRight's latest press release, announcing the endorsement of Hewlett Packard: September 22,10:00am Eastern Time Company Press Release Hewlett Packard Features CD PLAYRIGHT Accessory offer, CD / DVD TRIO, in HP Pavilion PC’s Shawnee, Kansas--( Wire Service ) September 22, 1998 CD PLAYRIGHT announced today that Hewlett Packard’s Home PC division will include a Special offer for CD PLAYRIGHT’s, CD / DVD TRIO in each HP Pavilion PC sold this fall. TRIO is a three pack of after market accessories which provide the products, practice, and methods for caring for CD Rom and DVD Rom Media. According to David Whitesel; CD PLAYRIGHTS ( Make this Hot Link) products provide CD & DVD Rom users with the materials consumers need to keep their optical media in optimum working order”. We believe that the PLAYRIGHT TRIO, will provide HP Pavilion owners with an edge against the environment where they use CD and DVD ROMS. The special offer will be bundled with HP Pavilion PC’s allowing purchasers to receive a discount on TRIO directly from CD PLAYRIGHT. TRIO consists of a 4 oz bottle of Quick Shield (Protects 100 disks), which sprays directly on a disks surface and provides protection against scratches, dirt and hand oils from accumulating on a disk during routine handling. A 100 Pack of Quick Wipes which aid in handling media between disk drive and disk case, Quick Wipes contain an anti static agent to repel dust and electrostatics from building on a disks surface. In Addition, TRIO includes PLAYRIGHTS Patented CD / DVD Repair kit, which provides materials to reclaim CD or DVD ROMS that are inoperative due to scratches. PLAYRIGHTS repair kit has been tested and endorsed by Warner Advanced Media Operation, the largest manufacturer of DVD Roms. In that endorsement Warner Engineers using CD PLAYRIGHT’S Repair kit were able to restore digital error rates on deliberately scratched DVD media, to levels of new. In addition tests showed that Quick Shield was able to offer protection against minor scratches which affect DVD performance. CD PLAYRIGHT spokesperson; David Whitesel said that the HP Pavilion PC offer compliments a previously signed agreement with TOSHIBA America, which makes available a different version of TRIO for Toshiba DVD Player buyers. Combined these agreements ensure that customers of both companies, will be far ahead of their peers in the Care, Protection, & Restoration of all their optical Media. Mr. Whitesel, went on to say that the TRIO bundle address’ the common problems CD & DVD ROM users experience during the use of their optical media, the under $30.00 package is as complete a solution as can be purchased. According to Mr. Whitesel; “ Windows is smart, it directs you to the problem, while CD PLAYRIGHTS TRIO’s, provides the solutions to the suggestions Windows makes for cleaning and repairing your disks”. About CD/ DVD PLAYRIGHT CD PLAYRIGHT began branding it’s own products during 1997, it’s US operations are dedicated to the needs of optical disk owners, it sells it’s products direct on the Internet, www. cdplayright.com, by phone, at 800 800 8879 , and through a growing network of retailers including CD/ DVD rental outlets. Rental Outlets are experiencing very positive results from using the TRIO products on their rental stock, which is considered to be a really tough environment. Contacts CD PLAYRIGHT Sales 800 800 8879 PREVIOUS NEWS (9/8/98) The following is a transcription of an article that appeared in the Marketplace section of today's Wall Street Journal (Sept 8th, page B1): DVDs Catch On (but Don't Junk the VCR Yet) By Bruce Orwall - Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal Digital videodisks, the long-heralded "next-generation" technology for watching movies at home, are coming of age. The size of audio compact disks, DVDs are touted by many as superior to videocassettes and videocassette recorders. But DVD virtues - most notably, a sharper picture - were initially clouded by technological and and political hurdles, including the reluctance of movie studios and video retailers to in any way injure the videocassette cash cow. Now, a year after the disks' national rollout, studios, retailers and video dealers are warming to DVD. The reason: Just as the videocassette market is showing signs of maturity, DVD is growing more quickly than expected. And after making a strong showing with so-called "early adopters" - the hard-core movie and technology buffs who are always eager to try something new - there are signs that DVD is making inroads with mainstream consumers. Michael Johnson, president of Walt Disney Co.'s powerful home-video unit, thinks DVD is more than just another new niche product. And Warren Lieberfarb, president of Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Home Video, says, "The vital signs are strong." Time Warner helped develop the DVD technology, and its Warner Bros. unit has been the format's strongest backer. One significant step for DVD is scheduled for today, when Viacom Inc.'s Blockbuster unit plans to announce the national rollout of a new program to rent movies in the DVD format, for the same price as renting a videocassette. Blockbuster will also begin renting DVD players provided by Philips Electronics NV, giving consumers a chance to try out the machines for five nights at a cost of about $14.99. Blockbuster says the program will be introduced in about 500 of its 3,400 stores. Jim Notarnicola, Blockbuster's chief marketing officer, says the chain hopes to be a catalyst in moving the DVD format into the mainstream. The ability to rent DVDs is seen as critical to gaining widespread acceptance; to date, most people have seen DVD as a movie format that consumers buy, rather than rent. Notwithstanding its DVD enthusiasm, Blockbuster isn't eager to hasten the demise of the stalwart VCR. Nor will that happen anytime soon. For all the attractions of DVD - including a feature letting viewers jump to any point in the movie with the click of a button - DVD players can't record TV programs, and models that can record are still several years away. DVD made its debut in seven test markets in March 1997 before going national. In all, about 500,000 DVD players have been sold to consumers in the U.S. so far, and DVD backers expect that to rise to nearly 800,000 by the end of the year. Shipments to retailers should top one million by the end of 1998. Both figures compare favorably with the earliest years of compact-disk players and VCRs. Sparking the growth has been a drop in the price of DVD players and wider availability. Hardware prices have now dropped as low as $299. Meanwhile, mass-market discount retailers like Dayton Hudson Corp.'s Target stores, Kmart Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are expanding their DVD hardware offerings this fall, giving rise to hopes of a strong Christmas season. Steve Birke, vice president and general merchandise manager for Target, says that chain began carrying DVD in all 800 of its stores on July 1. "I don't think it's a short-term fad, I think it's a long-term trend," he says. He is expecting a strong holiday season for DVD but adds that "it's got to hit that magical $199 price point" to truly catch on. Also contributing to the momentum: All the major studios except start-up DreamWorks SKG have finally agreed to issue movies on DVD - and DreamWorks is expected to announce its DVD imminently. The last two major holdouts, Viacom's Paramount Pictures and News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, both agreed to participate in DVD this summer. Altogether, about 2,000 movie titles will be available by the end of the year, up from about 1,750 now. They can typically be bought for about $19.99 per title; some are already priced at $14.99, though, and many may drop to $10.99 in the not-too-distant future. Best Buy Co, which sells both hardware and software, sells a robust 30 software titles for each hardware unit, says Joe Pagano, vice president of merchandising for movies and music. There are still stumbling blocks in Hollywood for DVD. Not all studios are releasing films on DVD simultaneously with their release on videocassette. Paramount Pictures sent box-office king "Titanic" sailing into the home-video market last week without a DVD offering, and so far there are no plans for one. At Twentieth Century Fox, Patricia Wyatt, consumer-products president, says that studio announced its entry into DVD last month because the format appeared to be reaching a "critical mass." But Fox is being very cautious, not wanting to drain business from videocassettes. "I think we need to look carefully at the dynamic between the two formats," Ms. Wyatt says. Many of the movies that aren't yet available on DVD are exactly the titles that people build movie collections around. Steven Spielberg, director and producer of some of the biggest movies ever made, has blocked the release of most of his films on DVD. A spokesman for Mr. Spielberg says he is waiting for the market to mature. Disney plans to show its faith in the DVD format later this year when it hopes to release its summer hit "Armageddon" on DVD and videocassette simultaneously. Disney will also offer a DVD version of "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas," a made-for-video sequel to the original animated hit. But Disney's Mr. Johnson says the company's animated classics won't be released on DVD until the format achieves broader market penetration. A remaining wild card is Digital Video Express, or Divx, a videodisk format developed by electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. and a Los Angeles law firm. The Divx system, like DVD, comprises a player and discs. But under the Divx system, a customer wanting to see a movie pays $4.49 for an encrypted disk that can be played for 48 hours beginning with the first use; after that period, encryption resumes. If the viewer chooses, the disk can be recharged permanently, via modem, for an additional charge. While Divx's encrypted disks can't be played on a DVD player, DVD disks can be used with a Divx player. Divx's national rollout is a month away, but there are signs that its start will be rocky. For one thing, the Divx partnership is late in raising $100 million in financing for the next year of development and operations. For another, industry insiders are saying that results in two test markets - San Francisco and Richmond, Va. - aren't encouraging. Nevertheless, a Digital Video Express spokesman says the company is convinced its product will be a successful complement to DVD. He declines to discuss specifics concerning the test markets but says the company is pleased with the results. PREVIOUS NEWS (5/26/98) The following article was found on Wired: PC Meter Meets Its Maker by Chris Oakes 5:03am 29.May.98.PDT Wave Systems Corp. (WAVX) thinks you won't always want to buy software. More and more, rather, you'll want to rent it. Proof is in the Internet, the company says, where content is supported by advertising and (some) pay-per-view. Similarly, the future's dominant software and content business model will be supported on a per-use basis, not outright ownership. On this reasoning, Wave is equipping PCs with a usage meter -- the built-in ability to track and bill a consumer's use of content and software. WaveMeter is the company's proprietary hardware-based system for measuring, controlling, and billing the use of electronic content for this purpose. "It's a piece of hardware in your computer," said Wave Systems president Steven Sprague. "Using a dial-up connection and your credit card, you put money on the meter." To get this technology under the hood of consumers' PCs, the company announced today that integrated circuit-maker Standard Microsystems Corp. (SMSC) has licensed the technology to build WaveMeter technology into its chips. Users of PCs with meter-equipped Standard Microsystems chips will thus be able to purchase pay-per-use or rent-to-own entertainment, education, and software titles. Wave Systems says it has partnerships with some 30 consumer software companies offering game and family software titles, such as Red Storm Entertainment, McGraw-Hill Home Interactive, and GT Interactive. With metered usage, these publishers see lower marketing and distribution costs, along with the ability to reach new users not interested in buying software outright. Consumers meanwhile can pay for software and information based upon actual use in incremental amounts. If it's a software title, the payment system might be something like $1 or $2 per day, capped at a total expense of 80 percent of the retail purchase price. (At that point, the user would own the software.) But Wave Systems has been trying to advance its ideas in hardware for over four years now, with no successes to this point. For the fiscal year 1997, revenues were a mere US$11,000 for the company, with a $16.4 million loss. Some observers think there's a reason the company has yet to make money on its technology. "I don't perceive a considerable consumer pull for the applications this technology will be used with," said Jupiter Communications analyst Seamus McAteer, an opinion echoed by another analyst, Zona Research's Vernon Keenan. "Overall I'm pessimistic on metered content. Like micropayment, it relies on capabilities built into the client -- i.e. the user's PC. That needs to be widespread with a critical mass," Keenan said. Part of the lack of interest on the part of consumers, McAteer believes, is an aversion to monitoring technology built into their PC, be it a smart-card reader or a usage meter. "I don't know if people are comfortable with that notion." Nor does McAteer see the pay-as-you-go market. Consumers, he said, like to own. "There is a real value in ownership." Part of that value is the consumer's ability to take their time in getting to know a piece of software, he said. As far as the Internet being proof of the pay-per-use model, McAteer says such content has been a small part of Web use, and primarily confined to pornography publishing. Even there, he said, "I don't know if people are gong to want to have a chip on their motherboard for pay-per-view porn." These negatives are why these analysts see a niche application at best, though Keenan believes that if Wave Systems can achieve the all-important critical mass, with PC manufacturers building the technology into PCs, it may have a chance. Wave is relying on the field-of-dreams, "if you build it they will come" philosophy, he said. But in this case, he points out that there are several parties that have to build it -- from chip suppliers like Standard to PC manufacturers to software companies, including Microsoft Corp. building metering APIs into its operating system. When there are that many builders involved, Keenan says new technologies such as the WaveMeter usually don't achieve the critical mass they demand. Still, Wave Systems recognizes that ubiquity is the name of the game for such technology to work, and hope that today's announcement is the beginning of such a trend. And that will depend on PC manufacturers opting for the added cost of WaveMeter in the motherboard circuitry they purchase from Standard Microsystems. Sprague estimates that the cost for manufacturers will come in at an acceptable, sub-$5 per PC. Standard Microsystems is a sizable partner too, supplying integrated circuits to PC-makers worldwide. It shares the market for such chips primarily with National Semiconductor. Wave Systems' Sprague believes Standard Microsystems' hardware is found in 30 percent to 40 percent of the PCs sold. The initial plan calls for Standard Microsystems to build the metering capability into an input/output motherboard device it supplies to PC manufacturers. Independent of the CPU and the operating system, the triple-DES-encrypted technology is very secure, Sprague said. To sweeten the pot for manufacturers opting to order meter-enabled hardware, the Wave licensing arrangement lets them draw a percentage of all pay-per-use revenue. "You have to be pervasive on the desktop before you can introduce a client security solution," Sprague said. "This helps us get the technology broadly deployed." PREVIOUS NEWS (5/26/98) The following is a brief article taken from Techweb: Repair Kit Saves Delicate DVDs (05/20/98; 7:05 p.m. EST) By Andy Patrizio, TechWeb Toshiba launched five digital versatile disc players and three large-screen TVs on Tuesday, but lost in the hoopla was a much more significant piece of news for DVD owners: the consumer electronics company is promoting a new product that can restore scratched DVDs to their original condition. Stores that rent out DVD discs have long complained about their fragility. After just a few uses, they say, discs can come back with scratches or other damage that renders them unusable. But CD PlayRight, a German company with U.S. headquarters in Shawnee, Kan., is marketing Trio, which provides scratch protection and restoration for all optical media, including CDs, DVDs, and laserdiscs. Trio for DVD sells for less than $30 and consists of three products: DVD Quick Wipes for removing smudges, DVD Quick Shield and Cleaner to protect them from the scratches and scrapes, and most importantly, the DVD Repair Kit. The kit has a mild abrasive that can remove scratches. Quick Shield adds a layer of protection to make the discs more durable, while the repair kit can remove even a scratch resulting from a nail being drawn across the surface of the disc. Besides Toshiba, Trio has been endorsed by Time Warner's Advanced Media Operations unit. "We would never have included this in our packaging if we didn't see proof that it was a usable and workable solution," said Craig Eggers, director of product planning for Toshiba in Wayne, N.J. Along with its new DVD players, Toshiba is offering a $5 discount for Trio for DVD, and three free movies from NetFlix, a DVD rental site on the Internet. But Trio is not widely available in the United States yet. Dave Dassa, manager of Laser Blazer, a large laser disc and DVD rental outlet in West Los Angeles, is somewhat skeptical about whether DVDs can be repaired. "It sounds interesting, but I have to see it first," he said. CD PlayRight is already established in Europe, but is just beginning to penetrate the U.S. market, according to David Whitesell, director of the company's U.S. operations. Trio is only for sale through the CD PlayRight website but will eventually reach retail outlets, he added. PREVIOUS NEWS (5/20/98) As many of you know, Toshiba yesterday announced a new line of DVD players and projection TVs, which use progressive-scan technology. You can view the actual press conference on the Toshiba web site by clicking here. The following is a copy of Toshiba's official press release: Toshiba Introduces New Era of Video Performance With Colorstream Pro Progressive Scan Technology And DTV Interface Terminals Tuesday May 19, 3:30 pm Eastern Time WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 1998--Toshiba today opened the door to a new era of video performance with the introduction of its revolutionary ColorStream PRO(TM) progressive scan technology and DTV Interface Terminals. These two technologies bring together the maximum performance capabilities of color TV and DVD-Video, as well as provide consumers with the ability to enjoy the full benefits of future DTV programs. ColorStream PRO progressive scan provides a non-interlaced component video DVD/TV connection that allows DVD-Video to reach its maximum picture quality potential. Toshiba includes a ColorStream PRO progressive scan output on its new Platinum Standard SD7108 DVD-Video player and ColorStream PRO inputs on three new projection TVs: the Cinema Series 71-inch TP71H95 and 61-inch TP61H95, as well as the TheaterWide 65-inch Model TW65H80. The benefits of ColorStream PRO are rooted in the nature of the DVD-Video format. Every DVD-Video disc is mastered in MPEG-2 progressive scan (480P). But until now, DVD-Video players have had to re-format the progressive scan signal into an interlaced NTSC image for display on conventional TV sets. This process entails an inevitable loss in vertical resolution, the appearance of visible scan lines, and some perceptible flicker -- all weaknesses inherent to the interlaced NTSC system. By preserving DVD's progressive scan image, the ColorStream PRO connection provides a new dimension in total picture quality, delivering a more film-like, three-dimensional image. The progressive scan image is flicker-free, with virtually no visible NTSC line structure or motion artifacts, and offers better temporal and vertical resolution. The difference is immediately visible, especially when seen on a large-screen projection television. Further complementing its ColorStream PRO technology, Toshiba's Platinum Standard SD7108 DVD-Video player features automatic 3:2 pull-down compensation, a film-recognition mode that displays 24-frame film sources as a high-resolution 60-frame progressively scanned video signal. The Platinum Standard SD7108 is truly the world's first DVD player fully prepared for the DTV era. All of Toshiba's ColorStream PRO-equipped projection TVs also feature a new DTV Interface Terminal -- making them DTV-ready display devices. With the addition of a compatible set-top receiver box, the DTV interface terminal permits these Toshiba projection sets to display the maximum picture resolution of DTV programming. Adding yet another level of DTV-readiness, the TheaterWide TW65H80 provides users with the ability to view DTV programming in the full 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Steve Nickerson, Toshiba Vice President of Video Marketing, commented: ``Both ColorStream component video and the introduction of our breakthrough ColorStream PRO flow from the unique advantage Toshiba enjoys as a leader in both color TV and video source manufacturing. This enables us to stay ahead of the competition by designing complementary technologies and building them into both the source and the display device, which is exactly what was needed to implement ColorStream PRO.'' Toshiba America Consumer Products is an independent operating company, owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, a world leader in high technology products with subsidiaries worldwide. Make sure to visit Toshiba on the World Wide Web at http://www.toshiba.com/tacp PREVIOUS NEWS (3/30/98) The following was found on Time.com, and reveal the true reason for the lack of Amblin titles on open DVD. Here's a hint: it's not Divx and it ain't DTS. Basically, it's what I've been saying for a while now - you can't have a million selling DVD, if there aren't a million DVD players out there yet. The good news? Spielberg will do DVD, it's just a matter of time... TIME.COM NOTEBOOK/THE SCOOP APRIL 6, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 13 Spielberg: DVD Means Definite Video Delay (Hollywood) If you've just bought a DVD player and can't wait to watch favorite flicks like E.T. and Gremlins, better not disconnect your dusty old VCR. Although there are nearly half a million DVD machines in U.S. homes, STEVEN SPIELBERG is keeping his entire film library--including pictures produced by his company Amblin--off the format. Some DVD boosters think Spielberg is resisting because he favors a sonics alternative made by Digital Theater Systems, a company he partly owns, which has not been embraced by major hardware manufacturers. The director's spokesman says he's merely waiting for millions more consumers to buy the players: "It's a question of the marketplace maturing, and Steven feels very strongly about it." One Amblin title, Twister, slipped out "under the radar" through Warner Home Video, but other films made for various studios are being held back. "Why would we want to upset Spielberg?" asks an exec from Universal, which owns rights to Jaws but won't release it for fear of alienating the man responsible for many of the studio's greatest hits. Spielberg isn't the only holdout. Paramount and Fox have also steered clear of DVD, while Disney has yet to commit any animated classics to the format. It isn't the first time major content providers have resisted new technology: Capitol-EMI refused to put out any Beatles titles during the early years of the compact-disc revolution. --By Jeffrey Ressner /Los Angeles
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