In This eNewsletter:
• Home Theater's Dominant Trends by Thomas J. Norton
• Hollywood's Digital Challenge by Thomas J. Norton
• NAB2005 by Scott Wilkinson
• The House of Flying Daggers & Hero by Thomas J. Norton
• Fighting the Good Fight by Scott Wilkinson

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By Thomas J. Norton

At a recent editorial summit for the Primedia Home Technology and Photography Group, each editor was asked what he or she thought were the dominant trends in their respective industries. Opinions certainly differed on this subject, but as far as the home theater business is concerned, I chose the following:

1: The market explosion of high-definition digital displays
There was a time, not so long ago, when our number-one concern was the success of high-definition broadcasting. That time is past (see #2, below). But the driving force behind the success of HDTV has been the consumer, not the broadcasters or manufacturers. True, the former have stepped up to the plate with more programming, and the latter have made plenty of new sets. But it has been consumers' willingness to gobble up the new digital displays, with their exciting if confusing buzzwords like DLP, plasma, LCOS, LCD, and the like, that has made the biggest impact. Most experts agree that the old-fashioned CRT still excels in some important areas; Joel Brinkley passionately argues just this point in his April column on our Web site. But consumers, ever fascinated with the hottest developments, are snapping up the new sets, even as those sets continue to evolve. This year's models are good, and next year's promise to be even better.

Plasma and LCD flat-panel displays are the current consumer darlings, but other digital displays are not far behind. You can't hang a DLP or LCD rear-projection set on the wall (with the exception of RCA's ultrathin Scenium Profiles models), but compared to the flat-panel designs, their prices make them an attractive lure.

And front projectors with separate screens are coming up fast. Projector reviews are one of the most popular attractions on our site, which is a good thing, since we have a load of new projector reviews coming up over the next couple of months.

Competition will continue to bring down the price of all these displays. LCDs may overtake plasmas as the preferred flat-panel technology; their proponents argue that they have more room for downward pricing, and high-definition models can be manufactured in a wider range of sizes than plasmas. (LCD pixels can be made much smaller than plasma pixels, thus squeezing more of them into the same space.) New technologies like SED from Canon and Toshiba offer the potential for higher-quality pictures (particularly in terms of black level and contrast ratio), though they are about a year away from the market and may not be price competitive with products based on current technologies, at least initially.

2: HDTV has passed the tipping point
The increasing sales of high-definition video displays of all types indicate that consumers are starting to recognize the benefits of this new technology. While it's true that more DVDs are being watched on those new HDTV sets than high-def programs, this will change as more sets come with built-in HD tuners and more HD programming becomes available on both satellite and cable. And with the pending launch of a high definition, DVD-like format later this year or (more likely) sometime in the first half of 2006 (see #3, below), the trend toward HDTV can only escalate.

Remaining concerns about the high-definition revolution include the continuing battles over copy protection and the possibility that providers—particularly cable and satellite—will degrade the quality of the HD images you see in your home as they attempt to squeeze more and more stations into the limited bandwidth available to them. Just because the signal coming down the pipe is 720p or 1080i doesn't mean it will always be real high-def in the way videophiles define the term; high levels of compression can crush the life out of an otherwise beautiful-looking picture.

3: High-definition on a DVD-like disc
It's coming; the pictures will be pretty, but the fight won't be. The big story in the last half of 2005 looks like it will be the battleground between two competing technologies to put high-definition movies and other programming on an optical, DVD-like disc: Blu-ray and HD DVD. Blu-ray currently has the lion's share of consumer electronics manufacturers behind it, along with a significantly higher data capacity. HD DVD has more studios promising to release movies in that format (nearly 100 HD DVD titles have been promised as I write this), and it is claiming an earlier launch—before the end of 2005. We shall see.

One thing is certain: we need a high-definition format to take over for DVD. The latter is still burning its way through the marketplace as the most successful consumer electronics format ever, but it will eventually peak and start to slow down. Most major studios are already running out of prime back-catalog titles and will soon be anxious to sell them to us all over again in high definition.

HD DVD or Blu-ray will be ready. The only thing we don't need is a format war, but it looks like we're going to get one. We can hope that between now and the end of the year, the two camps will make nice and settle on a single system. But with hardware for both formats already in the late-prototype stage and nearing production, a compromise system looks like a long shot if we're going to see a launch this year or next.

4: In-wall and on-wall speakers
Every manufacturer has felt the pressure to produce these products, driven by the boom in flat-panel TVs and the ever-present need for the decorator of the house to hide those ugly speakers—or at least get them off the floor. The market importance of in- and on-wall speakers has, in fact, taken talented engineers away from working on the sort of speakers preferred by audiophiles: floor- and stand-mounted designs.

We haven't reviewed in- and on-wall speakers in the past because in-walls are a logistic nightmare to review, and any speaker mounted on or in the wall results in clear sonic compromises. Or does it? With the advent of subwoofers, the main speakers in the system are freed from the need for deep bass response. But they must respond down to at least a solid 80Hz to blend well with a subwoofer.

At this point, the only way for UAV to do a fair review of a class of speakers we have little experience with is to do a group test. Because this is an important category, we do plan to do a group test of on-wall speakers later in the year.

5: Downloading music and movies
It's no news that downloading music from the web is big—really big. And while it is currently heavily music oriented, and thus more of interest to the music market, the possibility for movie downloading grows with each increase in storage capacity. Copy-protection concerns aside (and they're huge), movie downloading on a large scale can—and probably will—happen. And like music downloading, it will happen on a significant scale long before the quality is acceptable to those for whom picture and sound performance are top priority—a group that includes most of our readers and all of our writers.

There is a school of though that promotes the downloading paradigm over the hard-copy collectable route. They believe that buying or renting a physical disc is a concept that will soon be outmoded.

I don't think so. Humans are collectors by nature. Some enthusiasts may want to save shelf space by having all their movies on a (huge) hard drive in their computer, but most true collectors will still want a hard copy on their shelves where they know it won't disappear in a hard-disk crash or depart with a stolen computer. (It's a lot easier to cart off a computer with 500 films on it than 500 separate discs in their cases—owners of 400-disc carousel DVD players, sleep well!) Such collectors would also rather simply a movie at the video store than boot up the computer, wait for the movie to download onto the hard drive (taking who knows how long per film, providing there are no service interruptions), burn a copy onto a recordable disc, put it in a blank case, and then download and print the cover art. Consider the example of CD: sales, while shrinking, are still huge, music industry complaints notwithstanding.

And CD sales would be holding up even better if the public didn't see a bigger value for the money in DVDs. Let's hope that the film studios don't forget that lesson as they price the new high-definition optical discs. If they establish a substantial price premium over standard DVDs, the public simply won't buy. Enthusiasts will, of course, but it takes a lot more than early-adopter A/V fans for a new format to survive in a market with so much competition for the consumer's dollar.

If those aren't enough trends for you to ponder, I could throw in the growth of the custom-installation market and the explosive market penetration of Chinese consumer-electronics products. But those are stories for another day.

By Thomas J. Norton

Digital Hollywood is an annual, springtime event in Los Angeles. Participants in dozens of panel sessions, covering virtually everything about creating, producing, and marketing digital content, spoke to hundreds of Hollywood professionals about how to make the most of the new opportunities presented by today's increasingly complex media environment.

Held at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel on March 31, 2005, the event covered a multitude of topics, from on-demand television to video games, with plenty of stops in between on subjects of key importance to UAV readers. During the conference, I concentrated on two key areas: the next-generation DVD and the contentious issue of digital rights management, or DRM. For now, I'm going to report on next-generation DVD; I'll cover DRM in an upcoming news story on UAV.

The attendance at the next-gen DVD seminar, held early on the first day of the three-day conference, was disappointing: perhaps no more than 50 people (the other sessions I attended drew at least four times that number). I hope that was more a reflection of the early hour than the interest Hollywood has in the subject! The panel, at least, appeared enthusiastic.

Brian Broeder of Masterdisk in New York noted that his clients were still a little conflicted about where the high-definition optical-disc formats are going, often asking what they should do now about the program material they want mastered, when the emergence of a new format—or formats—seems imminent. Zane Vella of MX Entertainment suggested that more than just movies will profit from the new possibilities offered by the higher-capacity discs. He listed sports, Broadway and theater, and live concerts as prime candidates. Compilations of the best moments from sports, including deconstruction of individual plays, have never been big sellers on DVD, but they just might take off in high definition. The same for live plays, musicals, and concerts, where wide shots of the stage to properly set the scene or provide theatergoers with the sort of perspectives they're accustomed to, will now make sense instead of a fuzzy blur. Brodeur seconded this notion, adding that niche markets like education and medicine might become enthusiastic about high definition once they see what a packaged HD format can do for them.

As for movies, Rick Dean of THX noted that videophiles might be even more impressed by HD on a DVD than they already expect to be. He noted that he saw an amazing difference between the detail on the HD masters of the Star Wars Trilogy and what was ultimately visible on the standard DVDs.

Regarding the looming format war between the two opposing camps (Blu-ray and HD DVD), Andy Parsons of Pioneer, a company strongly behind Blu-ray with its higher capacity, noted that creative people will always find a way to fill up the available data space. When standard DVD was introduced, Hollywood thought it was more than sufficient to hold a movie and a few extras. Why would anyone want more? Today, we have DVD releases spilling over into two- and four-disc sets. Vella also agreed that bit capacity matters, particularly when it comes to future, interactive programming. Who can say today what we'll want to put on an optical disc in 8-10 years?

Brodeur offered the opinion that if the two competing formats converge, the result will quickly become the dominant format. But if there are two opposing formats, standard DVD will be around for some time to come until the dust clears.

During the Q&A session, someone from the audience asked about plans for 1080p on high-definition discs. Parsons said that he knew of no immediate plans for anything beyond 1080i. In response to other questions about whether the consumer even wants HD on a DVD, the panel noted that "everyone" thought that VHS was good enough back in 1996 before DVD came out, and look what happened. And how many people were marching in the streets demanding an iPod before Apple upset that fruit cart?

After the session was over, I asked Parsons if he thought the dates being tossed around for the launch of HD DVD and Blu-ray (late 2005) were realistic. While it's important to note that his company is more closely affiliated with Blu-ray, he suggested that early 2006 was more likely, with the first serious launch of actual product at next January's CES.

By Scott Wilkinson

No group within the A/V industry is more concerned about the transition to HDTV than the broadcasters, who are represented by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). This concern will be clearly apparent at the Association's annual convention to be held in Las Vegas, April 16-21. Among the keynote speakers at NAB2005 will be Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet, who will offer his insight on the future growth of HDTV in light of current trends. Following the keynote presentation, a panel of experts will discuss some of the ways TV is being unleashed from its traditional box.

Another panel of note will include seven members of the 109th US Congress, including Senate Commerce Committee member Conrad Burns (R-MT); House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX); House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI); House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI); and House Commerce Committee members Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), Gene Green (D-TX), and Greg Walden (R-OR). Former ABC News chief White House correspondent Sam Donaldson will moderate the event, which should be quite lively (at least for Green, the lone Democrat on the dais).

Perhaps the most interesting element of NAB2005 is the working high-definition broadcast station that will be operating during the convention. NAB-HD will feature live news programs and a talk show about the convention, which will be transmitted throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and to participating hotels.

The NAB-HD TV project will demonstrate a fully functional example of what can be achieved at a local broadcast station. The station will offer convention visitors a comprehensive view of all the technical, operational, and management elements required to broadcast DTV signals of all formats.

The broadcast will be transmitted in 720p, and it will be downconverted to NTSC. The station output will include closed captioning and dynamic PSIP data. The signal will be delivered as an ATSC broadcast throughout the LVCC and via fiber to the Mobile Media area of the LVCC, where it will be uplinked via satellite. KVVU-HD Las Vegas will retransmit the signal on their HD channel, and Watchit Convention Networks (WCN) will transmit the signal via their Watchit Private Video Network to more than 30,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas.

By Thomas J. Norton

The House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu)
Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi , Dandan Song. Directed by Zhang Yimou. 2005. 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1 (Mandarin, English, French). 99 minutes. PG-13. Columbia TriStar 09178. $28.95

Picture: **1/2
Sound: ***1/2 (English track)
Film: **1/2

Hero (Ying xiong)
Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi . Directed by Zhang Yimou. 2002. 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1 (Mandarin, English, French). DTS 5.1 (Mandarin). 118 minutes. PG-13. Miramax Home Entertainment 38012. $29.99

Picture: ***
Sound: ***1/2
Film: ***

Martial arts films are now so popular that it was inevitable we would eventually see productions whose plots were merely structures supporting a steady stream of flying fists, feet, swords, and daggers. The House of Flying Daggers and Hero aren't the first examples of the breed, but are definitely the most visible since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon wowed critics back in 2000.

Whether you love or hate such films depends largely on your tolerance for action over plot. Hero was released on DVD late last year, though we did not have the opportunity to review it at that time. The House of Flying Daggers comes out April 19. Since both films were directed by the same director (Zhang Yimou), feature the same female star (the stunning Zhang Ziyi), are similarly structured, and will undoubtedly appeal to the same audience, this is our chance to have a look at both of them.

Despite the critical gushing over The House of Flying Daggers, Hero is really the better and much more interesting film, simply because it has a more fully developed plot. But not by much. It takes place in an era when China was divided into numerous warring states. Three assassins have attempted to murder the king of Qin, the most powerful of the kingdoms. Welcoming the hero who defeated his would-be killers, the king eagerly listens to his tale of how he did it. The story unfolds in a series of flashbacks.

At this point the plot becomes secondary to the action. We already know that the hero is triumphant; the only surprises are in how he accomplishes his goal. But the ending, which I won't reveal, is predictable. The whole point of the movie then becomes a display of martial arts.

I confess that I am not a big fan of kung fu and its variations as depicted in film, particularly when it's combined with feats of acrobatics that could never by done real performers in the real world. I'm one of the few reviewers who didn't like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for that very reason, and the fight scenes in the Matrix films bored me after the first couple of mano a mano engagements. It's not that I don't like fantasy (if you've read my endless praise of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, you know that I do), but for reasons I can't explain, it just doesn't work for me in this kind of film. But if you love this sort of thing, you'll be in heaven with Hero, and you can add at least another half star to the Film rating.

I could make exactly the same comments about the more recent The House of Flying Daggers, except here the plot is even thinner. A secret organization—which gives the film its title—has arisen to oppose the corrupt Tang dynasty in imperial China. A police officer infiltrates the society by breaking into a jail to free a blind dancer named Mei, who is suspected of having ties to the organization. Their adventures in making their way to the society's stronghold, together with a romantic subplot, fills the rest of the film.

While I'm not the critic to praise the action in either movie, I have to admit that one sequence in Hero, with an army of thousands and a billion arrows flying everywhere, was a stunning achievement, even if it did end up with one of those miraculous, gravity-defying sequences. You should also know that while there are many swords, daggers, and arrows flying about in both films, there is surprisingly little blood and no gore. The violence here is artistic, not gratuitous. Neither movie is Kill Bill, the Prequel.

I don't mean to suggest that there's nothing appealing other than one martial-arts duel after another in either film. When it comes to the creative use of images and sound, director Zhang is a genius. Each of these films is a continuous sequence of stunning camera shots of the dazzling production design. And each is supported by equally creative use of sound. A dance scene early in House is a prime example. The set itself is a riot of color. As a police officer excites a ring of drums by flinging small pebbles at them, Mei must respond by striking the same drums with the long sleeves of her costume (!). This is perhaps the most striking example of the creative use of sound and image in either film, but it's far from the only one.

I wish I could say that the video transfer of each film fully supports its visual richness. Both are respectable, but they could be better. Hero comes closest to getting it right. It delivers fine color and solid shadow detail with no significant noise, artifacts, or edge enhancement. Its only real shortcoming is a subtle lack of crispness and detail. On the other hand, I was more than a little disappointed in the video on The House of Flying Daggers. Its color, blacks, and lack of extraneous noise or edge enhancement were commendable, and close-ups were reasonably sharp, but medium and long shots were very soft. For a prime example of this, look at the detail—rather, the lack of it—in the crowd of "hostesses" watching the drum scene mentioned above.

Perhaps they had to compromise the picture quality in both transfers because of all the 5.1-channel soundtracks in various languages on each release (not to mention the extra features in House). And speaking of the sound, with one exception, it is spectacular on both discs. Again, the drum scene comes to mind. When the officer tosses those pebbles toward the drums, the soundfield comes alive, particularly when he tosses a whole plate full of them. The flaw in House is a ridiculously loud Chinese track—about 12dB higher than the level of the English track, by my estimate. The English track is not low in level; it's comparable to other DVDs I have heard recently. (The French track is recorded at the same level as the Chinese). And the English track also sounds better. In particular, it has noticeably deeper, more powerful bass. They probably had to cut back on the bass level to keep that loud Chinese track from overloading.

I listened primarily to the English track with both films, not only because of the sound: with all those beautiful visuals, the last thing I wanted to do was read subtitles! The English dub was adequate, though not as expressive as the original Mandarin (which I did sample briefly). No, I don't speak Mandarin—the vocal inflections just sounded more convincing.

The extras on Hero are limited to a short featurette, storyboards, and a conversation with Jet Li and Quentin Tarantino (who directed part of one sequence). The House of Flying Daggers has more, including a (Mandarin, subtitled) commentary track by Zhang Yimou and Zhang Ziyi, a "Making of" documentary, a feature on the special effects, a music video, and storyboards and still galleries.

Martial-arts fans will love both of these DVDs. The rest of us will find something to enjoy in the brilliant photography, production design, and sound. But to fully appreciate the visuals here, we'll have to wait for high-definition versions of both films, either broadcast or on a high-def optical disc format when we get it.

By Scott Wilkinson

One of the most important activities undertaken by the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) is legislative action on behalf of installers throughout the US. In fact, CEDIA is currently is tracking and monitoring over 450 bills in 42 states. The majority of legislation deals with statewide electrical licensing and contracting proposals regulating electronic systems contractors and technicians, fair use of intellectual property, and proposed electronic waste (e-waste) programs.

CEDIA has found that government regulations have not kept pace with technology in the electronic-systems integrator profession. With the continued growth of the home-integration market, a proper legislative infrastructure is essential to meet the needs of this dynamic industry. In January, CEDIA mailed its policy positions to House and Senate members in what were deemed priority states for 2005. These include the states in which CEDIA has seen the most problematic legislation arise: Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.

"Fair use" is of critical importance to installers and consumers alike, and CEDIA is at the forefront of legislative action to ensure that consumers can make legal copies of content they own on equipment provided by their installers. CEDIA's mission statement in this regard clearly states that the organization supports free and unrestricted rights to record programs for in-home and non-commercial use. CEDIA opposes any legislative or judicial action that limits recording rights or causes the quality of recorded programs to be degraded or altered with respect to video resolution or audio quality.

With so many electronic gizmos being sold each year, one can't help but wonder what happens to all the old electronic gizmos that are being replaced. The disposal of "e-waste" is a serious problem that must be dealt with if we want to avoid being buried under a mountain of old VCRs, TVs, and the like. According to CEDIA, one approach to the e-waste problem is to impose a fee on new electronic equipment, which would used to fund recycling programs. Another approach would require manufacturers to develop and fund programs to collect and recycle the devices they make. CEDIA supports a reasonable fee and logistical structure for the disposal of e-waste that is equitable and convenient for CEDIA members.

For more details on all of these efforts, please visit CEDIA's public-policy page.