DTV At Hi-Fi ë99 Home Theater And Specialty Audio Show
High-definition television was one of the hot topics at this yearís Hi-Fi ë99, the Home Theater & Specialty Audio Show held in May in Chicago. While broadcasters are moving forward, albeit slowly and cautiously, television manufacturers continue to introduce displays with $6,000-plus price tags. But at such high prices, mass-market consumers will continue to be denied HDTV while those with deep pockets will be afforded excellent imaging. While CRT-based DTVs are expensive, plasma displays are still even more so and there does not appear to be a price break-through evident anytime soon, certainly not at mass market prices. Sharp announced the second rear-projection HDTV in its DTV product line, the 64LHP4000, a 64-inch set that retails for $6,495. A complementary set-top decoder, which retails for $2,000 features an internal line doubler and upconverts 720p, 480p, and 480i to 1080i. Other HDTV introductions were announced by Philips, Samsung and Pioneer. The Pioneer PDP-501NC is a 50-inch widescreen plasma display capable of displaying 1280x768 pixels for 720p resolution. The price is steep at $25,000, plus another $2,000 for the complementary DTV converter. Zenith showed its IQB42P97G, a 42-inch plasma display. The E-542 flat-panel monitor from ReVox, bearing a 400:1 contrast ratio and a suggested retail price of $15,995 was also showcased. One of the standout plasma displays was the new 42-inch PD-4280 from Marantz, also in the $15,000 price range. The set features a built-in line doubler, four aspect-ratio modes, and four video inputs for almost every type of source feed. The 101-lb. (46kg) screen is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows PCs. That was pretty much it in terms of DTV product showings at this yearís Hi-Fi í99. With Peterson Publishing buying out ""Home Theater"" magazine, and ""Stereophile"" and ""Stereophileís Guide To Home Theater"" magazines, Hi-Fi í99 sponsors, the future series of consumer shows will be bannered ""Entertainment 2000.""