Home Theater Week in Review, April 7-April 11, 2008

by Oliver Amnuayphol

More good news for PS3 owners this week: Sony recently announced a version 2.30 update for their multi-purpose gaming machine that finally brings DTS HD Master Audio and HR to the Blu ray-equipped console. Processing is internal PCM conversion, which is then transmitted via HDMI. Whether the unit will also pass along bitstream info via HDMI for receiver/processor decoding remains unclear, but at least now you can hear more than just the DTS "core" audio tracks (which is the same audio as any standard DVD). So big ups to the folks at Sony/PS3 for bringing us HD-quality sound.

Always wanted to get into whole-house distributed video but thought it too complex? Well the fine folks at Vudu and Netstream have just made it a whole lot easier, courtesy of their Vudu Xl and DigiLinX IP-Based Distributed Audio, Video and Control system. With over one Terabyte of storage (yowsers!) and more than 5000 movies titles available, IPTV in every room has never been easier or more convenient.

Movie Releases for This Week.

DVD: Juno; Lars and the Real Girl; Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; Alien vs. Predator--Requiem; Erasure--Live at the Royal Albert Hall.

Blu-ray: Juno; Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; Alien vs. Predator--Requiem; Predator; Mariah Carey--The Adventures of Mimi; A Passage to India; Commando.

HD DVD: Bonnie and Clyde.