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To: Peter V who wrote (24608)	10/29/1997 4:29:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Star wars... Reviews of DSS receivers. The Starwars article: hometheatermag.com The reviews: Hitachi: hometheatermag.com RCA: hometheatermag.com Sony: hometheatermag.com Toshiba: hometheatermag.com Uniden: hometheatermag.com

To: Peter V who wrote (24608)	10/29/1997 4:42:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Comdex Asia a bust................................... Comdex Asia <Picture><Picture><Picture> It is not unknown for IM to be critical of shows with multimedia or IT in their title. But this week's Comdex Asia in Singapore took the biscuit; it should be sued under the trade description act! The show occupied but one hall on the fourth floor of the giant convention centre, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Take away the giant Singapore ONE stand and there was not a lot left. The early brochures promised everything. This included Comdex Multimedia 'the centre of attention for thousands of buyers'. Then there was the Microsoft Partner Pavilion 'adjacent to the Microsoft corporate booth on the exhibit floor'. Ha. The later brochures changed their tune. Not only was there no Comdex Multimedia, there was no Microsoft Pavilion. Worse there was no Microsoft.. The conference was no better. Guess who the keynote speaker was? Bill Gates or Larry Ellison perhaps? It was Ted Smith, president and CEO of FileNet Corporation. Quite. We shared a speaker slot with Martin Geh, country manager for Intel in Singapore. He had flown back specially to speak at the conference yet there were only 30 delegates in the hall. We were not well pleased. It was a re-run of last year's Singapore experience when IM spoke at the Informedia Asia conference. Yet again we were promised an audience of hundreds of delegates and got 30. This year Reed, in a desperate attempt to revive that conference, franchised the E3 name and re-launched the show with mega publicity. Despite that it was forced to quietly 'postpone' it a few weeks ago. One suspects the same forces at work. What used to be called the Singapore Informatics show suddenly turns into Comdex Asia. The suspicion is that the organisers, Times Conferences, simply brought in Softbank on the assumption that the Comdex name would guarantee success. Well it seemed to work last year but it didn't work this year. Comdex Asia 97 was a disaster, not entirely of the organisers making. The currency turmoil in Thailand and Malaysia caused many cancellations. To make matters worse there was the smoke, which cleared as I touched down at the airport. Overblown press reports about 'choking smog' caused many overseas organisations to withdraw their people. But part of the reason for the abysmal turnout has been the spread of the Comdex name over too many events. There is a creeping cannibalisation with events like Comdex India and Comdex Korea. Softbank is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. It has diluted the idea of Comdex Asia. The Singapore event was not regional, it was local. That doesn't explain the fiasco of the Microsoft no-show. Neither does it explain why Creative Labs, who employ thousands just down the road, couldn't even bother to turn up. Yet Creative will be spending millions next month on their stands at ComdexFall, sending hundreds of employees half way round the world to Vegas. Why? Answer: we all haul our butts to Vegas because ComdexFall is the international event where all the major announcements are made, where the great men speak. There were no new product announcements at Comdex Asia, which is why the press room was deserted and the senior execs stayed away. Karl Kuhle, the Australian marketing manager at Times Publishing is not depressed and is pushing ahead with plans for next year's conference. He is hoping to get Microsoft and IBM Semiconductors to his Comdex Asia 98. Contact tcekvk@corp.tpl.com.sg

To: Peter V who wrote (24608)	10/30/1997 12:14:00 PM
From: Peter V	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

The Stereo Review article reviewed the JVC XV-1000, Phillips Magnavox DVD400AT, and the Samsung DVD905. Here's some excerpts about the Samsung DVD905: "All the digital doings are on a single circuit board that sits upside down over the transport assembly. That unusual arrangement prompted me to remove the circuit board (don't try this at home, kids), which revealed a C-Cube Systems DVD chip, a single very large-scale IC that handles the primary MPEG-2 decoding functions as well as the Dolby Digital audio decoding." "it's a bit unexpected that Samsung's first foray into DVD is not a price leader at all but a rather high-end player with a built-in Dolby Digital decoder in addition to some other unique features." "At $750, the Samsung DVD905 offers lots of features per buck, and it was generally very easy to use. More important, its solid audio and outstanding video performance should continue to please long after most novel features have receded to relative insignifigance." The Samsung player was slow to boot up, 22 seconds compared to 12 and 14 seconds for the JVC and Philips Magnavox machines. It got slammed for its on-board DD decoder's inability to supply proper bass: "This player provides an excellent example of why a built-in Dolby Digital decoder is not a desirable feature in a DVD player. Use the Samsung's digital output to feed a amplifier/receiver containing its own Dolby Digital decoder and bass-management circuits, and you'll have an infinitely better chance of getting the bass to come out right." "The JVC led the field in audio performance, and -- in my subjective view -- video as well, while the Philips had the edge in value, and the Samsung in features, plus the added filip of onboard Dolby Digital. But overall, I would cheerfully retain any of these three DVD players for daily use."