Last week, an important milestone in the development of broadcasting in China was marked with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Digital Video Broadcasting Consortium (DVB), a group committed to designing a global family of standards for the delivery of digital television, and the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS) of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television of China. The ABS is a research organization responsible for formulating recommendations for digital-television standards for China.

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Musicians and record labels have long been able to back up their bragging with gold records hanging on their walls, but film directors and movie studios have had to rely on mere sales statistics when it came to a DVD's success. But last week, the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) announced the first eight titles to qualify under its new DVD Certification Program to recognize "outstanding sales performance" of DVD titles. The titles were announced during the Association's 19th Annual Convention in Las Vegas by VSDA president Bo Andersen.

Surround formats are coming on the market fast and furious, which means yet more buttons on equipment. Last week, Denon Electronics announced the introduction of its new $3,800 flagship AVR-5800 A/V Surround Receiver, which the company claims is the world's first audio component to offer DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 and DTS Neo:6 surround sound decoding. The receiver also boasts THX Surround EX decoding, 24-bit/192kHz D/A conversion, FireWire capability and seven channels, each capable of 170 watts output power.