Audio Video News

The results of last week’s survey are in. We asked what type of demo material you use to impress unsuspecting friends and family and action/adventure movies were the runaway winner capturing more than half of the votes. Computer animated movies were a distant second with 22 percent of the votes, followed by concert videos with 10 percent and current hit TV shows with 8 percent.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. Action/adventure movie – 57% (559 votes)

2. Computer animated movie – 22% (216 votes)

3. Concert video – 10% (102 votes)

4. Discovery Channel-type documentary – 8% (83 votes)

5. Palladium, the high-def music channel – 2% (20 votes)

6. Current hit TV show – <1% (4 votes)

7. Reality TV show – 0% (0 votes)

Stay tuned for our next poll and feel free to suggest topics/questions.

Demo Material Recommended by Fellow Enthusiasts
Here’s a compilation of demo recommendations from fellow enthusiasts, the overwhelming majority of which fall into the—you guessed it—action/adventure genre. We've included links to our Blu-ray reviews, most of which were done by Home Theater equipment reviewers, David Vaughn in particular. Enjoy and keep the conversation going. There are more demo nuggets to mine.

• Blade
• The Dark Knight (two mentions) – Opening scene [Click here for David Vaughn’s review.]
• Open Range – Cited for its DTS soundtrack on DVD (yes, DVD)
• Flight of the Phoenix – Crash scene [Click here for Tom Norton’s review.]
• Inception – The title sequence [Click here for David Vaughn’s review.]
• The Incredibles (two mentions) – Most all action sequences [Click here for David Vaughn’s review.]
• Kung Fu Panda – Escape scene [Click here for David Vaughn’s review.]
• Lawrence of Arabia – A beautiful transfer [Click here for our review.]
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Click here for David Vaughn’s review of the Blu-ray extended edition of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy .]
• Lost in Space – The 1998 movie (not the cheesy 1960s TV series) was cited for its action-packed opening scene
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Esappy called the entire high-seas adventure a “top notch demo” but singled out the scene when men are scrambling to quarters: “...you not only hear them running around you, but you can actually hear them running ABOVE you. And that is without having extra height channels.” [Click here for Kris Deering’s review and unique perspective on the movie’s demo qualities.]
• The Matrix Click here for David Vaughn’s review of 2008’s The Ultimate Matrix Collection.
• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol [Click here for our review.]
• Predator Click here for David Vaughn’s review of the Ultimate Hunter Edition released in 2010.
• Public Enemies– Shootout scene in the forest [Click here for David Vaughn’s review.]
• Rango – Scene where they’re walking through the caverns with torches [Click here for Kris Deering’s review.]
• Ratatouille – Described as “brilliant, vibrant animation” with stunning detail [Click here for Tom Norton’s review of two Pixar movies and a collection of shorts.]
• Speed – The first bus explosion [Click here for our review.]
• Skyfall [Click here for our review and here for the story behind the Skyfall’s thrilling soundtrack.]
• Terminator Salvation – Giant robot sequence [Click here for our review.]
• Transformers
• Tron: Legacy [Click here for David Vaughn’s review.]
• X-Men: First Class [Click here for 10 great comic book movies on Blu-ray, including this one.]
• Underworld

Other miscellaneous mentions:

• Game of Thrones, the HBO fantasy drama series
• Hell Freezes Over, live performance of the Eagles on DVD-Audio – “Hotel California”
• Michael Jackson’s This Is It – The Thriller sequence [Click here for David Vaughn’s review.]