LATEST ADDITIONS

Billy Altman  |  Feb 08, 2007  |  0 comments
Yes, I'm a Witch Astralwerks
Music •••½ Sound •••½
Granted, most people had little or no inkling of who Yoko Ono
Rob O'Connor  |  Feb 08, 2007  |  0 comments
Charlie Louvin Tompkins Square
Music •••• Sound ••••
At nearly 80 years old, Charlie Louvin isn't about to learn any new tricks.
 |  Feb 08, 2007  |  0 comments

Could it be that Apple, Amazon and Netflix might face their toughest competition in the movie download space from a brick and mortar retail chain? Wal-Mart is entering the movie download business with deals in place with six of Hollywood's major studios, a claim no other download site can match currently. Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner have all signed on to sell movies and TV shows with the retailing giant.

Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 08, 2007  |  1 comments
What's remarkable about Wal-Mart's just-unveiled Video Downloads is not that America's number one retailer is venturing into online distribution of movies and teevee. The real story is that Wal-Mart has convinced all six major motion picture studios and at least some of the networks to pour a total of 3000 titles into the fledgling service. Wal-Mart tells you how to enjoy its downloads on TV, PC, or portable player. Pricing ranges from $1.96 for a TV episode to $19.88 for a fresh movie title. Shop around and you'll find movie titles well under the maximum. For example, Rugrats Go Wild for a mere $7.50. Still, even that's not much of a bargain compared to your basic Blockbuster movie rental fee of less than $5--so much for the "always low prices" slogan. Moreover, there's no mention of HD, compatible portables do not include iPods, and Wal-Mart's web developer is guilty, guilty, guilty of a major gaffe: The service seems to have been optimized for Internet Explorer (I used version 7). In Firefox 1.5, it's an unusable mess. Any Safari or Opera users having trouble with this page? Let me know. In fairness, the service is in beta, and improvements may follow.
Drew Thompson  |  Feb 07, 2007  |  0 comments

Thrusting you into the Normandy Breakout, the spectacular graphics and sound of this game make it one of the most immersive, movie-like World War II shooters yet. Details in the environments will astound you, including some of the most lifelike vegetation ever seen in a game - from individual blades of grass that sway in the breeze to lush trees that let rays of light filter through.

Peter Pachal  |  Feb 07, 2007  |  0 comments

TOUCHES OF CLASS If you suspect those cheapie plasmas at Costco must be missing something, you're right . . . and it's all found in Pioneer's PRO-940HD set. An arsenal of technologies - including a crystal emissive layer, glare-reducing filter, and improved phosphors - gives you the deepest contrast possible.

Peter Pachal  |  Feb 07, 2007  |  0 comments

PIXEL FACTORY DVD isn't as exciting as it used to be, but Oppo's DV-981HD player still manages to impress. After all, you don't find a Faroudja video processor for upconverting video to 1080p format in any old bargain-basement machine. And with the HDMI output, hookup to your cutting-edge flat-panel TV is seamless.

Peter Pachal  |  Feb 07, 2007  |  0 comments

BIT PIPELINE One thing about HDMI - the supposed be-all and end-all of HDTV connectors - is that it's one of the most rapidly changing standards in A/V history.

Peter Pachal  |  Feb 07, 2007  |  0 comments

THE RIGHT PROTOCOL Vibe has its own take on whole-house audio: The system uses IP (Internet Protocol) to communicate between components. Music on the Vibe AS1-1250/6 server, which stores as many as 1,250 uncompressed CDs, streams digitally over your network to up to six rooms.

Peter Pachal  |  Feb 07, 2007  |  0 comments

LEAN AND SO MEAN The leading 58-inch plasma panel costs 5 grand and can't even display a 1080p signal without downconverting it to 720p. Seems like JVC's got it all figured out with its new slim HD-ILA LCoS HDTV. For $3,300, you get a crisp 58-inch 1080p screen in a cabinet just 10.8 inches deep that goes flush against a wall and can even be wall-mounted.

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