The PR machines for both competing HD formats are relentless. And I have to admit that the impetus for this story was the Blu-ray Disc Association's recent announcement that Blu-ray beat its rival by getting to one million discs sold to consumers first. But what's more fascinating to me is that the HD DVD isn't far behind, in spite of the fact that consumers are allegedly staying away from both formats in droves because of the format war.
Several years ago a major television manufacturer attempted to market an 80-inch rear projection TV. I first saw it, if I recall correctly, at our annual Home Entertainment show, then still known as the <I>Stereophile</I> show. Yes, this is a shameless plug— <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/">HE 2007</A> is coming up in New York City on May 11-13!
One of the few major audio manufacturers to function as a public company will be taken private. Kohlbert Kravis Roberts and GS Capital Partners bought Harman International in a deal worth $8.3 billion.
A "statement" component is usually a top of the line, no holds barred, expensive flagship. Onkyo has just unveiled a different kind of statement product. While it didn't surprise me at all that Onkyo would release an AVR equipped with HDMI 1.3 and onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, I am taken aback that the first AVR to boast these new features is the $599 TX-SR605. <I>That's</I> a statement!
At least one major cable operator is pruning analog channels in advance of the end of analog broadcasting, slated for February 17, 2009. Time Warner Cable's Staten Island Project will provide 100 new channels of HDTV to the southernmost borough of New York City.
Smaller iPod-compatible speaker systems like this one are usually described as "speakers" (as opposed to "systems"). The Altec Lansing inMotion gets points for not calling itself an i-something. What's seductive about it, though, is its shape-shifting ability.
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 2 Lethal Weapon has been the paradigm of cop movies ever since its release in 1987. This is mainly because the film is more about the relationship between Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) and Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) than the plot. That’s not to say that the plot doesn’t hold up. Far from it. Lethal Weapon grabs you from the beginning and never lets go. With a supporting criminal cast of Gary Busey and character actor Mitchell Ryan, the performances all around are incredible.
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 4
Do you ever think about how implausible the plots of mystery books and movies are? So does Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Writer/director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) adapts, in part, Brett Halliday’s mystery novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them. Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey, Jr.) finds himself in the middle of a seemingly simple murder mystery within his first day out in Los Angeles. But Harry knows mysteries are never simple. He soon gets sucked in, along with Gay Perry (Val Kilmer) and Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), trying to find how multiple murders are linked before his is next. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a highly enjoyable dark comedy that turns murder mysteries on their head. The performances are engaging, especially Robert Downey, Jr.’s narration, and all the actors handle the quick banter superbly.
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 2
As she walks down the aisle at her own wedding, Rachel locks eyes for the first time with the female florist, and it’s love at first sight (literally, as she says) in the BBC production Imagine Me & You, an amiable, innocuous, and no-surprises film that leads you exactly where you think it will. Coyote Ugly star Piper Perabo is the newly married and now torn Brit who just can’t ignore the feelings she has no matter how hard she tries, and Lena Headey is Luce, the gay florist who also happens to feel the same.