LATEST ADDITIONS

NAD Masters Series M55 Universal DVD Player
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 25, 2007  |  0 comments

I recently reviewed the <A HREF="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/surroundsoundpreampprocessors/207nadmaster/... Masters Series </A> M15 AV Surround Preamplifier and M25 seven-channel power amp. A full report on a third entry in the Masters Series, the M55 upconverting universal player, was delayed pending arrival of a second sample.

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Audio Video News
PS3 Lagging In Game Console Sales
 |  Feb 25, 2007  |  0 comments

Can you sell a million game consoles in three months and still be behind? Apparently so. Game console sales numbers through January have been distributed, and while Sony's overall numbers for the PS3 are impressive, Nintendo's Wii has outsold the PS3 in total units by aroung 50% in North America- 1.5 million units compared to around 1 million for the PS3. Microsoft's Xbox 360, which launched well over a year ago is in the overall lead with around five million units.

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If You Can't Laugh At Yourself...
Shane Buettner  |  Feb 24, 2007  |  7 comments

Here's a freebie. I love this industry, and I love HDTV in spite of the format war. But this is too funny to not pass along to as many people as possible. Check out this <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72768-0.html?tw=wn_index_11">HDTV FAQ</A>, and have a good laugh. As an industry, we probably deserve this.

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Best Buy Serious About HD on a Disc?
Shane Buettner  |  Feb 24, 2007  |  0 comments

It might surprise you to know I read the Best buy pullout in every weekend's Sunday paper (which now arrives on Saturday for reasons I can't discern). I'm primarily interested in seeing what's being pushed on the mass market and how.

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Fred Manteghian Blog
Consumer Distorts
Fred Manteghian  |  Feb 24, 2007  |  8 comments

One of the biggest ripoffs in the world is from a company that professes to be in business of preventing the commitment thereof. Yeah, I'm talking about the folks at Consumer Reports. For them, it's business as usual and their modus operandi hasn't changed in years. I remember shopping for a car years before the Internet had anything worthwhile on it, and going to the newsstand and picking up a copy of "Edmund's guide to New Cars" for seven bucks. There, in plain English, was a guide that gave me the MSRP, the dealer invoice, the "holdback," the list of options and anything else I might need to drive the best deal I could when I entered the showroom.

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The S&V InterviewAudio Video News
Our Grammy Moment
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Feb 23, 2007  |  0 comments
Home Theater's second annual peak behind the Grammy curtain.
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Ears On
Diablog: Pray for DRM
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 23, 2007  |  0 comments
My birthday's coming!
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Audio Video News
Blockbuster Wants Your Netflix Flaps
 |  Feb 22, 2007  |  First Published: Feb 23, 2007  |  0 comments

Blockbuster has a promotion that it apparently thinks is so good that it's worth doing twice. Last Sunday through Wednesday current Netflix subscribers that brought in the tear away flaps from a Netlfix movie rental envelope were given a free movie rental at Blockbuster. According the AP story on the promo, this is the second time Blockbuster has run this offer, the first being a two week stint in the Dallas area last December.

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Audio Video News
High Def for the Analog Set
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Feb 22, 2007  |  0 comments
For those who can't sleep at night worrying about the impending analog TV cutoff on February 17th, 2009, the AV Tool ATSC-100 HDTV Off-Air Receiver might be better than an Ambien or a Lunesta. (We're not endorsing specific medications, of course. We prefer to use late-night TV infomercials as sedatives.)
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Ears On
Video Games Steady Surgeon's Knife
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 22, 2007  |  0 comments
Sawbones who play video games regularly are 37 percent less likely to make a mistake when doing something in your gut with a pointed object, according to a survey of surgeons at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Of 33 surgeons who participated in the study, nine had played video games for at least three hours in the preceding week, and 15 had never played them at all. Those nine were golden: Not only did they make fewer errors, they also performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent higher in a surgical-skills test. The technique in question is laparoscopic surgery, in which a video camera on a stick is inserted into the patient's body, allowing for smaller incisions for the other sharp objects and less invasive procedures overall. "It's like tying your shoelaces with three-foot-long chopsticks," says the author of the study, Dr. James "Butch" Rosser. Yup, he's a gamer: "I use the same hand-eye coordination to play video games as I use for surgery." Maybe we shouldn't worry so much about video-game violence. This guy's itchy trigger finger is saving lives.
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