At the Digital Entertainment Group’s (DEG) CES party last evening, redbox announced it would begin a rollout of UltraHD Blu-ray disc rentals starting in some test markets. There was no mention of which markets would be selected – or how many of them would be included – just that the UltraHD trial would begin in markets that already show a strong interest in Blu-ray disc rental.
Kaleidescape Brings Movies to Life With Cinema One
Kaleidescape demonstrated their latest product, the Cinema One, which brings the movie and music streaming performance of the company’s regarded Premier line to a far more affordable – sub $4,000 – price point. (Expect a full review of the Cinema One from Darryl Wilkinson.) Kaleidescape also had one of the sweetest booth giveaways at the Expo, drawing a card each day at 4 PM and giving the lucky winner a Cinema One! Also new from the company is the addition of cover art view to their awesome iPad control app. Now users can browse through their movie and music collections using the same cover art view that had previously only been available on the on-screen GUI. Want to shuffle the titles around? Simply give your Pad a shake.
Thousands of users have chosen ReQuest servers to store their music collections through the years, typically feeding their outputs to audio-distribution and control products made by others.
The problem with DVDs is they're just too damn cool. With their pristine pictures, multichannel digital sound, and cheap prices, what's not to love? Storing and managing your collection, however, can be a problem. Though I don't consider myself a huge collector, I have amassed close to 100 DVD movies. My current storage solution is a trunk my wife picked up at a yard sale for $3.
High-rez music is the most exciting audio development to come along in years, and I’ve written quite a bit about it. But I’ve received enough questions concerning high-rez that I felt it was time to devote a column to the subject. What follows is a primer that touches on the basics of high-rez music: what it is, how to get it, and how to play it.
In-wall or in-ceiling speakers require there to be a minimum depth to mount into, but if you have a narrow cavity you can be out-of-luck. Or worse, out-of-luck AND with a big hole in your wall or ceiling. Fortunately, Revel has just the speaker, the new low-profile version of its 2-series in-wall/in-ceiling speaker. Designed to fit in a depts. Of only 2.8-inches these speakers will fit where others won’t. Fortunately, you won’t be skimping on sound just because you are going shallow, and you can choose between a 6 ½-inch or 8-inch woofers. Both models feature high-quality drivers including aluminum cone woofers and 1-inch aluminum-dome tweeters. They include the popular micro-bezel design and use multiple neodymium magnets to securely hold the grills in place.
Most new Blu-ray players are capable of streaming both movies and music, so why would you ever consider buying a dedicated music-streaming device? I mean, if you learned nothing else from your mother, you’re probably at least squared away on the concept of not buying the cow if you’re already getting the milk for free.
First impressions can be a dangerous thing, especially for an A/V equipment reviewer. Allowing yourself to become predisposed to thinking that one company’s component will be this and another company’s component will be that can cloud a review and allow for the praising of some unworthy products while subjecting others to unfair criticism.
• 500-gigabyte hard disk stores approximately 1,000 CDs in lossless FLAC format • 17-inch, 1,280 x 1,024-rez color touchscreen with slot-loading CD drive for importing discs