Scott Wilkinson

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JVC DLA-X30 vs. DLA-X3
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 27, 2012  |  2 comments
I have an existing home theater that is 19.5x12x8.5 feet. It has two rows of raised seating, one at 11 feet from the screen and the other at 15 feet. The screen is 108 inches diagonal, 16:9, with no gain. The distance from the screen to projector ceiling mount is just over 16 feet. The windows have black-out drapes, so the ambient light is totally controlled. The walls and ceiling are white except for the window wall on the left, which has the black drapes.

I need a new projector. I would like to have 1080p and 3D. I was impressed with HT's review of the JVC DLA-X3, and now I see JVC just came out with the DLA-X30. The X3 was $4500, but now the X30 is $3500, and the same store is selling the X3 for $2500. I am not clear on the improvements of the X30 over the X3 and would appreciate your opinion if they are worth the extra $1000. More importantly, will these projectors be right for my room and seating dimensions?

Steve Schmidt

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The Big Picture
Hollywood's Biggest Night
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 27, 2012  |  14 comments
I really enjoy watching the Academy Awards show, the 84th edition of which was held last night and broadcast to an audience of some 40 million viewers. The high-def image is beautiful, the staging is lavish, the music is live, and Jennifer Lopez always looks gorgeous. But the main reason I watch is that movies are the driving force behind home theater, and the Oscars are one of the driving forces behind movies.
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Torn Between Two AVRs
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 24, 2012  |  7 comments
I have a dedicated 400-square-foot theater room with a 7.1 surround system used entirely for movie viewing. I currently have a Pioneer VSX-1019 A/V receiver and plan on replacing it with either an Anthem MRX 700 or Arcam AVR400. I am torn between these two models. The Anthem has great room correction and video processing, while the Arcam has more power and lower distortion. I'm looking for the most enveloping sound experience.

Greg Barnett

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Plasma in a Sun Room
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 22, 2012  |  4 comments
I am looking to buy a TV for my sun room, which is 18x20 and has two 6x4 windows on three of the four walls, with the fourth wall facing the inside of my home. The TV would be located on this fourth wall. The room does get a lot of sun, but all the windows have blinds that can be closed fully to block out all meaningful direct sunlight, although some indirect sunlight does seep through.

I'm thinking about getting the Panasonic TC-P55VT30, but I'm concerned about any plasma TV's ability to deal with the brightness of this room during the day. On the other hand, also important is off-axis viewing, which is a plasma strength and an LCD weakness. Will the plasma wash out during the day even with the blinds closed due to the seeping/indirect sunlight? If so, what LED-LCD would you recommend, since I assume all plasmas would have the same issue? If there is a plasma that would not suffer this issue, I would welcome that name also.

Steven Lawless

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The Big Picture
Pina 3D Dazzles
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 21, 2012  |  2 comments
As a musician, I've played for a number of modern-dance performances and classes, including classes taught by members of the renowned Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. So when I learned that Wim Wenders, director of Buena Vista Social Club, made a 3D movie about the late modern-dance choreographer Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal troupe, I had to check it out—especially since Pina has been nominated for an Academy Award as the best documentary feature of 2011.
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2.35 Movies on a 2.35 Screen
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 17, 2012  |  3 comments
I have received an estimate for a basement home theater utilizing an Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 6010 projector and a Dragonfly 2.35:1 screen. The installer recommends a Panamorph FVX200 anamorphic-lens system to convert movies to match the aspect ratio of the screen, but I question the value of this $3000 add-on to improve the home-theater experience.

Gregg Berkowitz

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The Big Picture
Star Wars 3D Falls Flat
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 16, 2012  |  26 comments
Last night, I saw Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D—RealD, not Imax, which was showing Journey 2: The Mysterious Island instead. That Dwayne Johnson vehicle looks pretty bad from the trailers I've seen, but I bet the 3D is better than it is in the new Star Wars release.
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Physical Media vs. Online Distribution
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 15, 2012  |  8 comments
I've been seeing announcements from the pop-music industry about the discontinuation of physical media in favor of online content. What will this mean for home theater, considering the increasing bitrates for video and 7- and 11-channel audio? If we are moving toward 4K, won't we need physical media for a long time to come?

Michael Johnston

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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
Vizio M3D650SV 3D LED-LCD TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 14, 2012  |  3 comments

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $2,200 At A Glance: Excellent 2D and 3D performance • Inexpensive, lightweight, passive 3D glasses • Poor ergonomics

When Tom Norton reviewed the 65-inch Vizio XVT3D650SV 3D LED-edgelit LCD TV last year (see review here), he found it to be an excellent performer in most respects. However, its list price of $3,700 kept many potential buyers away—and, along with the few problems he did find, kept him from bestowing HT's Top Picks designation.

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 99: Jason Hartlove
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 14, 2012  |  2 comments
Jason Hartlove, CEO of Nanosys, Inc., explains his company's new backlight technology for LCD TVs called quantum-dot enhancement film, or QDEF, which uses nanoparticles that emit light of different colors when exposed to blue light. The emitted colors can be tightly controlled in the manufacturing process, resulting in just about any desired RGB color gamut, including the original gamut captured and intended by movie producers. A very geeky episode!

Run Time: 1:02:53

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