Thomas J. Norton

Thomas J. Norton | Sep 01, 2015 | 3 comments

Last year the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) laid down what it considered the minimum standards for a 4K Ultra HD set. A few months later it introduced a voluntary UHD logo program that manufacturers could use in advertising and labeling sets that meet the standards. This logo also clarified the name to be used for these sets: 4K Ultra HD. While manufacturers are free to make and sell 4K Ultra HD sets of any description (the CEA has no legal authority to stop them), they can’t use the logo if their sets don’t meet these standards. The logo will read either 4K Ultra HD or 4K Ultra HD Connected (though there’s nothing to stop a manufacturer who doesn’t meet the standards from calling their sets simply 4K, or Ultra HD)...

4K TV Reviews LCD TV Reviews

Vizio M65-C1 LCD Ultra HDTV Review

Thomas J. Norton | Aug 19, 2015 | 1 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

PRICE $1,500

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent 4K upconversion
Good blacks
Solid value
Minus
Odd gamma
Clips above white and below black
No enhanced-color or HDR future-proofing

THE VERDICT
As with most current 4K sets, the Vizio M65-C1 delivers only the 4K portion of the full Ultra HD toy box. It also has a few nagging technical issues. But for the most part, these fade into the background of the set’s compelling viewing experience.

Vizio is the value leader in a tough HDTV market. While the safest route for them to maintain their commanding share would have been to change their 1080p E series and M series models just enough for a “new for 2015” promotional campaign, Vizio chose the long view: The E series remains the company’s 1080p budget line, but the M series is now 4K, while still priced well below most of the competition.

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Blu-ray vs. Streaming and Avoiding the Pre-Packaged Media Apocalypse

Thomas J. Norton | Aug 18, 2015 | 9 comments

Join me in the WayBack Machine for a trip to 1995. Somewhere in North America a Stereophile Hi-Fi Show is in progress, and the writing staff is gathered for an Ask the Editor’s session. A question arises about the then fledgling music downloading technology. I recall I answered that, “We’ll be able to do it before we can do it well.”

As it turned out that was correct, though I’m no soothsayer...

A/V Veteran

My Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Movies

Thomas J. Norton | Aug 04, 2015 | 1 comments

What turns a movie into a guilty pleasure? I suppose it’s a film that you enjoy, though you know you shouldn’t because everyone else seems to hate it. There’s a lot of such films in my collection, some of them bought by me, others remnants of the “too odd to review” bins in the publications I’ve written for, from the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater to the present.

Here are ten of them, and they’re by no means the only ones on my shelf...

4K TV Reviews LCD TV Reviews TV Reviews

Samsung UN65JS9500FXZA LCD Ultra HDTV Review

Thomas J. Norton | Jul 22, 2015 | 4 comments

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

PRICE $4,200 (updated 2/2/16, price was $6,499 when reviewed)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
First-rate blacks and shadow detail
Superb resolution—in both 4K and 1080p Full HD
Impressive sense of image depth—even in 2D
Best 3D seen anywhere
Minus
Image degrades significantly off center
Annoying remote control
Glitchy voice- and gesture-control features

THE VERDICT
This is the first consumer Ultra HDTV out of the gate offering more than just four times the resolution of 1080p HD. While it will require more UHD program material to fully judge its ability to provide 10-bit color, a wider color gamut, and higher dynamic range than today’s content, this Samsung is still a strong candidate for the best LCD set launched to date.

Ultra HD remains very much a work in progress. Source material is still scarce, and while some is available through various forms of downloading and streaming, the promised delivery of Ultra HD on Blu-ray (the route most likely to offer the best UHD quality) is still months away. Furthermore, the UHD sets that have appeared to date offer little more than enhanced resolution—resolution that isn’t really significant unless you see it on the biggest screen you can afford and sit closer than some folks prefer. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a UHD set isn’t desirable...

A/V Veteran

Should You Wait to Buy Your Next TV?

Thomas J. Norton | Jul 21, 2015 | 10 comments

While many of you can’t recall when the VCR shook up the TV landscape, I remember the transition to color television. It was an exciting time, but those new sets were very expensive relative to the average middle class income. They were also seldom larger than 21-inches—about the size of many of today’s computer monitors.

Understandably, many consumers waited years for color television to come down in price. I still remember relatives and family friends claiming that they were waiting for them to be perfected. If by “perfected” they meant that they wanted to see the technology stabilize, they’re waiting!

Technology is never stable. While the Ian Malcolm character in Jurassic Park may have said, “Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should,” (truly an odd statement coming from a scientist—oh wait, it came from a screenwriter) there’s always something new and enticing just over the next hill.

A/V Veteran

Remembering Film Composer James Horner

Thomas J. Norton | Jul 07, 2015 | 3 comments

If you asked me if my passion for things audio and video began with music or movies, I'd have a hard time answering. But one of the things that attract me to movies is their music. Movie scores (instrumental, not the string of pop tunes that often passes for a soundtrack) are certainly far down the list of the most popular music genres, but their importance to the success of a film can't be denied. Most film critics mention the score only if it's prominent enough to annoy them. But for me a great score can turn a middling movie into to good one. It can also (though less often) turn a good film into a great one.

The art of film scoring attracts a wide range of talents, but we recently lost one of the best. James Horner died late last month when the private plane he was piloting crashed in a California forest.

I first discovered Horner's work in 1982...

A/V Veteran

Show Report: T.H.E. Show Newport

Thomas J. Norton | Jun 16, 2015 | 4 comments

Last time around I wrote about my experience in viewing Dolby Vision projection, part of Dolby’s Digital Cinema initiative. It features a laser projector from Christie Digital designed specifically to offer higher dynamic range in a theatrical venue. The result was spectacular, but there was an additional reason for my trip back to California. The annual Orange county Hi-Fi show was held on the last weekend in May, and I spent three days there.

The OC show is more properly known as T.H.E. Show (The Home Entertainment Show) Newport Beach (though it was actually in Irvine). “Home Entertainment” is really too broad a term to describe its emphasis. It was, with only one or two exceptions, an exclusively two-channel audio show. There are a number of similar shows in the U.S. and Canada each year—far more than as little as three years ago. The reason for the growth of these shows is the shrinking number of dedicated audio dealers. Yes, the Best Buys, Targets, Costcos, and Walmarts of the world sell their share of audio-only gear. But with rare exceptions (most prominently the Magnolia shops located in or near a select number of Best Buys), the type of audio gear you’ll find in such stores rarely interests audiophiles.

In wide swaths of the country serious audio products simply cannot be auditioned anywhere...

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Dolby Cinema Part Deux

Thomas J. Norton | Jun 02, 2015 | 0 comments

A couple of blogs back I addressed the subject of Dolby Cinema, a combination of technologies, both audio and video, being promoted by Dolby as a dramatic improvement in theatrical presentations. They’re right. It most certainly is.

But first a little background. I stated in that other blog that Dolby Vision (which promotes a wider color gamut and high dynamic range, or HDR) was primarily developed for flat screen sets, which can produce greater brightness (practically speaking, up to around 300 foot-lamberts in an affordable consumer display—though Dolby’s pro display can do much better at considerable cost). For commercial film presentations, Christie Digital has developed, in cooperation with Dolby, a new, laser-lit projector capable of 30 ft-L (in 2D and, of course, depending on screen size and gain).

If that doesn’t sound like a patch on 300 ft-L, keep in mind that most theatrical projectors are lucky to hit 15-16 ft-L (again in 2D, and far lower in 3D)...

A/V Veteran

Atmos Musings and Shelf Life

Thomas J. Norton | May 19, 2015 | 2 comments

A bit of an eclectic mix this time around with two topics, the first somewhat controversial, the second a useful (I hope) tip.

Elsewhere on this site, and in our June Q&A column, we recommended using the same amplifier power for the front, surround and height speakers in an Atmos setup. I don’t entirely agree, though my personal experience with Atmos is limited so far to trade demos and theatrical presentations. Most Atmos-ready AVRs will, of course, have matched power—that’s just the nature of the beasts. But if you have a pre-pro and, say, 200Wpc amps driving the front speakers, do you really need 200Wpc on the other six (for 5.1.4 Atmos) “full range” surround and height channels?

One consideration here is the sensitivity of the surround and height speakers...

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