This is the tale of two companies whose products you likely interact with on a daily basis. Two companies that aim to capture the Holy Grail of the consumer electronics world: your living room. One company has had great success with its mission, while the other one has repeatedly failed.
As I recount in my coverage of the world premier of Brave, it's the first movie with a soundtrack mixed for the Dolby Atmos sound system, which envelops the audience much more than conventional 5.1 or 7.1. But as a brand new technology, Atmos is currently installed in only 14 theaters around the country.
Do you live near one of them? If so, I strongly recommend seeing Brave there so you can experience the next generation of cinema sound. Here's a list of theaters with Dolby Atmos:
Since my first lengthy experience with Sonos products, I've been recommending them as a simpler, lower-cost alternative to traditional multiroom audio systems. It's just so much easier. Plug in a Sonos component, go through a simple config, and you have great-sounding music and Internet radio in any room (or many rooms) in a matter of minutes, all controlled by your smartphone or computer.
But there's one thing a Sonos system doesn't deliver: bass. Now that's fixed.
Since my first lengthy experience with Sonos products, I’ve been recommending them as a simpler, lower-cost alternative to traditional multiroom audio systems. It’s just so much easier. Plug in a Sonos component, go through a simple config, and you have great-sounding music and Internet radio in any room (or many rooms) in a matter of minutes, all controlled by your smartphone or computer.
But there’s one thing a Sonos system doesn’t deliver: bass. Now that’s fixed.
We first heard tell of the new SoloCinema XTR soundbar from Definitive Technology back in January, at the 2012 CES, and the unit impressed us there with the sheer feature set and wattage the Baltimore firm had packed into a 43-inch wide, 2 and 3/8-inch deep profile.
Last night, I was fortunate enough to attend the world premier of Brave, the latest animated feature from Disney and Pixar that will open nationwide on June 22. The star-studded event was held at the newly renamed Dolby Theatre, home of the Academy Awards and Cirque du Soleil's Iris located in the heart of Hollywood, California.
Tyll Hertsens, editor of our sibling website InnerFidelity.com, responds to Steve Guttenberg's comments on a previous podcast that objective measurements are not useful in predicting a user's preference for one piece of audio gear over another, illustrating his points with graphs from his measurements of various headphones. He also talks about the importance of subjective listening, answers chat-room questions, and more.
It’s easy to think of sound recordings in the present tense. Thanks to modern marketing, we’re fixated on this week’s downloads, who’s doing well on America’s Got Talent, and what Lady Gaga is wearing. (Whatever happened to that meat dress, anyway?) But a very cool thing happens once something is recorded.
After cornering the market for LCD TVs above 60-inches diagonal with exclusive 70- and 80-inch models, Sharp has released its first 90-inch LED-backlit LCD set.
As Sharp executives were quick to point out at the product’s launch party in New York City tonight, this is one big TV. Its 1920x1080-pixel, 90-inch diagonal screen measures 6 feet, 8 inches wide by 4 feet tall. That’s said to be equivalent to nearly twice the screen area of a 65-inch television, or three times the area of a 55-inch set. To take it even further, you can squeeze eight 32-inch TVs into its screen, or 56 iPads.
Streaming media from online sources provides a huge variety of movies, TV shows, and music that can be rented or watched for free. Still, you may have downloaded movies and music and stored them on your computer as well. Your media libraries may be filled with movies, TV shows, music that you ripped from CDs, and/or digital photos you've taken yourself.