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Is the End of Physical Media Inevitable?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 28, 2011

With the rise of iTunes, Netflix, and other online sources of streaming and downloadable audio/video content, many now predict that physical media such as CD, DVD, and Blu-ray will soon go the way of the dinosaurs. According to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times, sales of CDs and DVDs are down 57 and 33 percent, respectively, over the last four years, but Blu-ray disc sales have grown by almost 19,000 percent in the same time frame. Still, there are those who see Blu-ray as the last physical medium in the face of the online onslaught.

Others believe that physical media will never disappear altogether, in part because it's human nature to collect physical objects, and the sense of ownership is greater when you have something to hold in your hands. Additional factors in this argument include physical media's permanence—there's no chance of losing the data in a hard-disk crash—and generally superior sound and picture quality.

Which side of this argument are you on? Do you believe that the end of physical media is upon us, or will it survive the rise of online distribution, perhaps with the development of a future technology such as holographic crystals with terabytes of capacity? Or will it become a niche market as vinyl LPs are today?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice. Is your vote a real prediction or wishful thinking?

Is the End of Physical Media Inevitable?
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Blu-ray Review: Inception
 |  Jan 28, 2011

British director Christopher Nolan wants to mess with your head. Memento, the film that put him on the map, moved backward in time to disorient viewers and subvert conventional storytelling. Ten years later, Inception feels like a follow-up, even though Nolan made movies like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight in the interim.

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Review: Avatar 3D Blu-ray
Al Griffin  |  Jan 28, 2011

As anyone who saw Avatar in 3D at a theater (especially an IMAX theater) can attest, it set a high bar for depth-enhanced cinema. And for people like me fortunate enough to have had access to a 3D TV in 2010, each of the meager disc offerings squeezed out by the studios inevitably stood in comparison with that benchmark experience. With few exceptions, all fell well short of my Avatar-fueled expectations.

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Audio Video News
Watching TV Is Almost Full-Time Job
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 28, 2011
The average American spends nearly as much time in front of the TV as on the job, Nielsen figures show. Now if only we could get paid for the 35.6 hours per week most of us watch, the economy would skyrocket.

This was just one of the interesting figures in the Nielsen Company's "State of the Media 2010" report.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Color Purple (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jan 27, 2011
Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) is a southern black woman virtually sold into a life of servitude to a brutal husband, sharecropper Albert (Danny Glover). Celie pours out her innermost thoughts in letters to her sister Nettie (Akousa Busia), but Albert has been hiding the return correspondence making Celie believe she's dead. Finally, Celie finds champions in her daughter-in-law, the take-no-shit Sofia (Oprah Winfrey) and the glamorous Shug Avery (Margaret Avery), a local entertainer.

Up until Steven Spielberg produced and directed this film, he was more known for "popular" cinematic titles such as Jaws, Indiana JonesE.T and he hadn't had to deal with meaty subjects such as rape, incest, and woman's rights. Ultimately the film received 11 Academy Award nominations (winning none) and Spielberg proved he was up for the challenge and went on to become one of the best director's of his generation.

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Custom Installation How-ToHome Movie Theaters
Automating a New Home
Chris Bishop  |  Jan 27, 2011

This home was a 4500sq.ft. rancher and Custom Video Audio Components (CVAC) was responsible for supplying and installing a completely automated 7.1 surround sound home theater, an elegant touch-screen audio distribution system throughout the house, a Hide-A-Hose retractable central vacuum system and, in conjunction with Hilco Systems, installed Honeywell security and Bosch CCTV surveillance systems.

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AV Receiver Reviews
Test Report: Denon AVR-991 A/V Receiver
Daniel Kumin  |  Jan 27, 2011

Denon has been making A/V receivers for about as long as there have been A/V receivers, and it's rarely produced a bad one. The brand usually gleans more attention for its über-dollar high-end models than for the kind of high-value, midprice models that win the credit-card swipes of most buyers. But this new AVR- 991, with its suggested price under $1,000 and its rich feature set, may change that perception in a hurry.

SETUP

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Premiere Design
MBL 1621A CD Transport & 1611F DAC
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 27, 2011
MBL has its fingers in just about every audiophile pie there is, from CD players and DACs to preamps and integrated amps to power amps and speakers to cables, racks, and speaker stands. In terms of source devices, the company's ne plus ultra is the 1621A CD transport and 1611F digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
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Test Report: Axiom Audio M60 v3 Tower Speakers
Brent Butterworth  |  Jan 27, 2011

Speaker makers fall into two general groups: the Canadian school and the artsy school. The Great White Northerners - guided by decades of study conducted at the Canadian National Research Council in Ottawa - fuss and fuss until their speakers deliver perfect measured performance, then run test after test with trained listeners to make sure their speakers sound practically flawless.

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Test Report: Axiom Audio M60 v3 Tower Speakers Page 3
Brent Butterworth  |  Jan 27, 2011

Speaker makers fall into two general groups: the Canadian school and the artsy school. The Great White Northerners — guided by decades of study conducted at the Canadian National Research Council in Ottawa — fuss and fuss until their speakers deliver perfect measured performance, then run test after test with trained listeners to make sure their speakers sound practically flawless.

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