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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Battlestar Galactica: Season Four (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jan 03, 2011
Season four of the series was an up and down experience for numerous reasons. When it first aired on the SciFi Network (now Syfy), the 20 episodes were spread over 12 months, with a seven month hiatus between the first eleven and last nine, frustrating the audience. Furthermore, the scripts had a "been there, done that" aspect and I think the writers were filling time in order to get to the tidy conclusion.

Season four does have some great episodes that include "Guess What's Coming to Dinner," "Revelations," "Sometimes a Great Notion," and "No Exit." One of my favorite scenes in the entire series is in "Revelations" where Tigh (Michael Hogan) reveals his secret to Adama (Edward James Olmos). This emotional scene captures the essence of the series of being a story about people and relationships and not about technology.

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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
Sony BRAVIA XBR-52LX900 3D LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 03, 2011
Price: $3,600 At A Glance: Excellent color and resolution • 2D-to-3D conversion mode • Middling shadow detail and off-axis performance

LCD With a Side of LEDs

When I looked over Sony’s press release at the January 2010 CES, I was a bit confused. There are 10 different 3D sets in Sony’s current lineup. The XBR-LX900 line under review here includes 60- and 52-inch models with LED edge lighting, an integrated 3D sensor, and ships with two pairs of 3D glasses in the box. Other 3D HDTVs in Sony’s other lines include either full-array LED lighting with local dimming or Dynamic Edge LED edge lighting. Sony includes the 3D sensor and glasses with some sets, while they’re extra-cost options with others. Sony offers 3D HDTVs in screen sizes ranging from 40 to 60 inches, but not every 3D line offers all of them.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps—20th Century Fox (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Jan 02, 2011
Emerging from a lengthy prison stint, Gekko finds himself on the outside of a world he once dominated. Looking to repair his damaged relationship with his daughter Winnie, Gekko forms an alliance with her fiance Jacob. But can Jacob and Winnie really trust the ex-financial titan, whose relentless efforts to redefine himself in a different era have unexpected consequences.

This Blu-ray delivers a striking film-like transfer with plenty of rich detail and film grain. I loved the natural look of the color and contrast and the superb definition. Shadow detail is strong and the contrast levels really work well with the darker material. Dimensionality is outstanding, especially in the outdoor scenes. The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is solid, but this isn’t an engrossing mix.

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Vote
Is Frame Interpolation a Godsend or the Devil's Spawn?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 31, 2010

Anyone who owns a 120 or 240Hz LCD TV has seen frame interpolation at work, though they might not realize it. These TVs create new video frames and display them between the actual frames as depicted above to reduce motion blur. The problem is that this process has an unwanted side effect—it makes movies look like they were shot on video, just like soap operas. Most videophiles hate this "soap-opera effect" so much, they turn it off and live with more motion blur.

If you have a 120 or 240Hz LCD TV and aren't familiar with this effect, go into the TV's picture menu and turn frame interpolation on and off while watching a movie clip with some fast motion. (In most such TVs, it's on by default.) In many cases, this control is in a submenu called something like "Advanced," but don't be scared, you can't damage anything. Also, this control often has several settings like Low, Medium, and High; try them all and look for any differences.

The frame-interpolation function goes by different names in different brands; here are the names used by the biggest manufacturers:

  • LG: TruMotion
  • Samsung: Auto Motion Plus
  • Sony: Motionflow
  • Toshiba: ClearScan
  • Vizio: Smooth Motion

Those who have seen frame interpolation at work usually have a strong opinion about it, so I ask you: Do you think frame interpolation is a godsend for reducing motion blur or the devil's spawn because of the dreaded soap-opera effect?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice; I look forward to reading your thoughts on this.

Is Frame Interpolation a Godsend or the Devil's Spawn?
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Case 39 (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Dec 31, 2010
A family-services social worker (Renée Zellweger) fights to save a little girl with a haunted past, only to find out that this mysterious new case turns into a nightmare she may never survive.

Originally made in 2007, this stinker didn't hit American theaters until 2010, and for good reason. To call the screenplay unoriginal would be an insult to other unoriginal screenplays—yes, it's that bad. Its only saving grace is the cast, which also includes Bradley Cooper and Ian McShane, who along with Zellweger do their best to take the clichéd-laden script and attempt to make it suspenseful.

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Premiere Design
LG LZ9700 & LW6500 3D TVs at CES
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 30, 2010
LG will have some big announcements at CES next week—literally. Perhaps the biggest is the 72-inch LZ9700, which the company claims is the world's largest LED-backlit 3D LCD TV.
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Signals
The Analog Sunset
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Dec 30, 2010

Blu-ray players are changing — and your HDTV might not like it. However, if your TV has an HDMI input, and it’s HDCP-compliant, you don’t need to read any further. You have nothing to worry about. This article doesn’t concern you. Put down the magazine and do something else just as constructive, like, oh, I don’t know — how about you go check your car’s windshield-washer fluid. . .?

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Other Tech
S+V 101: HDTV Color Spaces Explained
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Dec 30, 2010

Color is one of the most important aspects of a TV’s performance, right up there with contrast ratio, black level, and video processing.

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Audio Video News
Channels May Go Dark on TWC
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 30, 2010
Time Warner Cable is the latest cable system to be threatened with channels going dark due to yet another spat over retransmission fees.

Cable companies and TV stations have been brawling over how much the former should pay the latter for the right to carry their content. This time the warring parties are Time Warner Cable and Sinclair, owner of 33 stations in 21 markets including CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox affiliates. The channels may go dark as early as this coming weekend.

But there's a twist. The Fox network has agreed to provide TWC with a signal if the local station withholds it. That's because its parent, News Corp., already has a retransmission agreement with TWC.

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 48: Ty Roberts
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 29, 2010
Ty Roberts, CTO of Gracenote, discusses how his company maintains a huge database of metadata about CDs, DVDs, and other electronic media that can then be accessed by anyone who wants more info about those titles and/or discover new music and movies they might like; the future of IPTV; Gracenote algorithms that analyze musical structure based on the audio itself; and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 57:04

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