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Streaming Device Reviews
Netgear NeoTV Max Media Streamer
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jul 31, 2013

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $70 At a Glance: Mirrors or extends PC desktop using WiDi • USB connection and micro SD card slot • DLNA certified for streaming of home media libraries • Flingo App adds dozens of niche video channels

“What’s the best way to connect my PC to my TV?” is a question I am frequently asked. While many TVs have PC connections and many laptops have HDMI outputs, there’s still the issue of controlling the computer while sitting on the couch. The NTV-300SL (aka the NeoTV 300 Max) is a great, relatively inexpensive solution that lets you keep your laptop in your lap.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews3D Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Wreck-It Ralph
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 31, 2013
Picture
3D-Ness
Sound
Extras
Ralph plays the bad guy in the decades-old video game Fix-It Felix, Jr. Each time the game is reset, he trashes the high-rise apartment building that serves as the game’s main setting, only to have Felix instantly repair the damage. It’s a living, but Ralph lives alone in a junk pile, the other characters in the game want nothing to do with him, and he finds relief only in a Bad-Anon support group. As another member of that group argues, he may be a bad guy, but he isn’t a bad guy.
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Premiere Design
Symbol Audio Modern Record Console
Bob Ankosko  |  Jul 31, 2013
Visions of the Zenith (yes, Zenith) hi-fi console in the living room of my childhood home filled my head when I saw the Modern Record Console (MRC). The Zenith was simple in design with an AM/FM tuner and turntable under the lift-up top of a luxurious walnut cabinet with louvered speaker grilles. My parents listened to Herb Alpert and Dionne Warwick while I obsessed over Abbey Road, the album that launched my LP collection. My parents tolerated it—maybe even secretly liked it. Ah, but I digress…
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This Week
This Week in Movies & TV, July 30, 2013: Brothers & Sisters in Arms
Josef Krebs  |  Jul 31, 2013

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

As if the 2009 blockbuster G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra didn't have impressive enough earnings in grossing $302 million worldwide box office, its follow-up, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, surpassed it with a $320 million take (aided by the surcharges this time for a 3D viewing). At this rate, if G.I.

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Grace Notes
Google Chromecast: TV’s next little thing
Leslie Shapiro  |  Jul 31, 2013

Last week, Google released Chromecast, an HDMI dongle that promises to turn your “dumb” TV into a slightly smarter one. With a price tag of just $35, the device is sold out everywhere, and its bundled 3-month Netflix subscription has been halted, due to overwhelming demand. So what’s this little device causing all this ruckus?

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Tech2
Review: DotA 2
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jul 30, 2013

It's hard to classify Defense of the Ancients 2, a free-to-play game from Valve. It's part RPG, part RTS, part multiplayer shooter, part lots of things. This month, there were 5.2 million unique players.

The best I can describe it, is if you've ever played a traditional RTS, and recall one of the "hero" levels where you play as just one, uber-strong, character. That's DotA. Sort of. It can be pretty intense, and quite fun, too.

If you keep reading I promise no more unexplained abbreviations.

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This Week
This Week in Music, July 30, 2013: Presenting the Harry Nilsson Instant Record Collection!
Ken Richardson  |  Jul 30, 2013

Harry Nilsson: The RCA Albums Collection

Archival release (RCA/Legacy)

This week, it’s archival stuff first, folks, prompted by the appearance of this 17-CD set. It has always fascinated me, in a “Yesterday” vs. “Helter Skelter” kind of way, that Harry Nilsson was an artist who could create both the sweet 2-minute tune “Me and My Arrow” and the yowling 7-minute rocker “Jump into the Fire.” But that was indeed Harry, and the full range of his compositional (and interpretive) craft and art can be heard here.

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Tech2
Technicolor 4K Image Certification and Marseille 4K scaler
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jul 30, 2013

Aiming to ensure Ultra HD 4K looks as good as it can, Technicolor has launched 4K Image Certification. The first product to get certified is Marseille Network’s scaler tech.

Fellow Tech2er Brent Butterworth and I headed to Hollywood for an eyes-on demonstration.

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Out Of The Blu
Q, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Redemption and Smiley's People
Chris Chiarella  |  Jul 26, 2013
An unfairly overlooked monster-horror/drama finally goes HD, along with a Next-Gen two-parter and a long-unseen Alec Guinness miniseries.
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Bookshelf Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer ReviewsSurround Sound System Reviews
SVS Ultra Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 26, 2013

Ultra Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value

SB12-NSD Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
Price: $3,348 At A Glance: Distinctive enclosure shapes • Strong build quality • Satisfying, balanced sound

The debut of the SVS Ultra speaker line prompts me to reconsider a question that’s been lurking at the back of my mind for years: Is SVS one of the great American speaker brands?

As a company founded in Ohio and initially operated out of a garage, SVS has all the right narrative elements of a great speaker brand. The company has built a reputation for making brilliantly unorthodox subwoofers and pretty good speakers—versus the scads of respectable brands that put most of their brilliance into speakers and treat subs as an afterthought. In the past few years, the story has added a few new chapters, with new heavy-hitter personnel in management and product design and a manufacturing move from Ohio to (where else?) China.

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