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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Jane Eyre
Joshua Zyber  |  Sep 28, 2011
According to the painstaking research I performed before writing this review (i.e., looking at Wikipedia for all of five minutes), Charlotte Brontë’s proto-feminist novel (I cribbed that phrase right from the wiki, FYI) had been adapted at least 15 times for the silver screen and an additional 10 for television before this year’s revival. That’s to say nothing of the other numerous attempts to sequelize, prequelize, or retell the story in literary form. What is it about this book that inspires so many people to tell the story until someone finally gets it right?

The latest Jane Eyre comes from director Cary Fukunaga, an American filmmaker of Swedish and Japanese descent whose only previous feature was the Mexican gangster film Sin Nombre. In other words, he’s exactly the first person you’d think of to make a British period romance starring an Australian actress and German-Irish leading man. The mind reels.

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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
Sony Bravia XBR-55HX929 3D LED LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 28, 2011

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $3,800 At A Glance: Exceptional black levels • Outstanding detail and color • Head-tilt 3D ghosting

With the growing popularity of LED backlighting for LCD HDTVs, it’s easy to forget that not all such backlighting is created equal. LEDs can be configured to provide either backlighting or edge lighting. In either case, the lighting can be steady, with image brightness dependent only on the pixels of the LCD imaging panel, which darkens the picture as the source requires. Or the lighting can be dynamic, in which the set can dim the backlighting or edge lighting from instant to instant, as needed, assisting the LCD pixels in adjusting for the optimum light output.

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Ask S&V
Marantz AV7005 vs. Cary Cinema 11a Pre/Pro
Scott Wilkinson  |  Sep 28, 2011
I have a Marantz SR8500 A/V receiver with B&W speakers across the front, and I would like to upgrade to take advantage of the new high-rez audio formats. I'm considering the Marantz AV7005 and Cary Audio Cinema 11a preamp/processor. For amplification, I plan to use my Lexicon 512 amp or the amp section of the SR8500. Considering the equipment I have, would the extra cost for the Cinema 11a give me that much improvement in sound over the AV7005? Should I use the Lexicon amp or the 8500's amp, or would the Marantz MM7055 5-channel amp be the way to go? I'm willing to spend the money for whatever is going to sound best.

Jack Woodruff

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Footloose
David Vaughn  |  Sep 28, 2011
City-boy Ren (Kevein Bacon) moves to the small Midwestern town of Beaumont and quickly learns that dancing and popular rock music has been banned. He befriends Ariel Moore (Lori Singer), the daughter of the popular preacher who's leading the charge for the "no fun zone," and a line is drawn in the sand between hometown values and teenage fun.

Footloose is one of those 80's films that stir-up a lot of memories for people in my age demographic. Back in 1984 it was wildly popular due to the hip music, fun dancing, and anti-establishment message. There wasn't a guy I knew who didn't want to be like Ren, but I'm positive I wouldn't approve of my teenage daughter dating a guy like him today!

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Tech2
KEF: Not ready for AARP
Brent Butterworth  |  Sep 28, 2011

I'd expected a kind of This Is Your Life thing, where partygoers would be "treated" to a recitation of five decades of milestones. But the 50th anniversary party for speaker manufacturer KEF at the British Consulate in Manhattan was anything but a long look backward.

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Music ReviewsBlu-ray Movie Reviews
This Week in Music and Blu-rays: September 27, 2011
Brett Milano  |  Sep 27, 2011

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 81: Paul Barton & Greg Stidsen
Scott Wilkinson  |  Sep 27, 2011
Paul Barton (left), PSB's founder and chief speaker designer, discusses some of the psychoacoustic research and technology that went into his company's first-ever headphones, which also include active noise cancelling. And Greg Stidsen (right), NAD's director of technology and product development, talks about his company's new Viso 1 all-in-one, all-digital stereo speaker package, which Barton helped design.

Run Time: 54:44

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Music Reviews
High Fidelity First Class: Immersifying Thyself in Pink Floyd’s Remastered Legacy
Mike Mettler  |  Sep 27, 2011

“This is one case where the record company got it right.”

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Music Reviews
The Blu Album Page 2
Ken Richardson  |  Sep 27, 2011

To say “The Blu Album” is not to suggest that Steven Wilson’s Grace for Drowning (Kscope) is as wildly diverse as the Beatles’ “White Album” — even if Wilson rightly calls his own double-disc set “more experimental and more eclectic” than his previous solo outing, 2009’s Insurgentes, with jazz and classical influen

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Music Reviews
The Blu Album
Ken Richardson  |  Sep 27, 2011

To say "The Blu Album" is not to suggest that Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning (Kscope) is as wildly diverse as the Beatles' "White Album" - even if Wilson rightly calls his own double-disc set "more experimental and more eclectic" than his previous solo outing, 2009's Insurgentes, with jazz and classical influen

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