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Do You Prefer an Anamorphic Lens or Lens Memories?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 17, 2012
As I explain in today's "Ask Home Theater" blog, there are two ways to project a 2.35:1 movie onto a 2.35:1 screen without black letterbox bars. One way is to place an anamorphic lens in front of the projector's primary lens to stretch the image horizontally and use electronic processing to upscale the image vertically. The other way is to use a projector with motorized zoom, focus, and lens shift and several less memories to store and recall the settings for different aspect ratios. As with most things in life, each approach has its pros and cons.

If you have a 2.35:1 projection system—or you only dream about having one—which approach do you prefer? An anamorphic lens with its increased brightness and vertical resolution but potential scaling artifacts and optical distortion, or lens memories that avoid these problems at the expense of lower brightness and vertical resolution? Or are you happy with a 16:9 screen and black letterbox bars framing movies?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

Do You Prefer an Anamorphic Lens or Lens Memories?
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Ask S&V
2.35 Movies on a 2.35 Screen
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 17, 2012
I have received an estimate for a basement home theater utilizing an Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 6010 projector and a Dragonfly 2.35:1 screen. The installer recommends a Panamorph FVX200 anamorphic-lens system to convert movies to match the aspect ratio of the screen, but I question the value of this $3000 add-on to improve the home-theater experience.

Gregg Berkowitz

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Tech2
Get in the Hatchback: The Ford Mobile Studio Unveiled
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Feb 17, 2012

Ford has built a mobile recording studio into a 2012 Focus with the help of legendary producer Don Was, engineer Krish Sharma, and car customizer “Mad” Mike Martin.

At the LA unveiling, I got to see the studio in action: recording a band and playing back the mix. As an added bonus I got to talk to Was and Sharma about how dynamic range compression/limiting is ruining modern music.

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The Big Picture
Star Wars 3D Falls Flat
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 16, 2012
Last night, I saw Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D—RealD, not Imax, which was showing Journey 2: The Mysterious Island instead. That Dwayne Johnson vehicle looks pretty bad from the trailers I've seen, but I bet the 3D is better than it is in the new Star Wars release.
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Ask S&V
Physical Media vs. Online Distribution
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 15, 2012
I've been seeing announcements from the pop-music industry about the discontinuation of physical media in favor of online content. What will this mean for home theater, considering the increasing bitrates for video and 7- and 11-channel audio? If we are moving toward 4K, won't we need physical media for a long time to come?

Michael Johnston

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Signals
Digital Crossroads
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 15, 2012

The Wall Street Journal is reporting this week on the future plans of two corporations. As with any corporate news, there is a certain dry and brittle quality to it; most WSJ readers really only care how news will affect share prices. But there's also high drama playing out. Right before our eyes, one company is withering away, while the other soars higher and higher.

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Grace Notes
TiVo and DirecTV: Reunited, and it Feels so Good
Leslie Shapiro  |  Feb 15, 2012

Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Rachel and Ross, Brad and Angelina, Mac and Cheese. All great couples. Each individual may be fine on their own, but together - well, they're magic. Okay, so a few end up dead, but if it's written in the stars, then so be it.

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Music Reviews
Review: Sibelius' Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 on SACD
Robert Ripps  |  Feb 15, 2012

After becoming music director of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003 Osmo Vänskä began recording an excellent multi-channel SACD set of Beethoven symphonies with his new group. The Finnish conductor has since returned to the work of his countryman Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), recording this multi-channel SACD of the composer's most popular symphonies, Nos. 2 & 5.

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Tech2
Crossovers: A Show and Tell
Brent Butterworth  |  Feb 15, 2012

One of the best weekends of my life involved a train trip to visit a new, out-of-state girlfriend. I barely remember my time with her, but I vividly remember what I read on the way: Vance Dickason’s Loudspeaker Design Cookbook.

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 99: Jason Hartlove
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 14, 2012
Jason Hartlove, CEO of Nanosys, Inc., explains his company's new backlight technology for LCD TVs called quantum-dot enhancement film, or QDEF, which uses nanoparticles that emit light of different colors when exposed to blue light. The emitted colors can be tightly controlled in the manufacturing process, resulting in just about any desired RGB color gamut, including the original gamut captured and intended by movie producers. A very geeky episode!

Run Time: 1:02:53

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