In 2002, the video world was just getting comfortable with component analog video. HDTV and DVD were only starting to acquire mass-market status. We were using three separate video cables to connect our shiny new HDTVs to our best sources. Add to that up to six audio cables to our A/V receivers. This forest of cables wasn’t heaven (except to cable vendors), but it worked, and it provided most viewers with their first real taste of high-quality video. We also had DVI, a standard for digital video borrowed from the computer world. But because its clunky connector only carried video and not audio as well, it never achieved critical mass.
I've known the name Nagra for decades, but only in the realm of professional audio, especially field recorders. Recently, I learned that the Swiss stalwart also offers a line of high-end consumer electronics, such as the Pyramid Monoblock Amplifier (PMA) and Pyramid Stereo Amplifier (PSA).
Secret Handshake I have an LG 50PK750 plasma TV connected to a Sony Blu-ray player via HDMI. When i switch inputs from the cable box to the BD player, I may or may not get sound. It seems to work more often if I switch the input and then power up the player. No one I've talked to, including an LG tech, has any knowledge or advice about this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Philips has announced a new universal remote, that combines a minimalist navigation design with a full QWERTY keyboard. The Philips Dual remote features a simple direction-pad, handful of basic controls, and an optical trackpad on one side of the...
After The Matrix had a huge box office and became the first title to sell over 1 million DVDs, the brothers Wachowski and Warner decided it was time to cash in on the franchise and create a trilogy (it's the Hollywood thing to do). The second of the three films debuted on May 15, 2003 and went on to earn over $280 million at the box office.
The first film is a classic due to its impeccably shot action sequences and philosophical dialog. Unfortunately, the second is filled with senseless ramblings from Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) although like its predecessor the stunts are fabulous, especially the highway chase scene that runs for over 15 minutes.
This was a retrofit project where the homeowner's existing 300 sq.ft. theater was upgraded with all new equipment, which included a six-zone distributed audio system for entertaining. The theater went from a 5.1 to a 7.2 audio system and outfitted with a top-of-the-line JVC DLA-RS35U projector outputting 1080P resolution at 120Hz. The original 92” screen was replaced with a 115” Stewart Luxus Deluxe Screenwall, creating a far more immersive environment. A single RTI T4 remote controls everything.
I happened upon the Planet speaker from South Korean Metal Sound Design (MSD) by accident, but as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to profile it here. All of MSD's products are as much sculpture as speaker, and as the company's name implies, the medium of choice is metal.
Price: $999 At A Glance: Sleek, simple-looking satellites with removable pedestals • Small, sealed sub with 8-inch driver
Undercover Operative
When agents for the federal government’s most secretive intelligence agencies take up their sensitive duties, they are outfitted with trench coats and fedoras so that they can blend in with the general population. That’s what I thought of when I uncrated the Harman Kardon HKTS 30 satellite/subwoofer system. To look at these speakers, you’d hardly suspect that they form a package that retails for just a buck shy of a thousand dollars. The look is strictly utilitarian, like something you’d see packaged with a less costly system. Yet under the metal grilles there lurk some nice silk-dome tweeters. And the speaker terminals aren’t the flimsy plastic-tab wire clips you’ll find in the cheapest speakers. Instead, Harman Kardon opts for a sturdy all-metal terminal, a spring-loaded cylinder of a type often seen in better-quality sat/sub sets. Clearly, there’s more to this system than meets the eye.
While the hobby of home theater may seem benign, it’s not without danger. How much danger? Experts tend to peg its level of potential hazard as being somewhere between that of stamp collecting—in which nothing whatsoever happens at any time and so the risk is quite low—and emu farming, where the chance of having your carotid artery flayed open by a razor-sharp spur is ever present. With home theater, the risks are somewhat more hidden but no less dangerous. If there are individuals who have somehow managed to flay open their carotid arteries in their home theaters, it probably went unreported. I know if it were me, I’d want my family to buy an emu and blame it on him to spare them the shame. To help you avoid the pitfalls, I’ve compiled this list of common home theater ailments.