LATEST ADDITIONS

David Vaughn  |  Nov 11, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/galaxyquest.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Sixteen years after the cancelation of the TV show <I>Galaxy Quest</I>, the ensemble cast ekes out a living signing autographs at fan conventions and making appearances at store openings. Lucky for them, the gig of a lifetime comes along when they're recruited by an alien race&#151;which has been watching the show as the TV signal races through space, believing it to depict real life on Earth&#151;to rescue them from a band of outer-space warriors.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 11, 2009
Two For One
I have a Pioneer Elite PRO-111FD plasma with a Denon DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray player, and I have two questions. First, should I set the Denon to output 1080p/24 manually or just leave it set to Auto? Second, a friend is encouraging me to get the DVDO Edge because, he says, its processing is probably better than either the Pioneer or Denon. Do you think this is true, or is my current gear sufficient?
Fred Manteghian  |  Nov 11, 2009

Germany's Autobahn has no speed limits and the Pro 900 headphones from Germany's Ultrasone have no sound limits either! And like anything good (and German), you're going to pay. They were about $550 on Amazon last I checked (MSRP is $599). I've had a pair since early spring, but didn't crack them open until I went on vacation in July. Sure, I listen to a lot of music every day with earphones, but not much with headphones. But all that's changed since the Ultrasone Pro 900's entered my life!

SV Staff  |  Nov 11, 2009
The Holiday season is just around the corner and today's deal is a perfect gift for anyone looking to upgrade their small HDTV. We found this LG 50-inch plasma for close to half-off at $969.99 (normally $1,699.95). More HD and gadget deals*...
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 11, 2009
Are those too-loud TV ads wearing you down? The standard-setting body for DTV is taking aim at the problem of blaring commercials by distributing new audio guidelines to broadcasters.
Gary Dell'Abate  |  Nov 10, 2009

I've often heard people who claim to be experts in the A/V business sing the praises of calibrating your TV. Me, I've always been skeptical. Why would I need to adjust something I just paid a ton of money for that's brand new? Isn't that like asking me to take in my factory delivered Porsche for a tune-up before I even put a mile on it? Why would I need that?

Gary Dell'Abate  |  Nov 10, 2009

Whenever I'm going to a big event that I want to document for all posterity - like my sons' concerts or championship football games - I find myself staring at my arsenal of weapons. For these events, a really good video camera is a must. I already have several on hand, so I usually take the one that has a good zoom and takes high-quality video.

SV Staff  |  Nov 10, 2009
If you were searching for that perfect gift for the movie fan that has everything, today's deal from Barnes & Noble might give you the chance to find a rare classic they might not have. Not only is the store offering a variety of deals on...
Kim Wilson  |  Nov 10, 2009

Delivering up to 14TB of centralized network storage, Envive's TheaterStation Multi-zone Digital Media Management System keeps all your media in one convenient location. A single TheaterStation Client can connect with a variety of 4TB, 6TB, 10TB and 14TB storage units that fit in standard rack mounts. As your video and audio library expands, so will your Envive system. Users can easily transfer, store and sort music and movies, whether they are created, purchased on hard media or downloaded from the Internet. The complete TheaterStation product line is ideal for either single-zone or multi-zone installations.

David Vaughn  |  Nov 10, 2009
Price: $399 At A Glance: Pioneer’s first BD-Live player • Exceptional video processing • Slow boot-up and disc loading, especially on Java-intensive discs

With a long history in optical disc technology, Pioneer has been slow to develop new and innovative features in its Blu-ray players. While its previous offerings have been on the upper end of the pricing range, the company’s players have left a lot to be desired. Last fall, I reviewed the Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD player for our sister publication, UltimateAVMag.com. While I was very impressed by its sturdy build quality, it was unreliable, with lip-sync issues and player lockups. It also couldn’t internally decode DTS-HD Master Audio. Granted, a firmware upgrade eventually fixed most of these issues, but the DTS-HD Master Audio upgrade didn’t happen until early this summer—more than six months later than Pioneer promised. As a founding member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, you’d expect Pioneer’s players to be among the most innovative on the market. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case.

But that’s all in the past. The Pioneer BDP-320 brings a lot to the table at half the cost of the Elite branded BDP-05FD. The BDP-320 is BD-Live compliant and has 1 gigabyte of internal memory. Memory is also expandable via the USB port on the back of the player. The back panel includes one HDMI 1.3a output with support for 48-bit Deep Color (not supported by either DVD or Blu-ray), an Ethernet port, component output, and 7.1 analog audio for consumers with legacy equipment that lacks HDMI inputs.

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