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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Defiance
David Vaughn  |  Jun 02, 2009  |  First Published: Jun 03, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/defiance.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>The World War II true story of the Belski brothers' fight against the German army features an amazing 1080p AVC encode. It contains superior detail in both close-ups and long shots as well as rich color saturation, especially the greenery of the Belarusian forest. Audio-wise, the disc has its moments, but there are only a few scenes that are demo-worthy, one of which I highlight below.

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Blu-ray, Ceiling Speakers, Sub Crawl
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 02, 2009
Blu-ray Blues
My TV is a Panasonic TH-42PZ80U and my Blu-ray player is a Samsung BD-P1500. They are connected with an HDMI cable. I've noticed that some Blu-ray discs aren't as sharp as others and really look just like a DVD. Am I being ripped off? Are some Blu-ray discs simply DVDs labeled as Blu-rays to make more money? I can't see anything wrong with my setup. Has anybody else had the same problem? How do I fix it so I get Blu-ray quality every time I watch a Blu-ray?
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Audio Video News
AMD ATI Theater HD 750 pulls down TV anywhere
SV Staff  |  Jun 02, 2009
Slingbox is great for getting content when you're a world away from your precious DVR, but it's not always easy to find the required bandwidth. AMD's newly announced ATI Theater HD 750 can grab HDTV/DTV/analog broadcast signals...
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Audio Video News
Morel ships their balls of steel
SV Staff  |  Jun 02, 2009
Morel is trying to make round the new square. In a world filled with rectangular, blocky speakers, the company is rolling out a set of sound-blasting spheroids. The SoundSpot MT 1 system uses a set of 60-watt spherical SP-1 satellites, each...
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Audio Video News
LCD Tops Plasma in Large Screen Sizes
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 02, 2009
In the LCD vs. plasma competition, LCD has sold more sets overall, while plasma has dominated in some larger screen sizes. But plasma has given up that advantageous position in the latest numbers from Quixel Research, which show LCD selling more in the 40 inches and up categories for the first time.
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Other Tech
Tales of Woodstock Untold in 5.1: The Eddie Kramer Interview
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 01, 2009
As someone once said, "I see that we meet again." Here we are, 40 years after Woodstock, the festival you were recruited to record onsite.
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Audio Video News
Panasonic's $800 DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray
SV Staff  |  Jun 01, 2009
We saw Panasonic's portable Blu-ray player back at CES, but it will soon be making its way into the carry-on luggage of HD-addicts. $800 gets you an 8.9-inch WSVGA LCD screen attached to a full-featured BD player that supports both BD Live and...
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Audio Video News
Xbox 360's Video Marketplace going 1080p
SV Staff  |  Jun 01, 2009
Buying HD content from The Xbox Live Marketplace has always been pretty good, but waiting a long time for 720p content is always kind of annoying. Today, on the first day of video game trade show, E3, they announced that they were changing things...
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Defiance (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 01, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/defiance.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Brothers Tuvia (Daniel Craig) and Zus (Live Schreiber) Bielski are farmers turned warriors when the Germans invade Poland in 1939. Along with their two younger brothers, Asael (Jamie Bell) and Aron (George MacKay), they flee into the Belarusian forest to survive and eventually fight back against the Nazis along with a group of Jewish refugees they vow to protect.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Revolutionary Road (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 01, 2009

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/revroad.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Based on the bestseller by Richard Yates about married life in the 1950s, April (Kate Winslet) and Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) have what appears to be the perfect life&#151;a happy marriage, two kids, and a beautiful home in Connecticut. But behind the scenes, it's a different story. Frank loathes his job, and April's dream of becoming an actress is all but dead. Looking to improve their circumstances, April hatches a plan to leave the suburban life behind and move to Paris to discover new beginnings. But when unforeseen events derail her plan, what measures will she take to get things back on track?

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