LATEST ADDITIONS

Blu-ray Player Reviews
Panasonic DMP-UB900 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Al Griffin  |  Jan 18, 2017

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $600

AT A GLANCE
Plus
High-quality upconversion of Blu-rays and DVDs
Effective detail enhancement and noise reduction
Full-featured remote control
Minus
Doesn’t support YouTube 4K video streaming
No Vudu app
No Dolby Vision disc support
Pricey next to competition

THE VERDICT
Panasonic’s first Ultra HD Blu-ray player’s excellent performance and solid build quality make it an easy choice for enthusiasts.

Looking back at format launches over the past two decades, it becomes clear that most first-gen players were clunkers, and pricey ones at that. Dig deep through the Sound & Vision archives (on the web, or in your personal print library—you have one of those, right?), and you’ll unearth reviews of the first Blu-ray player, Samsung’s BDP-1000. Priced at $1,000, this ungainly machine took about one minute to load a disc, did quirky stuff (like first converting progressive-scan signals to an interlaced format before outputting them as 1080p), and delivered pictures that looked soft in comparison with those delivered by the HD-DVD format Blu-ray was aggressively warring with at the time.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
New Book Traces Rega’s Turntable-Making History
SV Staff  |  Jan 18, 2017
The Sound Organisation has announced A Vibration Measuring Machine, a new book that traces the 43-year history of U.K.-based turntable maker Rega.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Vizio SmartCast Devices Now Talk to Google Home
SV Staff  |  Jan 18, 2017
Vizio announced that its SmartCast devices—which include TVs, soundbars, and speakers—are now compatible with the Google Home voice-control system.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
EPV Extends Warranty on Motorized Screens
SV Staff  |  Jan 18, 2017
Elite Prime Vision, a division of Elite Screens, announced that it has extended the warranty on its motorized projection screens to five years.
Continue Reading »
Media Server Reviews
Roku Ultra Streaming Player
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jan 17, 2017

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $130

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent 4K HDR picture and sound quality
Optical audio output for full Dolby Digital Plus surround sound
Agnostic voice search finds movies/TV shows on most streaming channels
Minus
Playback control for music and slideshows is awkward
Doesn’t play Dolby Atmos from Vudu

THE VERDICT
Roku has once again upped the streaming game by including HDR and more in its highly recommendable Ultra 4K media player.

Continuing to up their game, Roku has introduced new products that add HDR (high dynamic range) to 4K streaming while maintaining their anyone-can-use-it simple menu structure. A slew of new models range from the Express player to a new top-of-the-line player, the Ultra. While both the Premiere+ and the Ultra support 4K and HDR (the standard 4K Premiere lacks HDR), the Ultra has a few more features for those who insist on the best picture and sound, and more. It’s proof of how far the streaming player has come from the low-quality picture of its first generation.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Wireless Speaker Pioneer John MacFarlane Steps Down as Sonos CEO
SV Staff  |  Jan 17, 2017
Sonos president Patrick Spence (left) is taking over the role of CEO from founder John MacFarlane.

John MacFarlane, founder of wireless speaker pioneer Sonos, announced that he is stepping down as CEO and turning the reigns over to Patrick Spence, who joined the company as chief commercial officer in 2012 and was named president last summer.

Continue Reading »
Signals
Watch James May Reassemble an Old Telephone
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 17, 2017
You probably have at least a passing awareness of James May. He was one of the trio who hosted Top Gear (recently reincarnated as The Grand Tour) and is a bona fide cool car guy. But he has also hosted a variety of interesting, verging on odd, television shows. Perhaps the oddest show, and my favorite, is The Reassembler in which Mr. May, well, reassembles things.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
MQA Audio Tech Marches Onward and Upward
SV Staff  |  Jan 16, 2017
Master Quality Authenticated, or MQA, the end-to-end audio encoding technology invented by digital-audio pioneer Bob Stuart of Meridian fame, continues to gain momentum with several announcements made at CES 2017.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
Klipsch Gets Nostalgic with New Speakers
SV Staff  |  Jan 16, 2017
As we progress into 2017, Klipsch continues its 70th anniversary celebration with two new Heritage Series speakers that recall the grandeur of its earliest designs.
Continue Reading »
Tech2
Just Cause 3: Kinda a Review, Kinda a Question
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jan 13, 2017
The core Just Cause 3 game came out at the tail end of December… 2015. Throughout 2016 several DLCs came out. Clearly, I missed all of them. What’s the point in talking about this game now? Well, it is fun so if you missed it, here's why you should check it out.

What’s interesting to me, however, is how the game is fun. You see, there’s absolutely no challenge to it. Your character is essentially invincible and immortal. There’s no death penalty, you have essentially unlimited ammo and explosives, and despite sort of taking place in the real world, your character can basically fly.

And yet… it still manages to be fun. Why?

Continue Reading »

Pages

X