LATEST ADDITIONS

Fred Manteghian  |  Jul 23, 2006

Focal, the French speaker and speaker component manufacturer formerly doing business as Focal-JMLabs, has always made a point of getting great sound at shows. While I didn't run into Focal at Primedia's Home Entertainment 2006 show in Los Angeles this June, I did hear some music in the MBL room that morphed into another sale for Amazon. As I work on the final edit of this review I'm listening to the just-delivered Jeff Buckley rendition of "Hallelujah" from his 1994 album <i>Grace</i> (CD, Columbia, CK 57528). The memory of what this song sounded like on the <a href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/he2006/060206mbl/" target=new> $47,000/pair MBL 101E speakers</a> is still fresh. At just 1/10th the MBL's price, Focal's Profile 918 speakers get me very, very close to the fire-branded goose bumps I felt in LA last month.

 |  Jul 23, 2006

<I>TWICE</I> has reported that Samsung is now shipping 1080p rear projection televisions that use that use an LED array instead of a UHP lamp as a light source. The first model on the streets is the HL-S5697W, a 56" RPTV with an MSRP if $4,199.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 23, 2006

Hot on the heels of the currently in theaters <I>Superman Returns</I>, Warner Brothers announced a slew of new DVD releases of the original films. There has been no formal announcement of any of these titles appearing on HD DVD or Blu-ray (Warner supports both formats), but we can hope.

Fred Manteghian  |  Jul 22, 2006

<span style="float:left;color:#D4D4C7;font-size:100px;line-height:70px;padding-top:2px;font-family: Times, serif, Georgia;">F</span>or less than half the price that my BMW dealer wants to hook my iPod to the 530i's stereo, you can use Belkin's <a href="http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=257270" target=new>TuneBase FM for iPod</a> to hear your music collection through your car's FM radio. It's not an original idea and it's not a first, but it is extremely well designed and implemented. For the most part.

Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 21, 2006
What's in a name? Logitech bills this iPod accessory as a set of "portable speakers," not a "system." That makes it smaller than such other iPod-compatible notables as the Bose SoundDock, Klipsch iGroove, and Apple's own Hi-Fi. It also signals a reduction in pricing, features, and expectations. The mm50 doesn't try to blow you away. It just provides an intravenous feed of music to keep you from going bonkers. In that respect it should not be underestimated.
 |  Jul 20, 2006  |  First Published: Jul 21, 2006

As summer winds down and both camps in the format war rev up for the holiday season more and more titles are being announced in both formats. August will see Lion's Gate release perennial demo favorite <I>Stargate</I> on Blu-ray, and Universal will release such diverse fare as <I>National Lampoon's Animal House</I>, <I>Army of Darkness</I>, and even <I>Fast Times at Ridgemont High</I> on HD DVD.

 |  Jul 20, 2006

Report for 7/28/06:

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 |  Jul 20, 2006

Exclusive Blu-ray Disc supporter Buena Vista Home Entertainment has announced its first wave of titles on the HD format. Hitting Stores on 9/19 from Walt Disney Pictures will be one time trade show demo favorite, <I>Dinosaur</I>, along with <I>Eight Below</I>. Rounding out this first small group are Miramax's <I>Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back</I> and <I>The Great Raid</I>.

Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 20, 2006
Late last week, CustomFlix Labs, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, announced that CBS News had selected CustomFlix and Amazon.com to distribute thousands of hours of prime-time and classic news content. The treasure trove of past CBS News content includes broadcasts from "60 Minutes", "CBS Evening News", and a variety of long-form documentaries produced by CBS News Productions over the past 10 years.
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 20, 2006

Samsung has announced that the first production run of its BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player, which includes all players now in use and in stores, has an error in the programming of a Genesis chip used in the design. A noise reduction feature in that chip which cannot be user defeated has apparently been set to a level high enough to noticeably soften the image—an error that could account for the mixed reports on the player and the Blu-ray Disc format that have been published to date, here and elsewhere.

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