Let’s face it—everything’s better with snacks. If you want a truly authentic moviegoing experience at home, you gotta have your concessions in order. Plus, what’s a movie screening without the familiar sound of crinkling candy wrappers, the smell of buttery popcorn in the air, and a Milk Dud or two on the floor? Add in some professional-grade signage, and your guests will never want to venture to the local cineplex again. Better buy your Duds in bulk.
Physicists have long postulated that an ideal sound reproducer would behave as a pulsating sphere. Ever since, the wish being father to the thought, speaker designers have been cramming transducers into balls, as if making the cabinet round would somehow magically make the sound spherical.
How much would you pay for an A/V receiver? For a lot of people, the answer is “$899.” This upper-mid-price sweet spot has long marked the point at which AVR-manufacturers sell the most product. Consequently, it’s where they offer the most features, performance, and power for the lowest possible dollar amount.
75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Box Set to Follow October 1
Marking the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros. has produced a remastered 3D version of the film that will return to the big screen for a one-week engagement in IMAX theaters across North America beginning September 20, 2013.
Following the theatrical release, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release The Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition box set on October 1, 2013...
If there’s been any real change in the home theater audio landscape recently, it’s been the emergence of the anti-AVR. From soundbars to powered tabletop systems to wireless streaming speakers that can double as your TV’s audio system, the trend is toward all-in-one solutions that are simple to shop for, easy to install, and a cinch to operate. Granted, even the most basic receiver is none of those things. But the Swiss Army knife of the A/V world still remains the best value in the land, packing more power, features, flexibility, and (when mated with good speakers) performance than any integrated approach.
Master director Steven Spielberg has made enduring classics in horror, sci-fi, adventure, and historical drama. 2002’s Catch Me if You Can is just his second screwball comedy (the first being the box-office disaster and cult classic 1941), and even if it’s not a classic, it’s his hippest and most outrageously fun film to date. Strap yourself in for the unbelievable true story of one Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio).
In spring of 1999, while the masses were jacking into The Matrix, braver souls were leaping into the alternate gaming universe of David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ. Ostensibly, über game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is on a promotional tour with her newest game and game pod, which is an electrical organism that creates its virtual reality by plugging directly into the gamer’s nervous system via spinal cord bioport. She and her marketing man, Ted Pikul (Jude Law), come under attack and flee from realists who object to extreme gaming’s impact on humanity and its reliance on endangered mutant amphibians for gaming pods (!).
I knew Jason Bourne. Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), you’re no Jason Bourne.
The first Bourne movie not based on an actual Robert Ludlum novel, Legacy gets quite a lot wrong, frankly. The story brings us back to the era of 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum, when extreme measures were being taken to maintain the secrecy of the covert, overly ambitious super-soldier program that created Jason. A whole new crop of men has become the subject of some risky new behavior/performance-enhancing experiments, and as one of these lethal lab rats, Aaron is desperate for answers—and the necessary meds to keep his edge—despite the nasty opponents pursuing him at every turn.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is crying foul over a cable operator’s request for special treatment from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is the latest shot in a long-running battle over who should control the security technology built into set-top boxes. In 2007, the FCC banned digital STBs with integrated security, instead requiring that all boxes use a removable CableCARD.
The American love affair with TV is stronger than ever. Motorola Mobility’s Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer study found that we watch an average of 23 hours of TV programming and six hours of movies each week—four hours more than the global average of 19 and six hours, respectively, and higher than any of the 17 countries surveyed. Looked at another way, we watch more than a full day’s worth of programming every week.