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3D Blu-ray Movie ReviewsBlu-ray Movie Reviews
R.I.P.D.: Rest in Peace Department
Corey Gunnestad  |  Feb 12, 2014
Picture
3D-ness
Sound
Extras
Interactivity
Watching R.I.P.D., you might experience a profound sense of déjà vu. You may find yourself saying, “Hey, I’ve seen this before, only it was called Men in Black and it had Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in it.” The RIPD is a secret special service branch of the afterlife whose primary task is to track down and terminate other “deados” who hide out in the real world and refuse to cross over. Yes, apparently it’s possible to kill someone who’s already dead.
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Audio Video News
Netflix Eyes Cable
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 12, 2014
Netflix is interested in expanding its reach to the world of cable television—and is doing so on two fronts.
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A/V Veteran
The Right Stuff and Dolby TrueHD Advanced 96kHz
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 11, 2014
I recently completed a review of The Right Stuff on Blu-ray, which will appear in an upcoming issue of Sound & Vision as well as on this website. Since space is limited in my print review, I've decided to dedicate this blog to how I evaluated the 96kHz audio offered on the disc.

Last year, Dolby announced a new variation on its TrueHD audio codec for Blu-ray, a process that uses 96kHz upsampling of the. Its purpose is to eliminate some common digital artifacts (see Geoff Morrison's article for a more detailed explanation of how this works).

The process has only been used to date, however, on a few releases. The Right Stuff, originally released on Blu-ray in November 2013, was supposed to be one them. Through a mastering error, however, the process was not engaged. Now, two months later, Warner Brothers has re-released the film with the 96kHz upsampled soundtrack.

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Vote
How Are You Watching the 2014 Winter Olympics?
SV Staff  |  Feb 11, 2014
You are watching the Olympics, aren’t you? With more than a week and dozens of spectacular events to go, what better torture test for your TV than skiers careening down a mountain at 90 mph, snowboarders tumbling while airborne, and figure skaters spinning and triple-lutzing their way across the ice? So, back to this week’s poll question: How are you watching the 2014 Winter Olympics? Tell us below and, by all means, share your favorite Olympic moments in Comments. For a guide to watching this year’s events, see Barb Gonzalez’s Streaming 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
How Are You Watching the 2014 Winter Olympics?
Off-air antenna to my big-screen TV/projector
19% (57 votes)
Cable/satellite to my big-screen TV/projector
51% (156 votes)
Live…I’m in Sochi!
1% (3 votes)
Time-shifted programming recorded to my DVR
12% (37 votes)
Streaming via smart TV
0% (1 vote)
Streaming via PC
4% (11 votes)
Streaming via mobile device/app
2% (7 votes)
Other (Leave a comment.)
11% (35 votes)
Total votes: 307
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Signals
Aereo and the Supremes
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 11, 2014
Video streaming company Aereo is fascinating from a technological standpoint. The legal questions it raises are equally intriguing. They will determine whether Aereo proceeds on its merry way or whether it will be shut down. There’s only one way to decide, and that’s to ask the Justices. Yep—another big AV case is heading to the Supreme Court.
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LCD TV ReviewsTV Reviews
Toshiba 58L7300U LCD HDTV
Al Griffin  |  Feb 09, 2014

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,099

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Accurate color (after adjustment)
Good screen uniformity
Affordable price
Minus
Half-baked Cloud TV user interface
Not-great remote control

THE VERDICT
Smart TV shortcomings aside, Toshiba’s LCD offers very good picture quality at a low price.

With plasma TV tech seemingly on a path to early, unwarranted extinction, prospective TV buyers unwilling to spring for OLED soon won’t have much choice other than to purchase an LED-backlit LCD TV (aka “LED TV”). And while the performance of such sets has improved quite a bit over the years, the better ones are still expensive for what you get—particularly in comparison with same-sized plasmas. So, what’s a quality-conscious consumer to do? Roll over and get eat the high prices? Not necessarily.

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Grace Notes
Epic, or Epic Fail?
Leslie Shapiro  |  Feb 09, 2014
Live TV is one of the most anxiety-inducing tasks facing artists, producers, and engineers, not to mention corporate and political types. In the past two weeks, the NFL’s cash cow, the Super Bowl on Fox and Russia’s pride and joy, the Olympic’s Opening Ceremonies on NBC tried their darndest to impress the world. Both the NFL and Russia took extreme precautions to ensure a flawless show. But in the end, the best way to wow the crowd is to fake it.

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3D Blu-ray Player ReviewsBlu-ray Player Reviews
Oppo BDP-103D 3D Blu-ray Player
Kris Deering  |  Feb 07, 2014

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $599

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Darbee video enhancements
DSD file support
Zero-compromise video playback
Minus
Still looking for one

THE VERDICT
Our Top Pick Blu-ray player only gets better with onboard Darbee video processing and full support for DSD file playback.

Awarding a Top Pick rating is always a big deal with us, but I don’t think we’ve ever had two Top Pick products merge into one. That, however, is exactly what we have with Oppo’s latest generation of Blu-ray players, the BDP-103D and BDP-105D. The second D stands for Darbee Edition, as Oppo has thrown Darbee video processing right into the players. I reviewed the Darbee Darblet DVP 5000 standalone video processor in 2012 and proclaimed it a must-have for making the most out of your display. But the BDP-103D, reviewed here, is more than just a BDP-103 with Darbee processing. Oppo has done a few more tweaks to their player, making it an even stronger Top Pick than before.

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Ears On
How Do You Want Your High-Res?
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 07, 2014
High-resolution audio (HRA) can enter your life in more than one way, as I discovered when reviewing two HRA products practically end to end. Both devices are DAC-amps that play HRA audio files. The main difference between them is that Cambridge Audio's Minx Xi streams music in real time from PCs and other devices, whereas Sony's HAP-S1 server-amp plays music from its own internal hard drive. The Cambridge is more of a network player, while the Sony is more of a music server (as I define these terms). These two products offer profoundly different ways of enjoying HRA.

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Tech2
How to Market Technology to Women
Lauren Dragan  |  Feb 06, 2014
Here’s a funny thing about being at CES this year: lots of companies gave presentations on what I, as a woman, want in technology. What I want to buy, what special needs I have. This is what I learned that companies generally think women want in tech:
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