Okay, this blog isn't <i>really</i> about audio or video. Not directly at least, but I wanted to mention that we've been in search of clean power, cheap power, non-global-warming-controversy-inducing power, for a long time. Nuclear is clean (you know, in the beginning), and so is hydroelectric power, but only a few of us live near enough a river to take advantage of that. Besides, the amount of paper needed to complete the required zoning permits and environmental impact statements to install that bright red waterwheel you've been eyeing would negatively impact your carbon footprint, so forget that.
My boss Shane Buettner has been taking the heat recently for eliminating our product review rating system. In addition to the comments on his blog of last week, he's also been reading a torrent of opinion in the magazine's regular stream of reader mail. When Shane notes that he dropped the ratings with the "complete support of HT’s staff," that definitely includes me. I had been trying to persuade my editors to kill the ratings long before Shane took over.
Previous rumors about a 37-inch Panasonic OLED have been upgraded with more rumors describing a 40-inch Panasonic OLED. Japan's leading business newspaper, The Nikkei, reports that the 40-incher will be ready to roll by 2011. Matsushita (Panasonic)...
Sony is one of the most recognized, and respected, corporate names in the world. How many Sony products do you have at home? But when's the last time you bought a Sony product? The electronics juggernaut struggled to cope with monumental...
I got home from my THX adventure on Saturday, after three <I>long</I> days of hard-core tech training in a darkened room while the most perfect weather I can imagine beckoned just beyond the walls. But it was worth it—although I already knew most of the material, I did learn a number of useful things, and I got to observe the course itself to see what aspiring calibrators can expect if they take it.
Both DirecTV and the Dish Network announced last week that they would offer viewers more HD channels. Dish also announced it would do video on demand in 1080p.
We all know and love noise-canceling headphones. Who can bear to fly without them, right? Now, imagine that same technology used in your home theater? Come on, who here has a completely acoustically quiet home theater? Between air-conditioners,...
It seems like an interesting game. All the major players in the home-video market are jockeying for position - trying to position themselves in the one location that will remain viable in the future. Netflix is sticking to what they know best....
One of my formative experiences as an audiophile was a visit to Michael Hobson’s showroom in a New York Soho loft. This was before Mike started Classic Records. He was selling Avalon loudspeakers and Jeff Rowland Design Group amps and preamps. How well I recall the floorstanding Avalon Ascent, fed via Cardas cables by two Rowland Model Ones operating as monoblocks. Hobson put on the adagio from Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto performed by Rudolf Serkin. I went on to buy the amp and collect all of Serkin’s Beethoven piano concerto recordings.