LATEST ADDITIONS

Premiere Design
Book of Music Teti Speaker
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 20, 2010
When Italian speaker maker Book of Music refers to its Teti floorstander as a "no conventional enclosure system," it's not kidding. Standing nearly five feet tall, this 2-way design looks sort of like a twisted stack of books about to topple over.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Town (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Dec 20, 2010
Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is the leader of a Boston bank robber gang but is not cut from the same cloth as his fellow thieves. When Doug falls in love with the bank manager (Rebecca Hall) briefly taken hostage in one of their heists, he wants to leave his criminal past behind and start a new life. As the Feds close in, his best friend (Jeremy Renner) questions his loyalty he's left with two choices—betray his friends or lose the woman he loves.

I've never been particularly impressed with Affleck as an actor, but he certainly has talent as a director. He gets the most out of the cast—including himself—orchestrates some realistic bank heists, and delivers one of the most intense films I've seen in a long time.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Catfish—Universal (Blu-ray)
Kris Deering  |  Dec 20, 2010
In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, "Catfish" is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

This film was shot as a documentary with lower budget HD cameras. So compared to most full cinema productions, this one looks pretty low rent. Detail is still quite good though with brighter scenes looking like they should. There is a mix of camera types being used so as the film progresses the video quality bounces back and forth, but given the nature of the film there is nothing to really complain about.

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Audio Video News
Best Buy Stuffs Restocking Fee
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 20, 2010
Attention, stocking stuffers: Best Buy is stuffing its restocking fee. The elimination of the 15 percent fee for returned merchandise is a small victory for consumers as well as a boon to holiday shoppers who might be more willing to take chances.
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Vote
How Do You Mostly Receive Network TV?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 17, 2010

It used to be that all television was delivered wirelessly over the air for free—well, you have to wait through commercials, but you don't pay any money for it. Then cable companies started offering a much wider palette of programming via wires, charging a monthly subscription—and on many channels, the commercials are still there. Satellite service returned to wireless broadcasting but retained the subscription fee and commercials on many channels.

Now, a fourth delivery system is gaining significant ground. More and more viewers, especially younger viewers, are receiving their TV programming from the Internet. This approach frees you from the strictures of a broadcast schedule—no more Must See Thursday, though DVRs like TiVo remove this limitation from over-the-air, cable, and satellite as well (plus, they let you skip commercials). Even better, some content is free (for example, basic Hulu in standard definition) while premium programming typically requires a subscription fee ($8/month for Hulu Plus in 720p, $9/month for Netflix).

So I wonder: When you watch network TV—and I mean all networks, not just ABC, CBS, NBC, WB, and Fox—do you receive it mostly via terrestrial over-the-air, cable, satellite, or the Internet? Or do you eschew network TV altogether?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

How Do You Mostly Receive Network TV?
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The Big Picture
Must See IPTV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 17, 2010
Apropos of this week's Vote question, I recently came across an item from TVB.org (formerly the Television Bureau of Advertising), which analyzed the November Nielsen data and found that wired-cable service to American TV households has hit a 21-year low, though it's still the dominant TV delivery system at 60.7 percent. Meanwhile, what that group calls "alternate delivery systems" (ADS)—which in this case means only satellite and microwave broadcasting, not over-the-air or online—has hit an all-time high of 30.5 percent.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The A-Team (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Dec 17, 2010
Convicted by a military court for a crime they didn't commit, a daring team of former Special Forces soldiers must utilize their unique talents to break out of prison and tackle their toughest mission yet—clearing their name.

Oh the 1980s and its wonderful TV shows. The A-Team was one of the more popular of the decade and I have to admit I was a fan and watched it weekly as a teenager. The story in this modern remake explores how the men got together and how they ended up before a military court for the crime they didn't commit. The acting is passable and there's tons of action, but the story is weak with cringe-inducing dialog.

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Audio Video News
BBC Radio 3 Goes HD Online
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 17, 2010
Of course the BBC is Britain's version of public radio. Its Radio 3 channel is strong in classical, jazz, world music, new music, and spoken-word drama.

According to Andrew Clements of The Guardian, "toggling between the HD service and the usual Radio 3 website broadcasts revealed greater definition and the more spacious, warmer sound of the new format. There was far more bloom on the tone of the instruments in the Brahms horn trio, and a real depth to the orchestral 'picture' for the Tchaikovsky, all of which really did seem comparable to Radio 3 FM, though still worlds away from what CDs or old-fashioned vinyl LPs can offer." Since we don't have access to Radio 3's FM or HD signals, we'll take his word for it.

A BBC press release says: "Initially, the stream will only be available for live programmes (not on demand) for UK listeners only." BOO! "It will be available through pages on radio networks' websites and special event sites, although the ambition is to integrate HD Sound into iPlayer and Radioplayer as the technology develops."

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Premiere Design
Cabasse Pacific 3SA LF-Powered Speaker
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 16, 2010
Departing from the spherical-enclosure paradigm as embodied in its La Sphère and L'Océan powered speakers, Cabasse this week announced the availability of a new floorstanding design, the Pacific 3SA. However, this speaker does incorporate the SCS (Spatially Coherent System) coaxial-driver design found in those models.
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Vizio Introduces 65-Inch Theater Razor 3D TV With Passive Glasses
Stan Horaczek  |  Dec 16, 2010

Try having a conversation with someone about 3DTV without hearing how much they hate wearing the required glasses. Go ahead. We'll wait. Whle Vizio hasn't been able to completely solve the eyewear problem, they have made the whole ordeal somewhat cheaper. Unlike most of its competitors, the XVT3D650SV uses uses passive, polarized glasses instead of the pricier and often more cumbersome active shutter specs.

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