Price: $15,000 (short throw), $18,000 (long throw) At A Glance: Exceptional shadow detail • Razor-sharp picture • Excellent optics • A few tweaks would be welcome
DLP’s Crowning Achievement
The Marantz VP-11S1 was one of the first 1080p projectors I had the opportunity to review. It served as my reference projector for quite a while and is still one of the best 1080p projectors I’ve seen. Since the VP-11S1’s release, Marantz has brought two more 1080p offerings to the table, the VP-15S1, which offers stunning performance at a more affordable price point, and now, the flagship VP-11S2.
Price: $500 At A Glance: Each speaker handles front and surround channels • Integrated DVD (not Blu-ray) player • Strong aesthetics and build quality
4.1 Channels from 2.1 Speakers
Manufacturers of home theater gear work within a rigid framework. That makes it easy for consumers to recognize product categories—speaker systems, receivers, separates—and investigate the trade-offs between performance and price. But these product categories can also be staid and boring because they rarely investigate alternative system architectures. To shake things up a little, you have to look into compact systems, including entry-level ones like the JVC TH-F3 DVD Digital Theater System (to use the official nomenclature).
Among universal disc players, the Denon DVD-A1UCDI is the most universal of all. It handles Blu-ray, DVD, SACD, and DVD-Audio. But the pricetag is high, at $3800.
I have to borrow a line from your song "Intuition" and ask: Are you still "just a simple girl in a high-tech digital world"? A little bit, yeah [chuckles].
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.25/5
Extras: 3/5 Seeking a way to save their doomed world, a crew of tiny, human-looking aliens arrives on earth in the perfect disguise - a spaceship shaped like Eddie Murphy, the ship's captain. While trying to save their planet, the aliens encounter problems, as their ship becomes smitten with an Earth woman.
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 0/5 Rescued from death row by a top-secret agency, Nikita is slowly transformed from a cop-killing junkie into a cold-blooded bombshell with a license to kill. But when she begins the deadliest mission of her career only to fall for a man who knows nothing of her true identity, Nikita discovers that in the dark and ruthless world of espionage, the greatest casualty of all...is true love.
Video: 3.75/5
Audio: 4.5/5
Extras: 3.25/5 Oliver Stone's powerful film about the shots heard round the world and the mystery enshrouding them is one of the most provocative movies of our time. Aside from its box-office success, critical acclaim and awards, it played a major role in the national debate leading to passage of the 1992 Assassination Materials Disclosure Act.
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 4.25/5 Somehow immune to an unstoppable, incurable virus, military virologist Robert Neville is now the last human survivor in New York City and maybe the world. But he is not alone. Mutant plague victims lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move...waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find an antidote using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time.
