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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Blu-ray Review: Lolita
Ken Korman  |  Jun 03, 2011

It’s never easy making a film of a great novel. For director Stanley Kubrick, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita presented not only the fairly typical challenge of translating a story built around characters’ internal thoughts and feelings but also, in 1962, the task of dealing with a taboo subject. 

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Do You Own a 3D Display?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 03, 2011
I've heard and read several reports indicating that the adoption rate of 3DTV in the home is faster than it was for HDTV and Blu-ray in their first year and a half. Now that we have some idea of how many readers enjoy 3D in commercial theaters and in a home setting from the last two poll questions (here and here, respectively), I'd like to know if you actually have a 3D display in your home, even if you don't use its 3D capabilities. If not, do you plan to buy one sometime this year? Even if you hate 3D, you might be considering a 3D display for its generally superior 2D performance.

I'm delighted that so many of you have posted comments with the last two poll questions—thanks to all who did!—though I wonder why only about half as many voted and commented in the poll about 3D at home as in the one about 3D in commercial theaters. If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to read them. In any event, I really hope you leave a comment elaborating on your vote in this week's question. For instance, which 3D display do you have or plan to get?

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

Do You Own a 3D Display?
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Passive vs. Active 3D
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 03, 2011
My fiance and I will be buying a house soon, and once we're moved in and settled, we are going to buy a new HDTV. Unlike Leo Laporte, we are BIG fans of 3DTV. I have been following 3D and the various incarnations of 3DTV over the years. Now that real 3DTV is here, we can't wait!

The tough part will be deciding between the active-shutter system and the passive-polarized system. I have been looking at active systems for over a year, and I saw my first passive system at Best Buy about a month ago. It was quite impressive.

Is there any risk of a format war between the passive and active systems? Does all 3D programming work on both active and passive systems?

Frank Ireland

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Review: JBL Studio 180 tower speaker
Brent Butterworth  |  Jun 03, 2011

On my first gig as an electronics journalist, way back in 1989, the magazine’s senior editor introduced me to the technical editor with the explanation, “He’s in charge of all the black boxes.” Twenty-two years later, little has changed.

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Audio Video News
Kaiser Chiefs get medieval on music marketing
Michael Berk  |  Jun 03, 2011

Kaiser Chiefs' fourth studio album, The Future is Medieval, comes out today - but with a twist. The Chiefs have invited purchasers of the record to assemble and sell their own versions, building an online hub where fans they can find an audience for their personal Medievals.

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Audio Video News
A Brighter Idea
Brent Butterworth  |  Jun 03, 2011

This is not just another new video projection company. At least, that's the impression I got after hearing the pitch for Display Development, a firm founded by projection-industry veterans Jim Burns and Pat Bradley.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
American Graffiti (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 03, 2011
A coming-of-age story set against the 1960s backdrop of hot rods, drive-ins, and rock 'n' roll follows two young men as they spend their last night in town before heading off to college. Crusing the streets to the howling sounds of Wolfman Jack, Terry (Charles Martin Smith) is on the prowl for a hot blonde (Suzanne Somers), while Steve (Ron Howard) tries to make up with his girlfriend after suggesting they see other people while he's away at college.

George Lucas is known for his Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, but this film was his first commercial success, and it earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Not only is it wildly entertaining, it's a blast to see future stars Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Somers before they became household names.

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Audio Video News
Audyssey Announces Dynamic Volume TV
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 03, 2011
You've already read about Audyssey Dynamic Volume in our pages and webpages. Audyssey has just announced a new version called Dynamic Volume TV.

Audyssey Dynamic Volume TV is designed to reduce the dynamic extremes of TV programming in somewhat the same way regular Dynamic Volume handles the extremes of movies, but without the obvious pumping effects of cruder automatic gain controls. It also evens out levels among different inputs.

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Headphone Amp/DAC Reviews
Review: Arcam rCube
Michael Berk  |  Jun 02, 2011

OK...I'll get this out of the way upfront. Despite the great reviews it's received, before I'd actually encountered it in person I was suspicious of the rCube. Arcam's a company I know and trust, they build a fantasic line of products (including some impressive all-in-one systems), and they know their wireless and DAC design.

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Movie Aspect Ratios
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 02, 2011
There's been talk on some home-theater forums about a few movies that have been cropped to an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Why are they cropping these films? Videophiles are saying they hope this trend doesn't continue.

Mark Hudson

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