LATEST ADDITIONS

How We Test
How Do You Review 3D, Anyway?
Joshua Zyber  |  Dec 14, 2011
Those of us who’ve spent a lot of time reviewing movies on video discs (from Blu-ray to DVD and, for some of us, even back to Laserdisc) understand that the process involves its share of both objective and subjective criteria. The exact balance varies depending on the content under review. Every movie—and every disc—is unique. Nonetheless, certain rules and standards hold true in most circumstances. While Blu-ray Discs provide vastly better quality than DVDs, and we in turn have gotten a lot savvier over the years in detecting the nuances of what makes a good or bad video image, the fundamental process has remained unchanged in the transition from standard definition to high definition. That is, until now. The introduction of 3D has thrown things for a pretty big loop. The more 3D content I’ve watched (on Blu-ray or other sources), the more questions I have about exactly how 3D should be evaluated. It turns out that reviewing 3D is a lot trickier than reviewing standard 2D.
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Headphone Reviews
SOL Republic Amps HD Headphones
Brent Butterworth  |  Dec 14, 2011

After hearing the enthusiastic sales pitch from SOL Republic, one of the latest of many new entrants into the headphone biz, I was disappointed when I heard the company's first model, the Tracks $99 on-ear. While the Tracks is beautifully made and incredibly comfortable for an on-ear model, its extremely bass-heavy balance made me feel like I was locked in the trunk of a Honda Civic with two 12-inch woofers and the complete works of Deadmau5 cranked way up.

When I received the company's first in-ear monitor (IEM), the $99 Amps HD, I wondered if the company would be able to achieve the blend of design and sound quality it originally promised - or if it'd be another well-crafted but sonically intolerable product.

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Music ReviewsBlu-ray Movie Reviews
This Week in Blu-rays, Dec. 13, 2011, and This Year in Christmas Music
Ken Korman  |  Dec 13, 2011

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 91: Tyll Hertsens, Part 1
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 13, 2011
Tyll Hertsens, editor of our sibling site InnerFidelity.com, talks about his recently posted "Celebrity Headphone Deathmatch," in which he evaluates some 15 celebrity-endorsed headphones, finding some to be superb and others, well, not so much. Tyll also discusses how the headphone market has changed over the last 10 years, including the surprising trend toward higher prices as everything else in consumer electronics gets cheaper. Plus, answers to chat room questions and more.

Run Time: 1:00:53

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Grace Notes
MediaEcho: Talk about Viewer Distraction!
Leslie Shapiro  |  Dec 13, 2011

Consider this fact. Over 80% of people watching TV or movies at home do so while also surfing the Internet or using their smartphones. No one just sits and watches movies anymore. If I was a film-maker, I would be pissed.

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The Big Picture
Scott Wilkinson Hosts The Tech Guy Radio Show
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 12, 2011
Last weekend, I had the honor and privilege—not to mention the great pleasure—of guest hosting Leo Laporte's nationally syndicated radio show, The Tech Guy, while Leo was attending a conference called Le Web in Paris, France, and hobnobbing with the likes of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. I answered call-in questions about home theater for three hours on Saturday and again on Sunday for a listening audience of around a million! I also had a couple of very interesting guests on the show, including Oscar- and Emmy-winning composer Michael Giacchino, whose credits include Lost, Alias, Up, Star Trek, and Super 8 among many others, and film-restoration expert Grover Crisp, who's currently working on Lawrence of Arabia for theatrical and Blu-ray release.

Not only that, I answered more questions from the chat room during the commercial and news breaks, and it was all captured on high-quality video by the incredibly talented crew of TWiT, Leo's podcast network. The video of both days is available right here, so please enjoy this double dose of home theater geeky goodness!

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Ask S&V
Best Screen Size for Optoma HD20
 |  Dec 12, 2011
My room is 13x17, and my seating distance is 13 feet in the long direction. What size screen would be best to use with an Optoma HD20 projector? Since the HD20 is a beginner-level projector, is it better to use a small screen? Does that help control the black level?

Jayalakshmipandurangaricemill Panduranga

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The Big Picture
Scott's Picks
Scott Wilkinson  |  Dec 09, 2011
With so many products among our reviews that merit Top Picks status, I'd like to share with you my personal favorites from 2011. Of course, all of our Top Picks are worthy of your serious consideration, but these are the ones I'd buy if I was shopping for home-theater products in the entry-level, midrange, and high-end price ranges.
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Test Tool Reviews
Bite-Sized Ear Protection: dBLogic SPL Meter
Michael Berk  |  Dec 09, 2011

Volume-limiting earbud outfit dBLogic introduced an interesting little product this past year: a miniature SPL meter ($49.95, dblogic.com), suitable for hanging on a keychain.

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How We Test
How We Test: Audio
Mark J. Peterson  |  Dec 09, 2011
We often get letters at Home Theater asking about our lab tests for audio products and why we perform them. In the simplist terms, our lab trials serve two key functions. The first is to warn you, the consumer, about any false or misleading claims that manufacturers might make about the performance of their products. The second is to add objective insights to the reviewer’s subjective observations about the sound of a product, and most important, create verifiable criteria on which to compare similar products. Our goal is to provide the most pertinent audio technical information and present the data in a consistent manner over time that allows for easy comparison, even over a wide range of model sizes and prices and over the span of many years. Here’s how we condense a day’s worth of measurement data into a few salient points in what we call the Audio Measurement Box.
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