LATEST ADDITIONS

A/V Veteran
Turkey Day & Fixing the Inevitable HDTV Stretch
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 24, 2015
So you’ve got plans to go over the river and through the woods for that sleep-inducing turkey dinner. But the day won’t be complete without you later getting as bloated on football as on the banquet stuffing. After the feast everyone will sit down to see the MaciNacs of Mackenna Tech take on the Okidokes of Northwest Virginia A&T.

But as soon as you sit down in front of the TV you see something amiss. The Nacs and Dokes, normally the smallest players in the Little 7 Conference, look like wide-bodied extras from Lord of the Dwarfs: The Return of Gimli (I hope I’m not giving Peter Jackson any ideas).

You, our hawkeyed video purist, spots the problem immediately...

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Ringo’s White Album Up for Auction
SV Staff  |  Nov 24, 2015
Here’s an awesome piece of Beatles memorabilia that any record collector or fan of the Fab Four would love to own: the first mono pressing of 1968’s The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album). Even better: It’s Ringo’s personal copy.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Comcast DVR Won’t Miss Your Show
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 24, 2015
The latest addition to Comcast’s X1 IP-video platform is an Auto Extend feature that adds 30-minute increments to DVR recordings so you won’t miss events that run past their scheduled air times. The option works only with certain sporting events—NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAA men’s football and basketball, and NASCAR—but Comcast promises to expand that.
Continue Reading »
Bluetooth Speaker Reviews
BenQ treVolo Electrostatic Bluetooth Speaker
Al Griffin  |  Nov 24, 2015

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $300

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Spacious sound
Fold-up, portable design
Cool conversation piece
Minus
Limited volume
Limited bass
Pricey compared with Bluetooth speakers with similar volume/bass capabilities

THE VERDICT
BenQ’s treVolo is a lush-sounding Bluetooth speaker that should please audiophiles with reasonable expectations.

Portable Bluetooth speakers range from toy-like novelties you can tote along in the shower to high-end Danish audio lunch boxes designed to survive a day at the beach. In between, you’ll find plenty of other options ranging from cheap and bad-sounding to pricey and good-sounding.

With Bluetooth speakers starting to become not just a popular, but a default audio playback system for many people, it’s perhaps time to take the category seriously. BenQ, a company best known for video monitors and projectors, has entered the crowded Bluetooth speaker arena with an attention-grabbing effort: a compact portable design that uses electrostatic panels—the same tech found in speakers from companies like MartinLogan—to convey sound. If that doesn’t count as a bid for Bluetooth speaker seriousness, I don’t know what would.

Continue Reading »
Signals
Redbox Renters Beware: Mystery of the Missing Audio Track
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Nov 24, 2015
When you buy a Blu-ray Disc for $25, you expect the very best quality. When you rent a Blu-ray for $2, do you still expect the best? Or would the budget pricing lower your expectations? Do you simply assume that the bits comprising a rental movie are the same as the retail movie? You might be surprised to learn that not all bits are created equal. And therein lies a mystery.
Continue Reading »
Soundbar Reviews
Atlantic Technology 3.1 HSB Soundbase Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 23, 2015

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $799

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Impressive bass without external sub
Smooth, unfussy top end
Suitable for TVs up to 100 pounds
Minus
Passive design requires use of an AV receiver

THE VERDICT
Atlantic Technology’s 3.1 HSB uses H-PAS bass technology to deliver real bass response along with enviable smoothness and dynamics.

Visualize, if you will, a home theater system with a flat-panel TV and 5.1-channel surround sound. For many readers, this is nirvana. For others, it’s too much stuff—a TV, three speakers in front, two surrounds, and a subwoofer. How do you reduce the intrusion into the room? Wall-mounting the TV is a no-brainer. Now imagine that the three front speakers have disappeared, along with that pesky sub. What’s left, you’re probably thinking, is some kind of typical soundbase or bar. It offers bass hardly worthy of the name, fake surround, and a fraction of the features of a receiver-based system. For this Atlantic Technology model, you got the first part right—the 3.1 HSB is a soundbase—but the rest is wrong.

Continue Reading »
Ask S&V
Is It Realistic to Expect an LCD TV to Last 10 Years?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 23, 2015
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Should an LCD TV be expected to last 10 years without repairs, or is that unrealistic? — Pat Templeton / via e-mail

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Torque Audio Ships Adjustable Bass Headphone
SV Staff  |  Nov 23, 2015
Torque Audio, creator of the innovative TorqueValve tunable headphone, has announced that its adjustable-bass t402v headphone is now available.
Continue Reading »
Tech2
Star Wars Battlefront Review: A Donut of Sound and Fury
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Nov 21, 2015
There was no game releasing in 2015 I was more excited about than Star Wars Battlefront. The trailers looked amazing, it was built on a solid and known engine, and really, how do you screw up a Star Wars game where you get to attack AT-ATs on Hoth?

Well…

Continue Reading »
Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Furious 7
David Vaughn  |  Nov 20, 2015
Picture
Sound
Extras
After their last adventure in London, the team headed by Dominic Toretto has made a new enemy in ex–black ops assassin Deckard Shaw, the brother of Owen Shaw, the mercenary they just took down. With revenge on his mind, Shaw systematically targets every one of the crew for death, and they must band together in order to survive—which isn’t a guarantee. Help comes from Mr. Nobody, a secret U.S. government agent who is willing to trade support for the gang as long as they can capture Ramsey, a hacker who has created a technology that will make finding Shaw a piece of cake.
Continue Reading »

Pages

X