LATEST ADDITIONS

Vote
What Is Your Favorite Blu-ray To Demo Audio?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 29, 2011
Last week, I asked which Blu-rays you think have the best video quality to demonstrate the capabilities of a home-theater display, and many great titles were cited. Thanks to all who posted a comment! However, out of over 140 people who clicked on "Here it is"—indicating that they had one or more titles to recommend—only 15 have left a comment so far, not including multiple entries and my responses. What's up with that?

Now, I'm asking the same question with regard to audio quality. What Blu-ray titles do you think provide the best audio—surround envelopment, dynamic range, frequency response, foundation-rattling bass, etc.—with which to demonstrate the capabilities of an audio system? As before, simply select "Here it is" below and leave a comment with your favorite title(s) and which audio qualities are particularly outstanding. I really hope more of you who click on "Here it is" also post a comment!

Vote to see the results and leave a comment with your favorite title(s); thanks for your input!

What Is Your Favorite Blu-ray To Demo Audio?
Continue Reading »
Ask S&V
Digitizing Videotape
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 29, 2011
I want to digitize my old 8mm videotapes. My computer is a new HP 6610 (AMD Athelon II 635 CPU, Windows 7, 64-bit). I have an old Sony 8mm camcorder connected to an ADVC-55 video-capture box via S-video and red/white audio cables. The AVDC-55 connects to the computer via FireWire.

I used Ulead Video Studio 5 DV to capture the first tape, then I tried the HP program that came with the computer. The HP program captured directly to MPG and seemed brighter (I think), but I think I want AVI files so I can edit them. During the transfer, the picture is brighter in the camera eyepiece screen, but the playback of the digital file on my computer is darker.

Could the problem be the capture program, or is it just the hardware? Most of the reviews I've read say that cheap USB video-capture devices don't perform well, so I bought the AVDC-55. However, a friend at work said he had good results with a cheap USB unit. Are the new ones any good?

Can you recommend a free or low-cost capture program that makes brighter AVI files? Making them brighter in the editing program sounds like even more work. Also, what free or low-cost video-editing program do you like? Is the Windows downloadable one any good?

John P.

Continue Reading »
Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Blu-ray Review: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Josef Krebs  |  Apr 29, 2011

The first extra I jumped to after experiencing the 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s seminal brainspill Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream was the author’s commentary.

Continue Reading »
Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Rabbit Hole (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 29, 2011
Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) are returning to their everyday existence in the wake of a shocking, sudden loss. Just eight months ago, they were a happy suburban family with everything they wanted. Now, they are only posing as normal, blindly looking for footing in a sea of new emotions after the loss of their young child.

Adapted from David Lindsay Abaire's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Rabbit Hole is one of the more disturbing films I've watched in a long time. It hit home with my wife and I since one of our friends lost a child last year and we've seen firsthand how difficult it can be for a young couple to put their lives back together after such a devastating loss. Kidman certainly deserved her Oscar nomination for her gripping performance as the emotionally strapped mother, but this certainly isn't a pick-me-up by any stretch.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Sony's Akio Morita on Norio Ohga
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 29, 2011
You've probably read elsewhere that Norio Ohga died last week at 81. As chairman of Sony from 1982-95, he got the company into the motion picture and music businesses. An accomplished musician and music lover, Ohga was the guy who insisted the Compact Disc format should hold at least 74 minutes to accommodate Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without flipping. See obituary.

Perhaps the person best suited to reminiscing about Ohga would be the one who wooed him away from his career as a performing musician, Sony's legendary founder Akio Morita, who died in 1999. Following are some passages from his 1986 book Made in Japan. He starts by describing Ohga as "the young music student who asked so many audacious questions of our salesmen in 1947 that they finally brought him around to the company to talk to the engineers."

Continue Reading »
A/V Veteran
Analog vs. Digital Connections
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 28, 2011
When I read Stephen Beney's questions regarding the best way to connect his Oppo BDP-95 player to his Denon AVR-4308CI receiver and Scott Wilkinson's reply, I thought Scott's advice was good. But there are some other points I want to make about how to hook up that player for the best audio results—points that could apply to any universal disc player with claims of superior audio quality.
Continue Reading »
Ask S&V
Movie Test Scenes
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 28, 2011
I am unable to find the show notes for episode 45 of Home Theater Geeks. I am interested in the list of movie scenes that David Reisner uses to highlight and identify problems.

Philip Cottle

Continue Reading »
Premiere Design
Shape Audio Organic Harmony Speaker
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 28, 2011
When I came across the Organic Harmony speaker from Shape Audio, I was astounded, not only by the gorgeous design, but also by the staggering price—which, of course, I'll reveal at the end of this blog.
Continue Reading »
Music Reviews
CD Review: Emmylou Harris
Rob O'Connor  |  Apr 28, 2011

Hard Bargain features the trio of Emmylou Harris, producer Jay Joyce, and multi-instrumentalist Giles Reaves alone in the studio. However, this isn’t a rustic, back-to-basics album. Rather, it has a pleasantly lush sound, made with the complete understanding that people come to hear Harris sing.

Continue Reading »
Projector Reviews
Digital Projection HIGHlite Cine 260 HC DLP Projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 28, 2011
Price: $29,995 At A Glance: Outstanding resolution and color • Bright—even on a 10-foot screen • Black level and contrast well short of cutting edge

DLP Hangs Tough

Digital Light Processing (DLP) may have jump-started the whole digital display revolution in the late 1990s, but to the consumer, the technology might look like it’s fallen on hard times. Only one major HDTV manufacturer—Mitsubishi—now makes DLP rear projectors. And since DLP is a projection technology, there are no DLP sets that can project an image across a distance of 2 inches or less to compete with today’s popular flat panels.

Continue Reading »

Pages

X