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Audio Video News
IT (In-ceiling Theater) Came From Above
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 16, 2004
Unlike the editors of Home Theater Magazine who live in palatial estates written off their taxes as "business expenses" (note to the IRS: multiroom mansions are a job requirement for product testing purposes; no audits are necessary, really), not everyone is fortunate enough to live in a home with enough floor space to devote to a pair of (or five, six, or seven) perfectly positioned home theater speakers. (You poor, poor, pitiful people, you...) There are even some folks out there who refuse to see the beauty inherent in big, bulky, behemoth speakers dominating the visuals (and the available square footage) of the average living room. (I could mention the standard sexist question about the wearing of pants in the family; but since I'm in the process of installing in-walls throughout the Wilkinson abode, we'll just move on, shall we?) Some people don't even have available wall space for in-wall speakers. Atlantic Technology's two new in-ceiling speakers are the sonic salvation for situations such as these.
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Audio Video News
One More (Free) Reason to Like TiVo
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 16, 2004
As if we all needed another reason to like TiVo's Series2 DVRs with Home Media features (and all the other stuff), now Google (yes, that Google) gives us one more. It all started back in mid-July of this year when Google acquired Picasa, Inc., a Pasadena, California-based digital photo management company. (Well, actually, it all started back some million or so years ago when the last of the Neanderthals got run out of town by some pretty darn mean homo whateverus ancestors we all have in common. Think of it as kind of like a prehistoric Apple vs. Microsoft kind of thing - only, in this ancient case, Apple won.)
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RCA Scenium HDLP50W151
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 15, 2004

After a brief flirtation with LCoS, Thomson has chosen Texas Instruments' DLP for their high-end RCA Scenium line of rear-projection televisions. Even CRT fans must admit that DLP has some advantages. It usually produces a sharper, brighter image than any but the best, most expensive CRT designs. Big-screen DLP models are smaller and weigh less than their tube-based counterparts. And it's even possible to build DLP sets that are almost as shallow as plasmas. Thomson plans to introduce such thin DLP models this fall.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
In America
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 15, 2004

<I>Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger. Directed by Jim Sheridan. Aspect ratios: 1.85:1 (anamorphic), 4:3 (full screen). Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Surround (Spanish, French). 105 minutes. 2002. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 2221671. PG-13. $27.98.

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Other Tech
Back to Basics: Surround Sound Speakers
Frank Doris  |  Aug 10, 2004

I probably don't need to convince you that HDTV is a spectacular viewing experience, with astonishingly lifelike images. But to enjoy all the benefits of HDTV and DVD, you need a multichannel surround sound system.

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Audio Video News
Industry Roundup
Barry Willis  |  Aug 09, 2004  |  First Published: Aug 10, 2004

Blu-ray progress: The Blu-ray Disc Founders group announced August 3 that it has agreed to standards for read-only high-density discs. The 13-member group, including core members Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd, parent company of Panasonic, claims that Blu-ray DVD players could be available by midyear 2005.

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Audio Video News
One-Speaker Surround Sound
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 09, 2004  |  First Published: Aug 10, 2004

You wouldn't know it to talk to most home theater purists, but there's a market for simplified, easy-to-implement surround sound systems: college students in cramped dorms, for example, or vacationers in summer homes.

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Other Tech
JVC Portable High-Def Video Player/Recorder
Michael Antonoff  |  Aug 09, 2004

Let's get one thing out of the way right up front: JVC's CU-VH1 is a niche product aimed at professionals and hard-core video enthusiasts who live and breathe state-of-the-art technology - in this case, high-definition video recording.

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Audio Video News
New Products Set For CEDIA Expo
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 09, 2004

The annual Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo is increasingly <I>the</I> debut venue for manufacturers of home theater equipment.

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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Aug 09, 2004
DVD: South Park: The Complete Fourth Season—Paramount
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
South Park was just warming up in season four, with the introduction, sans fanfare, of handicapped Timmy, who has since developed his own enormous following and would go on to be a dominant force throughout a year ranging from the esoteric nostalgia of the Trapper Keeper to the boys' first Holy Communion. (A chill just shot down my poor mother's spine.) This oddly timed season contained 17 episodes, with original airdates between April and December of 2000, ending with another fecally gifted yuletide and an homage to the "Spirit of Christmas" video short that began it all.
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