As anyone who saw Avatar in 3D at a theater (especially an IMAX theater) can attest, it set a high bar for depth-enhanced cinema. And for people like me fortunate enough to have had access to a 3D TV in 2010, each of the meager disc offerings squeezed out by the studios inevitably stood in comparison with that benchmark experience. With few exceptions, all fell well short of my Avatar-fueled expectations.
The average American spends nearly as much time in front of the TV as on the job, Nielsen figures show. Now if only we could get paid for the 35.6 hours per week most of us watch, the economy would skyrocket.
This was just one of the interesting figures in the Nielsen Company's "State of the Media 2010" report.
Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) is a southern black woman virtually sold into a life of servitude to a brutal husband, sharecropper Albert (Danny Glover). Celie pours out her innermost thoughts in letters to her sister Nettie (Akousa Busia), but Albert has been hiding the return correspondence making Celie believe she's dead. Finally, Celie finds champions in her daughter-in-law, the take-no-shit Sofia (Oprah Winfrey) and the glamorous Shug Avery (Margaret Avery), a local entertainer.
Up until Steven Spielberg produced and directed this film, he was more known for "popular" cinematic titles such as Jaws, Indiana JonesE.T and he hadn't had to deal with meaty subjects such as rape, incest, and woman's rights. Ultimately the film received 11 Academy Award nominations (winning none) and Spielberg proved he was up for the challenge and went on to become one of the best director's of his generation.
This home was a 4500sq.ft. rancher and Custom Video Audio Components (CVAC) was responsible for supplying and installing a completely automated 7.1 surround sound home theater, an elegant touch-screen audio distribution system throughout the house, a Hide-A-Hose retractable central vacuum system and, in conjunction with Hilco Systems, installed Honeywell security and Bosch CCTV surveillance systems.
Denon has been making A/V receivers for about as long as there have been A/V receivers, and it's rarely produced a bad one. The brand usually gleans more attention for its über-dollar high-end models than for the kind of high-value, midprice models that win the credit-card swipes of most buyers. But this new AVR- 991, with its suggested price under $1,000 and its rich feature set, may change that perception in a hurry.
MBL has its fingers in just about every audiophile pie there is, from CD players and DACs to preamps and integrated amps to power amps and speakers to cables, racks, and speaker stands. In terms of source devices, the company's ne plus ultra is the 1621A CD transport and 1611F digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
Speaker makers fall into two general groups: the Canadian school and the artsy school. The Great White Northerners - guided by decades of study conducted at the Canadian National Research Council in Ottawa - fuss and fuss until their speakers deliver perfect measured performance, then run test after test with trained listeners to make sure their speakers sound practically flawless.
Speaker makers fall into two general groups: the Canadian school and the artsy school. The Great White Northerners — guided by decades of study conducted at the Canadian National Research Council in Ottawa — fuss and fuss until their speakers deliver perfect measured performance, then run test after test with trained listeners to make sure their speakers sound practically flawless.
Even while Netflix has passed the 20 million mark in subscribers, some Netflixers are pleading for a disc-only rental plan.
"If you don't want instant gratification, then there should be an option -- call it the slow lane, if you like," said a blogger quoted in Home Media Magazine. In the wake of recent Netflix disc-rental price increases, an online poll showed 10 percent threatening to ax their membership. That probably won't cut much ice with Netflix, which sees its future in streaming, even to the point of removing "Add to DVD Queue" from its streaming interface.