In <I>Donny Darko</I>, Drew Barrymore's character, Ms. Pomery, says that a famous linguist once proclaimed "cellar door" to be the most beautiful phrase in the English language. I'm here to recommend we consider "Marantz" for that title, because it reproduces the most beautiful sounds in <I>any</I> language. Be it Zoot Sims on JVC XRCD, Claudio Arrau playing Beethoven sonatas from a Philips CD, or that gawd-awful good <I>Transformers</I> movie on HD DVD, the Marantz is beauty personified!
Got a really big living room? Got a really big entrance to that really big living room? And is your electric bill no issue? Then somewhere at CES, there was an über-jumbo-sized TV for you.
I never meant to hold the cable guy hostage. But there he was sitting in my desk chair just a few feet away from my plasma, watching the little "preparing" prompt on my TiVo setup screen spin round and round and round . . . Then round some more . . .
Three years ago, Sound & Vision staged the first of its HDTV technology face-offs when we put a 37-inch Samsung plasma alongside a like-sized Sharp LCD, tuned them to the hilt, then fed them the same programs to see which was king of the HDTV hill ("Plasma vs. LCD," February/March 2005).
Everyone at CES who's had the privilege of witnessing Pioneer Electronic's future generation Kuro plasma in action wants to tell someone. That's because it's been like no other experience they've had while watching TV.
Two cable systems are trying new methods of movie distribution in an attempt to achieve same-day parity--or better--with DVD release and on-air broadcast dates.
What is cooler than Dr. Evil's sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads? Nothing. Stupid question. But what's the second coolest thing to use laser beams? That would be Mitsubishi's new Laser TV, which had its worldwide unveiling last night at the 53rd floor of the Palms hotel in the Moon Nightclub.
In the beginning - well, at least 5 or 6 years ago - music stored on a PC generally either stayed there or was downloaded to a portable player. But as more and more audio and video content has become available online, people want to hear and see it on home entertainment rigs.