LATEST ADDITIONS

The Marc Finer Theater
Fred Manteghian  |  Sep 06, 2007

At the Sony press event, surprise guest Barry Sonnenfeld, <a href="http://imdb.com/name/nm0001756/" target="new">too famous for words</a> (but suffice to say, he was the cinematographer for one of my favorite movies, the Coen Brothers' first, <i>Blood Simple</i>), regaled us with stories of his home theaters, past and present, like the one in Telluride, Colorado which features a Sony VPL VW100 projector. His close ties with Sony's Marc Finer have made him somewhat of a test bed for Sony projectors, going all the way back to the 9" CRT based Sony G90 which some consider the finest CRT projector ever made (along with the Vidikron Visions). I bet he can't wait to get the new VW200 in his home!

Continue Reading »
Toshiba loves graphs, charts, Excel
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Sep 05, 2007  |  First Published: Sep 06, 2007
Toshiba had a press conference, which was an hour of graphs, charts, heat, and blown-out sound effects. I’ll give them credit for the Star Trek theme (of course I would), but after the dozenth time of “HD DVD has won!” or “LCD is the best!” I tuned out.
Continue Reading »
Blu-ray from Sharp
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Sep 05, 2007  |  First Published: Sep 06, 2007
Sharp is finally releasing a Blu-ray player, and they’re claiming it’s all their parts. Certainly a subtle, but perhaps unintended, dig at Sony. The BD-HP20 will ship this month for $549. It will do 1080p/24 and they claim it will go from off to picture in less than 10 seconds. I’ll believe that when I see it. Sorry for the crappy pic. When I do a booth tour later in the show, I’ll get a better one.
Continue Reading »
New Sony PJs
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Sep 05, 2007  |  First Published: Sep 06, 2007
Sony, not to be outdone by other 1080p projector announcements (see below), unveiled the VPL-VW60, a replacement for the VW50. They claim a doubling of the native contrast ratio, and an available anamorphic lens system to watch 2.35:1 movies without black bars (on a 2.35:1 screen). Even cooler, you can align each LCOS (sorry, SXRD) panel to within 0.1 pixels. So any jarring in shipping or installation can be tweaked out to remove any colored halos. It’s shipping this month for “under $5,000.”
Continue Reading »
Denver Convention Center
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Sep 05, 2007  |  First Published: Sep 06, 2007
No one else seems bothered by it, but I can't breathe up here.
Continue Reading »
New JVC PJs
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Sep 05, 2007  |  First Published: Sep 06, 2007
JVC teased us with some video shot in 4,000 by 2,000 resolution shown on a projector of the same resolution. They even hinted that such resolution was possible in consumer equipment. Don’t hold your breath.
Continue Reading »
Set to Stunning!
Fred Manteghian  |  Sep 05, 2007  |  First Published: Sep 06, 2007

Jodi Sally warns us not to write anything negative about Toshiba, or else!

Continue Reading »
More Better Panels from Sharp
Fred Manteghian  |  Sep 05, 2007  |  First Published: Sep 06, 2007

Sharp announced a new AQUOS D64U series at Cedia. The 1080p LCD panels are available in four sizes from 42" to 65" in diameter. The 65" LC-65D64U will be available before the month is out and goes for $8,999.99. The 52" LC-52D64U ($3,799.99), 46" LC-46D64U ($2,699.99) and 42" LC-42D64U ($1,999.99) are available now. Sharp has reduced the size of the bezel and thinned out the panel depth by 25% from existing lines.

Continue Reading »
Other Tech
Step by Step: How to Create a Video Distribution System
John Sciacca  |  Sep 05, 2007

"Two hundred channels and nothing to watch!" How many times have you felt that way? Or maybe you've wanted to finish watching a DVD in another room but didn't have a second player. Or wished you could keep an eye on the kids outside without sitting in the sweltering heat. Or wanted to see the video display from your iPod docked in another room.

Continue Reading »
Other Tech
Reality Bytes: iTunes Plus - More Plush?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 05, 2007

The iPhone has been stealing all the media buzz lately, but what about Apple's other radical offering, iTunes Plus? As I wrote in my July/August column (also available at soundandvisionmag.com), Apple and EMI have decided to sell music without any Digital Rights Management. They're charging extra for those downloads ($1.29 each vs.

Continue Reading »

Pages

X