LATEST ADDITIONS

Mitsubishi WD-65831 65" DLP Rear Projection TV
Randy Tomlinson  |  Apr 22, 2007  |  0 comments

Since I’d calibrated several Mitsubishi Diamond series sets for clients, I knew that while the WD-65831 might not win every category in an RPTV shootout, it would be a top contender in a few of the most important ones. And I knew for sure it could make an excellent HD picture. Several months ago, however, I received a Mitsubishi WD-65731 ($3,099) 65" DLP set to evaluate. This model is not in the Diamond line, and I wasn't impressed. Rather than spend more time on a product I knew I couldn't recommend, I opted to return it and test this $3,999 Diamond series set—the 65" 65831. I was particularly interested in this model since I knew it has far better blacks than the 731 (my biggest complaint about that set).

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Partying Like It's 1996: Broken Arrow, Chain Reaction And Speed On Blu-ray
Shane Buettner  |  Apr 21, 2007  |  1 comments

They say there's nothing new under the sun, and nothing drives home that old adage like the birth of a new format or two. The first movies that come out on a new format invariably aren't the <I>Citizen Kanes</I>, or even the <I>Titanics</I> of film history. No, it's the star-studded action warhorses that are considered at least somewhat tried and true that are trotted out by the studios.

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Fred Manteghian Blog
Hot Lanta
Fred Manteghian  |  Apr 21, 2007  |  0 comments

I've always had a thing for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's recordings. Their long standing relationship with Telarc is probably why. I've had a long standing relationship with Telarc too. Well before I was a reviewer, I was just a rabid stereophile (the avocation, not the magazine) and I read every issue of Stereophile (the magazine, not the avocation), cover to cover. Telarc and Delos recordings were always spinning on their reviewers' CD players. I bought a few, like <a href= "http://www.amazon.com/Respighi-Pines-Rome-Birds-Fountains/dp/B000003CT0/... target="new">Respighi's Pines of Rome </a>, Louis Lane conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and <a href=" http://www.amazon.com/Copland-Appalachian-Spring-Fanfare-Common/dp/B0000... target="new">Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Rodeo and Fanfare for the Common Man</a>, with Lane at the helm of the ASO once again. The recordings were excellent, No excellent is too tame a word. They were – they still are – exquisite. Expansive as the universe, as civilized as infinity, and punctuated with their trademark Tympani kicks that separated the boys from the men when it came to seeing whose audiophile tweaked system was better than whose.

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Next-Gen Interactivity: U-Control on Universal's Children of Men HD DVD.
Shane Buettner  |  Apr 20, 2007  |  2 comments

We focus on picture and sound here at <I>UAV</I> more often than not, but enhanced interactivity is regarded as a major selling feature of the next-gen formats. And this is unequivocally where HD DVD is a mile ahead of Blu-ray, in spite of the latter's hype machine in favor of Java's superiority in this regard. Blu-ray might eventually catch HD DVD in interactivity, but at this point there isn't a single Blu-ray player in the market that has been verified to me as being spec'd to support the kind of Picture-In-Picture driven features you can find on a lot of HD DVDs in stores now. And these features can be accessed in full on every HD DVD player out there except LG's Multi-Blue.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Children of Men (HD DVD)
Shane Buettner  |  Apr 20, 2007  |  4 comments

<I>Note: I experienced playback issues with the first screener of this disc sent to me by universal. Trying to play the first copy of this disc in the Toshiba HD-XA2 (with the very latest firmware) I got an error message to the affect that the disc was not the correct format and it wouldn't play. However, that copy did play in the HD-A20 I just received for review. The second copy sent from Universal played in both players. There have been similar reports online.</I>

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Audio Video News
Musicians Taste Sweet Revenge
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 20, 2007  |  0 comments
The latest challenge to the music industry comes from musicians themselves. Some of them are re-recording their hits to capture licensing revenue that otherwise would go to their record companies.
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Audio Video News
HD DVD Rising
 |  Apr 19, 2007  |  0 comments

HD DVD seized command of HD sales news this week, beating Blu-ray to a significant milestone by topping 100,000 standalone players sold in the US, and also setting an Amazon HD sales record.

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Audio Video News
Is Internet Radio Doomed?
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 19, 2007  |  0 comments
The federal government's Copyright Royalty Board refused this week to reconsider an earlier decision to impose a massive rate hike on Internet radio broadcasters starting May 15. Depending on whom you ask, this is either a victory for recording artists or the finally tolling of the bell for net radio.
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Resolution Is A Double-Edged Sword
Shane Buettner  |  Apr 18, 2007  |  5 comments

A common fallacy in the high-end audio world is that if you buy better, higher resolution gear all of your recordings will sound better. The short answers is, they won't. Higher resolution invariably exposes more flaws in recordings you already knew were flawed, but what's more uncomfortable is that you'll also hear "new" flaws in recordings that sounded pretty good previously. Some of these might be your favorite demo cuts, which really sucks. And of course, your best recordings will scale new heights entirely, but which turn out to be which is often unpredictable.

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Audio Video News
Circuit City Struggles for Survival
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 18, 2007  |  0 comments
Recent doings at Circuit City may be of interest in the wake of the mass firings reported here and elsewhere. The story became a Primedia trifecta--covered here, on the Stereophile site, and on the Ultimate AV site--in addition to wide coverage elsewhere including a stern editorial in the New York Times.
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