A/V Veteran

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A/V Veteran
Pass the Hat
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 04, 2006

Will the prices of HD DVDs and BDs—the discs themselves, never mind the players)—keep the brakes on sales of the new format? If current trends continue, those of us with big DVD collections had better start saving up if we want to eventually replace them with HD DVDs and BDs (Blu-ray discs).

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A/V Veteran
Peter Panned
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 30, 2023
Peter Pan & Wendy is Disney's latest attempt to re-make one of its classic animated films as live action. It's been done before. Many times...
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A/V Veteran
Phones and Groans
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 25, 2018
We rarely discuss smartphones here at Sound & Vision, but I suspect that most readers, if forced to choose which device they’d choose to keep if they had to divest themselves of all but one, would choose their smartphone. But that wouldn’t include me. I don’t check my phone 20 times a day, and Facebook and Twitter are strangers to me. In the past I’ve used my phone mainly for e-mails, news, Listen-In radio, and phone calls.

But my recent experience with a new smartphone offers cautionary lessons also applicable to our more house-bound entertainment goodies: televisions, AVRs, speakers, home assistants, home automation, and more...

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A/V Veteran
Pirates Go Blu
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 15, 2007

Come next Tuesday, two anxiously awaited titles will hit the video stores&mdash;<I>Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl</I> and <I>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest</I>.

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A/V Veteran
Planet Earth II: King of Ultra HD Reference Discs
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 02, 2017
We all have our favorite reference discs—the ones we pull out to show off our system to friends. UHD has now given us a lot to choose from, whether your preference is for action spectaculars or more subtle, thoughtful fare. But there’s now a new king of the home theater hill.

In 2007 the multi-part BBC nature documentary Planet Earth first appeared on broadcast television, and later came out on DVD and Blu-ray. Directed and narrated by British naturalist David Attenborough, it was widely praised (though as I recall the commentary on the US broadcasts substituted actress Sigourney Weaver for Attenborough—a not entirely effective move).

But now we have its 2016 follow-up, Planet Earth II...

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A/V Veteran
Positioning Speakers for Best Performance
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 08, 2022
Chances are if you're reading this you're careful about setting up and configuring your loudspeakers. But if you're new to this game, perhaps you're not. The average consumer may unpack those new speakers carefully, but then simply plunk them down wherever they happen to fit. We've heard stories of surround speakers being placed up front near the mains because it was too inconvenient to run wires to the back of the room! That's certainly understandable, but then why even bother; such placement will almost certainly make the sound worse than simply leaving the surrounds in their box.
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A/V Veteran
Post-CEDIA Thoughts
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 14, 2013
CEDIA began its annual event in 1989. At that time it was launched in a modest venue full of table-top exhibits and educational seminars, with a strong emphasis on the latter. This was appropriate, as we all had a lot to learn about home theater.

I’ve been attending CEDIA since 1994, when then Stereophile publisher Larry Archibald decided it was time to begin a new publication dedicated to the burgeoning home theater business—the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater. But even in the first year or two I attended, accompanied by Archibald, the Guide’s founding editor, Lawrence B. Johnson, and the requisite marketing crew, you could cover all of the exhibits in a couple of hours.

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A/V VeteranAudio Video News
Preview: Panasonic's New Flagship Ultra HD TVs
Tom Norton  |  Oct 19, 2014
Panasonic launched its new flagship 4K Ultra HD sets, the 65-inch TC-65AX900 and the 85-inch TC-85AX850, at a press event in Los Angeles last Thursday. The two models are similar in many ways, including their Ultra HD capabilities, THX certification, HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2connectivity, and H.265 (HEVC) decoding, which is planned for upcoming 4K source material, but not yet universally used in the limited consumer 4K material presently available) The TVs also incorporate Panasonic’s quad-core, Pro5 processor for their “Beyond Smart” feature set.
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A/V Veteran
Prime Meridian
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 22, 2014
Last week Meridian Audio held a reception in Los Angeles, one of many across the country for the U.S. launch of its new special edition, digital loudspeakers, the DSP 5200SE, DSP7200SE, and DSP8000SE (For others yet to be held, go to meridian.com.)

This year is the 25th anniversary of Meridian’s first digital loudspeaker, so it’s no surprise that all three of these designs are powered by their own internal amplifiers and accept only digital inputs. In most installations such inputs will come from Meridian’s own electronics, but other digital sources, such as a music server, may also be used to feed the speakers’ inputs.

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CES 2017A/V Veteran
Pro-ject on the Up and Up
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 10, 2017
Pro-ject is a big name in turntables, particularly turntables that are relatively affordable (as high-end turntables go). The VT-E BT ($499), however, just might be more of a conversation piece than a statement product. The photo here isn't misleading; the record actually sits vertically, with a clamp in place...
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A/V Veteran
Projectors: The Display of Choice at CEDIA 2017
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 12, 2017
CEDIA 2017 was a great place to be if you have a penchant for video projection, especially short-throw projectors.
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A/V Veteran
Protecting Your Gear From Natural Disasters
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 22, 2020
I sort of expected it when I moved to Florida 5+ years ago, so when the eye of hurricane Sally struck about 100 miles west of here last week, it wasn’t really a surprise. It was Tuesday when the heavy rain started, and it continued through midday Wednesday. There was some wind, enough to drop a few trees within a mile of me, but heavy rain caused much of the damage. Over 20 inches fell in this area. They could have used that 20 inches on the west coast to kill the fires there; that’s something like eight years of rain at my former Los Angeles address! I hope no readers were seriously impacted by storms or wildfires on either side of the country.
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A/V Veteran
Rain's Gonna Fall Part 2: How to Protect Your AV Gear During Severe Storms
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 13, 2024
In my last blog — Rain's Gonna Fall: How to Protect Your AV Gear from Severe Storms — we focused mainly on protecting audio/video gear from possible electrical surges. This time, we’ll look at how to minimize potential damage caused by hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods.
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A/V Veteran
Rain's Gonna Fall: How to Protect Your AV Gear from Severe Storms
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 23, 2024
Is your home theater or music system protected from summer thunderstorms and other major weather events? Once personal safety concerns have been addressed, here are a few preventative measures you can take to keep your AV gear safe.
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A/V Veteran
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On Your Head
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 31, 2014
From a recent article in the Los Angeles Times:

“A South Korean Company aiming to transform the way Americans experience movies at the multiplex is bringing its ‘4-D’ technology to Los Angeles.”

What’s 4-D? The technology is actually called 4DX, and instead of just picture and sound it adds, as needed, moving and vibrating seats, wind, strobe lights, fog, rain, and scents, all of them supporting what’s happening on the screen.

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