Tech2

Aiming to ensure Ultra HD 4K looks as good as it can, Technicolor has launched 4K Image Certification. The first product to get certified is Marseille Network’s scaler tech.

Fellow Tech2er Brent Butterworth and I headed to Hollywood for an eyes-on demonstration.

I recently got back from three weeks camping/backpacking in South Africa. For anyone who knows me, my using those verbs in the same sentence as “I” will be rather shocking.

Only sporadically near power, and often on the go, I was, with some careful preparation (and ongoing trial and error), able to use my iPod, watch TV shows and videos, and take over 2,000 photos, all without tech incident.

So with the summer travel season upon us, follow these tips and don’t miss a photo, track, or clip.

If I were forced to choose between the $20K worth of audio test gear I own or the demo CD that cost me probably 20 cents to make, I’d take the latter without hesitation. Test gear is great for telling me how well an audio product is engineered. But when I want to find out what an audio product does — i.e., how a listener will perceive its sound — the demo CD is a much better tool.

With hundreds of new headphones coming out last year, S+V got so wrapped up in product reviews that we never got around to covering what I think is probably 2012's most important audio story: a recent research project that should augment the audio world's spotty understanding of how headphones should be voiced.

Also, six hours of unnecessary prolog drivel.

Except, I say that, and even I have to admit (bile rising) the prequels are canon.

For a lot of people, this will be the first chance to re-watch the films, having bypassed the Blu-rays, or perhaps even lack a Blu-ray player. So what’s the best way to watch them? Or, perhaps you want to show someone the second (first?) best fantasy series of all time who hasn’t seen it before.

Turns out, there is a best way. It’s called The Machete Order.

I almost did it myself. I was listening to "King Contrary Man" from The Cult's Electric, through Phonak Audéo PFE 232 in-ear headphones while sitting in a 757 somewhere over Colorado, trying to get an idea of how well Phonak's PerfectFit design blocks out airplane noise.