Audio Video News

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Audio Video News
One-Speaker Surround Sound
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 09, 2004  |  First Published: Aug 10, 2004

You wouldn't know it to talk to most home theater purists, but there's a market for simplified, easy-to-implement surround sound systems: college students in cramped dorms, for example, or vacationers in summer homes.

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Audio Video News
Industry Roundup
Barry Willis  |  Aug 09, 2004  |  First Published: Aug 10, 2004

Blu-ray progress: The Blu-ray Disc Founders group announced August 3 that it has agreed to standards for read-only high-density discs. The 13-member group, including core members Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd, parent company of Panasonic, claims that Blu-ray DVD players could be available by midyear 2005.

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Audio Video News
Polk Announces Birth of Home Theater Quintuplets
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 09, 2004
A proud Polk Audio recently announced the birth of quintuptlets: four new RM Series six-piece, five-channel home theater speaker systems wrapped in swaddling plastic bags, protective styrofoam packing, and beautifully overprinted cardboard cartons. The new arrivals feature slim satellites and powered subwoofers. The cute and cuddly satellites in the new RM6800, RM6900,and RM7300 were selectively bred to be wall-, shelf-, or stand-mounted; and, for the very first time, this new RM Series includes a system (RM7400) with a pair of floorstanding front speakers.
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Audio Video News
Inexpensive High Definition from InFocus
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 09, 2004
You might have thought that the best way to see the Summer Olympics was to brave long security lines, eat lots of calamari, down a few Mythos beers, and pay through the nose for the "cheap" seats at Athens Stadium. But InFocus Corporation thinks they have a better idea. They humbly suggest staying in the comfort of your own home and watching the hundreds of hours of HD Olympic coverage on a huge screen (up to 11 feet wide) courtesy of their newest High Definition home entertainment front projector, the ScreenPlay 5000.
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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 09, 2004

Thomas J. Norton reviews the follow-up to last year's Editor's Choice Gold Award, the <A HREF="/videoprojectors/604nec">NEC HT1100 DLP video projector</A>. Norton reports that the latest model is more of a good thing.

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Audio Video News
Latest Software Reviews
HT Staff  |  Aug 09, 2004
DVD: South Park: The Complete Fourth Season—Paramount
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
South Park was just warming up in season four, with the introduction, sans fanfare, of handicapped Timmy, who has since developed his own enormous following and would go on to be a dominant force throughout a year ranging from the esoteric nostalgia of the Trapper Keeper to the boys' first Holy Communion. (A chill just shot down my poor mother's spine.) This oddly timed season contained 17 episodes, with original airdates between April and December of 2000, ending with another fecally gifted yuletide and an homage to the "Spirit of Christmas" video short that began it all.
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Audio Video News
New Products Set For CEDIA Expo
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 09, 2004

The annual Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo is increasingly <I>the</I> debut venue for manufacturers of home theater equipment.

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Audio Video News
The Master of Multiroom Multitasking
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 02, 2004
Preamp/processors of the world: be scared...be very scared. Anthem Electronics is unleashing their newest preamp/processor/tuner - the AVM30 - on the audio/video world, and this baby is determined to kick plenty of posterior and take plenty of names. "What," asks you, the entertainment-hungry homeowner the AVM30 was designed for, "is so special about this three thousand dollar (actually, $2,999, but who's counting?) pre/pro/tuner (aside from the obviously gorgeous cosmetics which include a brushed-metal front-panel with a blue vacuum fluorescent front-panel display swimming with blue and red LEDs)?" Of course, I'd like to know why you ask such long questions, but we need to get back to the main story...
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Audio Video News
Sunshine State's First HD Film Fest
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 02, 2004

It's not too late to get tickets for Florida's first high-definition film festival, set for this coming weekend.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 02, 2004

Steven Stone reviews the <A HREF="/accessories/604camelot">Camelot Technology Dragon 5.1 Plus DVD/CD jitter-reduction device</A>, explaining that "it promises to do for DVD players what the Audio Alchemy box did for CD players: make them sound a lot better."

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Audio Video News
Sharp's HD LCD TVs
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Aug 02, 2004

LCD televisions are making great strides toward truly high-definition performance - in particular, the newest models in the Aquos line from <A HREF="http://www.sharpusa.com">Sharp Electronics</A>.

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Audio Video News
New DVRs from Samsung
Barry Willis  |  Aug 02, 2004

The DVD format war needn't concern you if you pick up one of Samsung's new digital video recorders, due this fall.

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Audio Video News
Jerry Goldsmith: 1929–2004
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 26, 2004  |  First Published: Jul 27, 2004

Jerry Goldsmith, the film composer who created the accompanying music to everything from radio shows to memorable films such as <I>Patton</I>, <I>Planet of the Apes</I>, <I>In Like Flint</I>, <I>Chinatown</I>, and <I>The Omen</I> (for which he won the Academy Award), died July 21 after an extended battle with cancer.

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Audio Video News
Subs with Smarts
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 26, 2004
Ever had trouble matching a subwoofer to your main speakers and the room? Ever wonder, if Reese's can make peanut butter cups with the peanut butter on the outside, why can't someone make a subwoofer that's intelligent enough to make its own adjustments? If you have, then you can spend your life believing that Thiel Audio created their new SmartSub family of subwoofer products just for you. (The remainder of us will simply admire the technology in this collection that includes four new powered subwoofers, a SmartSub Integrator, and a pair of passive crossovers.)
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Audio Video News
Mix and Match Format Playback
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 26, 2004
If you're the type who can't decide among all the disc formats (SACD, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, CD, MP3-encoded CD, and Laserdisc), Integra has just announced a six-disc DVD changer that's compatible with nearly every disc format on the planet. (Sorry, Laserdisc fans, but Integra didn't include compatibility with those venerable old 12-inch movie discs. Although you won't be able to watch your old disc collection in the new Integra changer, those discs still make great serving platters!) Integra's DPC-8.5 is built around a six-disc carousel tray that incorporates a unique blue illumination light, making it easier to see what's in the tray when the room lights are down low and you're trying to impress that special someone.
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