Chris Chiarella

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Audio Video News
Creative Slims Down
Chris Chiarella  |  Jul 08, 2004
With an elegance too-rarely found in the portable MP3 realm, the Creative MuVo Slim ($200) packs 256 megabytes of digital music into a unit barely larger than a credit card and weighing just over an ounce, unobtrusive even in a shirt pocket. There's a built-in FM tuner that can even record music off-air (also a voice recorder with built-in microphone) and a five-band custom equalizer in addition to Jazz, Rock, Pop and Classical presets. MuVo Slim is a mass storage device so it does not require drivers, just the familiar drag-and-drop between PC and player with a USB 1.1/2.0 connection that also recharges the removable, replaceable lithium ion battery, good for well over ten hours.
Portable Player Reviews
Creative Zen Portable Media Center Apex MP-2000 Portable Media Player
Chris Chiarella  |  Feb 15, 2005
Sliced bread, move over.

The exhilaration surrounding established digital audio and video formats tends to plateau over time, until some pseudo-genius somewhere figures out a way to make the technology fit into our pockets, and then pulses quicken anew. The portable MP3 player has become the must-have gadget for the masses. Portable DVD has become even sexier, with larger screens and enhanced feature sets, but a new crop of slimmed-down audio- and video-to-go devices is poised to change everything...again.

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Portable Player Reviews
Creative ZEN V Plus & Aurvana In-Ear Earphones
Chris Chiarella  |  Jan 26, 2007
It's just so Buck Rogers. Or maybe Dick Tracy?
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Criterion Collection in 4K: The First Wave
Chris Chiarella  |  Jan 28, 2022
Once the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format showed that it had legs, one question I found myself regularly being asked was, "When is The Criterion Collection going 4K?" The esteemed boutique label certainly didn't rush in, but by the end of 2021, fans and collectors were offered four premiere releases: Citizen Kane, Menace II Society, Mulholland Dr., and Uncut Gems.
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Out Of The Blu
Criterion Triple-Play: Badlands, Monsieur Verdoux, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Chris Chiarella  |  Mar 29, 2013
The Criterion Collection serves up another eclectic batch of classic, near-classic and neo-classic films, all restored for high-def disc.
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Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Cronos 4K
Chris Chiarella  |  Feb 14, 2025
Cronos
Picture
Sound
Extras

Right out of the gate with Cronos, his first feature film, director Guillermo del Toro displayed a keen eye that would serve him well throughout his career. It’s a vampire story… kind of, as a rich old man is seeking a legendary device that can supposedly impart eternal life, but with some dark side effects. When the golden doodad comes into the possession of a humble antiques dealer, violent and unpredictable events begin to unfold. Anyone looking for a well-executed offbeat horror would do well to check out Cronos.

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Accessory Reviews
Crowson Technology TES 100 Couch Kit
Chris Chiarella  |  Sep 18, 2004  |  Published: Sep 01, 2004
What's shaking in the world of convergence?

One of the reasons I sleep well each night, secure in my job at HT, is the fact that seemingly every unusual product that comes down the pike is deemed "convergence" and falls into my lap. The Crowson Technology Tactile Effects System (TES) 100 wasn't exactly what I thought it would be: I anticipated a little added shaking of the sofa at appropriate moments, and the TES 100 certainly delivered, but the Couch Kit's two magnetic transducers turned out to be actual loudspeakers that also happen to channel enough physical vibration to move whatever is pressed down upon them, ideally the two hind legs of a big piece of furniture. Two rubber feet help to isolate the front legs. The less-expensive Chair Kit comes with one transducer and three rubber feet.

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Curvy Aliens In Our Midst
Chris Chiarella  |  Jan 07, 2008
High-end gaming PC overlords Alienware showed off an ENORMOUS curved LCD screen here in Las Vegas, tentatively named... Alienware Curved Display. It's even more impressive in person, wider than any consumer-available screen I've ever seen, with a curve that does a better job filling the user's field of vision for a more immersive experience.
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Other Source Component Reviews
CyberHome Prism DVD Player
Chris Chiarella  |  Apr 09, 2003  |  Published: Apr 10, 2003
By the time you read this, Paramount's two-disc special collector's edition of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home should be available. While it was never my favorite Star Trek film, the movie does offer some memorable funny-because-they're-true lines. One that I often quote occurs when time-traveling Scotty confronts a 20th-century computer. When he eventually realizes that he'll have to use a horribly outdated keyboard, he quips, "How quaint."
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Accessory Reviews
D-BOX Odyssee Series 2 Motion-Simulation System
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 15, 2004  |  Published: Oct 01, 2004
Why I can never watch Super Speedway in my home theater again.

Even I can't believe how far I'll travel for a great home theater demo. Hidden up in the cold, cold reaches of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the headquarters of D-BOX Technologies, which features the coolest faux living room in North America. I aimed to try their Odyssee motion simulator firsthand. My brother told me that home theater gear depends upon the demo perhaps more than any other product, and this was never truer than with the Odyssee.

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