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A/V Veteran
Video Projectors—The Short (Throw) Story
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 12, 2018
I covered the pros and cons of choosing a projector or a flat screen set in a blog late last year. But a new candidate makes it worth a second look. That technology is the short throw projector, currently being heavily promoted by several manufacturers. Many of these devices are still pricey, but a few models that are at least competitive with premium flat screen sets are now available, with more sure to come...
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A/V Veteran
Vienna New Year Concert, Les Miz in London on Blu-ray
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 27, 2014
Some months back I ran across a region-free Blu-ray of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra’s 2014 New Year’s Concert (Sony Classical). I already owned the 2012 edition (it’s an annual event, as you might have guessed!), which I hadn’t yet watched. The price was right for this 2014 version, so I added it to my collection. That is, I added it to my shelf of as yet unseen Blu-ray discs (I suspect all serious collectors have such a shelf). It waited there patiently until I felt the need to pull out a few potentially good sounding concert Blu-rays. This one seemed like a good candidate, so I popped it into my Oppo player.
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A/V Veteran
Viewpoint: Star Wars at the Dome
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 01, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>George Lucas is a fan. I don't mean of <I>Star Wars</I> (though he is, I suspect, that, too); rather, he's a fan of digital cinema. And he wanted his magnum opus, <I>Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith</I>, to play in digital on the biggest screens in the world. That covers a lot of territory, but the screen at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, which measures 32 by 86 feet, just might be the biggest anywhere.

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A/V Veteran
Viewpoint: A Modest Proposal
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 28, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>I'm a huge fan of having a physical copy of video content (high-definition or otherwise) for my own personal use any time I see fit. The downloading paradigm scares me. It opens up all sorts of ways for the provider to stick it to the consumer. How about paying <I>every</I> time you want to watch? How about additional compression so our downloaded movies are "High-Definition Quality," like those "CD-quality" MP3s? How about spyware or adware along for the ride? Pop-up ads in mid-movie, anyone?

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A/V Veteran
Viewpoint: A Video Revolution?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 19, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Your favorite <I>first-run</I> movies could be coming soon to a theater near you&mdash;your own home theater&mdash;in full high definition.

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A/V Veteran
ViewPoint: Adventures on the Web, Adventures in Video
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 31, 2004  |  Published: Jan 01, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Big things are happening on the <I>Ultimate AV website</I> (<A HREF="http://www.ultimateAVmag.com">www.ultimateAVmag.com</A>). Go there and you'll find the hottest new addition to the <I>Stereophile UltimateAV</I> world: our very own <I>eNewsletter</I>. Want more information on how to improve your home theater system? You'll find it. Want to know what's happening in the fast-changing AV world? You got it. Want to know what you should look out for in HDTV, or how that latest and greatest big Hollywood blockbuster DVD really stacks up? We'll tell you about it. There will be a new edition every month. It's yours free for just signing up, so check it out now!

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A/V Veteran
Viewpoint: Bits and Pieces
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 24, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>So many little things have flown over the transom this month (does anyone even have a transom anymore?) that a lapse into blogging mode seemed the best way to clear them out.

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A/V Veteran
Viewpoint: Going to Bits
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 31, 2004  |  Published: Jan 01, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT><I>Ultimate AV is going completely to bits! But not to pieces. </I>

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A/V Veteran
Viewpoint: How Much, How Fast, How Legal?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 25, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>One of the hot, media-centric topics these days is Digital Rights Management, or DRM. I touched on this topic in a <A href="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/news/041405DRM/">report</A> on the recent Digital Hollywood conference. Put simply but politely, it involves managing how and what an individual may do with program material to which others own the copyright. Put more bluntly, it involves how to keep the public from making copies that Hollywood considers illegitimate and thus deny Hollywood the income it feels would otherwise come from the sale of that material.

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A/V Veteran
Viewpoint: Sell the Mercedes?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 26, 2005

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/headshot150.tjn.jpg" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=194 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>"Sell the Mercedes! Hock the mink!" So wrote a still-active audio scribe (Peter Moncrieff) a quarter century ago while reviewing a pricey (for the time) tube preamp. Today, you can still pay more than the price of a Mercedes for an amplifier or speakers. And while few people today would be caught alive wearing a dead rat, the proverbial mink coat wouldn't go far toward the price of that top-drawer, custom home theater installation, either.

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