Thomas J. Norton

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A/V Veteran
Y4K: Is Super D-Cinema In Your Future
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 08, 2006

A few years back everyone was wondering if our civilization would come crashing down around our keyboards. All of our computers stored the year as a two-digit number, and 00 did not compute. Best case: Aunt Ellie wouldn't get her airline reservation in time for that visit, or better yet might end up in Sri Lanka. Worst case: an extinction level event.

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CEDIA 2014
Yamaha and Atmos
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 13, 2014
While Yamaha's lineup of new AVRs is heavy into support for Atmos, the company's well-reviewed Avantage pre-pro remains Atmos-free. A spokesperson for Yamaha told me that there are no immediate plans to come out with a new version that supports Atmos. It will certainly happen eventually (unless Atmos turns out to be this year's HD-DVD, and it doesn't appear that it will), but until then they're likely to loose customers to Marantz, Onkyo, and Integra, all of which offer competing pre-pros with that feature.
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Projector Reviews
Yamaha DPX-1 DLP video projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 14, 2001

For years, the only game in town for those wanting a home-theater video projector was the cathode-ray tube, or CRT. Many buyers are put off by the bulky size, setup sensitivity, need for constant tweaking, and limited brightness of these devices, but there's no denying that, when combined with a screen of sensible size for the typical living room, a CRT provided overall home-theater performance second to none.

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Projector Reviews
Yamaha DPX-1200 DLP projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 24, 2005

If you're familiar with the look of Yamaha's last two flagship DLP projectors, this latest version will definitely give you a case of déjà vu. But that's true of the latest projectors from most manufacturers. The world of home video projection is moving too fast to design new cosmetics for every new model.

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Projector Reviews
Yamaha DPX-1300 DLP projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 16, 2006

"If you're familiar with the look of Yamaha's last two flagship DLP projectors, this latest version will definitely give you a case of déjà vu. But that's true of the latest projectors from most manufacturers. The world of home video projection is moving too fast to design new cosmetics for every new model."

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A/V Veteran
Yes, We Have No Bananas
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 01, 2011
Actually, I do have bananas. A whole bunch of them, in fact. Not the edible variety, but rather banana plugs, those handy little devices for connecting your speakers to you’re A/V receiver or amplifier(s).
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CES 2011
YG Acoustics' Acoustics
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 08, 2011  |  Published: Jan 09, 2011
YG Acoustics brought along a truckload of acoustic panels to make certain that the hotel meeting room's acoustics weren't wreaking havoc with the sound of its expensive, aluminum cabineted speakers.
CES 2018
Zombified?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 11, 2018
I have no idea what this booth was all about, but it certainly was creepy.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Zootopia
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 19, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
Judy Hopps is an ambitious little bunny. Stuck in a zillion-rabbit town, she longs to join the police force. Topping her class at the police academy, and despite the misgivings of her conventional, veggie-farmer parents, she heads off to Zootopia, the Big Carrot in the film’s all-animal universe, to forge a career in the ZPD.
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A/V Veteran
Zulu on Blu-Ray
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 22, 2022
At the height of European colonial ambitions in Africa, two of Great Britain's key colonies there were Cape Town, at Africa's southern tip and, north of there, Natal. The latter abutted Zululand. The Zulus, a powerful warrior nation, was created from local tribes conquered earlier in the century by the iconic Zulu chief, Shaka. )...This superb 1964 film Zulu...depicts ...the battle of Rorke's Drift...It can still be viewed via streaming, but instead I seriously recommend the 50th anniversary Blu-ray release (in the red jacket shown above). The stereo audio on this disc is satisfactory though underwhelming. But its widescreen videos is exceptional...
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