Al Griffin

Audica CS-System 3 Speakers
Al Griffin  |  Aug 02, 2006  |  0 comments

Just how slim can speakers get? It's a question I find myself pondering these days as wave after wave of skinny speakers arrives on my doorstep for testing. Looking over the elegant, metal-clad CS-System 3 speakers from British newcomer Audica - a company of audio veterans who previously did time at established UK speaker outfits like Mission - the answer is: remarkably slim.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
DVDs: Reference Disc
Al Griffin  |  Jul 05, 2006  |  0 comments

The New World (New Line; Movie •••½, Picture/Sound ••••, Extras •••), Terrence Malick's film about the fateful collision of English settlers with Native Americans in 1607, is short on dialogue and long on trippy shots of sunlight leaking through virgin forests.

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Samsung HP-S5053 50-inch Plasma HDTV
Al Griffin  |  Jul 03, 2006  |  0 comments

Samsung has its hands in so many different TV categories - front- and rear-projection DLP TVs, flat-panel plasma and LCD sets, even old-school cathode-ray tube models - that it's hard to keep track of all the stuff they sell.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
DVDs: Brokeback Mountain
Al Griffin  |  Jun 09, 2006  |  0 comments

So much fuss has been made about Brokeback Mountain (Lionsgate; Movie ••••½, Picture/Sound ••••, Extras •••), especially after it was nominated for eight Oscars (winning three), that it's not worth rehashing the details here.

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Westinghouse LVM-42w2 42-inch LCD HDTV Monitor
Al Griffin  |  Jun 01, 2006  |  0 comments
What We Think
With its deep, inky blacks and sharp detail, this HDTV excels in most areas of picture quality.
Flat-panel LCD HDTVs typically cost more than their big-screen plasma
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
DVDs: Reference Disc
Al Griffin  |  May 09, 2006  |  0 comments

David Lean's 1970 epic Ryan's Daughter (Warner; Movie •••½, Picture/Sound ••••, Extras ••••) gets the grand treatment in this two-disc special edition. Sourced from restored 65mm picture elements, the 2.2:1 transfer is consistently crisp, revealing every crag in stone houses.

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Other Tech
Make Room for HDTV
Al Griffin  |  May 05, 2006  |  0 comments

Right now is a great time to buy an HDTV. Why? Because prices have dropped to where many people can actually afford one. Another reason: the explosion of choices brought on by recent advances in technology. From compact flat-panel TVs with 20-inch screens to expansive rear-projection sets with 70-inch or larger displays, there's an HDTV out there custom-made for you. But which one?

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Other Tech
ZVOX Mini Audio System
Al Griffin  |  May 05, 2006  |  0 comments

Back in October 2004, we tested the ZVOX audio system, an all-in-one "virtual" surround option for those who want something better than built-in TV speakers. Now comes the $199 ZVOX mini audio system, a shrunk-down, portable version intended to provide sound for music players like the iPod or for TVs.

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Other Tech
Apple iPod Hi-Fi Audio System
Al Griffin  |  May 04, 2006  |  0 comments

Apple's computers have always been audio- and video-friendly, but the company has mostly left the home entertainment part of the equation up to third-party developers. Although an Apple hard-disk video recorder or music server has seemed like an obvious thing for Steve Jobs to trot out, year after year there's been nothing but new (and very welcome) takes on the iPod.

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Other Tech
Inside Blu-ray & HD DVD
Al Griffin  |  May 04, 2006  |  0 comments
When DVD appeared in early 1997, it didn't take much prodding for people to trash their collections of primitive VHS tapes and embrace the shiny new disc. The dramatic boost in picture and sound quality had a lot to do with it - when experienced on a widescreen TV along with 5.1-channel sound, watching a DVD was almost like sitting in a movie theater.
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