Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at
2:55 pm
Introduction
With
the Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) now firmly established as the most
popular consumer electronics product in history, the economics of mass
production have kicked in, with the result that an increasing number of
players are available for absurd prices. I’ve already reviewed one of
these players, the Sampo DVE-611, which is specifically notable for its
ability to become a multi-standard, multi-region player, all for under
$120. Some of the players that are around now are even cheaper, and you
can pick one up for well under $100 – in fact, for close to half of
that. The secret is manufacturing in the People’s Republic of China,
where costs can be kept down. But are they any good? Some Chinese
players have been of dubious quality, with unreliable hardware and
buggy software. I took a look at the Toshiba SD-K610, with an
unrealistic list price of $179.99. It is available new at national
retailers such as Comp USA for under $80.
Continue Reading…
Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at
10:56 am
Before the days of grunge and during a time when the compact disc
offered the consumer a fair value for $18.99, the domestic music
business briskly sold north of 30 billion dollars’ worth of music per
year.
Continue Reading…
Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at
9:51 am
Datacolor SpyderTV Display Calibration Kit
Introduction
Home
theater enthusiasts have long known about the need for video
calibration. For years, the Imaging Science Foundation has trained
professionals to return your set to the standards that filmmakers and
broadcast companies expect. Yet the average consumer sometimes might
ask why there is a need for video calibration at all. Why don’t video
companies with vast resources set the latest and greatest HDTVs
correctly at the factory? While most manufacturers have improved their
picture quality since the ISF and Joe Kane made us all aware of the
necessity for calibrating our monitors, most HDTVs still need
calibration out of the box. They are usually set up to deliver the most
“impressive” image, not the most accurate. Imagine that you are trying
to sell HDTVs under the giant sodium lights at Costco, not in the
light-controlled rooms of a high-end custom integrator – you might bump
the brightness a little to move some boxes, even if you knew the set
might last three years longer and look better at home with a different
set-up. SpyderTV is the first solution I know of which attempts to
eliminate the calibrator by instead having the computer do the job. The
question is, “How do the results compare to what a trained calibrator
would do in the field?”
Continue Reading…
Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at
9:40 am
Introduction
Satellite
radio has been gaining lots of attention the past few years, as
millions upon millions of consumers continue to discover its benefits
over traditional radio broadcasts. Nationwide availability,
commercial-free music stations and vast amounts of talk shows are just
part of satellite radio’s attraction. XM and Sirius are the two major
companies providing satellite radio content for a combined population
of nearly nine million subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Many of the satellite radio products have been focused on portable and
car deployments of the technology until recently, when Polk introduced
one of the first home audio systems. Antex Electronics saw this vacancy
in the growing satellite radio portfolio and produced a high fidelity
XM radio receiver of its own.
Continue Reading…
Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at
9:30 am
Introduction
The
subject of power correction products has come a long way in a very
short time. Just a few years back, consumers didn’t want to hear about
AC-related issues, as these were perceived as snake oil, just another
way for an already overly esoteric industry to bilk us out of more
dough with fears of otherwise reduced performance. However, a select
core of enthusiasts recognized that the performance of audio systems
was improved in the late evening as the demand on local power
decreased. It was discovered that the power products from a select few
manufacturers could indeed provide this late evening nirvana at any
time during the day. More recently, this product class has hit the
mainstream, as consumers soon realized that these products would also
improve video quality. With the massive increase in popularity of home
theaters over the last few years, everyone from movie enthusiasts to
gaming nuts is in the market for improved audio and video performance.
Continue Reading…
Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at
8:52 am
Onkyo Makes A Return To Two-Channel Brilliance: For
the last decade or so, audio manufacturers have been concentrating on
the multi-channel community, leaving the rest of the audio world to
fend for themselves. Last week, Onkyo decided enough was enough and
introduced two new two-channel pieces, one of which we are looking at
today, the high-performance A-9555 integrated amplifier.
Continue Reading…
NAD has developed a
