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Sounds & Vision reviews that DVP-CX777ES 400 Disc Blu-ray changer
Man would we love to even own 400 discs to load up into this changer, which would be worth many more pesos than the $1800 the Sony DVP-CX777ES will run ya -- S&V evidently does have more CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs than we do and found the Grace Note service did a decent job of delivering cover art and details of all the discs. The video and audio quality were also on par with what you'd expect, and while the player wasn't the quickest player ever, it was respectable. The fans and mechanical mechanism also went unnoticed, which is always good. So in other words, if you are looking for a home for your 400 discs and have the scratch to spare, you can't go wrong.
Constant-height projection on the cheap
The HD enthusiast game is vicious -- as soon as you see your favorite content on larger display without lite-brite-like artifacts, the "I wannas" kick in real hard. The majority of us will settle in on a large flat panel display, but the idea of a light-controlled room cave with a front-projector lingers on. According to the linked bit at Widescreen Review Sound and Vision, you might not have to rule it out based on the equipment cost alone, though -- constant-height projectors that used to come in around $30,000 can now be had for $2,000, and that "savings" can be put towards additional lensing to achieve a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. That's still pricey, so the article has some tips on getting the same effect on the cheap with some DIY -- the choice between manual fidgeting, prowling eBay for film projector lenses and raiding your trophy case for suitable prism-like awards all depends on your skills and ambition.[Image courtesy Prismasonic]CORRECTION: Our friends at Sound & Vision, not Widescreen Review did up the feature. Apologies, S&V!
Sound and Vision takes a shine to Anthem's Room Correction
The lucky folks at Sound and Vision Magazine put Anthem's ARC-1 Room Correction System to test and liked it pretty well. It was evaluated in combination with the top o' the line Statement D2 processor, so the bar set by the associated gear was pretty high. Setup of the $399 add-on -- gratis if you've got a D2 -- sounds pretty straightforward: connect a PC running the ARC-1 software to the Anthem processor via RS-232 and use the included mic to gather some tone sweeps. From there, bumps and wrinkles in your in-room frequency response curve are smoothed out and multichannel levels, crossovers and delays are all set up. The correction (and the rest of the D2's performance) got a solid endorsement from the audiophiles at S&V: they liked it enough to leave it engaged at all times for both music and movie performances.[Thanks, Rob]
Sound and Vision crowns Toshiba's HD DVD player Product of the Year
Don't subscribe to Sound & Vision? Just so you know it won't hurt our feelings as we do. Anyways, they have awarded their Product of the Year crown to Toshiba's first-gen flagship HD DVD player - the HD-XA1. That's right folks, despite the all the delays, slow start-up times, firmware updates, massive footprint and everything else home theater geeks love to point out about the player, it delivers uncompromising HD quality. (PC World agreed and put the little brother HD-A1 at #14 out of their top 100 products of the year) S&V points to the CEDIA expo as one of their references as almost every manufacturer (think projector companies like InFocus and Runco) that didn't have any stake in Blu-ray used HD DVD as their reference player. This HD DVD player delivered everything it promised and we think even the most staunch Blu-ray fanboys can admit to that. Currently S&V does not have their current magazine articles online - go out and spend the $5 bucks for the official source at a local bookstore but Toshiba was kind enough to produce a press release with the info as well. So everyone, raise your glasses to the Toshiba HD-XA1 for bringing us our first taste of what HD movies at home can be.[Warning: PDF link]
Pioneer Elite Pro-FHD1 1080p plasma wins Product of the Year
We guess they don't call it "Elite" for nuthin', as Pioneer's Elite Pro-FHD1 has been crowned the "Product of the Year" according to Sound and Vision Magazine and Ultimate AV. The firm's 50-inch, 1080p plasma was deemed a "technological milestone, complete with images that burst off the display for a near 3D effect," which are pretty strong words considering the smorgasbord of fantastic PDPs alone that came out last year. Of course, Mr. Mossberg would probably still argue that his Pioneer Elite PRO-1140HD was the better choice, but hey, he also tried to convince us that 1080p wasn't an important factor when scouting our your next set. Nevertheless, our hats are off to the folks at Pioneer, and while we're sure this beauty deserved its tiara, the $7,999 pricetag will still keep it out of all but the most affluent homes -- and Pioneer, don't count on next year's award coming easy, as you've already got some seriously stiff competition just a fortnight into the new year.
Sound and Vision Mag: optimal HDTV screen size
Americans love big TVs. It's just in our nature and now that the HDTV is here, we have a great excuse to put that 60-inch set in our living rooms. Sound and Vision has a couple of charts that allow you to plot what size HDTV will be just right for you space. Just like we mentioned in our buying guides a few months back, it all has to do with what you watch. You can buy a huge HDTV, but if you put SD on it, you'll need to sit farther back to see the detail. Likewise, if there is a 1080i picture on your screen, you'll want to sit closer to it then if it was just 720p. There is a point where you just can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080i and they even have a chart showing that too.[via digg]
