Author Archives: Stephen Dawson

Silly audiophile claims … 1

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve been into HiFi since I was a callow youth, well before digital audio was even being recorded by the major studios, let alone made available as a consumer format. I was thrilled with the introduction of the compact disc. … Continue reading →

Posted in Analogue, Audio, Mysticism | 7 Comments

Which software for grabbing DVD frames?

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve been grabbing frames from various Blu-ray discs and DVDs, with a view to setting out some more Blu-ray vs DVD comparisons. I really ought to stop the frame grabbing, and start the comparion setting out. But I found something interesting … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer, DVD | 1 Comment

If Audiophile USB cables are valid, then …

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

… surely we need audiophile network cables — CatAudiophile, perhaps? — to make sure the packets of precious audio digits are streamed without degradation from server to client. But, OMG, what about wireless! If you’re streaming over an IEEE 802.11n … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Cables, Mysticism, Rant | 2 Comments

Appalling: ‘audiophile’ USB cables

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

The gains in low-end body and punch, midrange spaciousness and detail, and high-end smoothness alone are significant. So sayeth What Hi-Fi. Apparently if you spend 50 UK pounds on the Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable (I’m assuming one metre), that’s the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cables, Mysticism, Rant | 13 Comments

The shape and colour of Se7en

Posted on November 21, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

On 2 December 2010 Roadshow Entertainment is releasing one of the truly great movies to Blu-ray: Se7en (aka Seven). That’t not just my opinion. IMDB has it listed at #28 on user ratings. For ten years David Fincher had been … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, DVD, Video | 1 Comment

A Letter to the Old Country

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Yesterday I received a Blu-ray player produced by a very highly regarded UK company, which shall remain nameless. This is not a cheap Blu-ray player. But oddly it seemed rather deficient on the HDMI audio output front, not having anything … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Blu-ray, Rant | 5 Comments

Beatles on iTunes

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

It seems that at last The Beatles’ catalogue will be online, via iTunes.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Hollywood sexism

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Jennifer Dudley, tech journo boss for several News Limited newspapers (and a former editor of mine), has an interesting post up on The Courier Mail’s Hi-Tech Blog. Basically, she points out, the film The Social Network fails to depict any … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, Misc | Leave a comment

Free Blu-ray: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Yes, yours for free: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Ask for it in comments. Australian addresses only. This is a test disc, without a box, but it works fine.

Posted in Blu-ray, Giveaway | 3 Comments

Free speech

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I don’t normally sign petitions and join things. In part that’s because I’m weird enough to find most popular movements to be out and out wrong, or at least wrong in enough big parts to consider them more negative than … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Cables | 5 Comments