Author Archives: Stephen Dawson

The Perils of Double Blind Testing

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

While in Japan I had an interesting discussion on whether or not one can hear the differences in cables. I am not in the ‘can hear a difference’ camp. To quote from one of my own articles: The first and … Continue reading →

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

The 6th Day – a comparison

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Go here to see my Blu-ray vs DVD comparison.

Posted in Blu-ray, Disc details, DVD | Leave a comment

Back from Hamamatsu

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

I was in Japan last week as a guest of Yamaha Music. Had a great time. Ate dinner at the restaurant which inspired Tarantino for the restaurant fight in Kill Bill Part 1. Saw some interesting products. Yamaha has a … Continue reading →

Posted in Equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Yes, it is louder

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Earlier in the week I remarked on the the live Pink Floyd release, ‘Pulse’, on DVD. You may recall that this has the surround soundtrack in two formats: 448kbps (the maximum specified for DVD) and 640kbps (the maximum specified for … Continue reading →

Posted in Disc details, DVD, Testing | 1 Comment

Paramount’s BD-Live commitment

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

A while back I did a ‘Ten Best’ piece on Blu-rays in Sound and Image. Best picture quality, best sound and so on. For Best BD-Live I put down Transformers on the basis of its downloadable ‘Intelligence Mode’. As it … Continue reading →

Posted in BD-Live, Blu-ray, Disc details | Leave a comment

HDMI Cable weirdness

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

What hair I have is so short at the moment that I am unable to get any purchase on it whatsoever. Which is just as well, otherwise after the last couple of hours I would have none left. I start … Continue reading →

Posted in Cables | Leave a comment

The World’s Worst Cable

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

What happens when you search your cable cupboard, find a collection of random audio cables (at least one a quarter of a century old), join them all together into one 44 metre long hodge-podge, and use it for digital audio? … Continue reading →

Posted in Cables | Leave a comment

640kbps Dolby Digital on DVD

Posted on September 7, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

One of my daughters gave me the Pink Floyd ‘Pulse’ DVD set for Fathers’ Day yesterday. Absolutely brilliant concert from 1994, with superb sound. I was startled to find under audio options that you can select Dolby Digital 5.1 sound … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, DVD | Leave a comment

Elementary Arithmetic

Posted on September 7, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

You have 285,200 births in Australia in 2007, according to the radio this morning, of which an estimated 2,000 are home births. That, says the presenter, is ‘point zero, zero seven per cent of births’. A recent issue of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Rant | Leave a comment

BD-Live Travails

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Here’s an email I sent last night to ‘BD-Live Help’. I mentioned here a while back how my BD-Live logon with The Da Vinci Code had failed. I whinged to Sony’s PR company at the product launch mentioned in the … Continue reading →

Posted in BD-Live, Blu-ray, Testing | Leave a comment