Monthly Archives: February 2004

Useful explanation of anamorphic widescreen

Many pieces have been written by many people attempting to explain, in terms accessible to the non-technical, what anamorphic widescreen is all about. I’ve had a bash at it myself here and here and, to some extent, here. But this … Continue reading

Posted in Video | Leave a comment

Dictionary additions and dialog normalization

Rod, mentioned in the post below, has also suggested I include ‘dialog normalization’ in the Dictionary of Home Entertainment. Good point, and it was something I shouldn’t have overlooked, so here it is. Naturally this required some other additions, so … Continue reading

Posted in Audio | Leave a comment

Is separate boxing for video switching necessary?

Rod, the chap who maintains the extremely useful Chopping List Web site (on movie censorship), asks: While reading your informative A/V blog yet again, I was reminded of a question which you may be able to help me with. I … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment, Video | Leave a comment

Is CRT on the way out?

Sony Australia says that it has stopped importing and selling CRT computer monitors. From now on, it’s LCD all the way. The reason? According to GfK independent research statistics, in Australia the LCD market has grown by 183% by volume … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment | Leave a comment

Is Black and White cinema that good?

Having just read this Blog entry from the erudite 2Blowhards on the wonder of black and white cinema, I feel rather inadequate. I prefer colour in general, and clearly I haven’t educated myself enough about the mood differences generated by … Continue reading

Posted in Cinema, Video | Leave a comment

G-Code and Showview and standards confusion

Australia is an odd market for home entertainment equipment. We are small (20 million) but the market here has mixed and matched the standards used in the US and Europe, each of which are huge (300-ish million). One example is … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment, Video | Leave a comment

Harman Kardon DVD 30 revisited

Yesterday I received the most recent edition of Sound and Image which, as usual, contains a number of my articles. Amongst others it has my rave review of the Harman Kardon DVD 30 DVD video/audio player. I like this player … Continue reading

Posted in CD, Equipment, Testing | Leave a comment

Price falls on Yamaha RX-Z9 receiver

Now that didn’t take long. Yamaha’s do-everything RX-Z9 home theatre receiver has just fallen in price here in Australia, from $AUS11,999 to $9,999. Perhaps the strong Australian dollar has something to do with it. Or is it getting cheaper overseas … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment, Value | Leave a comment

Yet another mislabelled DVD

A nice chap from MGM Home Entertainment returned my call this evening regarding my previous post. He seemed quite upset about the error and is looking into it. Excellent response. Following my discussion with him, I checked out another MGM … Continue reading

Posted in DVD | Leave a comment

False Advertising on DVD covers, or I want my money back!

While many hate pan and scan presentations of widescreen movies on DVD, I am convinced that the worst possible way of presenting a widescreen movie is in non-anamorphic letterboxed format. The best way — and the way the great majority … Continue reading

Posted in DVD | Leave a comment