Monthly Archives: July 2010

It’s nice to be right sometimes

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

The next issue of Sound and Image should contain my review of the Panasonic 50 inch 3DTV. In that review I wrote: The very first TV for which I formally measured the power consumption using the international standards was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco, Equipment, Testing | 1 Comment

Why do they do that?

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Some years ago I reviewed Sony Minidisk deck. Nice unit, but I was confused in that it had more optical connections than it was supposed to, and fewer coaxial ones. Later it was revealed that the device I had in … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Equipment, Testing | 1 Comment

SACD comeback?

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’m presently looking at Sony’s new Blu-ray 3D player, the BDP-S470. Only $299! As I was exploring the player’s menu system, I came across something unexpected: a facility for handling Super Audio CD playback (you can choose between CD layer … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Blu-ray, Equipment | 2 Comments

Cloudy with a chance of three dimensions

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Yesterday Sony sent me the Blu-ray 3D version of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, last year’s animated feature. I have now done a fair bit of analysis of the disc and posted it here for those interested .

Posted in 3D, Blu-ray, Disc details | Leave a comment

File list complications?

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Pixar Blu-ray discs typically have the main content spread over lots of files in order to facilitate the delivery of different on-screen text languages. 3D discs typically have multiple files to support the format. They use a regular *.m2ts file … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D, BD-Live, Disc details | 1 Comment

Inception up, and Toy Story 3 down a little

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Christopher Nolan’s new movie, Inception, has opened in the US and starts on IMDB at 9.4/10, and position #3 with a weighted 9.1/10. More than 72% of the nearly 30,000 voters so far have given it 10/10. For some reason, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema | 2 Comments

Perhaps Not So Evil Monster (Formerly: Evil Monster)

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

In my last post I issued a tepid condemnation of Monster Cables’ litigation practices. This evening I followed a link in the show notes for Dave Hitt’s podcast to get a sense of how much Monster Cables seems to be focused … Continue reading →

Posted in Cables, Mysticism, Rant | 8 Comments

Monsters and High Definition

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve previously mentioned the Quick Hitts podcast a couple of times. Dave Hitt has a superbly professional manner and tone in his podcasts on his wide ranging, but generally fairly libertarian subjects. I find a great deal to agree with … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Giveaway, HDTV, Rant, Value | 4 Comments

Digital Radio in Canberra!

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

My brother emails me: The trial of DAB+ began on Wednesday. I tuned my radio in last night and despite it being a low powered test signal I had good reception. The stations available are: MIX 106.3 MIX 106.3 PLUS My Canberra … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Radio | 2 Comments

3D Escher

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

One possible artistic use of 3D display technology would be to represent the impossible. Imagine: you have two objects on the screen, one clearly ‘closer’ to you than the other, as conveyed by the 3D rendering. Now, imagine if that … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D, Blu-ray, Giveaway | 4 Comments