Monthly Archives: July 2010

It’s nice to be right sometimes

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?

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?

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

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?

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

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)

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

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!

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

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