Latest Additions


  • New Top Picks section reveals the best gear HT's reviewed.
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  • Vizio's M3D650SV 65" 3D LED-LCD TV is a great value at $2200.
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  • Remember Betamax? Quadraphonic? HT looks back at A/V flops.
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  • HT's Top Picks of 2011 are the best of the best we reviewed last year.
    • Plasma in a Sun Room
    Ask Home Theater
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 22, 2012 • 0 comments
    I am looking to buy a TV for my sun room, which is 18x20 and has two 6x4 windows on three of the four walls, with the fourth wall facing the inside of my home. The TV would be located on this fourth wall. The room does get a lot of sun, but all the windows have blinds that can be closed fully to block out all meaningful direct sunlight, although some indirect sunlight does seep through.

    I'm thinking about getting the Panasonic TC-P55VT30, but I'm concerned about any plasma TV's ability to deal with the brightness of this room during the day. On the other hand, also important is off-axis viewing, which is a plasma strength and an LCD weakness. Will the plasma wash out during the day even with the blinds closed due to the seeping/indirect sunlight? If so, what LED-LCD would you recommend, since I assume all plasmas would have the same issue? If there is a plasma that would not suffer this issue, I would welcome that name also.

    Steven Lawless

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    Pina 3D Dazzles
    Scott Wilkinson Blog
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 21, 2012 • 1 comments
    As a musician, I've played for a number of modern-dance performances and classes, including classes taught by members of the renowned Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. So when I learned that Wim Wenders, director of Buena Vista Social Club, made a 3D movie about the late modern-dance choreographer Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal troupe, I had to check it out—especially since Pina has been nominated for an Academy Award as the best documentary feature of 2011.
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    Downton Abbey: Season Two
    Ultimate Demos
    David Vaughn • Feb 19, 2012 • 2 comments

    Originating from the other side of the Atlantic, Downton Abbey is one of the most entertaining shows on TV and looks spectacular on Blu-ray. Each episode costs a reported one million pounds to produce and it certainly shows in the marvelous costume design, lavish sets, and all-star cast. Shot with an Arri Alexa digital camera, the level of detail is mesmerizing and the AVC encode is spectacular. Unfortunately the DTS-HD MA 2.0 doesn't have robust dynamics but at least the dialog intelligibility is never an issue.
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    Do You Prefer an Anamorphic Lens or Lens Memories?
    Vote
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 17, 2012 • 4 comments
    As I explain in today's "Ask Home Theater" blog, there are two ways to project a 2.35:1 movie onto a 2.35:1 screen without black letterbox bars. One way is to place an anamorphic lens in front of the projector's primary lens to stretch the image horizontally and use electronic processing to upscale the image vertically. The other way is to use a projector with motorized zoom, focus, and lens shift and several less memories to store and recall the settings for different aspect ratios. As with most things in life, each approach has its pros and cons.

    If you have a 2.35:1 projection system—or you only dream about having one—which approach do you prefer? An anamorphic lens with its increased brightness and vertical resolution but potential scaling artifacts and optical distortion, or lens memories that avoid these problems at the expense of lower brightness and vertical resolution? Or are you happy with a 16:9 screen and black letterbox bars framing movies?

    Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

    Do You Prefer an Anamorphic Lens or Lens Memories?
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    2.35 Movies on a 2.35 Screen
    Ask Home Theater
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 17, 2012 • 3 comments
    I have received an estimate for a basement home theater utilizing an Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 6010 projector and a Dragonfly 2.35:1 screen. The installer recommends a Panamorph FVX200 anamorphic-lens system to convert movies to match the aspect ratio of the screen, but I question the value of this $3000 add-on to improve the home-theater experience.

    Gregg Berkowitz

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    Star Wars 3D Falls Flat
    Scott Wilkinson Blog
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 16, 2012 • 21 comments
    Last night, I saw Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D—RealD, not Imax, which was showing Journey 2: The Mysterious Island instead. That Dwayne Johnson vehicle looks pretty bad from the trailers I've seen, but I bet the 3D is better than it is in the new Star Wars release.
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    Physical Media vs. Online Distribution
    Ask Home Theater
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 15, 2012 • 8 comments
    I've been seeing announcements from the pop-music industry about the discontinuation of physical media in favor of online content. What will this mean for home theater, considering the increasing bitrates for video and 7- and 11-channel audio? If we are moving toward 4K, won't we need physical media for a long time to come?

    Michael Johnston

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    Podcast 99: Jason Hartlove
    Home Theater Geeks Podcast
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 14, 2012 • 2 comments
    Jason Hartlove, CEO of Nanosys, Inc., explains his company's new backlight technology for LCD TVs called quantum-dot enhancement film, or QDEF, which uses nanoparticles that emit light of different colors when exposed to blue light. The emitted colors can be tightly controlled in the manufacturing process, resulting in just about any desired RGB color gamut, including the original gamut captured and intended by movie producers. A very geeky episode!

    Run Time: 1:02:53

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    Arcam AVR360 A/V Receiver
    AV Receiver Reviews
    Mark Fleischmann • Feb 14, 2012 • 0 comments

    Audio Performance
    Video Performance
    Features
    Ergonomics
    Value
    Price: $1,799 At A Glance: Strong texture, imaging, dynamics • Dolby Volume for low-volume listening • Relatively affordable price • Subpar video processing

    The Good Ship Arcam steers a different course than most manufacturers of audio/video receivers. That means the prospective buyer has to read spec sheets in a different way. At 75 watts per channel, this $1,799 receiver shares a power spec with much, much cheaper competitors. But that doesn’t mean it performs the same. For one thing, Arcam specifies power output with five channels driven (1 kilohertz )—a hurdle most manufacturers don’t even try to clear. The figure rises to 80 watts (20 hertz-20 kHz) or 90 watts (1 kHz) with two channels driven. This leads to what might be called the Arcam Paradox: If you’re willing to step down in the specified number of watts per channel, you can optimize a product, especially its power supply, so that it will drive five reasonably efficient speakers to high levels without hardening the top end or collapsing the soundfield.

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    Vizio M3D650SV 3D LED-LCD TV
    3D Flat Panel Reviews, Flat Panel Reviews
    Scott Wilkinson • Feb 14, 2012 • 5 comments

    2D Performance
    3D Performance
    Features
    Ergonomics
    Value
    Price: $2,200 At A Glance: Excellent 2D and 3D performance • Inexpensive, lightweight, passive 3D glasses • Poor ergonomics

    When Tom Norton reviewed the 65-inch Vizio XVT3D650SV 3D LED-edgelit LCD TV last year (see review here), he found it to be an excellent performer in most respects. However, its list price of $3,700 kept many potential buyers away—and, along with the few problems he did find, kept him from bestowing HT's Top Picks designation.

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