Geoffrey Morrison
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PS3 Hates 1080i
Geoffrey Morrison Blog
Geoffrey Morrison • Nov 28, 2006 • 25 comments
As I’ve talked about before, console games have to be written for a specific resolution (unlike computer games). Nearly every Xbox 360 game, for example, is 720p. The console then converts that up or down depending on how you set up the console. Those with older TVs drop it to 480i, those with HD sets can choose 720p or 1080i (and occasionally 1080p).
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PS3 Launches
Geoffrey Morrison Blog
Geoffrey Morrison • Nov 17, 2006 • 5 comments
At midnight last night, the very first PlayStation 3s were sold. To herald the even, there were huge launch parties in New York and San Francisco. A few of us journalist types were brought up to check it all out.
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PS3 Pricing
Geoffrey Morrison Blog
Geoffrey Morrison • May 09, 2006 • 2 comments
For $500 is can be yours. As was expected, Sony announced pricing on the PS3 yesterday. For $500 you get the console with a 20GB hard drive. For $600 you can get it with a 60GB hard drive. Interesting, isn’t it, that this is suspiciously close to the price of an HD DVD player that doesn’t have a hard drive or, you know, play games. They’re also claiming an early November release. The release also says that it won’t be the silver that they’ve been showing for (forever?) months, but in black. I’m sure I’ll see it at the show tomorrow, so I’ll snap a pic. Speaking of that, check back all week, as a bunch of us are going to E3, and I’ll be posting daily updates.
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PSB Synchrony One Speaker System
Floorstanding Speaker Reviews
Geoffrey Morrison • Jan 18, 2008 • Published: Dec 18, 2007 • 0 comments
Three Ones in this five.

There are two questions you could—maybe should—be asking right now. The first, "Didn't y'all just review some PSB speakers a few months ago?" And two: "Aren't you the video editor?" Well, yes. That either question should come to mind should say something about these speakers.

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Samsung BD-P1000
Geoffrey Morrison Blog
Geoffrey Morrison • Jul 15, 2006 • 3 comments
It's taken a while to get all the facts straight. In fact, a few are still not in. But one thing is sure, the BD-P1000 doesn't look as good as the Toshiba HD-XA1. The reasons why took dozens of phone calls and a trek to the far side of Los Angeles. The complete story will be in two complete articles in our October issue. For now, here's the story of how we figured out most of it:
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Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Player
Blu-ray Player Reviews
Geoffrey Morrison • Oct 14, 2006 • 0 comments
The war begins. . .with a whimper.

With more than a little excitement, I hooked up the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray disc player. Here it is, the first Blu-ray player to hit the world. I put it right on top of the Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD player, which I'm sure the Blu-ray people would love to hear, and the HD DVD people not so much. I ran the HDMI cable to the virtually reference-quality Yamaha DPX-1300 projector, put in my old standby The Fifth Element (of course), and sat back, ready to enjoy. The disc started up promptly (take that, Toshiba!), and, within seconds, there was Blu-ray. It only took a few seconds more before I uttered something along the lines of, "What the hell?"

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Samsung BD-P1200 Blu-ray Player
Blu-ray Player Reviews
Geoffrey Morrison • Jul 23, 2007 • 0 comments
Power Processing comes to Blu-ray

While the in the end, Samsung's first foray into the Blu-ray world wasn't the major culprit in said format's poor picture quality (turns out most of the early discs just didn't look very good), it was still rather lackluster. It didn't upconvert DVDs very well, it didn't offer a 1080p/24 output, and it didn't decode any of the new audio formats. With its second-generation offering, Samsung has fixed most of these shortcomings. Most.

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Samsung DVD-P421 Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Other Disc Player Reviews
Geoffrey Morrison • Aug 05, 2002 • Published: Aug 06, 2002 • 0 comments
Few things have dropped in price as quickly as DVD players. Less than a year ago, progressive-scan models like this one would have cost over $1,000. Now, you can find the Samsung DVD-P421 progressive-scan player for well under $200.
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Samsung HL-S5679W DLP HDTV
Rear-Projection TV Reviews
Geoffrey Morrison • Jan 26, 2007 • 0 comments
Reference unleashed. . .almost.

A little less than a year ago, a predecessor to this TV competed in one of our Face Offs with five other RPTVs. It didn't do well. Despite the fact that it posted some of the best measurements of the group (including the most accurate color points and the best contrast ratio), it came in fourth place out of six sets. The reason was a video processing "enhancement" called DNIe, which two-thirds of the reviewers flat-out hated. It couldn't be disabled. Just the fact that the same processing on this HL-S5679W is defeatable would make it worth a review. (In fact, you can't enable DNIe at all in some modes.) As it turns out, this isn't even the most interesting feature on this RPTV—not by a long shot.

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Samsung LN-T5265F LCD HDTV
Flat Panel Reviews
Geoffrey Morrison • Aug 18, 2007 • 0 comments
Accurate color in an LCD. Who knew?

I have to admit, I had some trepidation going into this review. The track record for Samsung's flat panels has not been that great. Like all Samsung products, nevertheless, they have come a long way in a very short time. So when Samsung's TV test manager and HT alum Mike Wood recommend I check out the company's new LN-T5265F LCD flat panel ($3,999 Minimum Advertised Price), I begrudgingly agreed. If you'll remember, Samsung's HL-S6188W won our last RPTV Face Off, its predecessor finishing mid-pack the year before. Perhaps this LCD would make a similar jump. We shall see.

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