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Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – January, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

The Hangover (Blu-ray), The Marine 2 (Blu-ray), Mamma Mia! (Blu-ray), Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Blu-ray), Extract (Blu-ray), Jennifer's Body (Blu-ray), Horton Hears a Who! (Blu-ray), Command Performance (Blu-ray), 9 (Blu-ray), A Perfect Getaway (Blu-ray), Taking Woodstock (Blu-ray), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Blu-ray), CSI: The First Season (Blu-ray), 10 Things I Hate About You (Blu-ray), Fighting (Blu-ray), Love Actually (Blu-ray), American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (Blu-ray), Funny People (Blu-ray), Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

NuVision NVU65FX5 65″ LCD Flat-Panel HDTV

Chris Eberle

PRICE DROP AS OF 1-18-10. When shopping for an LCD panel, NuVision is not one of the first manufacturers that come to mind. Sold only through a network of CEDIA-member dealers, NuVision is firmly in the category of boutique brands. Their line of televisions are "built by connoisseurs for connoisseurs" to quote their website. Here, we review the NuVision 65" NVU65FX5, which is their 65" LCD Flat-panel HDTV. At an MSRP of $10,499 ($9,999 for black bezel version), it is a pricey HDTV. Read our review to see if it cuts the mustard at the checkout counter.

HDTV

Emotiva X-Series A/V Cables

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Emotiva, which started out marketing amplifiers, expanded to include preamplifiers, SSPs, speakers, and now, to complete the line, a complete series of cables. These include coaxial analog RCA, coaxial digital RCA, digital Toslink, balanced XLR, HDMI, and speaker cables. They come in two models, one being the X-Series that we review here, and the Ultra-Series, which is the entry level. I found the cables to be extremely well constructed, with gold-plated contacts, and rugged enough to be man-handled through the typical maze of wires that we all have behind our equipment racks. The sound in my reference system using the Emotiva cables was excellent. The prices are very reasonable, and are a better value than what I see in blister packs at various mass market electronic stores.

Video Accessories Misc

Movie Renter’s Guide – December, 2009

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Star Trek (Blu-ray), The Taking of Pelham 123 (Blu-ray), Angels & Demons (Blu-ray), Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws (Blu-ray), A Charlie Brown Christmas (Blu-ray), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1965, Blu-ray), Wrong Turn (Blu-ray), An American Werewolf in London (Blu-ray), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000, Blu-ray), The Office: Season 5 (Blu-ray), Battlestar Galactica - The Plan (Blu-ray), District 9 (Blu-ray), The Inglourious Basterds (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

Pioneer SC27 7.1 A/V Receiver

Chris Heinonen

Over the past few years, Class D amps have been gaining in popularity for many reasons including their much smaller size, their incredibly high efficiency, and the much smaller amount of heat that they put off compared to a standard Class A, AB, or B amplifier. More and more high end audio companies such as Rotel, Bel Canto and PS Audio have come out with Class D products that offer high performance in a much smaller form factor than was possible with standard amplifier technologies.

Receivers

Marantz PM8003 Stereo Integrated Amplifier

Jared Rachwalski

Marantz is a name that has been around for a long time; refreshingly they continue to produce quality two channel gear despite branching out into both budget and high-end home theater. My own listening experiences have found their budget home theater receivers to be the most musical for the price. Where other budget offerings can do movies well, most make for mundane music reproduction.

Integrated Amplifiers

Cambridge Audio DacMagic

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Cambridge Audio has come up with a product that has wowed everyone: the DacMagic. For $479, you get a DAC that is fully differential (a stereo DAC on each of the two channels), upsampling to 24/192, very low specified distortion, and selectable output filters. Does it perform as claimed? Read our review to see for yourself.

DACs

Bel Canto S500 Stereo Power Amplifier

Walt Meger

Let me first state "I like this amp, I really do." What does "Class A, A/B, D, ICEpower" mean to the average audiophile? Will there be an audible benefit by upgrading to the newer technology? If I am making an initial purchase will this technology satisfy me? Does the amp du jour really make a difference in the listening experience for the average listener?

Power Amplifiers

Denon AVR-1909 7.1 A/V Receiver

Kevin Lichterman

With over a five thousand dollar range from the entry level AVR-588 to the top of the line AVR-5308CI, Denon offers a receiver to fill just about every budget and need.  While not necessarily inexpensive at $649, the Denon AVR-1909 can be considered a deal in comparison to the $5500 price tag of their top offering.   Since the AVR-1909 falls roughly in the middle of Denon's 23 receiver lineup, my initial impression is that this receiver will offer a lot a value for your money.  Let's see if that impression plays out.

Receivers

Aperion Audio Intimus 6T-DB Hybrid XD 5.1 Speaker System

Chris Heinonen

When I was just getting started in hi-fi back in college, going to look for a new piece of equipment was both exciting, and annoying. Venturing out with a collection of CD's to evaluate speakers at different shops would often lead to two results: salespeople that would totally ignore me based on my perceived age and income, or salespeople that would try to steer me away from the speakers I could reasonable afford to something far more expensive. In those rare cases that I found a store with a salesperson that actually respected that I wanted a nice set of speakers but did have limited funds and tried to help, I would return there later as my finanaces allowed.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems
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Denon Offers Complete Line Of High Performance A/V Receivers

dba

Las Vegas, NV, January 8, 2009 â€" Denon Electronics, one of the world's premier manufacturers of high-quality home entertainment components, offers a line of ten audio/video receivers, providing consumers with more choices in high-value high-performance home entertainment solutions. The first manufacturer to incorporate both Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Audyssey Dynamic Volume in A/V receivers, Denon now includes these advanced convenience features, as well as HDMI 1.3a capability, in all ten of its new receivers.

Press

Movie Renter’s Guide – January, 2009

John E. Johnson, Jr.
Hancock (Blu-ray), Swing Vote (Blu-ray), The Bourne Trilogy (Blu-ray), The Express (The Ernie Davis Story) (Blu-ray), King Kong (2005) (Blu-ray), Universal Soldier (Blu-ray), My Best Friend's Girl (Blu-ray), Max Payne (Blu-ray), Saw V (Blu-ray), Space Buddies (Blu-ray), Bangkok Dangerous (Blu-ray), Righteous Kill (Blu-ray), Dexter: The First Season (Blu-ray)
Movie Reviews