Secrets

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – June, 2013

The SECRETS Movie Review Team

 Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy lead an all-star cast in this hilarious comedy. Unlimited funds have allowed Diana (McCarthy) to live it up on the outskirts of Orlando. There's only one glitch: she's financing her shopping sprees with an ID stolen from Sandy Patterson (Bateman), an accounts rep who lives halfway across the U.S in Denver. With only one week to hunt down the con artist before his world implodes, the real Sandy Patterson is forced to extreme measures to clear his name.

Movie Reviews
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Decoding Audio Formats

Written Brian Florian

I have a Panasonic DMP-BD655 Blu-ray player connected to an Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver, with DefTech Mythos STS speakers for the fronts. I know that the Onkyo is capable of decoding losses HD audio formats sent via bitstream from the Panasonic.

My question - For best sound quality, should I have the Panasonic bitstream lossless audio and have the Onkyo do the decoding? Or, will I get better sound by having the Panasonic do the decoding?

- Venkat Iyer
Chicago, IL

SECRETS Home Theater Q&A

Sennheiser Momentum Over-the-Ear Headphones

Stephen Hornbrook

Sennheiser will always hold a special part of my heart as the HD580 my first audiophile headphone. I can still remember the soft velvety fabric of the earpads and the revelation that was quality music playback. Since then, I have experienced the sound of many other headphones, including the Sennheiser Momentum over-the-ear headphones, which are reviewed here.

Headphone and Earphone Reviews

The New Wave of Color Calibration Technology: Cube Calibration

By Chris Heinonen and Mark Vignola

One of the Awards given out in 2012 by Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity for "Technology on the Rise" was for Cube Calibration. For most people this probably doesn't mean much yet, but for those of us that are calibrators, or enthusiasts with an interest in calibration technology, this was a huge development. One might even say that Cube Calibration is the biggest improvement to consumer display technology since the introduction of the Color Management System (CMS).

Video Calibration

Spears and Munsil HD Benchmark Setup and Test Disc – Version 2

Chris Heinonen

Readers of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity are likely familiar with the names Stacey Spears and Don Munsil. They authored the Secrets DVD Benchmark and brought to light issues like Chroma Upsampling Errors, as well as our recent HDMI Benchmark for Blu-ray players. They also authored the Spears and Munsil HD Benchmark Blu-ray test disc. Version 2 of their HD Benchmark disc is now available, and reviewed here.

Technical Reviews

BenQ W1070 Projector

Chris Heinonen

I'll be blunt: I don't like 3D. I've never been able to justify paying extra to see it in the theater, and at home it has always left me cold. Most implementations give me a headache almost instantly with their crosstalk-filled images and ghosting the drives me crazy... Fast forward to CES 2013 and BenQ is in the South Hall showing off a pair of projectors that are very similar to the W7000, but scaled down: the W1070 and W1080ST.

Projectors

Dune HD

Secrets
Dune HD offers an array of high-quality digital media players for both consumer and commercial markets. The product line ranges...
AV Directory

Triad Gold Monitor Speakers and Silver Subwoofer

Chris Heinonen

Last year, I had a chance to pay a visit to Triad Speakers, which is located in my home town of Portland, OR. They showed how their speakers are designed and built, from the very beginning, to prototype testing, to building and shipping the final product. Unfortunately, the one opportunity that wasn't available at the factory was the chance to listen to their speakers, as they were doing a complete redesign of their listening room from the studs up. On my way out, they let me take home a pair of In Room Gold Monitors and an In Room Silver DSP Subwoofer for review. Now knowing how they were built and designed, I was certainly looking forward to hearing how they sounded.

Subwoofers

Stereo Bass from AV Processor or Receiver?

Scott Wilkinson

I want to use two subwoofers and keep the bass stereo for recordings that, in fact, have phase differences in the low frequencies. So I am looking for a processor or receiver that, when all the main speakers are set to "small," sends the left-side bass to the left subwoofer, the right-side bass to the right subwoofer, and splits the center-channel bass. Also, if any product actually does this, what happens when you run the auto EQ/room correction? Would the auto EQ make the subwoofers mono?

- Richard Severance
St. Paul, MN

SECRETS Home Theater Q&A