Features

High Definition Music Album Downloads for the Audiophile – November, 2010

Sales of high definition (high resolution or "high rez") music on discs has floundered, and producers are in a difficult bind because it is expensive to master them, and with profits on low sales being low, they are looking for a different outlet. Well, downloading high rez music is the answer. The music studios, as well as independent musicians, can simply transfer the original high resolution masters (24/88.2 or 24/96) to websites that specialize in selling music by download. The high rez disc does not have to be created, packaged, or distributed by the studio. It costs them nothing to put the music on a website store. The consumer downloads the music and burns it to a disc or plays it from a computer. The reviews here are of high resolution albums downloaded and burned to DVD-A. I listened to them with an OPPO BDP-83/NuForce universal player, Lamm LL1 preamplifier, McIntosh MC1201 power amplifiers, and Carver Mark IV ribbon speakers.

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – November, 2010

Back to the Future Trilogy (Blu-ray), Ironman 2 (Blu-ray), How To Train Your Dragon (Blu-ray), Moulin Rouge (Blu-ray), The Maltese Falcon (Blu-ray), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Blu-ray), Alien (Blu-ray), Star Wars - The Clone Wars Season 2 (Blu-ray), The Bridge on the River Kwai (Blu-ray), The Last of the Mohicans (Blu-ray), The Girl Who Played With Fire (Blu-ray), Toy Story 3 (Blu-ray), Aliens (Blu-ray), Alien 3 (Blu-ray), Alien Resurrection (Blu-ray), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Blu-ray), The Karate Kid (2010) (Blu-ray), The Kids Are All Right (Blu-ray), Charlie St. Cloud (Blu-ray)

A Home Theater Build Project – Part I

We all have a spare room. Well, many of us do. And those of us bitten by the A/V bug often dream about what we would do with that room. I have such a room, and six years ago embarked on a wild odyssey to build a dedicated A/V room from scratch. How could someone with limited construction skills, moderate budget, and even more limited tool selection, go about making a clean, professional looking dedicated home theater?

Telluride Film Festival 2010

Passes were nearly sold out at this year's festival but getting around and getting into movies seemed a quite a bit easier than in past years. This might have been dumb luck or it might have been that a bunch of people were trying to see James Franco in person at screenings of 127 Hours. Usually we get five movies per day...don't miss the Telluride presentation about the past and present of 3D.

High Definition Music Album Downloads for the Audiophile – October, 2010

Sales of high definition (high resolution, or "high rez") music on discs has floundered, and producers are in a difficult bind because it is expensive to master them, and with profits on low sales being low, they are looking for a different outlet. Well, downloading high rez music is the answer. The music studios, as well as independent musicians, can simply transfer the original high resolution masters (usually 24/88.2 or 24/96) to websites that specialize in selling music by download. The high rez disc does not have to be created, packaged, or distributed by the studio. It costs them nothing to put the music on a website store. The consumer downloads the music and burns it to a disc or plays it from a computer. The reviews here represent our first set of high resolution albums that were downloaded and burned to DVD-A. Most are 24/88, but one is 24/96, and another is 24/44.1. I burned them all to DVD+R media and listened to them with an OPPO BDP-83/NuForce universal player, Lamm LL1 preamplifier, McIntosh MC1201 power amplifiers, and Carver Mark IV ribbon speakers.

CEDIA 2010 Show Coverage from Atlanta

CEDIA 2010 is underway in Atlanta.......The SECRETS Team has arrived and is reporting......with continuous coverage from the floor over the next few days.  The Secrets Team.....Piero Gabucci, Chris Eberle, Jim Milton, Chris Heinonen, Jim Clements and Mark Vignola....... will be attending numerous press conferences and booth tours over the next few days. Check out the reports, pictures and videos from the team and check back often for updates.  John and Cynthia are attending as well....check out John's CEDIA summary early next week!!  Reports are live from Jim Milton, Jim Clements, Chris Heinonen and Chris Eberle!  Piero, is that an iPad??