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Optoma HD8200 Single-chip 1080p DLP Projector

Chris Eberle

It seems every year projector prices fall a little more. The $4999 Optoma HD8200 single-chip DLP 1080p projector offers features and image quality that would have cost you over $10,000 just a few years ago. Though it has some stiff competition from JVC and Sony in this price category, Optoma has met this challenge with some unique motion processing and image enhancement features.

Projectors
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Samson to Expand Expedition Line of Portable Sound Systems

Secrets

Hauppauge, NY – February 03, 2010 – Samson Technologies, an industry leading audio technology manufacturer, is excited to announce two new additions to the Expedition family of Portable Sound Systems. Due out in April of this year the XP40iw (wireless) and XP510i will join the highly successful XP308i Portable Sound System. The new models will continue Expedition tradition of delivering powerful single system portable sound and are perfect at a tailgate, backyard barbeque, wedding or Christmas party.

Press

OPPO BDP-83SE (Special Edition) and NuForce Edition Universal Blu-ray Players

John E. Johnson, Jr.

OPPO's BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player has been very successful, as it is one of only a few players that will ouput all codecs (CD, DVD-A, SACD, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio) in digital format through an HDMI connection. Now, with the Special Edition of this player, called the BDP-83SE, along with a tweaked version of the SE, called the BDP-83SE NuForce Edition, analog audio performance is improved significantly, and in fact, both players perform like units costing much, much more.

Blu-ray Players

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

VIZIO VF551XVT 55″ LCD LED HDTV

John E. Johnson, Jr.

VIZIO has introduced a 55" (diagonal) LCD HDTV (1080p) that uses 960 LEDs in 80 control blocks as the backlighting. The control blocks change their brightness according to the brightness of the part of the scene that they responsible for illuminating. The result is absolute black, where there is supposed to be black. We measured a contrast ratio of nearly 300,000:1. It also has 240 Hz refresh rate (120 Hz plus backlight scanning) which allows for interpolated frames in between actual frames, and this delivers smooth motion during panning or objects moving across the screen. Best of all, it is available (street price) at $1,899 which is not an increase over last year's technology at the same screen size.

HDTV

Marantz SA-15S2 Reference Series SACD Player

Piero Gabucci

Marantz can be thought of in two ways: the company owned by D&M Holdings with a huge market to satisfy, developing highly competitive consumer level products such as receivers and DVD players. Secondly, Marantz is an audio-first legacy from Saul Marantz, that produced vacuum tube gear in the 1950's, and leading the way to solid state in the 1960's. Here, we take a look at their SA-15S2 SACD player.

SACD Players

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