By Don Lindich and Lance Rhinehart By Don Lindich Set in the California desert in the early 1900s and based loosely on Upton Sinclair’s Oil!, There Will Be Blood recounts the rise of oilman Daniel Plainview, portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in an Academy Award-winning performance. Plainview’s personal nature is as dark and […]
My column regarding the Philips BDP-7200 Blu-ray player started hitting newspapers today. If it hasn’t hit your local paper yet you can read it on the Modesto Bee website. The Philips BDP-7200 is a Profile 1.1 (Bonus View) Blu-ray player with an MSRP of $399. Street prices are $369 at Circuit City and $348 at […]
I am on vacation and didn’t expect my column on the BDP-7200 to hit just yet so I did not post the pictures, but the Miami Herald and Modesto Bee ran the column today. As soon as I get home late tonight (the pics are on a different computer) I will post the pictures of […]
Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player I usually recommend the PlayStation 3 pretty much exclusively for readers looking for a Blu-ray player, but this deal is a good one if you are looking to get into Blu-ray at a bargain price. The BDP-S300 does not support the advanced audio codecs Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, making it […]
I’ve long touted Amazon.com as the best place to buy high definition discs in both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats. Right now Amazon has 229 Blu-ray titles (many of them top-shelf) for as little as $14.49. If you have a PS3 or a Blu-ray player, check it out as there are bound to […]
Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD Player You’ve probably heard about the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray “format war” as each vies to become the new high definition video disc format. (VHS vs. Betamax in the 21st Century.) You may have decided to wait it out for now. Well, at only $149, I suggest you jump in… both […]
Sound Advice By Don Lindich Week 36, 2007 Q: Is there much of a difference in picture quality between, say, the Oppo 1080p upconverting DVD player and one of the two actual HD (Blu-ray and HD DVD) players? I know one plays/up converts “regular” DVD’s and the other plays actual “HD” DVD’s. I have a […]
Sound Advice By Don Lindich Week 32, 2007 Q: I’m trying to figure out if it’s still too early to buy an HD DVD player. There are a number of DVDs available in HD format, but I suspect that the vast majority of them were filmed with non-HD cameras and converted to HD. Do you […]
Sound Advice By Don Lindich Week 22, 2007 Q: I have a 46 inch Mitsubishi 1080 HDTV an need a new DVD player. Should I get HD DVD or Blu-ray? If Blu-ray, which one should I get, and why? If HD DVD, the Toshiba HD-A2 or HD-A20 and why? -Al Szczepanski , Minneapolis, MN A: […]
Experiencing Polk in the 1980s I first became familiar with Polk Audio during my college days in the mid-late 1980s. Audio was a newly adopted hobby and as I read many magazines to learn all as much as I could, I saw many Polk advertisements featuring Matthew Polk in his white lab coat, standing with […]
Week of October 15, 2006 Q: I am confused by the difference between the SXRD and DLP technologies that compete in the rear projection TV market. What is the difference and is one better than the other? What is the big deal about “1080P” that I hear about with these new TVs? -G. Frank, Ridgeland, […]
Week of July 23, 2006 Q: I’ve been copying some of my old audio cassette tapes to audio CDs. I’ve had perfect success using CD-R’s, but poor success using CD-RW discs. On playback the CD-RWs will usually give errors (dropouts) and sometimes the CD will actually lock-up a player. In doing some research I found […]
Week of July 16, 2006 Q: I read your Blu-ray/HD-DVD article and was staggered at some of your comments. You do not seem to understand digital media at all. Digital media is the same regardless of device. Files and films on HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs are identical- what differs are technical details such as the […]
Week of July 2, 2006 Q: What are your thoughts regarding the new HD-DVD and Blu-ray high definition video discs? -Thaddeus Mark, Castle Shannon, PA A: HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) are the two new formats competing to be the high-definition video disc of the future. Each promises to provide much better […]
Week of April 30, 2006 Q: Will I see a noticeable difference in high definition picture quality if I upgrade from the component video connection to the HDMI connection? I have high definition cable and the newest version of their box has an HDMI output (the older ones only had DVI). I have a Sony […]
Week of October 9, 2005 Q: I have always wanted a DVD recorder, but until now the prices were a bit too high. Now I can buy a DVD recorder for $100 and it is tempting. However, with advances in Digital TV and HDTV, I am again thinking I should wait a bit longer. A […]
