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Visiting the Past
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 27, 2024  | 
Cranford is an outstanding 2007 BBC series-length drama in multiple episodes spanning a total of 291 minutes (approximately 5 hours). It's U.S. broadcast at that time was on PBS' Masterpiece Theater. I first watched it years ago on Blu-ray. For this blog re-watched it again from beginning to end.

It's certainly no action adventure story. Don't expect to see a sequel, Aliens in Cranford at your local multiplex. But even if historical dramas aren't your thing it's nevertheless well worth a trial run. You can find the entire Chapter 1 of the seven chapters on YouTube. The picture quality there is a definite step or two below the quality on the Blu-rays, but it's watchable. Note that there are 2 very short breaks on the YouTube transfer that might lead you to think that it's only a teaser. But it continues with the entire chapter after two interruptions of a few seconds.

Don't be surprised if you're hooked and immediately buy the Blu-ray to experience the entire story in significantly higher video quality

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A/V Veteran
Rain's Gonna Fall Part 2: How to Protect Your AV Gear During Severe Storms
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 13, 2024  | 
In my last blog — Rain's Gonna Fall: How to Protect Your AV Gear from Severe Storms — we focused mainly on protecting audio/video gear from possible electrical surges. This time, we’ll look at how to minimize potential damage caused by hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods.
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A/V Veteran
Rain's Gonna Fall: How to Protect Your AV Gear from Severe Storms
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 23, 2024  | 
Is your home theater or music system protected from summer thunderstorms and other major weather events? Once personal safety concerns have been addressed, here are a few preventative measures you can take to keep your AV gear safe.
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A/V Veteran
Getting Organized
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 09, 2024  | 
Whether new A/V fans are into basic two-channel audio, the full home theater schtick, or both, they'll eventually acquire a collection of physical (packaged) media that need to be stored somewhere. Here are some tips on how and where to store those precious discs — and maybe even a few tapes.
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Churchill on Disc
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 25, 2024  | 
Earlier this month the West honored the 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944. The ceremonies commemorated the Allied invasion of Nazi Germany's occupied Europe, which together with the then Soviet Union battering Germany from the east, would culminate in Germany's surrender almost a year later in May 1945. The war with Japan would end soon after, in August 1945.

Here are three recommended videos on Winston Churchill, a pivotal figure in the outcome of the War.

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Tales of Flying with Noise-Canceling Headphones
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 11, 2024  | 
Sometime in late 2019, as I was waiting at an airport for a connecting flight, I removed my Bose noise-canceling headphones and set them down on the empty seat beside me. A little later I got up to find my departure gate and in the rush left the headphones on the seat! I remembered a couple of minutes later, but when I returned the headphones were gone. Some lucky traveler is probably still using them...
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Music Hath Charms
Tom Norton  |  May 28, 2024  | 
The quotation "To soothe the savage breast" from William Congreve (1629-1670) reads in its entirety, "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. To soften rocks, or bend the knotted oak." Congreve might have been on to more than he realized.
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A/V Veteran
Music by....
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 07, 2024  | 
How often do you look for the music credit line in a movie you're watching or want to see? Probably not often if ever, unless the composer is one of the big names. That means, in all likelihood, names such as John Williams (essentially retired) or Hans Zimmer. Throw in a few other names you might recognize, such as Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings), the late Jerry Goldsmith (Alien, Tora, Tora, Tora, and countless others), and the also late James Horner (best known for Titanic but that's only one of his many memorable scores).
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It's Hi-Fi Show Time Again!
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 23, 2024  | 
I've blogged on audio (and video) shows before but there's always something more that needs to be said on the subject. Every year new hi-fi shows seem to pop up, though some will inevitably fade while others come along to fill the gaps. I've never been involved in organizing an audio show, but can imagine that it's a hectic, rewarding, but often difficult business (our sister publication, Stereophile actually ran a few annual audio shows years ago).
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A Few of My Favorite Female Singers
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 09, 2024  | 
While movies and other categories of (primarily) non-musical programming dominate what we hear and see in our home theaters, it's a good bet that if you've been into this hobby for more than a few years it all began with music. But there's more to music than simply listening to it with no images involved apart from those in our head. How those artists not only sing but also act out a song can be a critical part of the overall experience.
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Taking a Closer Look at LG's 2024 TV Lineup
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 26, 2024  | 
I recently visited LG's New Jersey U.S. headquarters to get the scoop on its 2024 lineup of QNED and OLED TVs. Here's what I learned.
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“I’m Sorry Dave, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That”
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 12, 2024  | 
Since the early days of primitive computing, humanity has pondered the possibilities of advanced computers ultimately taking over and rendering their creators irrelevant. Most of you will recognize the quote in the headline as originally spoken in the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It seems more relevant today than ever.
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Dune Week
Tom Norton  |  Feb 27, 2024  | 
Just in case you've been living under a rock somewhere, you need to know that the film Dune: Part Two will arrive at a theater near you this coming Friday, March 1, 2024. That would place its story about 10,000 years into a future envisioned by writer Frank Herbert in his famous 1965 science fiction novel, directed in this latest film incarnation, by Denis Villeneuve.
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DIY "Calibration"
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 13, 2024  | 
If you find yourself experiencing a flashback on reading this blog, you're not alone. Last summer I wrote a similar piece. But there's always new ground to cover, particularly on the subject of TV setup and calibration. Some of the material here is similar to that in the prior blog, but in other ways the results are different.

An accurate calibration requires that the calibrator be trained, have access to specialized test gear and PC calibration software (of the latter, Calman from Portrait Displays is the best known and most widely used)...

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A/V Veteran
The Maestro and the Cellist
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 30, 2024  | 
I've commented before on finding interesting posts on YouTube. Though marred by incessant commercial interruptions (I keep my TV's remote close enough to exit the promotions as soon as possible) that service's offerings cover endless topics: sports, history, current events, music, and much more...Several recent British documentaries, for example, covered the hazards found in English homes of different eras...I recently discovered another far more serious entry. Running for 86 minutes, The Maestro and the Cellist of Auschwitz (a German production with subtitles and translations where needed) covers the very different stories of two musicians during World War II...The maestro of the title here was Germany's Willhelm Furtwangler, arguably one of the most storied and feted symphonic and opera conductors of the 20th Century.
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