TECH2

If the weather, calendar, and bevy of "PLEASEGIVEMEANOSCAR" movies didn't give it away, surely the title of this article does: 2012 is pretty much history.

In the pages of Sound+Vision (both the digital and analog variety), we've covered some interesting trends, products, news, and more.

So here are some highlights and lowlights, some contrast and brightness, some tweeters and some woofers, some increasingly lame metaphors, some... well, you get the point.

Products

There are the 23 products we marked as the best of the year. But there were some others that were cool, if not "award worthy."

In the "Cool Idea I'd Like to See More Of" department, 3M's Streaming Projector is just cool.

Then there were the tablets. Some good. A lot bad. A LOT. Why? Because there's no content.

Brent's $59 headphone roundup was epic.

So was his vintage headphone roundup.

When looking for the best digital sound, start with the best analog.

And of course, the greatest headphones ever.

Gaming

Game of the year. Plus, two runners up.

But that wasn't all in what I think was a really good year in gaming. Check out Gaming Moments of the Year for some standout, well, moments.

Music

A new Bob Dylan album? Yes please. 

Then there are the new artists, like Lauren O'Connell and Julia Nunes you might have missed.

And though it's had it's stops and starts, high-resolution audio had a good year.

Plus, it turns out, "those darn kids" aren't ruining music's sound quality. Well, not directly.

Trends/News

Once the only name in big-screen entertainment this side of a front projector, RPTVs advanced all the way to using lasers, but alas, their death was telegraphed all the way back in 1997. Once that first flat panel hit the market, RPTV's days were numbered. I guess it's a shock they lasted as long as they did. Mitsubishi, the lone holdout, recently ceased production. Cry a (big, boxy) tear.

The Hobbit arrived in theaters, and with it, 48 frames per second, also known as HFR, or High Frame Rate. Reviews of HFR (and the movie) were mixed, to be polite. Here's Leslie Shapiro's look at the technology. Here's my comparison between 24 and 48 fps versions.

Where are the OLED TVs we were promised. Ken Pohlmann doesn't think the future is bright for Organic Light Emitting Diode televisions.

Dolby unveiled a new surround sound mixing format, Atmos. It sure seems interesting. I also check it out as part of Hobbit vs Hobbit.

And in what was surely the biggest news in entertainment this year, Disney bought Lucasfilm. I think this is unquestionably a good thing. I cite for examples: Avengers/Marvel, WALL-E/Pixar.

Misc... (3 of my favorites)

A Plea FOR a Connected Life

A Form Letter for Tech Correspondence

The Things I Said, and the Things I Said I Said