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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Ken Korman  |  Aug 05, 2001

It's hardly the kind of story that drives a classic Steven Spielberg adventure: boy meets spaceship, boy struggles to make a second date, boy lives happily ever after in space. No sharks, no dinosaurs, no Nazis to subdue. But Close Encounters of the Third Kind has endured thanks to its irresistible portrayal of human-alien contact and the sheer spectacle of its special effects.

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Other Tech
Behind The Numbers
David Ranada  |  Aug 05, 2001

Some readers shy away from the "in the lab" boxes in our test reports, probably because it's hard to judge what represents desirable performance if you don't have a lot of experience with the kinds of figures we publish.

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Audio Video News
DirecTV to Offer Broadband Services
 |  Aug 05, 2001

Satellite television subscribers will soon be able to take advantage of a new satellite-based Internet service being rolled out by two subsidiaries of <A HREF="http://www.hughes.com"> Hughes Electronics Corporation</A>.

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Audio Video News
Ben-Hur On DVD
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 05, 2001

<I>Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O'Donnell, Sam Jaffe. Directed by William Wyler. Aspect ratio: 2.76:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Surround 2.0 (English, French). 212 minutes. 1959. Warner Home Video 65506. G. $24.95</I>

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Audio Video News
First of Many DTVs?
Jon Iverson  |  Aug 05, 2001

According to new consumer research, more than 95% of digital television (DTV) owners would purchase a DTV set again. That overwhelmingly definitive stamp of approval for DTV was presented last week to conference attendees struggling with HDTV's rollout at the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A>'s (CEA) DTV Summit, "Is Laissez-Faire Fair?" in Washington, DC.

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Audio Video News
Blockbuster Plan Rankles Studios
 |  Aug 05, 2001

The world's largest video rental chain wants to renegotiate its video supply agreements with Hollywood film studios. In late June, <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com">Blockbuster Inc.</A> chairman John Antioco announced to Wall Street analysts that his company is reassessing its distribution deals with the studios&mdash;including possibly letting some deals lapse when renewal time comes.

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Audio Video News
College Football HDTV
 |  Aug 05, 2001

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.samsung.com">Samsung</A>, <A HREF="http://www.sears.com">Sears</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.cbs.com">CBS Television</A> announced a partnership that will allow fans to watch a full season of college football games in HDTV. The agreement marks the first time a full season of college football will be broadcast in HDTV, as well as the first time a retailer, broadcaster, and manufacturer have joined forces to jointly promote HDTV usage.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Miller & Kreisel K-5 Satellite Speaker
Steve Guttenberg  |  Jul 31, 2001  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2001
M&K's K-5 proves that a small speaker doesn't have to deliver a small performance.

Miller & Kreisel Sound has a habit of being there at the very start of things. The company's timeline stretches all the way back to 1973, when Steely Dan's Walter Becker wandered into Mr. Kreisel's shop and asked him to design a subwoofer and monitoring system for his Pretzel Logic mixing sessions. The rest, as they say, is sub-history. OK, you probably already knew that M&K is synonymous with badass subwoofers, so here's another cool bit of trivia. In 1976, long before the words "home" and "theater" were ever used together in a sentence, M&K introduced their first subwoofer/satellite system. Their pioneering spirit in the pro-sound world is legendary; so, naturally, Dolby Labs depended on an M&K MX-5000 system during their developmental work on Dolby Digital in the early '90s. M&K's list of achievements could easily fill this entire review, so I'll stop myself right now and move on to the subject at hand: their brand-new and most affordable satellite speaker, the K-5 ($149). This little guy, measuring a scant 7.375 by 4.875 by 5.875 inches, can serve with distinction as a front, center, or surround speaker.

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Marantz PD5010D 50-Inch Plasma HD Monitor
Kevin Miller  |  Jul 31, 2001  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2001
Proof that plasma technology is evolving, Marantz's PD5010D plasma display is a solid HD monitor that's perfect for your wall.

In the last couple of years, plasma displays have become increasingly popular. The technology has also come a long way in terms of picture quality. Initially, plasma's biggest performance pitfalls were in the areas of black level and color accuracy. Thanks to recent technological advances, black-level performance has improved significantly, but it still has a long way to go. Another performance issue with plasmas is something called "false contouring," which manifests itself as crawling patches or blotches of noise.

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Portable Player Reviews
When You've Gotta Go . . .
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jul 31, 2001  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2001
When it comes to home theater, sometimes you can take it with you.

It happens to the best of us. You've just plunked down your hard-earned money to buy a dream home theater system, and you have to leave it. Maybe it's the vacation that, after months of planning, you suddenly want to cancel. Maybe it's the business trip you knew was coming and couldn't pawn off on a junior partner. Even worse, maybe your half-uncle, third removed, has passed on and left you his venomous-bee collection, which the terms of the will require you to pick up in person. Whatever the case may be, you're leaving, and your home theater is staying behind. Well, maybe not.

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