LATEST ADDITIONS

I met up at CES with Dan Mackta, Managing Director of Qobuz USA, for an update on how things have been coming along for the high-resolution music streaming service since it officially launched in the U.S. market last February. Here’s what Dan had to say.

A highlight of Thomas J. Norton’s recent review of TCL’s 75-inch 8-Series LCD UHDTV was that set’s “class-leading local dimming.” The deep blacks and punchy HDR performance delivered by the 8-Series model was made possible by its mini-LED backlight, a feature found only in the company’s 8-Series TVs for 2019. In 2020, TCL plans to expand mini-LED backlights to its 6-Series, a more valued-oriented line that also features the same built-in Roku streaming platform found in the 8-Series.

With a slate of affordable, entry-level turntables in its stable, Audio-Technica is rolling out the new AT-LPW50PB, a new belt-drive deck sitting at the upper-range of its line meant to provide a more affordable path to high-end audio listening.

Remember awhile back when Tom Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick director Christopher McQuarrie took to the Internet to blast on the ill-effects of using motion smoothing to ruin movies by turning them into video mush that looked like a telenovela soap opera? Well, the UHD Alliance (UHDA), comprised of nearly 40 member companies, is out to make Cruise’s dream come true by getting more manufacturers and industry professionals on board to support a new Filmmaker Mode setting that will ensure you are watching movies as closely resembles the filmmaker’s intention and to the best of your display’s capability.