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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
M:i:III—Blu-ray
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 28, 2006  |  First Published: Dec 29, 2006

M:i:III may not be the best entry in the Mission Impossible franchise (my vote goes to the first), but it will do as a reasonably entertaining entry in that deliriously implausible, action packed franchise until the inevitable IV comes along.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Mummy—HD DVD
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 28, 2006  |  First Published: Dec 29, 2006

The first act of this lightweight horror film draws you in, starting with ancient palace intrigue and moving to turn of the (20th) century Egypt. The second act is OK, if implausible. The third is loaded with action, but also suggests the CGI artists just got a new software sandbox and just had to play in it.

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Audio Video News
HE2007 Registration Now Open
HT Staff  |  Dec 28, 2006
For 2007, Home Entertainment Show makes a return engagement to New York City—one of the most popular destinations ever for this event! The venue is the elegant and gracious Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, where the consumer-electronics industry and music lovers alike will descend on May 11–13, 2007 to see and hear the latest high-end home audio and video entertainment products, gaming consoles, imaging products, and more.
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Audio Video News
HE2007 Registration Now Open
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Dec 28, 2006

For 2007, Home Entertainment Show makes a return engagement to New York City—one of the most popular destinations ever for this event! The venue is the elegant and gracious Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, where the consumer-electronics industry and music lovers alike will descend on May 11–13, 2007 to see and hear the latest high-end home audio and video entertainment products, gaming consoles, imaging products, and more.

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Audio Video News
Comcast Testing On-Demand Movies Day And Date With DVD
 |  Dec 28, 2006

In late November Comcast began offering on-demand movie titles from every major studio day and date with the films' DVD debut in its Pittsburgh and Denver markets for $4 per viewing. On-demand video availability for major movies has typically lagged 30-45 days behind the DVD release, creating an exclusive window for DVD sales and rentals, which has certainly not helped on-demand's popularity. If this practice extends beyond these markets and to other cable and satellite operators it seems likely that DVD sales will continue to erode.

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Ears On
Delta Is Desperate to Entertain
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 28, 2006
Delta Airlines is struggling for survival, negotiating in federal bankruptcy court, and fending off a hostile takeover by US Airways. But whether you go first-class or coach, flying Delta is about to get more entertaining. These bullet points are a verbatim quote from an email Delta frequent flyers received a few weeks ago:
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Ears On
Has HD DVD Beaten Blu-ray?
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 27, 2006
How much bad news has analyst Rob Enderle got for the Blu-ray camp? On top of all that other bad news? Let me count the blows:
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Sony KDS-R60XBR2 60" SXRD RPTV
Randy Tomlinson  |  Dec 23, 2006

Sony's rear-projection 1080p SXRD sets really lit a fire under the HDTV market last year. Using Sony's dynamic iris system, these RPTVs produced deep blacks and stunning contrast like never before for a non-CRT "microdisplay". No other RPTV could match it, and of course, no flat panel plasma or LCD set could even approach it when it came to dark scene beauty and detail. These XBR1 series three-chip SXRD sets had nearly everything going for them and seemed to fly out of showrooms and into the homes of discerning videophiles. These sets truly put the last nail in the coffin of CRT-based RPTVs.

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Tower Speaker Reviews
The NHT Classic Four Surround Sound Speaker System
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 23, 2006

Since veteran Acoustic Research loudspeaker designer Ken Kantor and Chris Byrne founded the company back in 1986, NHT has been tossed around like a corporate football: first to Jensen International in the early 1990's, then to Recoton, and to Rockford Corporation in 2002 following Recoton's failure. Finally, in 2005, Rockford handed it off to Colorado-based Vinci Group.

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Home Theater Systems Reviews
Samsung HT-Q70 HTIB
John Higgins  |  Dec 22, 2006
  • $400
  • XM ready
  • Optional module available for wireless surround channels
The HT-Q70 is a step up from the HT-Q45 that convergence editor Chris Chiarella reviewed in our September 2006 issue. While the looks of the ensemble are virtually identical, there are significant upgrades behind the scenes. The total power output has gone up to 1,000 watts (from 800 watts in the HT-Q45). More importantly, at least for the home theater aspect, the player is a five-disc-carousel DVD changer and sports upconversion and an HDMI output (up to 1080i). The player can read CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, and DVD-RW. On the front of the player is a USB port for utilizing Samsung's USB Host Play. This allows you to plug a portable digital device into the port and play back MPEG video, as well as MP3, DivX, WMA, JPEG, and photo files.
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