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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
American Splendor
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 25, 2004

<I>Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis. Directed by Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman. Aspect ratio: 1.77:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0 (English). 101 minutes. 2003. HBO Video 92031. R. $27.95.</I>

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Projector Reviews
BenQ PE8700 DLP video projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 25, 2004

The PE8700 DLP projector from BenQ has to qualify as the surprise product of early 2004. The first surprise is that it's made by a company I'd barely heard of before late last year. But with a claimed 13,000 employees worldwide, BenQ isn't exactly small. Its main corporate headquarters are in Taiwan, where the PE8700 is built.

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The Custom Installer: Irreconcilable Differences
John Sciacca  |  Jul 21, 2004

The first thing my wife told me when I returned from the Consumer Electronics Show in January was that our eight-year-old garage-door opener was broken. When it still produced a banshee-like screech after a liberal dose of WD-40 - the universal cure-all for ailing mechanical devices - I decided we needed a new opener.

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Other Tech
Shopping Made Simple: DVD Recorders
David Ranada  |  Jul 21, 2004

DVD recorders are well on their way to making VCRs obsolete.

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Denon AVR-3805 Digital Surround Receiver
David Ranada  |  Jul 19, 2004

Many of us yearn to own a glistening flagship receiver: the prestige . . . the state-of-the-art performance . . . the vast array of features . . . the satisfaction of knowing that you own the very best. But flagships can be prohibitively expensive, as well as awkwardly large and extremely heavy. Ask any admiral. And then there's the complexity issue.

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Audio Video News
4 X 5.1 = Wow!
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 19, 2004

The list of North American channels offering Dolby Digital 5.1 sound has just grown by four. In a press release dated July 19, <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com">Dolby Laboratories</A> announced that City HD, Encore HD, TNT in HD, and The WB will all offer programming in Dolby Digital 5.1. This brings the total number of networks featuring the surround format to the mid-20s (and the number of individual channels to somewhere in the 80s&mdash;Dolby is not being terribly specific about the precise numbers).

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Audio Video News
SkipJam Simplifies the Electronic House
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 19, 2004

Over the last few years, we've heard a lot about the "electronic house," an application that will seamlessly integrate personal computers and home entertainment systems throughout an entire household. If customers have been slow to adopt this concept, it may be because the existing options have tended to be complicated to use and install&mdash;not to mention expensive. <A HREF="http://www.skipjam.com/">SkipJam</A> may have a solution for all three objections.

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Audio Video News
Added to the Archives This Week
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Jul 19, 2004

Peter Putman reviews the <A HREF="/videoprojectors/604panasonic">Panasonic PT-AE500U front LCD projector</A>, noting that this product "comes with a great deal of buzz about its color and image quality&mdash;at least from those who saw a preview of it at last year's CEDIA expo." PP tests to see if the buzz was on target.

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Audio Video News
Perfect Perch for Plasmas
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 19, 2004
Of course, the world assumes that if you want a flat-panel TV that you'll want to hang it on the wall. Not according to Jeff White, President of Boltz USA. "Contrary to sexy television commercials featuring young 20-somethings fussing over which wall to hang their new, sleek, flat panel TV, we've heard from many customers who would much rather display their new toy on an attractive stand." (Personally, since as I young 20-something I suffered by watching TV on a miniscule 13-inch TV with rabbit ears and not even a Beta-tape VCR to keep it company, I feel that 20-somethings ought to be barred by law from owning a flat-panel TV until their 30th birthday. Think of it, as my mother used to say, as "character building"... But I digress.)
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Audio Video News
Canton's Silvery Aluminum for Golden Ears
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 19, 2004
Canton, the 31-year-old German loudspeaker company known for stylish, high-performance products, has joined the ever growing chorus of manufacturers offering slender, wall-mountable models specifically designed to complement flat-panel TVs. Canton's new CD300 Series loudspeakers combine technology derived from the company's high-end Karat line of loudspeakers with the sleeker, brushed aluminum look (a.k.a. "lifestyle design") of the CD100 series.
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