Finally! The studios have wised up and realized that if they don't offer movies as electronic bits you can legally download and watch whenever you like, savvy computer users will get them anyway.
Ever drive a car where the controls just didn't feel right? Recently, my wife and I were shopping for a small SUV, and we looked at the Honda CRV. But at nearly 6-foot-4, I was unable to get my knees under the steering wheel. It might be the best SUV in the world, but ergonomically, it just didn't work for me.
Getting a new TV can be both a blessing and a curse. It can mean redecorating a room or at the very least figuring out what kind of speakers will best complement it. You guys tend to want big tower speakers that can overwhelm a space while us girls want something that's, uh, more attractive.
It all began with my obsession with snakes. Not the slithering, on-a-plane type; I mean the kind that pull wires through walls. What is it about hidden cables that so impresses people? As A/V buffs, we conquer the imposing web behind our racks with hardly a bored yawn from our wives or girlfriends.
In high-def disc news, Toshiba unveiled two new HD DVD players - the $499 HD-A2, an entry-level model available in October, and the top-of-the-line HD-XA2, which will arrive in December at $999.
Who says that Halloween isn't for A/V enthusiasts? In the next few pages, Sound & Vision will present an appropriate selection of ear and eye candy for trick-or-treaters.
Snakes on a Plane: The Album (Decaydance), with emo/rock tracks and Samuel L. Jackson's immortal M-line.
Nearly 3 years have passed since my first encounter with Kaleidescape. It was the first real hard drive-based movie player, and, at $32,000, monstrously expensive.
Aside from a huge, costly flat-panel TV, the easiest way to put a big video image up on your wall is to buy a front-projector/projection screen combo. And with good high-rez front projectors now selling for as little as $2,000, that option can be particularly budget-friendly.
The ongoing iPodification of audio has generated a huge number of products designed to sync up with, amplify, and otherwise expand the possibilities of Apple's ubiquitous player. Many first-wave iPod add-ons got the cosmetic part right (white plastic cabinet? check!) but failed to impress when it came to music reproduction.