Mark Fleischmann

Audio Video News
Pirates May Target HDR
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 06, 2017
HDR improves picture quality but also makes content more tempting to steal. Writes a Fox studio executive in Multichannel News: “Fox’s experience is that the moment a high-quality pirate source becomes available, it immediately becomes much more popular than lower-quality sources such as theater camcorders or ‘ordinary’ HD sources, and is therefore a bigger threat to our legitimate business.”
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Audio Video News
TV Size Rules Eyed
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 06, 2017
The Federal Trade Commission may reconsider its rules on how TV screen size must be specified in ads. It is now seeking comment on whether to ax the Picture Tube Rule—or in its full bureaucratic splendor, the Deceptive Advertising as to Sizes of Viewable Pictures Shown by Television Receiving Sets Rule. It dates back to 1966, the heart of the direct-view TV era, and requires screen sizes to be quoted by viewable area unless clearly and conspicuously stated otherwise.
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Ears On
CD Rot, Rack, and Ruin
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 01, 2017
It started with Thelonious Monk. I was playing Thelonious Alone in San Francisco when a rhythmic swishing sound began to make itself heard. It was not present at the beginning of the disc, but it faded up slowly toward the middle and became an excruciating noise by the end. This was the first audible manifestation in my music library of something I'd been dreading for some time: CD rot.

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Soundbar Reviews
Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1 Soundbar System Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 17, 2017

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $500

AT A GLANCE
Plus
11 drivers in system, including side tweeters
Separate surround speakers
8-inch wireless sub
Minus
Cabinet resonance in sub and sats
No stereo mode
Odd remote volume-key positioning

THE VERDICT
The Shockwafe Pro 7.1 is a beautifully designed soundbar that delivers solid surround performance, especially with movies.

Founded in 1948, Nakamichi became best known in the 1970s for building the booming audio industry’s highest-end cassette decks, both under the company’s own name and for other brands. Nakamichi pioneered three-head decks, which used the extra head to read and monitor a recording in progress. The company has also dabbled in CD changers, A/V receivers, and even TVs, and they provided audio systems for the Toyota Lexus from 1989 to 2001.

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Audio Video News
TV Airwaves Evolve
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 16, 2017
The television broadcast spectrum, the oldest source of programming, is getting a spiffy new broadcast standard but may suffer from regulatory changes that would consolidate ownership and dilute local programming.
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Audio Video News
Fidget with Your Phone
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 16, 2017
Fidget spinners, the latest way to distract the human mind through the wonder of ball bearings, are now available for smartphones.
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Audio Video News
Alexa: I Control the World
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 08, 2017
Amazon is many things to many people, and now it’s become the king of the smart-speaker market. Parks Associates reports that the online retail giant dominates smart speakers with 70.6 percent of sales, adding that smart speakers are in 11 percent of U.S. broadband households.
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Ears On
How I Found a Timeless Moment on the Sidewalk
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 04, 2017
I live in a dense urban neighborhood where it's not uncommon to see secondhand LP dealers plying their trade on the sidewalks. One day I was pawing through dirty old LPs when I came across something decidedly odd. The jacket mentioned a singer named Marni Nixon; no relation to the president, but if you grew up during the Nixon era, the name would catch your eye. Backing her was an all-cello chamber ensemble. And the titles of the works, by Villa-Lobos, were Bachianas Brasileiras Nos. 1 and 5. I knew nothing of the Brazilian composer then but have always loved Bach. Curiosity pried $1 out of my wallet and I carried home my prize.

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Surround Sound System ReviewsBookshelf Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Q Acoustics 3000 5.1 Speaker System Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 03, 2017

3000 5.1 Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value

3070 Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $900

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Sweet and smooth sats
Dual 6.5-inch sub
Minus
Deep sub juts out from wall

THE VERDICT
A sweet-sounding system, with a sub worthy of the satellites, the Q Acoustics 3000 is one of the best under-$1,000 5.1-channel setups I’ve heard.

Tube amps. Mono pressings. And now, 5.1? Has bedrock surround sound indeed joined the ranks of retro audio technologies? Surround receivers beyond the most entry level nearly always have more than five channels (though their uses vary), while Dolby Atmos and DTS:X have made seven (5.1.2) the new minimum system configuration. What happens when you go in the other direction? The flood of 5.1 speaker sets that I used to review in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has tapered to a trickle. I see fewer new ones at CES and CEDIA, and plain old stereo is dominant at the rest of the domestic and international audio shows. However, the British manufacturer Q Acoustics has been marketing 5.1-channel speaker sets since the company’s inception about a decade ago and continues to actively develop them. The brand’s latest entry is called the 3000 5.1 Home Theatre System.

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Audio Video News
Sound & Vision Tech Tidbits August 2017
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 02, 2017
Vizio Is Bringing HDR10 to its E-Series models with a firmware update. Models range from 55 to 80 inches, at $550 to $3,400, and include 16 zones of full-array LED backlighting...

TBS and TNT are expanding their mobile presence to include the Roku, Chromecast, and Vizio SmartCast platforms. They are already on Android, iOS, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire...

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