Thomas J. Norton

CES 2018
Times Square in Vegas
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
The crowds at CES this year, as usual, were often suffocating...
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CES 2018
Hisense Lasers On
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
While Hisense currently offers 4K short-throw laser projectors at 80-,88, and 100-inches (all of which require special, dedicated, included screens, at CES they showed a new 150-inch design.
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CES 2018
LG 4K Projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
We don’t usually expect to see new projectors at CES (that’s normally CEDIA territory) but LG showed its new HU80KA 4K entry.
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CES 2018
LG Demos Ultra-Wide Computer Monitors
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
We don’t generally don’t cover computer monitors at CES, but LG showed a wide selection of 4K and higher resolution designs...
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CES 2018
LG Showcases a Range of New TV Technologies
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
At its CES press event LG introduced new intelligent processors for its premier OLEDs (Alpha 9) and NanoCell LCD-LEDs (Alpha 7). These new devices are said to improve color and sharpness, along with enhanced noise reduction, better handling of smooth gradations, advanced color mapping, and a OLED frame rate capability of up to 120 frames per second...
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CES 2018
Hisense Adds Camera Angle App to Smart TVs
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
Hisense spent much of the time at its press conference on its sponsorship of the upcoming soccer World Cup (football in most if the world). It even brought in two well-known soccer commentators (though not well known here) and several stars of the game. The big news on the Hisense-World Cup connection is that newly purchased Hisense Smart TVs will come pre-loaded with an application (via Fox Sports GO in the US) that will not only provide live feeds of the games but also offer 37 different, user selectable camera angles.

But there was news on Hisense’s new 4K displays as well...

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CES 2018
Sony Unveils New OLED TVs, Demos 8K Processing
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
Kazuo Hirai, Sony’s head honcho for the US market, gave Sony’s entire press event standing in front of a huge screen with constantly changing images (though all of them stills). There was no information provided as to what sort of display the screen was, but I plan to inquire later in the show as it was perhaps the most impressive display shown during the entire press day. But it’s apparently not a technology currently used in a consumer product...
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Captain Underpants
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 05, 2018
Picture
Sound
Extras
Based on a series of twelve children’s books, Captain Underpants: The Original Superhero is the story of Best Friends Forever George and Harold. To stay sane in their suffocating grammar school, they write comics starring their imagined superhero, Captain Underpants. They also engage in elaborate pranks, to the dismay of their insufferable, warden-like principal, Mr. Krupp.
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Projector Reviews
Epson Home Cinema 4000 4K Enhanced 3LCD Projector Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 29, 2017

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $2,200

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Good resolution in HD and UHD
Impressive HDR
Low price
Minus
Contrast and black level could be better
Manual HDR/SDR switching

THE VERDICT
The Epson 4000 offers an effective combination of HDR and SDR projection at a price that seemed impossible a year ago.

Native 4K imaging—where the chips display all 8.3 million individual pixels (3840 x 2160) in each frame simultaneously—is still rare in an affordable consumer projector. Currently, the entry price is $5,000, for Sony’s new VPL-VW285ES. But last year, Epson introduced two 3LCD models that use pixel shifting to achieve an apparent resolution close to 4K. The less expensive of the two was the PowerLite Home Cinema 5040UB, still selling, as I write this, for around $2,700. (Its virtual twin, the Pro Cinema 6040UB, was reviewed in the October 2016 Sound & Vision.)

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A/V Veteran
TVs, TVs Everywhere
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 19, 2017
My first color TV, a Zenith (remember them?) was a 19-inch CRT that cost me somewhere around $350 and weighed a ton (or seemed to). Today, the only display devices you’ll find at that size are computer monitors; they’ll cost you considerably less and can be carried around under one arm.

I was reminded of that as I recently visited the TV department in my local Best Buy. Even with Black Friday firmly in the rear-view mirror, there were, quite literally, stacks of boxed TVs filling the aisles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many crowded into one space, perhaps not even at CES. And in an area with a population of roughly 100,000, that’s a lot of TVs to sell. Most of them, even the larger models, were well under $1000, reflecting the modest incomes of a primarily middle-class region.

But new TVs are always a hot item, and this is a prime time of year for TV sales...

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