Scott Wilkinson

As most home-theater buffs know by now, Pioneer's Kuro plasmas are widely regarded as the best flat panels money can buy. Last year's models, known as eighth-generation or 8G, were universally praised by reviewers and owners alike.

I got home from my THX adventure on Saturday, after three <I>long</I> days of hard-core tech training in a darkened room while the most perfect weather I can imagine beckoned just beyond the walls. But it was worth it&#151;although I already knew most of the material, I did learn a number of useful things, and I got to observe the course itself to see what aspiring calibrators can expect if they take it.

My blog is a bit later than usual this week, but I've been pretty busy. Tom Norton and I are taking the newly developed video-technician training course offered by THX at the company's headquarters in San Rafael, California, just north of San Francisco in Marin County. Tuesday was the first of three full days of instruction and hands-on lab work, after which some of us went out to dinner and caught Hugh Masekela's set at Yoshi's, a famous jazz spot in Oakland. After a wrong turn by Laurie Fincham, THX's brilliant but directionally challenged chief scientist&#151;thanks for the grand tour of San Francisco, Laurie!&#151;I just got back to my room.

Colin Robertson, a thoughtful commentator on many <I>UAV</I> blogs, is facing the age-old question as he contemplates upgrading from 2-channel to surround sound: