Tom Norton

CEDIA 2009
Pioneer ETAP II
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009  |  Published: Sep 11, 2009
Here are some of the major features anticipated for Pioneer's ETAP system. It's the BD Managed Copy that intrigues us most, and Pioneer conducted the first US public demo of this feature here at CEDIA. Managed copy allows suitably flagged BDs to be downloaded to a hard drive for storage and play back in full high definition. It is expected to begin showing up on some BD discs within the next year, though it will require a special BD player/recorder to make use of it. Studios can also charge for the privilege if they like. Since no current BDs are so encoded, none of your current collection can be copied.
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CEDIA 2009
Anthem Blu-ray
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009  |  Published: Sep 11, 2009
Anthem has its first Blu-ray player, the Anthem Statement BLX200 ($800). It offers all the features of most BD machines, including Profile 2.0 with 1GB of memory and Internal decoding of the new high rez audio formats (or bitstream out if you prefer). If you're asking, like most BD players it does not play SACD or DVD-Audio.
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CEDIA 2009
Anthem Projectors
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009  |  Published: Sep 11, 2009
The new Anthem Statement LTX 500v and LTX 300v projectors look a lot like the new JVC DLA-HD550 and DLA-HD950, and that's because they are, with small cosmetic differences. The Anthems are also slightly more expensive.
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CEDIA 2009
Come Rain or Come Shine
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009  |  Published: Sep 11, 2009
The folks from SunBrite make the best sun and rainproof TVs I've ever seen. In fact, they make the ONLY sun and rainproof TVs I've ever seen. But then, I don't get out much.
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CEDIA 2009
Accell Locks It Up
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009  |  Published: Sep 11, 2009
The folks from Accell make great HDMI switchers and splitters, but they also do cables, and while I visited there they handed me a sample of their new locking HDMI cables, a relatively new category and one long overdue.
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CEDIA 2009
Big Mits
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009  |  Published: Sep 11, 2009
As the biggest entry in its premier line of DLP rear projection HDTVs, not to mention that Mitsubishi is the last holdout in this product category, this set has to grab attention. When I was there, however, there were more passers-by than onlookers. A shame; it offers a lot for the money if you want a really big screen and space is not an issue.
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CEDIA 2009
They're Everywhere
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009
LCD televisions with LED backlighting were all over the show (but c'mon Toshiba and others, they are LCD TVs with a new form of backlighting, NOT LED TVs), and Toshiba's 670 series with local dimming are among the best. We know, because you'll see a review of one in our November 2009 issue.
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CEDIA 2009
Choose Your Flavor
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009
AudioQuest showed a desert menu of HDMI cables, though we don't know how gemstones fit into the mix. Now you can have a chocolate mid-brightness region on your HDTV.
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CEDIA 2009
JVC Projects
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009
JVC is introducing a whole new range of its DILA projectors at the show. There are six new models, three from the consumer division and three essentially identical models from the pro division. The star of the six is the DLA0RS35 (pro, $10,000), available this month. It has a claimed peak contrast ratio of 70,000:1, adds JVC's 120Hz Clear Motion Drive, and is both THX- and ISF-certified. The consumer version is the DLA-HD990, at the same price.
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CEDIA 2009
Burning Blu
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009
JVC now has a two new Blu-ray players, but with a twist. The RS-HD 1250 ($1995) and RS-HD 1500 ($2550) not only play Blu-ray discs, but record them as well. Before you get all excited about this, you should know that the two cannot record HD either off the air or from copy-protected Blu-ray discs. Marketed by JVC's pro division, primarily with pro applications in mind, they can, however, copy HD video onto disc from HD camcorders, both pro and consumer. The material is first copied to an internal hard drive, then from there to to Blu-ray. The more expensive model differs in that it can record material from Final Cut Pro, has a larger hard drive 500GB vs 1250GB), and offers an RS-232 connection. Both machines have USB and IEEE-1394 ports.
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