Rob Sabin

CES 2014
Panasonic Offers 4K (not OLED) As Plasma Replacement
Rob Sabin  |  Jan 06, 2014
In the aftermath of the late 2013 news that it was abandoning the plasma TV market, Panasonic came to the 2014 CES armed with a new line-up of advanced 4K-resolution, LED-backit HDTVs—though no OLED models were annonced.

According to Julie Bauer, president of the Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company, the new high end 4K HDTVs will fill the hole in image quality that many enthusiasts believe will be left by the disappearance of the firm’s plasmas.

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Editor's Eye
Buh-Bye, 3D? Alas, We Hardly Knew Ye
Rob Sabin  |  Dec 16, 2013
I had the unexpected and unexpectedly pleasant experience recently of viewing the 3D version of the theatrical blockbuster Gravity in what proved to be a perfectly competent RealD (i.e., not IMAX) presentation. I say unexpected because I’d actually recommended that our group that day skip the 3D entirely and just watch the (undoubtedly brighter) 2D version—such has my need for theatrical and at-home 3D dropped off the cliff. I only walked into the theater reservedly after a mishap in which the wrong tickets got purchased online in advance of our arrival.
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Media Server Reviews
NuVo Technologies Wireless Audio System
Rob Sabin  |  Dec 13, 2013

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,277

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Simple setup
Intuitive, engaging, easy interface
Excellent sonics when mated with good speakers
Minus
Limited streaming music options
No desktop controller

THE VERDICT
Though its wireless system isn’t as built out as the popular Sonos system, NuVo delivers a worthy competitor and a foundation for the future.

Back in Sound & Vision’s July/August 2013 issue, my colleague John Sciacca favorably reviewed the NuVo Technologies Wireless Audio System, a multiroom music solution that goes after the popular Sonos system head on, delivered by a company with an even longer history in distributed audio. (Read John's review here.) About 10 years ago, when Sonos didn’t exist and companies like Russound dominated the multiroom industry with traditional pushbutton wall pads that blindly operated hidden CD players, radio tuners, or other analog sources using flaky infrared signals, NuVo had another way.

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Editor's Eye
Awash In Cool New Products...Just In Time for the Holidays
Rob Sabin  |  Dec 05, 2013
The annual CEDIA Expo, held this past September in Denver, was a great show. The mood was more upbeat than many of us remember from recent years’ Expos. Traffic was brisk for most of all three days, and the manufacturers we visited seemed excited that the worst of the recession had finally passed, and that the custom install biz—which is notably affected by housing activity—had a vibrance not seen for a long while.
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Editor's Eye
OLED Is Here, and TV Will Never Be the Same
Rob Sabin  |  Nov 01, 2013
The accompanying OLED stories mark our first up-close look at a display technology that goes by an acronym best pronounced as “Oh-lead,” and one that stands for the future of television. That’s a bold statement, and the time line should perhaps be qualified as “near-future” inasmuch as anything can happen in the developing world of display technology, and taken in its entirety, the future is known to be a very, very long time. But I dare say we’ve waited a long time to this point just to see OLED’s promise, and having now witnessed it firsthand, I’m having a hard time guessing what could better it short of a holographic display with equal image quality or something that does just what OLED does for a whole lot cheaper.
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Audio Video News
B&O Debuts WiSA-based Wireless Theater System
Rob Sabin  |  Oct 31, 2013
With the introduction this week of the BeoLab 17 compact speaker, BeoLab 18 column speaker, and the BeoLab 19 powered subwoofer, luxury A/V manufacturer Bang & Olufsen has begun marketing its first component-quality wireless music system and the first wireless system from anyone to offer WiSA certification.

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Audio Video News
Panasonic 4K Is The First With DisplayPort
Rob Sabin  |  Oct 01, 2013
Panasonic has officially entered the 4K Ultra HDTV fray with a single model, the 65-inch TC-L65WT600, an edge-lit LCD priced at $5999 and available later this month at Magnolia stores and the Shop.Panasonic.com Web site.

Notably, the set is the first to offer a DisplayPort connection, making it the only available Ultra HDTV today able to handle 4K content at 60 frames per second from computers or other sources. The set’s HDMI inputs are also HDMI 2.0 compliant. Other Ultra HDTVs are currently limited to 4K/30p.

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Editor's Eye
Welcome! HomeTheater.com Is Now SoundandVision.com
Rob Sabin  |  Sep 18, 2013
Welcome to SoundandVision.com! If you’ve been a regular visitor to HomeTheater.com, you may be surprised to find yourself here, but rest assured you’re in the right place. As a byproduct of the recent merger of Home Theater and Sound & Vision magazines, this new enhanced Website combines the deep archives and expertise of both publications and their former sites HomeTheater.com and SoundandVisionmag.com. Along with a new, shorter URL, former readers of both sites will enjoy simplified, faster navigation thanks to direct-access drop-down menus for Reviews and Top Picks by category.
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Audio Video News
Panasonic Ain’t Just Plasmas
Rob Sabin  |  Aug 29, 2013

I recently enjoyed a press tour of Panasonic’s soon-to-open Innovation Center in Newark, NJ, an open-windowed retail-like space off the lobby of the company’s new headquarters building.

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Editor's Eye
Panasonic Ain't Just Plasmas
Rob Sabin  |  Aug 29, 2013
I recently enjoyed an early press tour of Panasonic’s soon-to-open Innovation Center in Newark, NJ, an open-windowed retail-like space off the lobby of the company’s new headquarters building. I’m not usually much for these types of dog-and-pony shows, and little of what the company shared that day was directly related to the consumer electronics audio/video segment that’s of prime interest to our readers. But I’ve covered the firm’s CE technology for decades now, and this move from their old Secaucus, NJ campus...
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