The New Wave of Color Calibration Technology: Cube Calibration
- Written by By Chris Heinonen and Mark Vignola
- Published on 13 May 2013
One of the Awards given out in 2012 by Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity for "Technology on the Rise" was for Cube Calibration. For most people this probably doesn't mean much yet, but for those of us that are calibrators, or enthusiasts with an interest in calibration technology, this was a huge development. One might even say that Cube Calibration is the biggest improvement to consumer display technology since the introduction of the Color Management System (CMS).
Spears and Munsil HD Benchmark Setup and Test Disc - Version 2
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 08 May 2013
Readers of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity are likely familiar with the names Stacey Spears and Don Munsil. They authored the Secrets DVD Benchmark and brought to light issues like Chroma Upsampling Errors, as well as our recent HDMI Benchmark for Blu-ray players. They also authored the Spears and Munsil HD Benchmark Blu-ray test disc. Version 2 of their HD Benchmark disc is now available, and reviewed here.
Spears & Munsil HD Benchmark Version 2.0 - A Video Conversation with the Disc Authors
- Written by Scott Wilkinson
- Published on 16 May 2013
L-R: Stacey Spears, Don Munsil
Stacey Spears and Don Munsil, creators of the HD Benchmark Blu-ray for setting up and testing video displays and audio systems, talk about the newly released version 2 of the disc, including an intuitive 2-dimensional menu system, basic video and audio settings, equal-energy window patterns, the importance of gamma in measuring stereoscopic crosstalk, motion resolution, scaling, color-space compression, answers to chat-room questions, and more.
Run Time: 1:09:40
Emotiva XPR-1 Monoblock Power Amplifier
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 06 May 2013
After releasing a 500 watt monoblock power amplifier, the XPA-1, Emotiva didn't stop there. The newest addition to their monoblock power amplifier line is the XPR-1, which delivers 1,000 watts RMS into 8 Ohms. It may strain your back to move it, but it will set you back only $1,500.
BenQ W1070 Projector
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 01 May 2013
I'll be blunt: I don't like 3D. I've never been able to justify paying extra to see it in the theater, and at home it has always left me cold. Most implementations give me a headache almost instantly with their crosstalk-filled images and ghosting the drives me crazy... Fast forward to CES 2013 and BenQ is in the South Hall showing off a pair of projectors that are very similar to the W7000, but scaled down: the W1070 and W1080ST.
The New Fidelity—192 kHz/24-bit Live Recordings
- Written by Scott Wilkinson
- Published on 07 May 2013
Recording engineer Bill Schnee talks about his illustrious career working with such artists as Steely Dan, Thelma Houston, and many other top-name musicians; his direct-to-disc recordings for Sheffield Labs; his own label, Bravura Records, for which he records live performances direct to 2-channel; the importance of using a 192 kHz sampling rate and 24-bit resolution when recording digitally; how he built and equipped his own recording studio; answers to chat-room questions; and more.
Run Time: 1:09:10
Bryston BDA-2 DAC
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 15 April 2013
Following on the highly successful BDA-1 DAC, Bryston has raised the bar with the addition of an asynchronous USB input and reduced distortion in their new BDA-2 DAC. Take a look at what I found. The performance is quite a surprise.
