Because of our high visibility, we get frequent offers from various companies out there who want to cash in on what we have.

One such offer came in about a month ago from a very high profile website that lets a reader get comparison prices listed on a particular item mentioned. So, for example, if we reviewed a certain speaker, a reader could click the menu at the bottom of the review and see who sells it, and what the lowest price is out there. They sent us a contract and asked us to sign it, thinking that because they are so prominent, we would jump at the chance to be associated with them.

Wrong.

We showed our attorney the contract, and she said it restricted us from doing certain things but did not restrict them in any similar way. Also, there were line items on the contract that were irrelevant to our A/V focus. Lastly, we did not want to make any income from actual sale of a product, because that is a huge conflict of interest with reviewing the product objectively. We would make income only from click throughs to the various companies who sell the product, whether or not the reader bought anything. If a reader was interested in the product we reviewed (obviously based on a favorable review) he could check out the prices at several stores, and we would get paid for the fact he went from our website to the stores, but we would not make any commission on any sales.

So, she modified the contract, and we sent it back to the company.

They were shocked. They said no one had ever requested so many changes. Others had simply signed the contract. They could not understand why we refused income from actual sales to readers who went from our website to an Internet store and bought products that we reviewed.

So, around and around we went, until finally, they just dropped the whole thing. That’s amusing because we are certain they came to us in the first place as serious competition to their business model has started showing up on the Internet, and they want to sign up as many websites as possible before the others begin eating into their business.

The point is that, if you have a good website, others will want to share your success. You can make a fortune sharing your success with them, but it is not worth selling your credibility. Secondly, don’t just sign any contract that is part of that sharing. Read everything you are about to sign in fine detail. Request changes. If they don’t agree, then to hell with them. Wait for the good stuff. It will get to you sooner or later.

It’s less than a year until the oft-delayed analog TV shut-off takes place (264 days, if you’re keeping track). While that is a big deal to people still using rabbit ears, for the rest of us, not so much. Those with digital displays aren’t affected, and consumers who subscribe to satellite already have digital receivers, even if their televisions are analog-based. Cable customers with set-top boxes are good to go, and thanks to our federal government, even those who plug their cable directly from the wall to their TV will get a coupon for a free digital-to-analog converter.

The real question, for us cable subscribers (at least I am this week), is whether the nation-wide shutdown of analog stations will lead to a treasure trove of new, high definition channels. At least that’s what is being sold as one of the benefits of the digital transition, since theoretically analog stations take up much more bandwidth that even an HD channel (using advanced compression).

Call me a skeptic; I’ll believe it when I see it. If it does happen, it will benefit not only cable customers but will put more pressure on the satellite providers to increase their HD offerings. 264 days and counting.

I was at a certain video rental store the other day and overheard a gentleman ask the clerk, “Will these Blu-ray things play in my DVD player?”

Before you accuse that innocent bystander of being a neophyte, it gets better:  the clerk actually said, with abject uncertainty, “Um . . . I don’t think so…”

Sad, really.

Now we could point a finger at the chain store head office for not making sure their employees are versed in what should be the basics of their trade, but the bottom line is that, by and large, many consumers really still have no idea what Blu-ray is.

Makes you wonder what all the format-fighting was really about.

Come on Sony: are you just going to sit there and watch your “winning” format spin its wheels into oblivion, or are you going to get off your duff and actually nurture the thing?  If there is one thing the past 20 years have taught us, its that Hi-Def-anything doesn’t exactly sell itself.

History has also taught us something about Sony-backed formats . . . but here’s hoping.

I recently devoted one of my computers for use as a home theater PC.  I have been enjoying playing PC games, watching videos from www.funnyordie.com, and listening to music from my mp3 collection.

The function that has made the project most worth it though, is using the PC to stream music from Rhapsody, an on-line music service, to my home theater system.   I have my sound ouput digitally through a Toslink connection from my PC to my Integra 9.8 processor, and the sound quality I get with their streaming music is very good.

Unlike other on-line music services where you have to pay to download a track, Rhapsody allows you to listen to tracks or albums from their entire music collection at any time for a monthly fee.  The other day, I was watching Legends of Jazz-Ramsey Lewis  on Blu-ray, and I saw a really good performance by Marcus Miller.  Interested by the performance I did a search for Marcus Miller using Rhapsody’s search engine, and within seconds I was listening to one of his newest albums.

Another feature that I like is the ability to research music by similar artists or influences.   The Rhapsody service is a great way to make use of a home theater PC by giving you high quality sound and access to an enormous music collection.

DENON Line Show, May 20^th, 2008

At the Laguna Cliffs Resort, Dana Point, Ca, Denon introduced not less than 10 new receivers, a new Blu-Ray player some noise cancellation headphones and once again showed their very cool new 2-channel stuff already selling (well I might add) in Europe.

The new receivers offer an abundance of new features including HDMI 1.3a, deep color at all levels, and their continued Audyssey partnership with the new Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume. Dynamic EQ is based on the principle that as you lower the volume, dynamic range is lost especially in bass. This “loudness” feature allows you to hear more at lower playback levels and since most of us don’t listen at reference levels anyway, this might be a great feature.

Dynamic Volume is more about balancing out the immediate changes in volume typically apparent watching TV and commercials, for example. Movies that you strain to hear dialogue and turn down when the explosions happen no longer present a problem with 3 settings from low to high as the feature prevents you from leaping for the remote.

The AVR-2809CI

Joining the current line, the new receivers include: the AVR-2809CI (custom installer) at $1,199 and the non-CI version (which essentially removes the RS-232) AVR-989, the AVR-2309 at $849/AVR-889 at $799, the AVR-1909 at $649/AVR-789 at $599, the AVR-1709 at $449/AVR-689 at $399 and finally the AVR-1609 at $349/AVR-589 at $299.

The prized pieces are still the separates, the AVP-A1HDCI and POA-A1HDCI combination is selling so well that they are backordered leaving JJ chomping at the bit for his, ordered some time ago.  True balanced digital and analogue from source to speakers Denon boasts it’s the only one of its kind. I won’t bother to give you the features but you can assume anything a home entertainment core-unit (can’t just call it a receiver anymore) this thing has it at $7,000 MSRP each.

The new Blu-ray player is the DVD-1800BD at $749 and should be out by October. Offering bitstream output of Dolby and DTS-HD and 1080p scaling from SD material, it should sound pretty good too as it inherits the DVD-2930 2-channel performance.  Look for more units by the end of the year including a flagship unit.

And the most groping was done at the 2-channel table where Denon reminds you of its roots and its continued commitment to “true reproduction” with the CX Series Reference components. Beautifully styled in solid aluminum the DRA-CX3 receiver and DCD-CX3 SACD/CD player (both at $1,200) emulates the styling of the previous S-Series.

Notably the footprint is LP-sized at 12” x 12” and around 2” high, but don’t let it’s modest size fool you, it packs 75 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 150 into 4, and if you’re into vinyl these days a phono section for both MM and MC cartridges.   The mahogany ring round the volume control sure adds to the dignified look.

Add the beautifully styled, solidly built monitor speakers, the SC-CX303 (also $1,200 for the pair) a complete audiophile grade system from Denon.

Some extremely comfortable 95% noise cancellation headphones, the AH-NC732 will surely give Bose a run for their money at $299. Add in Denon’s 40 mm driver, extended battery life from a single AAA battery (around 40 hours), iPhone compatible, and folding into a neat carrying case coolness.

Last week I was surprised to find a firmware update CD in my mailbox from Toshiba.  This firmware was for their for their first generation HD DVD hardware platform and was said to address handshake issues with some display devices and improve playback of some titles.

I have hung on to my HD-A1 and it still gets an occasional spin.  The player’s firmware has gone through several updates since I first bought it, and it will receive this update at some point.  Yes, I wish that none of this was necessary and that the platform was stable from the very beginning, but  . . . still, kudos to Toshiba for bowing out respectfully and continuing to support their customers, mostly early adopters, who invested in HD DVD, a format that is now gone.

There have been recent announcements touting new displays capable of resolutions far in excess of 1080p. While there are some 4K products currently available (such as commercial-style projectors), it’s a little tough to wrap my mind around a consumer display with that many pixels. For one thing, the content delivered over existing broadcast methods (cable, satellite, over-the-air) maxes out at 1080i, and at best is sent at 15-17 mbps (and often much less than that). Imagine the bandwidth requirements to stream a 4K film through cable or satellite.

Blu-ray provides 1080p content, but it is a new technology that is struggling to get a toehold in the marketplace, when plain old DVD is just fine with many viewers. Then there’s the issue of recording content available at those higher resolutions. The cost of cameras capable of recording mega-ultra-jumbo HD is enough to give TV networks ulcers. Plus, I doubt we’ll be seeing displays with those resolutions at Wal-Mart anytime in the near future.

I’m impressed with the engineering skill involved in creating beyond-HD technology. Hopefully, the research will lead to advances in providing high quality 1080p HD via existing distribution methods. But I won’t be holding off on my next purchase waiting for a 4K television.

Some of the newer LCD HDTVs that are available in today’s marketplace feature a technology that attempts to make motion appear more fluid by creating interpolated frames between the original frames, thereby increasing the amount of positions a moving image is displayed.  It’s designed to compensate for an LCD panel’s sample and hold technology which has perceptual motion blur issues.  (For more discussion about this, check out the interesting interview of Marvell’s Dr.  Nikhil Balram by our Editor in Chief John Johnson.)  When watching a movie filmed at 24 fps with this technology active though, the motion often looks a little too realistic at 72 fps, decreasing the film effect and creating a presentation that some describe as looking much like that of a live TV program. 

Although it can make film material look strange, one media source that does benefit from motion compensation technolgies is video games.  Many video games, especially first person shooters, are designed to max out the displayed frame rate. However, the game console’s hardware parameters usually limit this to about thirty frames per second.  Frame interpolation technologies of newer television sets can effectively double that frame rate.

Character model animation looks especially good using this technology because the added frames give the characters movement that appears natural and less herky gerky as the number of positions the character is displayed in the animation sequence is increased.  In games such as the mega popular Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, which feature highly detailed graphics, the effect can look stunning, as the imagery is already hyper-realistic, and the smoothness added to the animation makes the game world look that much more intense. 

Have you noticed that a lot of software updates have slowed down, even coming to a halt?

This may not be occurring in every category, but it sure is in the image and video editing arena.

I used to see updates at least once a year. Now I am sitting on the same versions that I was last year, some even longer than that.

I suspect we are coming to a stage where software that has been around for a long time, just cannot be improved in ways that warrant an “Update” or “New Version”. The features that we need have been there for the last few versions. There is nowhere left to go.

I think this is a good thing. With every update, comes the bugs.

So, for once, I can sit back and just use the program. The bugs were fixed last year. So, now, everything is working, and working well. I mentioned that I built a new editing station computer a few weeks ago (with Sandy Bird’s definitive skill involved). The only thing that changed was the video editing speed. And that was compared to a computer that was five years old.

Finally, finally, we are reaching a plateau with no more high walls to scale. Maybe now we can focus on getting some work done instead of trudging through a learning curve.

Am I the only one who thinks that downloading video for viewing on a PDA-sized screen is an utter waste of storage and eyesight? The amount of content available for download to iPod or other PDA (films, TV shows, etc.) has increased dramatically, with more on the way every day. So presumably smart companies think there is a big market for content delivered onto a 2.5 inch low-rez screen (3.5 inches wide on an iPod touch).

Sorry, I just don’t get it. I understand why road warriors like business travelers might want portable video to while away the hours in the airport, but most of those folks are traveling with laptops anyways. I pack a portable DVD player (with an 8.5 inch screen) when I fly and bring along a new Netflix rental or two, just to pass the time. But that’s different than paying money for a movie or TV show, with the specific intention of watching it on a tiny screen.

I suppose that I’m several decades beyond the prime demographic target, which might explain my lack of enthusiasm. Maybe for the generations used to watching video on YouTube and other websites in a three-inch window, portability is a big selling point. I have no problem with music-on-the-go, especially when encoded with a lossless codec. But I could not watch an entire feature film on a PDA sized screen. I guess size does matter, after all.