FeaturesFeatures
Editorial: Playing Downloaded High Resolution Music Albums on a Universal Player Instead of Your Computer
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 08 July 2010
Although SACDs and DVD-As have not succeeded as much as music studios had thought, and audiophiles had hoped, they are still being released in small quantities, particularly by independent labels. However, there is another alternative, which is downloading the high rez albums if they are not available commercially on discs in stores.
Editorial: MP3 Music and Undersaturated Movies
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 07 July 2010
I received an interesting e-mail today, from a reader who was concerned about all the movies that have been released over the past few years with little to no color in the image.
I have been planning to write an editorial about why I think young consumers are into MP3 music and don't really care about the high quality of lossless digital music that the rest of us have been trying to get them to switch over to, or at least give it a listen.
A Visit to Emotiva Audio in Franklin, Tennessee
- Written by Chris Eberle
- Published on 01 April 2010
As you can well imagine, there are many enjoyable aspects to writing for Secrets. Recently I experienced a rare treat when I visited the offices of Emotiva Audio in Franklin, Tennessee.
Sony ES Product Announcements and 3D Studio Tour
- Written by Adrian Wittenberg and Chris Heinonen
- Published on 06 July 2010
Senior Editors Adrian Wittenberg and Chris Heinonen were invited to represent SECRETS at Sony's unveiling of their new receivers and Blu-ray products in the flagship ES line. The press event took place at the prestigous SLS hotel in Beverly Hills and finished up at Sony Pictures where everyone got a glimpse of a few of the production facilities used in movie picture creation and 3d movie picture creation.The Sony 2010 ES lineup includes three receivers and one Blu-ray player. The most significant change that Sony will be making this year is that Sony ES products will no longer be available for purchase from mass retailers or online retailers and will only be available through AV specialty and installation dealers.
Audio/Video Cables: The Science and the Insanity
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 18 February 2010
Over the past several years, I noticed that some A/V cable companies have expanded their lines to include interconnects and speaker cables that cost in the thousands, no make that tens of thousands, of dollars. You can actually spend about $25,000 on one pair of speaker cables about 5 meters in length. For that same amount of money, you can purchase a Blu-ray player, top notch receiver, full set of 7.1 speakers, good subwoofer, 1080p projector, a projection screen, and all the A/V cables you need to connect them - in other words, a complete home theater system.
DIY HDTV Calibration Software Overview: A Comparison of ColorHCFR, ChromaPure, and CalMAN
- Written by Chris Heinonen and Mark Vignola
- Published on 11 May 2010
As I've read reviews for displays for a good part of the past 20 years, I've always seen references to how close the display will come to the reference points for grayscale and color. In the past, most end users were only able to access certain controls on a TV and using a disc such as Video Essentials, you could do a pretty good job adjusting those controls on your own to get your TV as close as you could. In this report, we take video calibration a step further by comparing three calibration software packages that you can use yourself: ColorHCFR, ChromaPure, and CalMAN.
SECRETS Coverage CES 2010
- Written by Secrets CES Team
- Published on 07 January 2010
SECRETS Coverage of CES is full of pictures from the main CES venues.....the Convention Center and Venetian, along with some private showings! Check out Reports from Piero, Ross, Stephen and Cynthia in the CAVE!! Tried out some video this year.......just posted in the CAVE!
Sundance Film Festival 2010
- Written by Rick Schmidt
- Published on 19 April 2010
Attendance was reported to be down a little at this year's Sundance. It seemed that way but since we attended for the second half only it wasn't perfectly clear. There were still sold out movies but in general the lines seemed a little shorter. This is still an industry festival and so it's a great place to take the pulse of the industry. The pulse is a little weak.
Secrets Best of 2009 Product Awards
- Written by The Secrets Editorial Team
- Published on 08 December 2009
The Secrets Best of 2009 Product Awards, featuring the following categories: Accessories, Small Accessories, Headphones, Shaker Packages, Blu-ray Players, Budget CD Players, Budget DACs, High End DACs, Flat Panel HDTVs, Home Theater in a Box, Small Audio Systems with iPod Dock, Value in Power Amplifiers, Stereo Power Amplifiers, Power Conditioners, Budget Stereo Preamplifiers, Stereo Preamplifiers, Surround Sound Processors, Budget Projectors, High End Projectors, Mid-Level A/V Receivers, Budget Receivers, High End A/V Receivers, Floor Standing Speakers, 5.1 Speaker Packages, In-wall Speakers, Bookshelf Speakers, In-Floor/In-Ceiling Subwoofers, Large Subwoofers, Mid-Size Subwoofers, Small Subwoofers, Media Processor System-on-Chip, High Definition Video Cameras, Emotiva Cables, High End SACD Players.
Alice in Wonderland: The Theater Movie as Seen with IMAX 3D vs. Dolby 3D
- Written by Cory Potts
- Published on 08 April 2010
I recently had the pleasure of catching this movie in IMAX 3D, and then later in Dolby 3D. I have not seen this film in a regular theater setting, but then the "buzz" around this film is all about the 3D. One of our SECRETS team has commented on the current film along with his review of the vintage Alice films in the April, 2010 Movie Reviews.
WINNER ANNOUNCED!!...WIN A LEXICON MC-12B FULLY BALANCED SSP WITH MICROPHONE KIT AND ROOM CORRECTION UPGRADE
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 07 December 2009
Thank you to all of the CAVE Members.......we have awarded the Lexicon, as announced in the CAVE.......The winner of the Blu-ray discs will be announced on Friday!!  The next CAVE award will be "Officially" announced in next week's Newsletter.....(HINT: something special from our friends Downunder!!) So if you haven't signed up for the Newsletter, please do so now.....
Sign up as a member in the Secrets CAVE and you will have a chance to win our reference Lexicon MC-12B SSP (we are changing it out for a different product because we need HDMI audio inputs). This SSP is a superb product that can be used as a two-channel preamp if you wish.
