HDTV Magazine Reviews

Portable TV and the Haier HLT717

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:39:22 -0800

This story actually starts with a DVD Audio player! DVD Audio is a defunct HD audio format from 2001 (along with SACD) that brings the master recording to your home. Unfortunately the DVD forum and mastering houses failed in execution of this new standard making many of the titles auto play for multi-channel only, not stereo; an irritating premise for a 2 channel audiophile minimalist requiring a video monitor to navigate the menus to the stereo tracks. Indeed, DVD Audio listening time was few and far between due to this hassle.

What my DVD Audio world needed was an inexpensive, small LCD display with quick and convenient disconnects...

OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Player

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:50:16 -0800

It was in September of last year that we first got wind that OPPO was developing a Blu Ray player. Since then we have received a boatload of emails asking us when it would become available. The good news for those who have asked is the answer is it is available today! The BDP-83 can be found online for $499.99 and is available...

Flip Video Mino HD

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:24:59 -0800

The first thing you notice when you open the Mino HD is how small it is. It measures 3.94" x 1.97" x 0.63" (10 x 5 x 1.6 cm) and weighs only 3.3 ounces. Easily smaller than an iPod or PDA, in fact smaller than most cell phones and digital still cameras; the Mino HD is incredibly portable. Also included in the box are a wrist strap, a carry case and an A/V cable (composite video and stereo audio).

Using the Mino is a snap. It recharges via...

Yamaha YSP-4000

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:19:45 -0800

We first saw the Yamaha YSP-4000 Sound Projector in use at CES 2007. At that time we were quite impressed that a single unit could generate a 5.1 sound field. For those of you who are not familiar with what the Yamaha Sound Projector, it is single unit resembling an oversized center channel that decodes surround sound and generates multi-channel experience by bouncing sound waves off the walls in your room. The advantages are obvious...

Logitech Squeezebox Duet

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:15:35 -0800

There are quite a few solutions on the market for wireless digital audio. When Logitech acquired Slim Devices a couple years ago, they jumped into the fray with the Squeezebox line of products. Logitech quickly turned out their own twist on the product line, the Squeezebox Duet. We've had one in the HT Guys lab for quite a while and recently got the chance to plug it in, power it on and give it a listen.

According to the Logitech Website, the Squeezebox Duet lets you...

Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:00:52 -0800

Today we take a look at the Western Digital WD TV HD Media player. The WD TV HD Media Player is a device about the size of an external hard drive that plays A/V content from USB storage media. The WD TV HD Media player is optimized for the WD "My Passport" line of hard drives but it will work with other USB devices (we'll discuss this later). The player supports 1080p for...

Mitsubishi LT-46148 LCD HDTV - On the Test Bench

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:06:03 -0800

This portion of the review details how the Mitsubishi LT-46148 LCD HDTV performed on the test bench. Please read the Mitsubishi LT-46148 LCD HDTV Review Essentials, if you have not already.

RGB 0-255 can't pass below black because black is 0. Unfortunately the same goes for YPbPr 16-235 yet with that video signal black is 16 so it could if designed to do so. Bottom line, no below black signals will pass. While not a severe error, it is one that Videophiles should take note of since some small portion of consumer video content will exceed 16 or 235 by a few notches and an ISF calibration would setup a display to account for that anomaly. This one...

Mitsubishi LT-46148 LCD HDTV - Review Essentials

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:29:35 -0800

LCD has come a long way since just a few years ago, taking over the flat panel market up to about 50" in screen size. While Mitsubishi is far better known for rear projection DLP since the demise of CRT, market forces can't be ignored and consumers remain spellbound by the flat panel concept in their homes. Let's see what Mitsubishi has to offer and how their LCD products compare.

Since last year Mitsubishi has offered 40", 46" and 52" models and the LT46148 is part of their current line of 1920x1080 displays.

OPPO DV-983H Upconverting DVD Player - On the Test Bench

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:37:47 -0800

The very ability to inspect and view an HDMI video source goes directly against the copyright capability of the connection since the means to see it would infer a means to steal it. At this time the Panasonic PTAE-1000U has been kept in the stable just for the purpose of using the Wave Form Monitor feature. While the Wave Form Monitor does suffer when looking at high frequency response video such as bursts, it is also the perfect tool for checking IRE levels and color decoding. This does come with the limitation of only being able to check YPbPr output, preventing me from verifiying the switching to RGB output that would be required for a DVI input. Some of the results are based on visual calibration checks as well as signal and are noted. All tests were performed using Digital Video Essentials as the source material.

OPPO DV-983H Upconverting DVD Player - Review Essentials

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:15:08 -0800

Since 2006, OPPO has been providing a DVD performance envelope covering the main feature, the movie, at roughly the $200 mark directly competing with other players and external scalers costing $1000 plus. They have been earning my recommendation since then along with a full model line review last year. When it was announced that OPPO was releasing a flag ship DVD player at nearly double the price, I requested a review sample to find out how OPPO has raised the bar on an already very successful product line.

As with past models...

Slingbox PRO-HD

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:12:00 -0800

We reviewed the original Slingbox way back in 2005. Ara currently has two of them and has been able to watch TV from his hotel in Chicago, Denver, and Europe. But the main way the Slingbox is used in the Derderian family is to extend TV reception to any room in the house. While the Slingbox works well via the Internet it works really well on your local network. The issue with Internet usage is bandwidth. First, if your upstream bandwidth is limited, it really doesn't matter how much downstream bandwidth you have. In Ara's home the upstream is capped at 1 Mbps although lately I have exceeded that.

When we saw the Slingbox PRO-HD come to market we were very excited. We realize that...

Blu-ray Review: Patton

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:40:03 -0800

The movie won seven Oscars when it was released in 1970 and is one of Ara's favorites. He has seen it at least ten times over the years and it has a permanent place on his movie server. So with the recent release on Blu-ray, We wanted to see if the movie benefited from the new technology.

Orb Audio Mod2 5.1 Speaker System

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:09:42 -0800

Orb Audio makes small speakers and sells direct to the consumer similar to Aperion and many other speaker manufacturers. By cutting out middle men the company is able to sell speakers at a greatly reduced cost. The speakers are small in size measuring 4 3/16" W x 5" H x 4 7/8" D with stand and weigh 2.0625 pounds (.94 Kg). They also come in a center channel orientation with the two spheres mounted side by side.

The speakers are made out of American carbon steel and hand made in the USA (California and Oregon). The only exception is part of the subwoofer, which is made in Canada. The speakers come in 5 finishes (Metallic Black Gloss, Pearl White Gloss, Hand Polished Steel, Hand Antiqued Copper, and Hand Antiqued Bronze) so there will definitely be something that the aesthetics committee will approve.

ClearStream2 (C2) UHF Antenna

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:38:37 -0800

If you have an HDTV or are thinking about getting one before the analog cutoff early next year, you may also want to consider picking up your digital TV via an antenna. Many of you are concerned that an antenna is an eye sore or that they are just too big to to deal with. Today we talk about an antenna that takes care of both these issues.

The ClearStream2 (C2) from Antennas Direct is less than...

HQV Benchmark Blu-ray, DVD and HD DVD

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:24:17 -0800

HQV Benchmark is produced by Silicon Optix, a leading developer of video processing technology. If you are new to the terms video processing and scaling, then a great foundational start is our own Video Dictionary on HD Library, Scaler.

The HQV Benchmark series of discs have received a lot of press and a lot of players have failed to pass many of the tests. Let's take a look at what each of these tests are, what their purpose is and what it actually means to disc players...