One of the very first blogs on this site was “Just Play the Damn Movie,”  where Gene Newman groused about how much Blu-ray BS you have to wade through prior to getting to the film you actually want to see. I'm in full agreement with the first point Gene made — look, I get it, Blu-ray Association, you’re excited about your technology and want to...

Remember the Iraqi Information Minister? He was that guy during the first Desert Storm that would get on TV and make those awesome declarations about how the Iraqi army was doing. With jets streaking overhead, bridges blowing up, tanks being obliterated and US troops holding hands and hopscotching into Baghdad, good ole Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf kept a stern face and proclaimed such awesomeness as:

I don’t usually pass on the many PR pitches that I get as I figure I can spare you from all of the “COME VIEW OUR WEBINAR!” and “BEST DVR SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY!” and “It looks like a modern baseball cap, with a light-weighed rig that can carry any commercially available smartphone... It may look f, but it works nicely, and it’s very comfortable to wear” junk that I get on a near-daily basis.

There was buzz at CEDIA last year surrounding NFC – Near Field Communication – technology causing one publication to call it one of the “Top 5 Home Technologies for 2012” claiming it “could be the next big thing in home automation” and described as “living in the future” by The Wall Street Journal.

Crestron said that NFC brought “new meaning ...

A recent post by my brother-blogger-in-arms, Andrew Robinson, caught my eye and I felt compelled to respond. His post was “Commercial Cinema May Be Doomed But Home Theater Is Far From Safe.”

First, I think that it’s important to ...

Oh, Stone Brewing Co! Everything you do seems to be a giant, bar-raising, F-you! to the rest of the brewing world. You people think you’ve got a fresh beer? Fine, we’ll make one so fresh we’ll put the expiration date right in the beer's name and make it be enjoyed within 30-days of going in the bottle! You make a flight of beers? Bully for you. We’ll make a Vertical flight that span...

I’m bombarded with questions on a near daily basis. “Why is this so expensive?” “Why can’t I just go wireless?” “Do I really need all this stuff?” “Are you even listening to me?!” and "When are  you going to pick up your clothes?" (The last two -- and many others! -- perennial favorites of Dana...)

Kids develop brand affinity and aspirational thinking pretty early on.

I – like many boys that were young in the 80s – had a Lamborghini poster on my bedroom wall many, many years before I could even think about getting a driver’s license, not to mention that it cost more than the house we were living in. But still, the desire for that red Countach was there. And still is there.

I...

For a site that bears Theo Kalomirakis’s name — a man who whose multiyear love affair with cinema could be considered borderline obsessive — you wouldn’t think there would be so much bashing about the cinematic experience. Or, maybe because the site does have Theo’s name on it — the

A couple of weeks ago I posted a full recap of my day at the Jagu

Growing up outside of Napa Valley, I discovered that the best way to learn what wines you like is to try a bunch of different wines. And almost everyone who starts their journey to becoming a wine lover starts off sweet. The Rieslings, the Gewurtztraminers, the Muscats, and that bastard of the wine family, the Rosés. (I'm not even going to dignify "fruit infused wine beverages" that sta...

By this point, I feel I am a qualified subject matter expert when it comes to video servers. I have reviewed virtually every model that has graced the market, including quite a few that no longer exist and even a couple that were literally killed by the manufacturer while in my possession for review. (Oh, Escient Vision. The high hopes we all had for you! We waited so long, but, alas! You were just not meant to be!)

It’s also no sec...

My recent post on Prima Cinema’s game-changing day & date home-delivery system elicited a comment from DarkOrion69 that got me thinking. As background for appreciating Mr. 69’s comment, the Prima hardware currently sells for $35,000 and each movie viewing costs $500. The comment was:

...

“Serendipity means a ‘happy accident’ or ‘pleasant surprise’; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it.” -- Wikipedia

I had a serendipitous moment at CES this year. I was in Meridian Audio’s suite in the Venetian Towers when I started asking them about car audio. They were quick to tell me that they had inked a deal with Jaguar &...

Many of you are likely ISF and/or THX certified video calibrators and thus have a terrific understanding of color temperature. And even if you haven’t been through the certification, you’re probably at least familiar with the term 6500 Kelvin – or, more accurately in cal-speak, D-65 or, even more precisely, points x=0.3127, y=0.3290 on the CIE Chromaticity Diagram. And if you are associated with this industry and don’t have any idea what I’m talkin...

My sister-in-law, Keely -- the same one who Pwns the Internet -- shared a great story the other day via email. A story so interesting that I immediately asked her to turn it into a blog.

When you think "hot bed of music

I’m becoming a total beer snob, and, frankly, I don’t mind the label. Rather, I embrace it. After drinking – and reviewing – over 160 beers, I think I’ve earned the right to a little snobbery, and I now know exactly what I like and what I don’t with a razor’s honed edge.

However, I’m all about trying new beers. And when I stumbled across an interesting case of ne...

My colleague, Andrew Robinson, has espoused the need for movie studios to change their paradigm and embrace the idea of day-and-date release and viewing outside the cinema. Essentially, give us the a...