I came across a decent roundup of the best DVDs for this year, so far. It’s probably not exactly the list I would pick (maybe I’ll take the time later), but a good selection still.

These were not necessarily chosen as best flicks for their content, but for an excellent home theater experience. (Excellent sound, good digital transfer, crisp and immersive video, etc.)

Batman Begins

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Crash

The Incredibles

Ray

Sin City Recut & Extended Edition

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Steamboy

Titanic Special Collector’s Edition

War of the Worlds

Rent these movies online at Netflix - free 2 week trial. Movies mailed to you with free return mailer enclosed. Great service!

Best DVDs of 2005

These 2 models are the hottest and most popular rear projection sets available today.

Excellent image quality coupled with the Sony brand makes these two HDTVs tough to beat.

I’ve covered several reviews and lots of info about these units here, so I decided to consolidate everything to make it all very easy to find.

Reviews

Sony SXRD KDS-R50XBR1 50 Inch HDTV

50 inch SXRD Review
“I’ll lay bets that Sony’s newest SXRD offerings are going to shake things up in HDTV-land.” - Full review at Sound and Vision

User Review
“All in all, the Sony SXRD 50 (it also comes in a 60 inch screen) is an awesome HDTV with a large range of features and high quality screen.” - Full review at HDBeat

SXRD 50 Review
“If you are looking for a great picture from DVDs and HD, consider this TV. Sure it is expensive, but man the picture is amazing.” - Full Review at HDBeat

Sony SXRD KDS-R60XBR1 60 Inch HDTV

60 inch SXRD Review
“By today’s standards, the Sony KDS-R60XBR1 is expensive, but its fabulous performance and feature set make it well worth the price for early adopters.” - Full review at Cnet

60 Review
“This set appears to put Sony back on top. It’s really something special.” - Full review at UltimateAV

User Review at AVS (non-technical “blind test”)
“Wow did you see that… it looks so three dimensional… I’m getting dizzy watching this it so real… look at that picture its so realistic”

Continue Reading “Sony SXRD KDS-R50XBR1 and KDS-R60XBR1 Info and Review Roundup”

Matsushita, makers of Panasonic and JVC products, have closed CRT plants in Europe and the US.

The plant in Germany made CRTs for big screen TVs. The US plant made CRTs for bigscreens and projection TVs.

Just another sign that Plasma, LCD, DLP and the rest are taking over.

The CRT is dead, long live the CRT.

Panasonic-Toshiba CRT plants close in Europe, US
Via HD Beat

eCoustics take a look at this upconverting DVD player, which has caused quite the buzz due to being able to upconvert to 1080p.

Pros:
- HDTV up-conversion
- 1080P support
- Region Free
- HDMI and VGA outputs
- Firmware upgradeable

Cons:
- Lackluster design
- Childish remote control
- Expensive
- Does not come with an HDMI cable

Summary
“With a price over $200 dollars, the HVD2085 is on the high-end for a mid-range DVD player. Picture quality is good, and we like that the player is region free, but we just can’t justify the high price. Heck, for $245 dollars, Neo Digits should have thrown in an HDMI cable, instead you will have to pick up your own, and you can expect to pay more than $40 for a good cable too.

So what should you do? Well, if you will not be importing those foreign films and 1080P output isn’t that important to you, buy the Oppo Digital OPDV971H DVD player instead. For under $200 dollars you get a great DVD player and a DVI cable thrown in. The HVD2085 isn’t necessarily a bad player; it’s just not a premium name, so why pay for it?”

So, it sounds like the Oppo is the best way to go.


NeuNeo HVD2085 Review

IGN gets it! Well, almost.

They buy a $450 projector, and build a screen for $80 to end up with a 9 foot TV! That’s what home theater DIY is all about, baby.

Now, they didn’t exactly end up with HDTV, you can’t get a native HD projector unless you get close to the $2k range, but these machines can still produce an awesome image.

And for some gaming goodness these guys desire? A 9 foot screen can’t be beat.

IGN: Huge HDTV, Tiny Price

Not long ago, we took a look at a review of the Colorvision Spyder TV. This unit, the Spyder2Pro Studio, is the bigger brother and includes a mount for attachment to a tripod.

Then you can easily calibrate your home theater projector. You definitely want to calibrate your projector.

Review Conclusion:
“We were already sold on the capabilities of Spyder2PRO Studio for use with our motley crew of CRT and LCD monitors we have installed here at the Midwest Test Facility. It’s an instrument that serves us well, keeping all of these monitors, which are in various stages of decay, honest. Now with its new projector calibration routine, it’s even more versatile. Highly recommended. 9.5 out of 10 stars.”

Spyder2PRO Studio: Projector Setup

I came across a press release on this gem today, it looks like it should now be readily available.

This machine has been touted as the best projector under 10 grand. Benq themselves say it’s the best according to the claim to world’s best contrast ratio of 10,000:1.

Review of the PE8720 here.
AVS thread on this machine here.


Press Release

Epson gets into the home theater game with two new LCD rear projection models, the 55 inch ELS-55GL1 and the 65 inch ELS-65GL1.

These bad boys come with Onkyo sound systems! HDMI, VGA inputs and a USB port for a printer. They also include a memory card slot for photo viewing. (yeah, they’re still a printer company too)

The 65″ model should retail for a bit over $5800 and the 55″ unit should be around $5000 when they start shipping next month.

More products means more competition which is always better for the consumer. I can’t help but wonder if Epson know what they’re getting into, though.

Epson Launches 55 and 65 inch 1080p LCD Projection HDTVs
Via Gizmodo

The Yamaha YSP-800 Digital Sound Projector wins gadget of the week at Time.com.

This compact surround sound system is all in one unit. It uses digital delay and electronic trickery to get your brain to think you’re hearing sound from all sides. And it works!

You’d definitely want to consider a separate sub, however.

This unit has simple connections, and is great for mounting directly under your display.

“I compared the YSP-800 to a mid-priced surround-sound setup with Acoustic Research speakers powered by Pioneer’s VSX-72TXV receiver (more on the Pioneer receiver in the coming weeks). I was impressed by how well the sound projector could replace the five speakers that are carefully positioned—ugly exposed wiring and all—around my TV room. The speakers give a little more midrange than the sound projector, but when it came to the tinkling of glass or rushing of wind in the surround channel, both rigs gave me a satisfying feeling of immersion.”


Yamaha YSP-800 Digital Sound Projector

According to microsoft, more xbox 360s are on their way. Hmmm, have we heard this before? I guess it’s only been a bit over a week since launch… but still.

Come on MS, where are those 360s!!

“We are shipping units constantly (we have chartered 747’s regularly flying in with units). Some retailers have a backorder wait list, and might not have units that will be on shelf for some time, and some retailers might allocate more units to one store over another, but all stores that have placed orders are getting replenishments regularly.

In fact, we have confirmation that units are on the ground and on their way to retailers this week. When those will go from our warehouses to retailer warehouses, then to retailer locations is largely up to those retailers, so there’s no easy way to say which store will get product on which day. You should call your local retailer to find out. We remain on track to ship 2.75 to 3.0 million consoles in the first 90 days.”

It’s interesting we don’t get any numbers for how many have shipped, or shipped this week.

Source - Xbox 360 Maniac