February/March 2020

Sound & Vision

Authoritative information on entertainment technologies and products.

Sound & Vision2 min read
The Big Picture
LOOKING OVER the list of products that earned a Sound & Vision Top Pick award in 2019, one entry towered over the others: JVC’s DLA-NX9 D-ILA projector. Congratulations to JVC for a job well done in being selected as S&V’s overall Top Pick for 2019!
Sound & Vision8 min read
Letters
As a long-time fan of Polk Audio products, I was pleased to see the company re-enter the mid-high-end speaker market with its Legend L800 SDA Pro-equipped loudspeaker and read Al Griffin’s review in Sound & Vision’s December 2019/January 2020 issue w
Sound & Vision3 min readComputers
Another Brick In The Wall
After carefully weighing the complex moral and ethical issues involved here, I have determined the answer to the question of the manufacturer’s liability. Hell to the yes! Interestingly, this moral dilemma is no theoretical exercise. This exact kind
Sound & Vision3 min read
Vizio 36-inch 2.1-Channel Soundbar System
The SB3621n-G8 replaces Vizio’s equally awkwardly named SB3621n-E8. A big change the new soundbar system brings is a slim subwoofer that can be positioned horizontally, in which case it can easily be slipped under a sofa. While the G8 lacks streaming
Sound & Vision3 min read
Opening Pandora’s Premium Box
It ain’t easy being an internet pioneer. Sure, you get kudos for being the one to break new ground on the web, but once you plant your forerunner flag, everyone comes gunning for you. Sometimes you’re able to swat down all comers (all hail King Amazo
Sound & Vision3 min read
Tech to Make Guests Feel at Home, Part Two
In my last column, I discussed the generational improvements my custom installation company has witnessed since we started installing whole-house distributed audio systems back in 1995. Of course, almost everything has gotten better—and cheaper—over
Sound & Vision5 min read
AudioControl Avalon G4 Four-Channel Power Amplifier
Four may be an even number, but a four-channel amplifier like AudioControl’s Avalon G4 might seem like an odd duck to some. With Dolby Atmos and other immersive audio formats becoming more common in the custom install market (where AudioControl, whic
Sound & Vision3 min read
HDMI and Old Gear
Q I am using the built-in apps on my Sony XBR-55X850C TV for video streaming. The set’s optical digital audio output is connected to an older Denon AVR-4306 receiver. My problem is that I only get Dolby Digital 5.1 sound from the TV’s Netflix app; no
Sound & Vision17 min read
2019 Top Picks Of The Year
NOW THAT 2019 is done, it’s time to take stock of the year by reviewing the list of products that received Sound & Vision Top Pick awards. It’s also time to single out some trends. A key trend is that OLED and LCD TVs have become available in substan
Sound & Vision9 min read
New QLED in Town
TCL MADE its mark worldwide over the last few years largely by selling budget sets with built-in Roku streaming. But with its new 8-Series, available in 65- and 75-inch screen sizes ($2,000 and $3,000, respectively), the company has elbowed its way i
Sound & Vision7 min read
A Budget 4K Beamer
AS YOU might expect, low-cost projectors are much more common than premium models. Survey the market, and you’ll find loads of options in the under-$3,000 range, while projectors priced above $10,000 are rare birds, indeed. Even so, affordable models
Sound & Vision2 min read
Test Bench
FULL-ON/FULL-OFF CONTRAST RATIO: 1,370:1 The measurements here were made using CalMAN measurement software from Portrait Displays (www.portrait.com), together with a Photo Research PR-650 color meter, Minolta LS-100 luminance meter and a Murideo/AVPr
Sound & Vision8 min read
Movies Everywhere
WITH TODAY’S streamers and smart TVs offering myriad apps to watch movies from, one thing has become painfully obvious about discs: they’re clunky. While I’m a firm believer in pre-recorded media due to its superior technical merits, I’ll admit that
Sound & Vision8 min read
Stream All Day
I’M NO stranger to the network audio player/preamplifier category, having evaluated two such specimens in 2019: Cary Audio’s DMS-550 and Simaudio’s Moon 390 (both reviews available on soundandvision.com). These components act as a hub for switching a
Sound & Vision9 min read
The Stereo Advantage
AS I uncrated the Denon DRA- 800H stereo receiver and set it on my rack for review, I was struck by a powerful wave of nostalgia. Back in my early days of audiophilia, stereo—no wait, stereo and vinyl—was pretty much the game. Buying a basic receiver
Sound & Vision5 min read
The Right Stuff
THEY STILL make stereo receivers? Who knew! But seriously, folks—I’m here all week. Stale humor aside, there will always be a sure market for high-quality audio playback, with access to terrestrial-broadcast radio, AKA good old FM, and a basic featur
Sound & Vision7 min read
Magic In The Middle
APERION AUDIO had a dilemma. Its flagship speaker line, the Aperion Verus III, costs considerably more than its entry level Intimus range, with the $2,500 flagship Verus III Grand tower selling for nearly three times the price of the $800/pair Intimu
Sound & Vision1 min read
Test Bench
I conducted several in-room measurements using the Parts Express Omnimic measuring software and microphone. Though the results from this $300 package are not as precise as might be obtained from more expensive test gear, it can provide a usefully acc
Sound & Vision7 min read
Dynamic Tone Mapping Update
IN A departure for JVC, the company didn’t announce new D-ILA projector models at CEDIA Expo in September 2019. Instead, JVC’s key announcement at the show was a firmware update for the native 4K projector line it had unveiled at the previous CEDIA E
Sound & Vision3 min read
Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood
UHD BLU-RAY Aging TV actor Rick Dalton (movie actor Leonardo DiCaprio) suspects that his career as he knew it might be over, and grapples with the vanity and insecurity that comes with such an uncertain future. He makes his living pretending to be a
Sound & Vision2 min read
FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW
UHD BLU-RAY THE TITULAR characters in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw were introduced in earlier Fast & Furious films, but you don’t have to know much about their backstories to enjoy this film, an extremely serviceable action-comedy that leans
Sound & Vision2 min read
Ad Astra
UHD BLU-RAY IN AD ASTRA (Latin for “to the stars”), a curious mashup of 2001 and Apocalypse Now, new facts have recently come to light about the disappearance of a deep, deep space probe launched to find intelligent life in the cosmos. The commander
Sound & Vision2 min readPerforming Arts
It Chapter Two
UHD BLU-RAY IT CHAPTER TWO picks up 27 years after the kids from The Losers Club in the first film have grown up and moved on with their lives. The killer clown Pennywise has returned, and a phone call from an old friend brings them all back to the t
Sound & Vision2 min read
The Wizard Of Oz
UHD BLU-RAY WITH ITS childlike innocence and a universal charm that’s born of its exquisite characters, The Wizard of Oz is likely the greatest family film of all time, the sort we may never see again. The adventure of a willful Kansas farmgirl trans
Sound & Vision2 min read
Until The End Of The World
BLU-RAY IS IT the search for assorted MacGuffii—bank-heist loot, giant opal, camera that records brainwave images the blind can see—that sends self-destructive Claire, her writer ex, and a bounty hunter after thief Sam Farber? Or is it love? Threaten
Sound & Vision2 min read
David Crosby: Remember My Name
BLU-RAY SUBTITLE IT The Ballad of Never-Easy Rider. Produced by Cameron Crowe, David Crosby: Remember My Name is a self-actualized love letter to one of rock’s most significant rollercoaster-ride careers. Croz’s admitted goal for the film’s wished-fo
Sound & Vision4 min read
The Later Years – 1987-2019
WHICH ONE’S PINK? It’s a question the mighty members of Pink Floyd have answered more than once throughout their unmatched 50-plus-year career. No matter who’s been at the helm—the wide-eyed lysergic-minded guitarist/vocalist Syd Barrett, the uncompr
Sound & Vision3 min read
21st Century Schizoid Men
FEW ARTISTS have oh-so-quantifiably defined their own uncopiable sound as definitively as King Crimson did with their October 1969 debut, the full-title-mouthful In the Court of the Crimson King: An Observation by King Crimson. This five-track, beyon

Sound & Vision

More Issues From Sound & Vision