Innehållsförteckning för June/July 2019 från Sound & Vision

“Everything that made Triton Reference Sound & Vision’s Product-of-the-Year in a gorgeous, super sounding, more compact and even more affordable package!” “The powerful sense of atmosphere that the One.R speakers conveyed conjure up memories of my time with the Triton Reference.” –Al Griffin, Sound & Vision GoldenEar Technology is pleased to announce the introduction of the new Triton One.R. This extraordinary new reference quality loudspeaker is a smaller, less expensive follow up to the Triton Reference. The T Ref has been compared with speakers selling for over ten times its surprisingly affordable cost. It has had a remarkable response from both music and hifi enthusiasts as well as press and reviewers from around the world, who have bestowed upon it innumerable Speaker-of-the-Year and Product-of-the-Year awards. Now the T One.R is…

Apple TV Expands Apple recently announced a new TV service called Apple TV+ that will feature an original slate of ad-free programming created by big names including Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, and Oprah Winfrey. Pricing and availability for the service, which is meant to take a bite out of Netflix, will be announced later this fall. Another key part of the announcement was the company’s Apple TV app. The just-released app serves as a platform to aggregate streaming services so that content can be easily browsed and searched without having to jump between multiple apps. It also supports live TV streaming, although that feature requires a subscription to a cable/satellite or app-based service such as PlayStation Vue or Hulu Live TV. The Apple TV app is available on iOS devices,…

Wire-Free Surround At just under $500, Yamaha’s MusicCast BAR 400 soundbar/subwoofer system is a great value. When you add the company’s MusicCast 50 wireless speaker ($499) to use for surrounds, you get a stellar wireless 5.1 system that creates an immersive experience while easily integrating with your streaming music apps. The system connects via Wi-Fi, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth. Its multiple listening modes include a Clear Voice mode that effectively enhances dialogue intelligibility by lowering the level of music and effects in movie soundtracks. Yamaha’s iOS/Android app makes multi-room and multi-speaker setup simple, and if Amazon devices are connected to your home network, Alexa skills can control MusicCast speakers. Yamaha’s BAR 400 has a sleek, elegant look for an under-$500 soundbar. A black metal grille covers the speakers, metallic…

MOST OF US remember the first time as a kid that seeing a movie had a profound impact on our young mind. For plenty of kids who came of age in the 1970s, that movie was the first episode of the original Star Wars trilogy, which was released in 1977. For Kelly Sterne of Flower Mound, Texas, a fascination with Star Wars led to an obsession with action figures based on the movies, his regular trips to the local Toys-R-Us eventually yielding a collection of 200 original, unopened figures. After a rash youthful decision to sell the stash to a local comics shop, the adult Sterne later sought redemption by restoring his original collection and then some, buying up every figure Kenner made, from Star Wars through Return of the…

An animated Spider-Man movie? In the midst of the character’s latest live-action reboot? Using six different iterations of the character, all but one of which are only known to die-hard comic book fans? A direct-to-video tie-in, right? Wrong: Not only was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse a big-screen box-office success, it also snagged an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of 2018. Into the Spider-Verse is a gleeful embrace of all things Spider-Man, born of everything that has come before, both the good and the not-so-good. This is the superhero movie we get when everyone involved loves the source material, starting in this case with the winning combination of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie). Serving here as a producer/co-writer and producer, respectively, they have helped to craft something…

IF YOUR CRYSTAL BALL predicted that someday the writer/director of There’s Something About Mary would take home an Academy Award for Best Picture, let’s hope you bet big and didn’t smash the thing. Peter Farrelly’s Green Book is an emotional smorgasbord, one that would no doubt be appreciated by its ever-famished “hero,” Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen). He’s a gleefully ignorant yet strangely lovable tough guy (what my people would call a cavone), albeit one who needs to learn a thing or two about race relations. Tony gets his chance when, on a hiatus from his job as a bouncer at The Copacabana, he’s hired to chauffeur piano virtuoso Dr. Don Shirley (two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali)—a black man—on a concert tour of the Deep South in 1962. As in the true…

I have a theory. Well, it’s not really a theory. It’s more of a hunch. Actually, it’s not even a hunch. Just a tingling. But sometimes my tinglings are surprisingly prescient. Here’s my tingle: Thanks to societal shifts, in the coming years there will be a huge resurgence—a boom—in the popularity of home theater. A home theater resurgence? Why? I’ll list my reasons. You can tick off the ones you agree with, and the ones you don’t, and see if you reach the same conclusions. Rich People are Evil We know this because politicians are telling us so. Rich people should pay their fair share. Their marginal incometax rate should be 70 to 90 percent and their net worth taxed annually at 3 percent. Estate taxes should be dramatically higher.…

Q Is there any reason why I should invest in IMAX Enhanced A/V gear and discs? Do you think this technology can survive against the established Dolby and DTS competition? —DAVID RILEY / VIA EMAIL A Before I answer that, let’s review what we know so far about IMAX Enhanced, which is both a certification program and an end-to-end ecosystem for audio and video gear and content. On the video side, IMAX Enhanced is primarily a noise reduction mode designed to provide optimal image quality when IMAX Enhanced movies and documentaries on Ultra HD Blu-ray and streaming services (FandangoNOW in the U.S. at present) are displayed on IMAX Enhanced-certified TVs and projectors. Certain releases may also provide an expanded aspect ratio that matches how the image appeared in IMAX theaters,…

YOU MAY BE EXCUSED if you thought that Apple’s AirPods are the first and only so-called “true wireless” earphones—completely cordless in-ear “buds” that connect both with each other and to your smartphone via Bluetooth—since their distinctive white sticks seem to be protruding from hipster ears everywhere. Fortunately, if you’re not an iPhone owner, or a fan of the AirPods’ distinctive look and not-necessarily one-size-fitsall fit, there is a growing number of other “true wireless” earbud choices. And in contrast with Apple’s one-for-all approach, most AirPod alternatives address specific use cases, style preferences, and budgets. While most true wireless earbuds differ drastically from each other, they should all share four features in common: A rechargeable carrying case. The buds themselves will play for 3-to-5 hours and before having to return to…

Contrast Ratios Measurements were made in a variety of conditions with the bulk taken in the Natural picture preset with the 6500 Color Temperature and REC709 Color Profile settings active. The gamma preset was selected as Custom (2.3). All calibration was done with the dynamic aperture disabled, and contrast ratio measurements were made in a range of different modes as noted. Calibration work was done using a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter profiled to a Colorimetry Research CR-250 spectroradiometer via CalMAN 2018 (www.spectracal.com). Measurements and viewing were carried out using a 140-inch diagonal 2.35:1 Stewart Studiotek 100 screen (1.0 gain). The full on/off contrast was measured with a Minolta T-10 meter from 1 meter away from the lens face. I tested the projector in various aperture levels with the dynamic mode…

SET MOSTLY AFTER the events in 2017’s Justice League, Aquaman takes us back to the origin of reluctant amphibian hero Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), and then to the present for a grand new adventure. We are introduced to men who would be king (including an angry challenger to the throne) and a hidden realm far beyond our own evolution. To keep things interesting, there’s a high-tech pirate on Aquaman’s tail, and a fellow Atlantean (Amber Heard) at his side who sports a shock of crimson hair worthy of The Little Mermaid. (There are a lot of awful wigs in this movie.) It’s a testament to the Aquaman’s brisk pacing and nigh-overwhelming spectacle that I didn’t realize how derivative the story is of many a comic book opus before it—most obviously…

FOR MY MONEY, Capernaum was the best film of 2018—similar to Roma (slice of life, untrained actors), not as cinematically breathtaking (though still impressive), but emotionally more gripping (fuller characters, deeper drama). The title is an Arab word meaning Godforsaken chaos (taken from a Biblical tale of a city literally forsaken by God), and that’s a fair description of the impoverished section of Beirut where the film takes place. It begins a bit hokey: a 12-year-old boy is in court, suing his parents for giving him life; but as the story unfolds, flashing back and taken forward, a riveting portrait emerges of a broken system, a cursed land, and how its trapped dwellers survive and—a few of them—break through. I should add that this is not a morose film; it’s…

In Defense of 3D Much to my dismay, Sound & Vision some time ago eliminated the 3D-Ness rating category from the reviews in the Entertainment section. I am a retired broadcast TV technician who has always been a fan of 3D motion pictures, starting with Bwana Devil in 1952, when I was 10, and then House of Wax in 1953. Life is in 3D, so why not movies? With many new releases being advertised as in “Real 3D,” it seems that American audiences still enjoy going to a 3D movie at a theater, and I have to assume that they don’t mind wearing the glasses. I’m also told by people “in the business” that 3D screenings are very popular in other parts of the world such as Asia. That is…

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens penned those immortal words 160 years ago to open A Tale of Two Cities, his well-lauded 1859 historical novel set before and during the French Revolution. That telling assessment could also be applied to another revolution that took place 140 years later, a revolution that irreversibly changed the fortunes of the entire music business forever and a day. I’m of course talking about the file-sharing service known as Napster, which made its presence known to Internet-savvy users two decades ago on June 1, 1999. Napster was an independent peer-to-peer (a.k.a. P2P) file-sharing service that made it possible for just about anyone to access in digital form just about every song recorded. Indeed, Napster was the gateway…

BUMBLEBEE is the sixth entry in the live-action Transformers franchise, but for much of this film, the title character is the only robot that appears onscreen. Directed by Travis Knight, who previously directed Kubo and the Two Strings, it has its share of action scenes, but also makes an effort to be character-driven by exploring the relationship between Bumblebee and the teenage girl who discovers him, Charlie. Set on Earth in the 1980s, Bumblebee can be a little predictable and even a bit corny at times, but nonetheless remains thoroughly enjoyable throughout. Shot on 3.4K video and mastered in 2K, Bumblebee’s picture quality is consistently excellent on Ultra HD Blu-ray. While not eye-poppingly dynamic, the disc’s Dolby Vision-enhanced video is very natural-looking and suits the 1980s aesthetic of the film’s…

“WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?” “I don’t know.” Stranger Than Paradise, the delightful deadbeat breakout film by writer/director Jim Jarmusch with its whack-character studies, unactorly acting, absurdist deadpan humor, and minimalist style brilliantly captured the mood of its time. It also established him as an instant auteur of the $100,000-budget, low-production-value indie-film scene and inspired many others to do likewise. Comparisons with early Wim Wenders road movies are warranted, but the need-to-be-free-despite-ignorance-of-what-we-want themes also share elements with Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, John Cassavettes’ Shadows and Faces, and Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni. The aimless street-guy figures in Paradise goof around, ambling through life without a plan beyond the immediate pleasures of gambling, drinking, and endlessly driving. The plot consists solely of an unwelcome visit from a 16-year-old cousin from Hungary, a…