Sony G90 manual Movie Trivia, DVDs Gaining Momentum, E G

V I D E O

We’ve Got What It Takes for Home Theater

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IVX Dead! Enough said. Too much was written about		tuned, but it won’t be long before DirecTV and the Dish Net-
it when it was alive, so we don’t need to talk more		work will be delivering HDTV via their satellite systems.
about a company that just didn’t get it.		Unity Motion will have to find some sort of niche to make
Video at The Perfect Vision is about Home Theater, and		another run at it. How about an all HDTV sports network?
to me that means a large screen picture. Sorry, but a 32” TV		Movie Trivia
just can’t be home theater, can it? I’m not talking just about
picture quality; I’ve spent endless hours looking at the best		So much for my career in trivia games. When last we met, I
picture quality available, on 13” and 19” professional broad-		dropped the names of a couple of sci-fi film characters into
cast monitors. No, it’s the emotional experience of a large		Video Insights and the Unity Motion review (Issue 25). I for-
screen that fills our field of vision with images of a different		got there were really two characters from different movies
reality. That’s the reaction we get at the cinema and what we		in the Unity review. One was trivial, Scotty from pick your
need to experience home theater. So unless you can sit close		favorite Trek film, but the other was a bit more difficult.
to a RPTV, home theater means a front projector with at		Unfortunately, I asked for just two movie titles instead of
least a six foot wide, 16.9 or 1.85 screen.		three. The first person to identify Prof. Barnhardt from The
In this issue I review front projectors from Sony and		Day the Earth Stood Still and Scotty, was Neil Bulk from
Runco that will really make your home-theater experience		New Jersey. He wins the AVIA Guide to Home Theater DVD.
happen. But you can’t have large screens without HDTV or		But Rick Connolly came through a day later and also identi-
upconverters, unless you want to stare at scan lines. And		fied the “Toys for Ellie” clue as Jody Foster’s character in
that doesn’t quite capture the cinema experience, either. So		Contact. So Rick also got a copy of AVIA courtesy of its
Bill Cruce looks at the IEV Turboscan line doubler with lots		authors at Ovation Software (www.ovationsw.com). Now
of features at a budget price. And I take another look at the		remind me not to try this again!
DVDO line doubler, with almost no features, but a sensa-		16.9 DVDs Gaining Momentum
tional price at $700.
Bill also reviews another DVD/LD combi player. I sup-		Paramount followed up The 10 Commandments and Star
pose its time to admit that laserdisc is dead, but some of us		Trek Insurrection with 16.9 enhanced transfers of A Simple
have an awful lot of laserdiscs lying around that we may		Plan, Varsity Blues, and Barbarella (review, this issue). I
never see on DVD. How about Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me,		was feeling really good about Paramount until I heard that
with Max Parrish, Sean Young, and Timothy Leary? Not like-		“King of World” Cameron’s chick-flick was going to be
ly to make it to DVD, but it’s a great LD title.		released in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but without a 16.9
Finally, there’s something missing from the video cover-		enhanced transfer! Is that any way to treat the biggest
age in this issue. Part 2 of Christy Warren’s review of the		money maker of all time? Well, I was one of the four people
Runco 5800 HD-ready RPTV. It’s hard to evaluate high-defin-		on the planet that found the movie boring, so I doubt that
ition picture quality without an HD source. We didn’t solve		they’ll miss my $30.
that problem until right before our editorial deadline. So		Fox finally joined the party with a spectacular boxed-set
rather than rushing something with little time for evaluation,		of the four Alien films (review this issue), all in the higher-res-
we postponed that report until next time.		olution 16.9 DVD format. And Criterion has announced their
Speaking of HDTV: As we went to print with the		intention to use 16.9 whenever possible on future releas-
Unity Motion review in the last issue, they were clos-		es. Their first 16.9 enhanced title is July’s release of
ing their doors in St. Louis. Now as this is written,		Insomnia. Criterion pioneered widescreen and spe-
Unity Motion, under a new management team, is		cial editions on laserdisc, so it’s great to see them
officially trying to refinance, restructure, and return		commit to the highest-quality DVD format.
to business. As I wrote in the review, they delivered				It must be getting lonely over at the Mouse.
some excellent hardware but needed programming		First DIVX dies and now Mickey may be the last
for success. The key was HBO, and Unity Motion			company to switch to 16.9 enhanced DVDs. Oh,
just couldn’t seem to get together with them				sorry! I wasn’t going to talk about DIVX or
and make something happen. We’ll stay	G R E G	R O G E R S		companies that just don’t get it.