In This eNewsletter:
• Speaker Survival Tips by Thomas J. Norton
• The Video iPod: More For Your $1.99? by Shane Buettner
• DVDs of the Month by Thomas J. Norton

By Thomas J. Norton

Loudspeakers may not be the hardest things in the world to shop for (cars win by a landslide), but the search hasn't gotten any easier in the past few years, as the decline in dealers offering serious demonstration facilities (particularly the big-box, warehouse stores) has reduced the opportunities for an ears-on audition.

A good demo remains the gold standard, however, and there are still dealers who offer one. If you can't arrange for a serious demonstration, your chances of finding a speaker system that meets all your expectations will be sharply diminished.

But before you start visiting dealers, make a list of a half-dozen or so speaker systems that seriously interest you. The list might come from past experience with the brand, hearing the speakers in a friend's system, or product reviews.

Once you find a dealer or dealers carrying the speakers on your list check the store's demonstration facilities carefully. There should be one or more listening rooms resembling typical domestic environments. Listening to speakers on the warehouse-sized showroom floor at Circuit City or Best Buy is pretty much a waste of time. You'll do about as well there in choosing a speaker if you just close your eyes and point.

Assuming you've found a good room and a good dealer, what else is important? Visit at a time when the dealer won't be too busy to give you a leisurely demo. I suggest taking a late lunch on a weekday afternoon. A good audition might take an hour or more, and perhaps even involve more than one visit.

Bring your own program material, including both music and movies. If you don't own a lot of DVDs, invest a little cash and buy—or rent—a few favorites that you know well. When auditioning with movies, don't just listen to those big, sonically spectacular special effects sequences. They're important, of course, because you want to know that a speaker system will perform without obvious distortion or strain at the volume levels you like (though the power available from the amplifier—or lack of it—will certainly come into play here as well). But it's the subtle stuff—the acoustic ambience of various spaces, the soft shudder of deep bass that creates a sense of dread and even panic in a good thriller, the sound of the film's music score, and the naturalness of the dialog—that will mean as much or more to you over time.

With multichannel sound, try moving around to different seats to see how the sound varies. This is particularly important with the center channel. Does dialog remain intelligible as you move as far off-axis as listeners are likely to sit in your home? Or, does it become distant and/or artificially colored? Does the dialog sound unnaturally spitty and sizzly, particularly directly on-axis? Just be sure to use a variety of program material to minimize problems that may be in the material itself, and not the speakers. Dialog quality in particular can vary wildly from one movie to another, or even from scene-to-scene within a single film.

Music can often tell you more about a speaker's quality than soundtracks, or at least more about the quality of the main left and right channel speakers. Most music is recorded in two-channel stereo, and you should listen to such recordings with the receiver or pre-pro in Stereo mode, all processing turned off, any tone controls set to flat (or even better turned off), no simulated surround modes engaged, and no room equalization of any sort. Also listen to two-channel stereo without the subwoofer and with the left and right channels driven full range if you plan to do much of your music listening that way.

Other hints:

• Make sure the speakers are arranged in a manner that at least approximates a normal home setup.

• Close any doors to the demo room to keep outside distractions to a minimum.

• Insist on access to the remote controls for both the source component and the receiver or pre-pro (but don't abuse the privilege by turning up the sound to Space Shuttle launch levels).

• While it's normally best to buy speakers at a brick-and-mortar dealer where you can actually hear them, a number of speaker companies now sell only through the Internet. Such a purchase can be a good option if the company has an established reputation and offers a reasonable home trial period and paid return privileges. Many such companies do.

• While you may feel more comfortable with an optional, extended warranty, conventional box speakers (if not abused) are probably the most reliable component in an audio or home theater system. If they work well after the first 100 hours or so, they'll probably work fine for the next 5000 hours—unless you overdrive them and blow something up!

• Sit down when you audition speakers. Speakers with two or more drivers arranged in a vertical line usually sound best if your ears are at the approximate elevation of the tweeter. Too high a seating position is (usually) worse than too low. If you stand up while listening the audition may be worthless.

• If you're shopping for a speaker system that costs the proverbial arm and a leg (though we all have different standards for the value of body parts), and can't hear it locally, travel to where you can. If you're seriously considering dropping $20,000 or more for a surround speaker system, isn't it worth a few hundred dollars for a road trip or airfare to where you can actually hear it? But be sure and investigate the quality of the dealer's demo facilities ahead of time, and also be certain that the dealer has the exact system you're interested in set up for demonstration before you travel.

• Finally, if you take a dealer's time for a good demonstration and decide to buy the speakers you've just heard, buy them from that dealer. You're stealing his time if you go elsewhere—like the Internet—to save a few bucks. If enough potential customers also audition at the same store, then buy elsewhere, the next time you want to hear a product locally the dealer may no longer be in business.

By Shane Buettner

I remember marveling some months ago when the video iPod was introduced with support from the iTunes store in the form of TV shows, music videos, and animated short films available for download at just $1.99. Wow. Obviously a killer app for commuters and those on the go, but who's going to watch even a TV show on such a tiny little screen? Well, I recently picked up a video iPod and quickly found out that commuters aren't the only people video downloads will appeal to, and that iPod users aren't necessarily confined to the 2.5" screen.

In addition to the 60BGB video iPod, I also recently acquired an addiction to the Sci-Fi Channel's new Battlestar Galactica series (I blame UAV editor Tom Norton for the latter- one of his Newsletter DVD recommendations put the hook in me, but good.) I devoured the Galactica mini-series and series on DVD, and naturally hit a roadblock. The second season only goes nine episodes deep on DVD, and worse still, that ninth episode ends on a bonecrusher of a cliffhanger.

Oddly, the rest of the second season was still running on Sci-Fi and on the Universal HD channel (the Universal HD episodes are several weeks behind those on Sci-Fi, but look a lot better—TJN) . But wouldn't you just know that the reruns showing during the subsequent weeks picked up well past my little cliffhanger. As I was setting up my TiVo to grab those episodes, I remembered seeing Battlestar Galactica posters plastering the front of the Apple Store last time I was in. A light bulb went off, and I was about to get my BSG fix for $1.99 a pop, but first I needed a few accessories.

The fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to get picture and sound from a video iPod to a TV is with the Apple iPod AV Cable. It costs $20 and has an iPod compatible mini-jack at one end and a bundle of three RCAs at the other- left and right stereo and composite video. Most TVs these days have AV inputs with these connectors (and S-Video) right on the front of the display for connecting camcorders. Cue up your video from the iPod menu, turn the Video Output setting to On, and you're in business. Of course, that's too easy. I decided to go a little further.

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The iPod Universal Dock ($40) performs all the essential iTunes/computer syncing functions of previous models, but adds an S-Video Connector to the audio line out on the back, and an IR receiver for the Apple Remote control. Yep, your video iPod can connect right to your TV, and you can sit back and control the playback via Apple's freakishly small and simple remote. All that's needed are a couple of accessories.

For the Universal Dock to connect to something other than a computer, an iPod USB or FireWire Power Adapter ($29) is necessary. This adapter has other uses too, so that's $29 well spent whether you decide to connect your iPod to a TV or not. It allows you to charge an iPod battery from any power outlet rather than docking to a computer. A FireWire or USB cable plugs into the adapter, which breaks out to the iPod connector at the other end. The iPod connector works with the iPod directly or with the Universal Dock. So, plug the Adapter into the wall outlet nearest your TV, and connect to the Universal Dock with the supplied cable, and you're almost there.

A broad number of companies (including well known high-end staples) make cables that breakout from the iPod and Universal Dock mini-jack to a stereo pair of RCAs. I bought a Belkin rig at the Apple Store for $15. And believe it or not, I had to hit the local Best Buy for an S-Video cable too. S-Video hasn't been used in this house in years, and whatever cables I might have had didn't survive the last great purge of the boxes of cables that once littered my closets. With all this assembled, I set up the Dock and connected it to a Fujitsu P50XTA51US 50" plasma (review pending). All that was left was to plop the iPod into the Dock and catch some BSG.

Before describing what I heard and saw, let me say that this is not at all how the videos downloaded from the iTunes store are intended to be seen and heard. iTunes store video is optimized for use on the video iPod's 2.5-inch, 320x240 TFT display. According to specs I've seen, the iTunes store videos are 320x240 resolution, compressed with H.264 (MPEG-4) at 750kbps and accompanied by128k stereo audio. To cross-reference, a typical DVD is MPEG-2 encoded 720x480, and will have video data rates averaging from 3Mbps to as high as 8-9Mbps. The audio is most often Dolby Digital at 384kbps for 5.1 channels. The iTunes videos are for convenience on a tiny screen, not high performance on a big screen.

As you can guess from these disclaimers, the picture wasn't great. The video was in a widescreen format, but was grainy and showed limited blacks, motion artifacts, and a lot of macro-blocking. The sound wasn't nearly as resolved, dynamic, enveloping or involving as it is on DVD in my main theater room, but the dialog was clear enough to make out and follow the show. Just as hearing a great song on a clock radio can grab you emotionally, the outstanding sci-fi drama of BSG was gripping enough that I didn't spend much of the two hours and change it took me to get through the three episodes grousing about the picture and sound. In fact, most of the time, I just kept giggling at how cool it was to be watching an iPod on a 50" plasma, and how stoked I was to not have to wait weeks to see these episodes.

Would I want to watch TV shows this way all the time? Heck no. But I wouldn't want to watch the cable TV feeds I see at the houses off my friends and relatives all the time either. Would I watch it this way again? You bet! The iPod culture has always been about lifestyle and convenience. And that's what I got here. It was the only game in town for the BSG episodes I was jonesing to see, and even misusing the vids on a big screen I enjoyed the hell out of the entire experience.

As I write this there is talk that Amazon.com is in talks with studios about offering movie downloads, and just a week ago Apple itself launched the new Mac Mini, which is inching closer and closer to being Apple's version of the Media PC. When you look at Apple's hardware lines "good, better, best" is a common theme. Steve Jobs is now Disney's biggest shareholder. Add it all up and how long can it be before we see higher resolution downloads for those who want it, and feature films added to the menu?

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Two-Disc Special Edition

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltraine, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendon Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall. Directed by Mike Newell. Aspect ratio: 2.40:1(anamorphic). 157 minutes (film). 2005. PG-13. Dolby Digital 5.1 (English and Spanish). Warner Home Video 76453. $30.98.

Picture 3.5* (out of 4*)
Sound 4.0*
Film 3.5*

The latest entry in what may already be the most profitable movie franchise in history ($890 million worldwide and counting for this film alone) has our hero and wizard-in-training Harry Potter entering his fourth year at the Hogwarts School of all things witchcraftery and wizardrous. You know, the sort of stuff they used to burn people at the stake for. As always, Harry is fighting against evil machinations of the Evil Lord Voldemort, who killed his parents and has a Captain Ahab complex about Harry. But Voldemort is not his only obstacle.

The plot begins at the Quidditch World Cup. In case you've been under a rock since the Potter books and films took the world by storm, Quidditch is a sport favored by witches and wizards. (It's a little known fact that the Wicked Witch of the East was on her way to the 1939 Quidditch World Cup when she was steamrollered by Dorothy's house). The fascination with Quidditch is my least favorite Harry Potter plot device, but here it provides a framework for some impressive scenes in a stadium that the Super Bowl could only dream about.

The film (mercifully) cuts to other events before the first Snitch flies. Key among those events is the Triwizard Tournament. Held at Hogwarts, it pits champions of three wizarding schools against each other in three intense contests involving dragons, an underwater rescue, and navigating an enchanted maze in search of the tournament trophy. Through a sequence of events involving the Goblet of Fire of the title, Harry finds himself a reluctant contestant in the tournament.

But the most harrowing challenge of all ultimately confronts Harry: puberty. Harry finds finishing off a fire-breathing dragon an easier task than finding a date for the big Hogwarts Yule Ball. Harry's friend Ron doesn't fare any better.

While the critics loved the entire dance and teen angst subplot (they are reportedly in the book), this little digression brought the main story to a screeching halt for a good half hour. But once we get back to the tournament things start moving again and don't let up until the gripping finale in which Harry has a harrowing encounter with Voldemort—played by a perfectly cast Ralph Fiennes in his meatiest role in years.

This was, for me, the best of the Potter films to date. It's also the darkest of the four Harry Potter movies, well deserving of the first PG-13 rating in the series. This is not a movie for young children.

Harry's encounter with the dragon is a great home theater demonstration scene. But many of the other action set pieces are performed in dark lighting offering a real challenge to digital video displays. I first saw the film in a DLP presentation at the Mann Village theater in Westwood, CA (see my recent blog on LA area movie theaters.) Those dark scenes actually looked worse in the theater than on a good home system (I watched the DVD on a Yamaha DPX-1300 DLP projector and a 80-inch wide screen).

In other respects the video here is crisp and detailed, with the occasional exception of a few medium and long shots. Video noise is low, the color is realistic (at least as realistic as you might expect in a movie about a school for wizards), and artifacts (including edge enhancement) were never an issue.

The audio is outstanding, with deep, powerful bass, active surrounds, clean dialogue, and a very well recorded music score. This is the first Potter score not written by John Williams. Composer Patrick Doyle hints at Williams' themes just enough here to provide a sense of continuity, but brings his own sensibilities to the table. It's a fine effort all around.

A single-disc DVD release of this film is also available. Panned and scanned to 4:3, it's almost devoid of anything apart from the film. This Special Edition has an entire second disc full of extras.

I've never liked the way the Harry Potter DVDs organized their special features, intermixing games and "making of" information under the same headings. That same problem continues here. Ironically, the three games here, each featuring one of the challenges from the Triwizard Tournament, are clearly aimed at an audience too young for this PG-13 film.

But if you remain patient and back out of the games when you select them inadvertently, you'll find plenty of interesting information about the film and cast. You'll also find several deleted scenes—all of them interesting, but all best left on the cutting room floor (particularly an extended and wholly inappropriate Yule Ball rave.)

I've seen this film on a list of upcoming HD DVD releases—one of the few major recent hits to be announced for either HD DVD or Blu-ray. If an HD DVD player is on your shopping list you just might want to wait a few weeks before investing in the standard DVD of this title. It will also be interesting to see how well this long movie fits on a single-layer HD DVD, and what sort of interactive features might also be squeezed in.

Fans have already snapped up this title by the millions since it hit stores last week. If magic, wizards, dragons, evil lords, and dark, creepy, yet fun adventures are your thing, you owe it to yourself to check out Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.