expertise

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XM Rated

A down and dirty journal of the open road, a Cadillac, and XM’s brand-new satellite radio . . . seatbelts optional.
- By Gene Newman
- Posted January 29, 2002
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Converging on the Future

Kenwood’s new home-entertainment system promises easy access to all your movies and music.
- By Ken C. Pohlmann
- Posted January 29, 2002
Let me make one thing perfectly clear. This is not your father's stereo. In fact, it's not his home theater either. Kenwood has come up with a networked home entertainment system that promises to provide easy access to movies from a DVD megachanger and music from a variety of sources, including CDs, MP3 music files stored on a hard-disk drive - even Internet radio stations.

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Apple Leads the Pack

iPod portable hard-drive music player
- By Michael Antonoff
- Posted January 29, 2002
Running with a stack of my favorite CDs compressed into a player no larger than a deck of cards, I set a personal best on the trail around the Central Park Reservoir.

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HDTV Year in Review

Digital TV finally took off in 2001
- By Al Griffin
- Posted January 22, 2002
First it was shark attacks and the Gary Condit debacle, and then came September 11. The year 2001 wasn't a great one overall, but it was pretty good for high-definition television (HDTV), which continues to make steady advances despite the drooping economy.

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Poles Apart

Which kind of speaker should you use for the surround channels: monopole or dipole?
- By Ken C. Pohlmann
- Posted January 22, 2002
Audio buffs have been known to lock horns over all kinds of things - CDs vs. vinyl, Dolby Digital vs. DTS, tubes vs. solid-state, DVD-Audio vs. Super Audio CD, and on and on. But one of the hottest debates of recent years has been over which kind of speakers work best for the rearward surround channels in a multichannel setup: monopole (a.k.a. direct-radiating) or dipole?

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International CES - Photo Gallery

Highlights from The Las Vegas Convention Center.
- By The S&v Staff
- Posted January 11, 2002
Former Baywatch beauty and JVC spokesperson Donna D'Errico redoubles her efforts to promote the company's in-car CD receivers.

S&V Technical Editor David Ranada tries out Sony's MicroMV camcorder -- said to be the smallest ever.

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International CES - Inside the Chassis of CES
- By David Ranada
- Posted January 11, 2002
Panasonic SA-XR10 Keeping it Real To me so far -- and I've only seen a small fraction of the exhibits -- this year's Consumer Electronics Show has been one mainly of trends and imminent breakthroughs.
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International CES - Day 3

January 10, 2002
- By Rich Warren
- Posted January 11, 2002
The Full Spectrum of DVD The buzz sang the blues at CES, specifically blue lasers. High-definition DVD players generated plenty of talk at CES without being present. A blue laser with its short wavelength will enable a DVD-size disc to store full-length HD movies. Toshiba showed a mock-up of its blue laser.

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International CES - The Last Word
- By Peter Pachal
- Posted January 11, 2002
As the 2002 International CES drew to a close, manufacturers, investors, journalists, and curious onlookers departed the Las Vegas Convention Center with a sense of wonder and amazement after seeing all the incredible innovations in . . . hehehehehehe BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA . . . aaaaaah. Sorry. I wanted to keep you going there, but I just couldn't keep a straight face.

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International CES - Day 2

January 9, 2002
- By Rich Warren
- Posted January 10, 2002
The Hitachi DZ-MV230 camcorder records on both DVD-RAM and DVD-R discs. Recordable-DVD Gets More Compatible The Recordable DVD Council, with 83 members said to encompass all aspects of the DVD business, presented a cohesive plan for "DVD Multi&quot
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International CES - Convergence Hits Home
- By Michael Antonoff
- Posted January 10, 2002
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was giving the keynote address at CES on Monday evening, January 7, when he suddenly realized (or so he said) that he'd neglected to instruct his personal video recorder to save the Monday Night Football broadcast then in progress. No problem.

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International CES - HDTV's Slim New Look
- By Al Griffin And Rich Warren
- Posted January 10, 2002
A videophile's dream is realized at the Fujitsu booth, where a school of widescreen plasma TVs wows onlookers. High-definition TV (HDTV) received some strong nudges in the right direction during the past year, so we expected to see plentiful signs of life on the show floor i
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