Geoffrey Morrison

OpEd: Ownership in the Age of the Cloud

Is convenience just another word for nothing left to lose?

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted July 6, 2011

I am not a luddite. In fact, barring cybernetic augmentations (bring 'em on), I'd say I'm about as far from a luddite as one could be. I love technology. Thanks to my job, I'm often the first of my circle to have the latest gadget. I've got tons of Apple iStuff, a beloved Android phone, an oversized HDTV, 18MP DSLR, and yadda yadda.

Yet, I still buy CDs.

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Sharp XV-Z17000 3D DLP projector

Review: Sharp XV-Z17000 3D DLP projector

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted June 16, 2011
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Sharp was once king of the $10,000 projector class, a class now nearly disappeared. With the 3D era under way, it returns to the game with this $4,995 offering, only to find the market far more competitive than before. Most notable is the $500-cheaper JVC DLA-X3, the baby brother of the X7 model I reviewed in the April/May issue.

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This Week Around the Web, June 17th Edition

Rounding up the latest to save you some search engine time.

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted July 6, 2011

Roger Ebert finds a cool infographic on PC people and Mac people. Mac users are hipsters, PC users are...conservatives?

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HiFiMan HM-801 Portable-ish Music Player Review

The Biggest "iPod" Ever

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted July 6, 2011

HiFiMan's HM-801 ($790, head-direct.com) is the size of a Walkman — I mean literally. A cassette could fit inside it, with plenty of room leftover for the heads, playback motors, and whatever other analog hoopla those things had.

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Panelists at the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" restoration discussion, Academy of Mo

Restoring "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted July 11, 2011

The 30th Anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark came and went on June 12th, and while there's still no Blu-ray announcement, a special screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (you know, the Oscar folks) brought together a panel of behind-the-scenes people who worked on the film.

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RedMere Ultra-Thin HDMI Cables

Portability — at a premium — thanks to the Irish innovators' active chip

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted July 11, 2011

RedMere, based in Balbriggan, Ireland, is one of those clever companies that comes up with something needed, then licenses it out for other companies to make and sell. In this case it's a tiny chip, small enough to fit in an HDMI connector, that allows the cable to be significantly smaller than other cables.

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Sprint coverage map, Northeast

Cloud Denied

Hey! You! Where is my Cloud?

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted August 4, 2011

I recently took a bit of a road trip for my summer vacation. All told, it was about 1,000 miles, starting in rural New Hampshire (is there any other kind?), down through New York into rural-ish Pennsylvania, and back again.

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Innards of an HTPC

The Home Theater PC: A Source to End All Sources

Building a do-it-all entertainment hub. Again.

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted August 7, 2011
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I’m writing this from my sofa. In my lap is a keyboard. MS Word is part of a 50-inch tall image that also includes Netflix playing an episode of Sports Night, and Steam downloading Portal 2.

That, and much more, is the promise of a home theater PC. But in this age of ultra-cheap everything, is the complexity of an HTPC worth it? Well, I'm about to find out. Again.

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Runco LS-10i 3-Chip DLP Projector

Delivering outstanding image quality on a potentially massive screen.

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted August 24, 2011

Plenty of people reading this review may exhibit a rather visceral reaction to the Runco LS-10i projector’s $20,000 price. After all, the Sharp XV-Z17000 DLP projector that I reviewed in Sound+Vision’s last issue was 25% as expensive, was nearly as bright, and did 3D. So what gives? What does the extra money get you? A fair amount, it turns out.

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A Sony OLED display

OLED Again

The once and future display tech makes yet another comeback

By Geoffrey Morrison
Posted August 11, 2011

There have been stirrings on the webs about a new push for OLED (or organic light emitting diode-based) TVs. These Holy Grail televisions promise the ultimate in black level, contrast ratio, and color fidelity, they poop kittens, solve baldness, and make people like you.

Most of that is true. Some. OK, part.

Sadly, an imminent OLED renaissance is still highly unlikely. Unlikely, like me dematerializing and rematerializing in the next room unlikely.

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