Sony G90 User Manual

$5.95 US • $7.95 CANSony G90Size D o e s M a t t e r !New Products From Runco, Revel, NAD, Pioneer, Linn & Lexiconwww.theperfectvision.com

IVX Dead! Enough said. Too much was written aboutit when it was alive, so we don’t need to talk moreabout a company that just didn’t get it.Video at T

The Seventh Seal. Ingmar Bergman, director. 1957. B&W; 96 minutes; 1.33:1; Dolby Digital Monaural. Criterion DVD.he Seventh Seal was the film

whose existence he can no longer quite believe;the cynical squire has learned to take life as itcomes, without the prop of divinity. Together theyare

feelings breaks through the allegory with moving power. Thegreat set piece on the hillside, where the knight and the squireshare “communion” – here a

What The Perfect Vision Is About: The Perfect Vision positions itself as “The Journal of DigitalAudio and Video.” We cover major facets of the home en

Aerial Acoustics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 2www.aerialacoustics.comAlphasound & Vision . . . . . . . . . .

EVENT EXPERT A EXPERT B EXPERT C SIGNIFICANCE1 = Minor5 = MajorFirst consumer Dolby EX products go on sale Q4 1999 Q4 1999 Q4 1999 1High-resolutio

…is it just a random mesh of sight and sound, or does some-thing really new emerge? T h i s gets another look in this issuefrom Andrew Quint, who saw

ViaTV VC 105 Vi d e o p h o n eAt about the same time, during the1963-64 New York World’s Fair, AT&Tdemonstrated videophones to the gen-eral publi

recall as a seven-year-old switchingon the system that my father haddesigned, made, and housed in ameticulously crafted and veneered cabi-n

When most people hear “Orlando,Florida” they think of Disney-world, Universal Studios, palmtrees, and flamingos. They don’tusually think of darkened,

in the world of displays.As with many trade shows, the city hosting Infocommchanges each year. But the general organization of the showremains

to recreate the theater experience in the home. The dominant display technology today for home-theaterscreens larger than 40” diagonal is CRT (Cathode

based on DLP with a native resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels(16.9). Hitachi and Mitsubishi have signed agreements todevelop consumer HDTVs based on this

ometimes I think that every position on amoviemaking crew comes with its special privi-leges, its perks, as it were. If you’re the script super

Bef or eit passest hr ough t he edi-t or ’ s hands, a f ilmis a collect ion oflong t akes f r omvar iousthere appear to be a movie here at all? Somet

Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Harry PearsonExecutive Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sallie ReynoldsSenior Editors . . .

Theedit or shoot s nonew f oot age; w hat ev-er he does w as in t he f ilm all along. 1Takes are stored individually for amovieola (i.e., an uprigh

the emotion, the mood, the action, the transfor-mation lead the cut, rather than the other wayaround. I don’t like to let picture cuts fall onhard con

2 In computerized editing, the movie is only edited in the video/com-puter domain; the final product is still film, which is assembled from acut-list

exicon is unique among companies building multi-chan-nel digital controllers (see “What You Should KnowAbout Controllers,” which follows this review).

ment. A “Bass Split” feature takes bass infor-mation filtered from the center channel(assuming you have a small center speaker)and directs it to

o v e r, detail resolution in the surround channels was excellent.Moving next to Logic 7, Lexicon’s process for deriving 7channels from 2-channel or 5

should mention that my loudspeaker array isless than ideal for assessing Lexicon’s surroundmodes. The side loudspeakers are bi-polar (theRevel Embra

No product better exemplifies the fundamental shift inhome-entertainment technology than the controller. Alsoknown as a surround-sound processor or au

nal had to be encoded as a radio frequency (RF).If you don’t want to immediately replace yourcherished laserdisc collection with DVDs, you’llprobably

process takes about eight minutes, can be per-formed with the AVP installed in your system,and doesn’t erase your set-up and configurationsettings.New

V I E W P O I N T S6 Editorial7 Editorial NotesCan All That Counts Be Counted? A Forum Begins…Janet’s Index (A footnote to “Keeping It Real: Producing

speaker systems. For example, if you have fivesmall loudspeakers and a subwoofer, you tellthe controller to filter bass from each of thefive channels,

copy-protection problem), DVD-Audio andSACD players will have six analog outputs forreproducing multi-channel music discs. Unlessyour controller ha

t is a conflict as old as good vs. evil. It is the war that camebefore wars between peoples. It is the battle betweenhumankind and its environment and

Now that your head is swimming, chooseyour dimensions. The actual dimensions youselect based on a ratio such as those listedbelow will determine the e

letting Room Optimizer search out different solutions (just hit“start” and go get a beer, or two).Room Optimizer is concerned only with the low-freque

established now that dead flat 20 kHz trebleresponse in your room is an unpleasant expe-rience. I’m not sure if that’s because 20 kHz flatis just too

direct radiator) to bloated. The Salon’s soundstage com-bines the best attributes of both types. It has better imagespecificity than most dipol

cians often use emphasis in the intensity ofnotes to build rhythmic structures within themeasures of the music – it’s one of the thingsthat separates

I have one minor sonic criticism of the Sub-15. Until the vol-ume is advanced to higher levels, it doesn’t resolve the sensa-tion of air moving in the

he gleaming white livery of the Fed-X truck splinteredthe morning calm with a fusillade of gravel against thestone griffins sternly guarding the massi

Let it be said, at this the half-way point of summer(as of the writing), the neighborhood multiplexesfind themselves wishing they could either get rid

was withdrawn from its shell and consigned to its whirringdrawer mechanism. Messages darted again over the screens,followed by music that materialize

again that this instrument was the first attemptat a full-range home music center, a rangerarely captured or replicated by electronicdevices today.All

appears on the displays when the “surround” button ispressed while playing an AC3-encoded source. Also usefulwould be a last-source-selected m

that are DD compatible. There are preampouts for all five channels. Build quality in gen-eral seems up to NAD’s usual fine standards.Also included are

plished with gain biasing to the surround channels, either. Iset up the speakers fair and square. But clearly, the T770’ssteering in DD mode is precis

f you’re looking for DVD movies at the Lincoln Cen-ter Tower Records in New York, there’s no prob-lem: Just head down the escalatorand there they are

in a home theater, don’t toss that VCR orlaserdisc player just yet. Ken Crane’s, a DVDconsumer sales website address, a subsidiaryof Image Ent

Kawakami says. “The greater number ofchannels is useful in directing that envelop-ing ambient sound.” Kawakami says thatproducers are more c

for classical music at BMG, explains, “We decid-ed to do it because the format had become stan-dard, and projected volume of hardware for lastFall was

Puccini: Turandot (at the Forbidden City of Beijing). RCAVictor Red Seal 74321-60917-2. ’m inclined to be kind to the lavish RCA Turandot, and notjust

I: Can All That Counts Be Counted? A Forum BeginsWe are running Charles Hansen’s response to Issue 24 as thebeginning of a forum in which we explore h

dramatic confrontation, in the second scene of Act Two.Princess Turandot of China suffers from an icy heart, and ajones toward men. Any male of royal

dot’s looks. Maybe, on a deeper level, he sensesher own need to shed her obsession, but all wehear from him is that she’s beautiful. Maybe inthe 1920s

Verdi: Attila (La Scala production), Image Entertain-ment ID4360PUDVD.Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur (La Scala production), ImageEntertainment ID4362PUDVD.

ing the language of written text), it seems to vio-late the spirit of the DVD interface to provide noway to pick a language once, and stick with it. T

Paging through the chapters is an eerie experience. At thestart of each one, there’s Karajan on screen, his faceinscrutable, a mask of – what

Surrounded! Roger Reynolds: Watershed (Mode 70, DVD). . . . . . . . .Jargonere we have a first that needs attention – “the first music DVD[the package

attention only if you care to give it some. I admit I’m skepti-cal about the need for so much commentary. Shouldn’t themusic speak for itself? But the

wandering, questing wiggles to a pulsing, stylized sun, allchoreographed to the music, but far more gripping. (Imag-ine a dance with choreography more

Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare.Rhino 74469. $19.99 (DVD). alvador Dali saw hispaintings come alive in it.Groucho Marx said it wasgreat vaude

creatures surround him, place him in a woodencoffin, but suddenly, to our surprise, he burstsout, runs through the screen, and lands onstage, while th

The Problem with DVD:Digital ArtifactsE d i t o r :I have subscribed to your revival ofThe Perfect Vi s i o n, and not being famil-iar with the origin

reviews scrolling across the screen,and the many images of endless pave-ment, tunnels, and indistinct automo-bile headlights vaguely glowing fr

practicing its independent philosophy before“Internet” was even part of our vocabulary.By remaining true to its standards, Fugazi is,without question,

rock show. Furthermore, Fugazi’s principled way of being arock band doesn’t tend to appeal to the kind of people (i.e.frat boys, wanna-be’s, rednecks)

rom the moment of its rebirth two issues ago, The Per -fect Vision has addressed itself squarely to the difficultconcept of “multimedia.” Essays from

Is this achievable with multimedia involvingmusic? Can the whole be greater than the sumof its parts?On a Monday evening in May, I attended aproductio

Einhorn has emphasized that Voices of Light is not a filmscore for The Passion of Joan of Arc, and he feels that anyattempt to compose one would be fo

V I D E Oolor is critical to the performance of any home the-ater. Most of us instantly recognize the problem withour neighbor’s TV, orange faces that

normalized in the diagram. We are actu-ally about 20 percent more sensitive tothe green curve than the red, and about 40 times less sensi-tive to the

Commission on Lighting) was created in1927, and in 1931 established a colorime-try system to describe colors using a simple system ofnumerical coordin

is that colors created by following the video signal’s “recipe”for mixing light from the red, green, and blue primaries willresult in wrong colors. He

Down the Primrose PathToward PerfectVision Forever?E d i t o r :I’ve been with TPV since the first issue,and was thankful, even delighted, whenyou cov

are used in some circumstances.Remember that although the signal lev-els are the same, the actual brightness of light from eachprimary is not the

linear will be dis-cussed at anothertime, but with the availability of digi-tal signal processing, such transfor-mations are practical, but expensive.

he ultimate in home-theaterdisplay devices are the 9” CRTprojectors. Size matters in CRTprojectors because it enables higherresolution and bright

The G90 comes with two manuals. One is anoperator’s manual that describes the basic usercontrols and the other an installation manual.The manuals are

ter or a motion-adaptive 3-D comb filter when using thecomposite input.PerformanceMy overwhelming first impression of the Sony G90 was itsrazor-shar

ne of the more exciting announcements at the lastConsumer Electronics Show was the introduction ofthe Runco DTV-930, which significantly altered thepr

to accommodate the three lens assemblies and input connec-tors, and then slopes gently downward toward the rear. Thereare no handles or other means fo

Accurate color reproduction depends on how well theprojector’s red, green, and blue primary colors matchthe SMPTE C standard phosphors, combined with

horizontal and vertical scan frequencies and other sourceinformation can be displayed at any time. A phosphor saverfunction is provided to periodicall

Any home theater that uses a CRT front projector capa-ble of graphics- or data-grade resolution needs a wayto reduce the visibility of scan lines and

transition (I’ve said this before)and the film section is far fromits final form. There will be a“mix” of reviews, short to long,with more

film sources but doesn’t match the quality of inverse-telecine deinterlacing.Performance My primary source for evaluating the IEV was a Sony D

the red bar.At the horizontal edge between the cyan barand magenta patch (or the magenta bar and cyanpatch) on the VE disc color bars, there were twoo

put). From the setup menus, you also select whether you want16.9 formatted video output. This is called “wide,” which mightnot be self-explanatory but

ly, the remote of the DVL-91, like that of theTheta Voyager, has no back lighting. Given thesmall size of many of the buttons, it is easy to hitthe wr

In the last issue, we previewed a prototype of the DVDOiScan Plus line doubler, a breakthrough product at $699. Itsprice and key feature, inverse-tele

Edinburgh Intl. Film FestivalAugust 15 – 29, 1999Edinburgh, ScotlandMontreal World Film FestivalAugust 26 – September 26, 1999Montreal, Canada Black

o many Americans, Roberto Benigni and his film Life IsBeautiful materialized out of nowhere. Who was thisodd foreigner who suddenly jumped to the fron

Though a number of films in which Benigniappears have not reached the US, many of his ear-lier efforts have been available for some time onhome video

persona, it is the second that gives us a glimpse of his remark-able chameleonic abilities as an actor. While comical, gang-ster Johnny is also a mena

original Pink Panther film – go figure). Sad to say,though, the film just doesn’t work. The dramatic plotof international intrigue (the kidnapping

When we embarked upon the re-launch of The PerfectVision, I envisioned the experience as a greatadventure – an opportunity to explore unchartedterrito

he fanatics among you will know, by the time youread this, that the long-awaited Stanley Kubrickboxed set of seven films, released through WarnerHome

hanced) that came from UA/MGM some months ago,with all the flaws of that release, including the image“sharpenings” that leave everyone, from man toape

Alien Resurrection – we find each at its correctaspect, 2.35:1 for all save the James Cameron-direct-ed Aliens, done here at 1.85:1. All are enhanced

goes beyond the film itself, since through video we havecome to, essentially, the preservation of film history. Butis, for instance, The Last Starfigh

– opportunity to run riot with the colors and they do.Dreams has some of the most beautiful visuals you’regoing to see short of the next world and thi

Elizabeth. Shekhur Kapur, director. With Cate Blanchett(Elizabeth), Joseph Fiennes (Leicester), Geoffrey Rush(Walsingham), Christopher Eccleston (Norf

you regularly hear on ER, all of whom act as if they were in aTudor version of The Godfather – is to turn high drama intohigh kitsch. Director Kapur’s

ing a number of successful mainstream films suchas Waterloo Bridge (1930), Showboat (1936), andThe Man in the Iron Mask (1939). But it is hiswildly po

and the Monster in one, he killed off the poor, undereducatedoutcast he was born and – using pieces of other lives real orimagined – reconstituted him

Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. . . . . . . . .yes Wide Shut is one of those films that has the main-stream movie reviewers (I don’t dare use the word crit-