Dirty Harry's Hi-Fi & Home Cinema Page

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As many of you know Hi-Fi & Home Cinema are two of my consuming passions. Since being bitten by the bug in 1985 when I bought my first decent tape deck (a Denon DR-171) and Nicam video recorder (a JVC HR-D830) in 1990 , I have become an avid enthusiast of Hi-Fi and Home Cinema.
The heart of any home cinema system is with no doubt the TV, I know that it's been a long time coming but it was well worth the wait. So out with the 29" Phillips Dolby Pro-Logic TV and in with the 32" Toshiba Dolby Digital Widescreen TV! WooHoo!!!
When I said "Pro-Logic has added a whole new dimension to the movie experience", nothing could have prepared me for the Dolby Digital experience. It makes Pro-Logic seem like the dark ages!
Another advantage of having a larger TV is that Widescreen movies are much more watchable. At first I had a lot of trouble trying to work out what size a Widescreen movie would be on different size TV's. To this end I have written a new page on the subject of Aspect Ratio's.
Thanks to my wife we added a Laserdisc player to our Home Cinema setup last year. I originally intended to purchase a player back in 1993, but somehow never quite got round to it despite the fact that I had 2 discs at the time. I plumbed for the Pioneer CLD-D925 Laserdisc player which I got for Ł459 (after lots of phone calls) from Sound & Vision in Farnworth.
Also, thanks go to my workmate Neil, who in a fit of madness decided to sell his discs and player, and allowed me to expand my collection from 4 discs to 20 discs! All I can say to you Neil is "You Stupid Boy..!"
Some of my favourite films on laserdisc are the 'Indiana Jones Trilogy', 'Independance Day', the 'Star Wars Trilogy', 'True Lies' and 'Twister'. Since I first got my lasersisc player my new collection has expanded somewhat, it's still got some way to go as I have a wish list as long as my arm!

Like so many things, technology advances and hard decisions need to be made... to DVD or not to DVD (Sorry Will!) that is the question...
I'll admit to being sceptical about DVD because we've all seen 'new formats' that fail to take the market by storm and end up on car boot sales e.g. CDi, Betamax, DCC etc. But DVD is different... In comparison with Laserdisc, DVD does indeed offer superior picture quality with zero chroma noise, which results in images so vibrant and detailed you could almost be there. Also the facility for interactive menus, cast bios and filmography, behind the scenes documentaries, alternate soundtracks etc., etc., the list just goes on.
On the whole I'd say that DVD has the potential to give the general public the opportunity to experience movies the way that we Laserdisc owners have had the privelidge of for nearly 20 years. DVD is here to stay!
That's why I recently acquired the Creative Labs DXR2 DVD-ROM drive for Susan's PC. After reading the review in Home Cinema Choice, it was clear that this drive offered results on par with a Ł600 DVD standalone player for the princely sum of Ł185! The addition of Erwin Van Den Berg's "Remote Selector" turns the DXR2 into a multi region DVD player!, kudos to you Erwin!!
My hi-fi system consists of a Marantz CD-50 Special Edition CD Player, NAD 6340 Cassette Deck, a pair of Leak TL25+ Valve Monoblocks (Modified by Glen Croft.), a pair of Quad Electrostatic Loudspeakers and an REL Stygian 100w Subwoofer (Domestic Earthquake Generator!).
Click on any of the thumbnails below to view the full size image.