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The CinemaX P1 absolutely trumps the VAVA in terms of contrast ratio, however: 150,000:1 compared to the VAVA’s 3,000:1. That means if you want your blacks to be deep and whites bright, the CinemaX P1 is the projector for you. You’ll have to buy some speakers for it, but the overall quality of the image makes for the very best home theater experience in the short-throw scene. … [Read more...] about The best short-throw projectors

Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018) Fallout has a good case for being the best entry to the Mission: Impossible franchise. Rogue Nation writer-director Christopher McQuarrie returns and continues to push the envelope in this traditionally envelope-pushing series. M:I is at its best when the world of espionage in which it exists is living just along the edge of believability, which McQuarrie has fully grasped. Thanks to Tom Cruise’s insane penchant for thrill-seeking and ability to perform death-defying stunts sans double, the most recent iterations of Mission: Impossible do just that: Expand our mind beyond what we thought possible, while grounding the story of international conspiracies and world-destroying syndicates just enough to feel plausible. While James Bond’s MI6 enjoys a level of tongue-in-cheek, Ethan Hunt’s IMF captures the imagination of an interconnected, deeply perilous world and gleefully operates in the fringes. Fallout continues … [Read more...] about The 47 best movies on Hulu right now

Why am I hedging? Because TCL has a new micro-LED backlight technology called OD-Zero, but it isn’t saying which TVs that tech will be in. So it could be either the new 6-Series or it could be the new 85-inch 8K model which seems to be in its own series, or it could be both! One looks incredible and the other sounds incredible on paper, so we’ll have to wait and see. … [Read more...] about The best TVs of CES 2021: Samsung, Sony, LG, TCL

In both mobile and desktop versions of its app, grouping and ungrouping speakers is effortless, thanks to little plus-sign buttons next to each speaker in the speaker list. Tap the speaker you want to group, then tap the plus buttons next to each speaker you want to join it. That’s it. Removing speakers is a two-tap process, but killing the group itself only takes one tap. Engaging all of your speakers to play the same music is just as easy. Not that it’s hard to do this with Sonos products, but with Sonos, you do it through an intermediary dialog window. Bluesound has also added a unique feature to multi-speaker control: If at any time you want to switch the music you’re listening to from one speaker to another, there’s an arrow button you can tap, which brings up the list of speakers so you can pick where the music should go. You can do this on Sonos too, but only via the grouping function, which is a little less convenient. … [Read more...] about Sonos vs. Bluesound: A Hi-fi, Wi-Fi Speaker System Shootout

The most popular term of the week was “FDA certified.” It sounds good and is the packaging equivalent of a weighted blanket for consumers, but it’s not a guarantee of safety or effectiveness. To receive clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, the company must show its product is “substantially equivalent” to similar products that are already on the market – and it doesn’t matter if those existing products actually work. In times like these, potentially false security is arguably more dangerous than none at all. … [Read more...] about Don’t let CES fool you. All these pandemic gadgets aren’t going to save us