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New Products From Runco, Revel, NAD, Pioneer, Linn & Lexicon Sony G90 Size Do e s Ma t t e r ! $5.95 US • $7.95 CAN www.theperfectvision.com Editor-in-Chief . .Harry Pearson Executive Editor . .Sallie Reynolds Senior Editors . .Greg Rogers, Video Thomas O. Miiller, Audio Greg Sandow, Music & Multimedia Technical Editor, Audio . .Robert Harley Assistant Editor . .Bob Gendron www.theperfectvision.com Technical Consultant, Audio . .Richard Marsh SUBSCRIPTION, RENEWALS, CHANGES OF ADDRESS Contributing Writers . .Alice Artzt, Bill Cruce, Phone (888) 475-5991 (USA) or (973) 627-5162 (outside USA). T h e Perfect Vi s i o n Subscription Services, Box 3000, Denville, New Jer- Thom Duffy, Neil Gader, Bob Gendron, sey 07834. Six issues: In the USA, $32, Canada $36 (GST includ- Robert Harley, Alen Koebel, Bruce Lawton, ed); outside North America, $65 (includes airmail). Payments must Tom Martin, Andrew Quint, be by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) or USA Barry Rawlinson, Paul Seydor, funds drawn on a USA bank, with checks payable to Absolute Jonathan Valin, Heidi Waleson Multimedia, Inc. Art Director . .Nancy Josephson for Design Farm EDITORIAL MATTERS Address letter to: The Editor, The Perfect Vision, Box 235, Sea Cliff, Proofreader . .Aubin Parrish New York 11579, or by e-mail to [email protected]. Address all other editorial matters to: The Executive Editor, The Perfect Artists . .Gary Oliver, Illustrations Vision, Box 141, Cool, California 95614, fax (530) 823-0156, email: David Omer, Cover Photography [email protected]. Steve Friedman, Benigni Photos DISPLAY ADVERTISING Contact Anne Hart at the address below or e-mail: ahart@theper- Absolute Multimedia, Inc. fectvision.com. or contact Mike Grellman at (925) 327-1304, fax (925) 327-1429 or e-mail: [email protected]. Chair man and CEO . .Thomas B. Martin, Jr. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Publisher . .Mark Fisher Please use the form in the back of the issue. Finance & Adminst ration . .Trish Kunz NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION AND LOCAL DEALERS Accoun ting . .Scott Pettit Contact Eastern News Distributors, Inc., at 250 West 55th Street, New York, New York 10019, phone (800) 221-3148. Advertising Represen t ati ves . .Anne Hart, PUBLISHING MATTERS Mike Grellman Contact Mark Fisher at the address below or e-mail: mfisher@thep- Circulation Manager . .Steven Wa y n e r erfectvision.com. Legal . .Jim Robinson COPYRIGHT Absolute Multimedia, Inc., Issue 26, September/October 1999. The Perfect Vision (ISSN #0895-4143) is published bi-monthly, $32 per year for US. residents, Absolute Multimedia, Inc., 7035 Bee Caves Road, Suite 203, Austin, Texas 78746. Application to mail at Periodi- Advisors . .Vito Colaprico (printing), cal Postage rates is pending at Austin, Texas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Perfect Vision, Subscription Services, Box 3000, Denville, New Jersey 07834. Richard Sabella (HP’s business), Printed in the USA. Howard Arber (HP’s legal affairs) Absolute Multimedia, Inc. · 7035 Bee Caves Road, Suite 203 · Austin, Texas 78746 (512) 306-8780 · Fax (512) 328-7528 · [email protected] IN THIS ISSUE I s s u e 2 6 , S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 1 9 9 9 his was a hard issue. Our third time out and maybe three’s a jinx, maybe we got a little cocky. In any case, nothing jelled for the longest time. Then, because TPV has Twinkle-Dust Factor, something finally clicked, and the topic rose to the surface: We were questing for the Mythical Beast. The elu- T sive, the magical and mysterious. The thing you want – It – ever and teas- ingly just beyond reach. The experience of “art” is a mystery, after all, and requires that willing suspension of disbelief. Furthermore, we want this shimmering thing in our homes – so quotidian, the antithesis of the magic carpet. If It can ever happen at home at all, the process requires an extraordinary blend of multi-sensual cues with true artistic vision – more than ever we needed in strange, dark caves. Paul Seydor tells you how film editors strive for It. Alen Koebel haunted INFO- COMM looking for It. Alice Artzt says she found It in Roberto Benigni. For Tom Miiller, It turned his “perfect” room into a Tig e r . Greg Rogers says you might be able to find perfect color – but not without real know-how. Greg Sandow digs at the very heart of the experience before he finds a little of It. HP points out that while Special Editions are supposed to have It, suppositions by nature create unassuageable desires. Jonathan Valin takes on the vision of the great Imago himself, Ingmar Bergman, in the hope that some spells work forever. Wh y , you say, I might have It in my hands right this minute! But drat, you can’t get the system to work – you keep punching buttons and get picture but no sound, sound but no video. Where are those simple, hunky knobs of yore that clicked so cleanly from off to on and let you know when you’d got there? For some of us, It might just be sound and vision at the same time – every time. Still, we have good, solid stuff here: Controllers (maybe they’re that great old knob in new skin, if we can figure out how to use them). DVDs. Projectors, line doublers. Even whole systems (Part 1, of course. This is still a qu e s t . And we are yet ourselves.) Highlights: Sandow in Cuba at the Buena Vista Social Club; Seydor on the Cutting Room Floor; Rogers on Color; Rogers on Runco & Sony; Miiller in the War Room with Revel; Rawlinson with the Alchemist of Linn. Valin with Queen Elizabeth (he’d rather be with Mrs. Brown). And HP with Kubrick and the Space Monsters. SR V I E W P O I N T S 6 Editorial 7 Editorial Notes Can All That Counts Be Counted? A Forum Begins… M U S I C & M U L T I M E D I A Janet’s Index (A footnote to “Keeping It Real: 55 I Want My DVD! Major Labels’ Plans for Producing Classical Music Videos,” Issue 25) Classical Music on DVD – Heidi Waleson 9 Letters 57 Upscale Pop (on DVD) – Thom Duffy The Problem with DVD: Digital Artifacts…Targeting 14-Year-Old Boys?…Down the Primrose Path…What 59 Made for DVD: Puccini’s Tur a n d o t – Greg Sandow Not To See on DVD…Electronic Cinema 63 A (Classical) DVD Sampler – Greg Sandow Columns 67 Surrounded! Roger Reynolds’ Wat e r s h e d (created 13 Audio: Death to Convention – Tom Miiller for DVD) – Greg Sandow & Barry Rawlinson 15 Video: We’ve Got What it Takes for Home 71 Pop with a Twist – Bob Gendron Theater – Greg Rogers 77 Multimedia: A Close Encounter (Voices of Light 16 Music & Multimedia: The Vexed Question of & The Passion of Joan of Arc) – Andrew Quint Multimedia – Greg Sandow 17 Out of the Box: Video Travels – Tom Martin 19 Design Concepts: The Human Interface – Barry Rawlinson V I D E O 81 Department J O U R N A L Video Insights: An Introduction to Digital 20 Industry News Video 2: Video Color Concepts – Greg Rogers INFOCOMM ’99: An Insider’s View – Alen Koebel 87 Reviews 24 Exploring Film 87 Sony VPH-G90U Multiscan Projector Trims, Clips, and Selects: Notes from the Cutting – Greg Rogers Room Floor – Paul Seydor 90 Runco DTV-930 Multiscan Projector – Greg Rogers Measurements – Greg Rogers 94 IEV Turboscan 1500 Line Doubler – Bill Cruce 96 Pioneer Elite DVL-91 Combination CD/LD/DVD Player – Bill Cruce A U D I O Measurements – Greg Rogers 31 Featured Product 99 Further Thoughts: DVDO iScan Plus Line Lexicon MC-1 Controller: Sonic Flavors To Slake Doubler – Greg Rogers Every Thirst – Robert Harley 35 Department What You Should Know…About Controllers – Robert Harley . 41 Reviews F I L M & M O V I E S 41 Revel Ultima Speaker System Episode One: 101 Personalities The Ancient Enemy – Tom Miiller Roberto Benigni – Alice Artzt & Bruce Lawton 48 Linn-AV5100 Tukan Multi-Channel System: 105 HP’s Movieola In Search of the Mythical Beast I Special Editions (DVDs): Kubrick & Alien box – Barry Rawlinson sets…Worth a Look: Weir’s Gallipoli; Ward’s 51 NAD T770 Audio-Video Receiver: Just the What Dreams May Come; Vadim’s Barbarella Basics, Done Well – Neil Gader 110 Second Run 53 Manufacturers’ Corner 110 BioPics: Elizabeth; Mrs. Brown; RPG Gods & Monsters (DVDs) – Jonathan Valin Comments by HP 114 Current Attractions Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut – HP 115 Film Forum Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (DVD) – Jonathan Valin S I G N O F F 118 For the Reader “Do not keep anything…that Information about TPV you do not know to be useful 120 VisionWatch or believe to be beautiful.” Prognostications: Our staff predicts the future – William Morris Front Cover: Sony VPH-G90U Multiscan Projector E D I T O R I A L Follies & Frolics . Let it be said, at this the half-way point of summer stances of the encounter with Lola. There are, additionally, (as of the writing), the neighborhood multiplexes two beautifully done bridge passages after the first and sec- find themselves wishing they could either get rid of ond runs, which show, slyly, why she gets another chance at Star Wars: The Phantom Menace or at least move changing the outcome. There is a surprising amount of heft, a surviving copy of it to one of their lesser screens. emotional meat on the bones, in this seemingly slight virtuoso Most of you probably know the terms that George exercise in the craft of film, and buried within its telegraphed Lucas stuck the exhibitors with: (a) a 12-week min- shorthand staccato outbursts, a reservoir of deep feeling.