Blog for Hificables.co.uk

We became fans of the Furutech GT40 some months ago. It seems to us that anyone interested in listening to high quality music from a computer would inevitably want to squeeze the maximum quality and detail from their music.  This means avoiding use of the onboard DAC and taking the output to a dedicated DAC using a high quality USB cable. But since many users will want to listen using premium headphones the best way to get optimum results means also using a headphone amplifier. The Furutech GT40 makes this easy by combining both within a single unit.

The reason we rate the Furutech GT40 is that it offers a superb headphone listening experience with the minimum of clutter at a realistic price.

It is important when using the GT40 to use a high quality USB cable. We are aware that many people think that because the cable is digital it must be error free and thus all cables will sound the same. But we have performed our own audio test with digital coaxial and digital USB cables and confirmed that quality cables have a noticeably better sound that cheap ones.

The GT40 has another trick up it’s sleeve that is of great use to someone who is digitising their vinyl collection. It incorporates a high quality MM and MC cartridge input that digitises analogue audio. So it works superbly if you are ripping your vinyl collection and wanting high quality results.

What Hi-Fi must agree with us because they have awarded the GT40 the prestigious title of product of the year in the 2011 awards. A well deserved win for Furutech.

To learn more click Furutech GT40.

Paul Connecting Kit, Films, General, hdmi, Product Reviews, technical

"It'd be funny if life wasn't so sacred."

FilmFour HD recently launched exclusively on the Virgin HD service (take that Sky subscribers!) and I’ve been recording a few films on the handy V+ hard drive. The quality of Channel 4 HD is very good on Virgin and FilmFour looks to be equally good, and without the distracting channel indent in the corner of the screen, which is nice.

The other night, I curled up with my girlfriend to watch one of these recordings- The Fly, made in 1958, starring Vincent Price and David Hedison. I’m a big fan of David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, but I’d only seen the original once before, many years ago on terrestrial TV. I could have sworn it was in black and white, and I’m sure the channel panned and scanned the film to fit square TV’s (thanks guys, I only wanted to see 51% of the picture!). Surprisingly enough, FilmFour’s CinemaScope Technicolor presentation was quite an improvement. HD is great for brand new films and demo-material documentaries like Planet Earth, but I find there’s something nice about seeing an old film in HD. Notice the detail in Vincent Price’s Brylcreemed 50′s style hair? Spot the wallpaper pretending to be real woodwork on the set! Thrill to the blue-bottle with it’s head painted white! Actually, we had to pause the film for a minute and discuss just HOW they managed to paint the fly’s head white…was the ‘fly-wrangler’ able to hold it in place? Did they hide some paint in a pile of sugar and chuckle as the fly, blissfully unaware, painted it’s own head? Fascinating stuff.

As much fun as spotting extra HD detail is, the main reason The Fly 1958 inspired this article is, it’s very good. Maybe even as good as the remake. I couldn’t help but notice (once I’d marveled at Vincent Price’s hair a couple more times) that the underlying themes of the remake are all present and correct in the original. David Cronenberg, the hack, had half his work done for him. I’m only kidding of course, David Cronenberg is no hack director, but his glorious remake mostly built on the originals ideas.

In the 50′s, a time when you could (so they tell us now) leave your doors unlocked at night, the big fears were nuclear war and scientists ‘gone mad’. Scientists ‘gone mad’ building nuclear weapons? YIKES. A lot of the horror and sci-fi of the day featured giant nuclear bugs (science created this monster!) and alien invasion (look out, the Commies will get you!). The Fly was one of the most popular crazy scientist movies, a huge hit spawning two sequels and (thirty years later) a remake and a sequel to the remake. Today, in this climate of remakes gone mad, there is (of course) talk of another remake. In 3D, probably.

Where was I? A bit scared actually, my mind just wandered to that money-spider hanging from the HiFi Cables office loo ceiling… I’ll get back to those themes, present in the original and remake. Our mad scientist in the original (played by David Hedison, Felix in the Timothy Dalton Bond movies) uses his (patent-pending) DISINTEGRATOR-REINTEGRATOR machine to teleport (a term apparently not-coined in 1958) himself a few metres through space. Tragically, he didn’t notice the housefly hitching a ride, if only the maid had used the anti-bac spray in the kitchen more often. I wonder if anti-bac spray was available in 1958, it would have been a lot easier to invent than a DISINTEGRATOR-REINTEGRATOR, surely, and could have prevented all this horror. Anyway, the teleport promptly flips-out and swaps the scientist’s head with the fly’s head (eeewww!) and, just for good measure, swaps his arm with (look away now kiddies) the fly’s leg. In the remake, this transformation happens much more gradually, the scientist slowly and painfully becomes a human-fly hybrid. This allows Cronenberg to delve a lot deeper into the psychology of a human beginning to think like a fly. In one touching and quite disturbing scene, Jeff Goldblum has a great speech about how he, the human-fly, will become the very first insect politician. It’s tragic stuff, the humanity of the scientist, trying to reason with the insect controlling him. The insect just wants to eat, well, everything and that’s quite anti-social you see. In the original, there’s no suggestion of an insect politician, because his instant fly head renders speech impossible. This forces David Hedison to communicate with his wife via typing (with his good arm), knocking (once for yes, twice for no) and, in the most poignant scene, writing “Need fly. Love you.” on a blackboard while trying to keep his fly arm at bay. Hedison needs the white-headed, white-legged fly to (help meee, help meeeee!) get his head and arm back. Ladies, ever tried catching one particular fly and having your husband’s life depend on it? Didn’t think so. It’s pretty frustrating and adds a great deal of suspense to the film (the remake missed a trick by removing this element). Surprisingly, catching it in his hair did not occur to Vincent Price…

shane Films home cinema

In a new series on our Facebook page and blog, I’ll be frequently posting articles relating to home cinema.

When I say ‘home cinema’, I use this term quite loosely. These pieces could discuss anything from the quality of the Blu-ray release of My Name is Bruce, to an anecdote about the time a two-litre bottle of Coke hit me on the head during a screening of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at a Cannon Cinema in 1989. These articles are called ‘Random Home Cinema Thoughts’, if I try to bring any kind of order to them, I expect I’ll over think and decide not to write one that day, or any day. Which would be a lot less fun for my readers.

Now, that’s where YOU come in. Hopefully, my random thoughts will provoke your random thoughts and I’ll be inundated with comments agreeing or disagreeing we me. Maybe you’ll simply not believe that a two-litre bottle of Coke could hit anyone on the head during a public film screening, sounds a little far fetched, no? Or perhaps my assessment of My Name is Bruce on Blu-ray (great special features, ropey transfer) will rub you the wrong way…heck, you could love Bruce Campbell even more than I do, you might even have every episode of Zena: Warrior Princess on DVD…where am I going with this? Oh yes, agree or disagree, make some comments and provoke more random home cinema thoughts. That’s why a lot of us are here, we’re a bit keen on home cinema aren’t we?

Anyway, that’s the intro, keep an eye out for the first article…

Great special features, ropey transfer.

shane Films home cinema

This may come as suprise to many people but if you sit too far away from a 1080P screen showing a Blu Ray film your investment in the 1080P extra resolution is wasted. How can this be?

Even a person with perfect eyesite can only detect a certain amount of detail in an image. The further away you are the less detail your eye can detect.

If you sit too far away from the screen your eye can only detect the level of detail that 720P resolution provides. So even if you replaced your 1080P with a 720P screen of the same size you would not notice the difference.

To put this another way lets assume that your sofa that you like to watch films on is 9 feet from the wall where your flat screen is mounted. If you buy a 46″ screen your vision can only detect the resolution that a 720P screen is capable of at this distance. If you buy a 46″ 1080P screen instead you pay more money but will not be able to notice the difference. To get the full benefit of a 1080P screen you would need to buy a 70″ screen…….which is going to be rather expensive. You will save an awful lot of money by moving the sofa nearer to the screen. But how close does it need to go if you buy the 46″ 1080P screen? Well the answer is to get the full benefit of that high resolution screen the sofa has to move 3ft so that your viewing distance is reduced to 6ft.

The optimum viewing distances for popular screen sizes are:

You can see a more detailed chart here.

But the crux of of of this is that if you want to experience the full Blu Ray effect it is cheaper to move your sofa closer to the wall than to buy a screen big enough to get the full HD experience.

Paul Films, General

We recently wrote about Chord bringing out a more affordable HDMI cable, the new Chord HDMI supershield. Well they have now followed quickly with a new premium HDMI cable that replaces the Silver Plus and takes them even more upmarket with a higher price.

The new Chord Active Silver Plus has an RRP of £155.00 wheras the previous Silver Plus was £85.00. This takes the new cable into definite premium territory for the home cinema enthusiast who has high standards and is willing to pay a significant price to achieve them.

Chord HDMI Silver Plus Active

As you can see from the picture the Active has a filter built into all lengths of the cable which is designed to improve the subjective quality of audio signals transmitted by the cable. Early feedback from customers confirms this to be true. It will be interesting to see an in depth review in one of the magazines.

Click here to see the new Chord cable: Chord HDMI Silver Active Plus

Paul Films, hdmi, Product Reviews, technical

1. Cloverfield
2. JCVD
3. Iron Man
4. The Dark Knight
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Okay, you have your new home cinema system all set up with the quality cables which will give you the best picture and sound, so what’s next? Well, if you’re like me, endless tweaking of the picture settings will ensue! But I’m sure you’re not as fussy as I am in that department and you’ll probably just want to get on with enjoying some great films in 1080P!

I would like to suggest the five films above. Why? Because in my humble opinion, they’re the latest and greatest. They’re also available on Blu-Ray…

A few thoughts on each movie…

5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Most people agree that the original Indiana Jones trilogy is one of the greatest in cinema history. But Indiana Jones, version 2008, divides opinion. Most dislike it (to say the least!), some (including my twelve year old nephew) love it. I like it.

Yes, it’s a bit strange, some sequences (involving monkeys and other ‘creatures’ especially) are VERY strange. And it’s just odd to see Indiana Jones in 1957, dressed in his c.1935-1938 clothes…they looked great covered in dust from the Well of Souls, but not so hot in a nuclear testing site. Anyway, this blog isn’t about hero fashions, so I’ll move on! The thing is, I had a huge grin on my face throughout this film. It took me back to seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time (on VHS and a 20inch CRT TV). I remembered pestering my parents to take me to see The Temple of Doom at the cinema. And I was right back in that cinema queue for The Last Crusade, with my friends this time because I was finally old enough to go to the cinema without ‘grown-ups’.

I really don’t understand how anyone can hate The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I say just accept it, for all it’s flaws, and enjoy one more great adventure. How could ANY film live up to twenty years of nostalgic glows? If Harrison Ford himself met you after the flick and bought you a beer, would even that top the excitement of discovering Raiders, aged 9? I don’t think so.

4. The Dark Knight

Warning: I’m going to be a bit controversial here. Okay, you’re reading on, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

In my humble opinion, The Dark Knight is a very good film, one of the best of 2008. It’s a fantastic SEQUEL. But it’s not a fantastic film, not like BATMAN BEGINS. There. I said it. Please don’t lynch me!

Why? Well, most of what’s great about The Dark Knight builds upon the fine work already done in Batman Begins. After years of gaudy, campy, panto Batman films (Batman Forever, Batman and Robin…eugh!), Batman Begins was an amazing re-boot and a REAL Batman film at last. We had a futuristic, stylised Gotham City filled with realistic characters, creepy fantasy elements and worthwhile themes of loyalty, honour and justice.

The Dark Knight, as great as it is, loses a lot of those qualities and gains Heath Ledger. Now, don’t get me wrong, gaining Ledger’s remarkable performance as The Joker is a seriously big gain, but I would have loved seeing this Joker terrorise the Gotham City of Batman Begins…not just plain old Detroit as seen in The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight is a crime film (reminiscent of Heat) featuring comic book characters, and a very good one. Batman Begins is a very good comic book film. The Dark Knight gained grit and reality yet somehow lost the passion, heroism and magic of it’s predecessor. For me, anyway.

3. Iron Man

For me, Iron Man comes in at number three. Perhaps an antidote to The Dark Knight’s darkness was needed…

Comic book movies seem to come in three types these days:

1. The dark, brooding, gritty ones which dare to take the comics seriously and aim for an adult audience (but kids can watch too…for the most part): Batman Begins, The Dark Knight…

2. The light (in tone and visuals) ones aimed directly at kids, but leave adults longing for type 1: Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider…

3. The ones for the whole family which manage to hit both of the above: Spider-Man, Iron-Man, The Incredible Hulk…

Iron Man falls squarely under type 3. The film does a great job of mixing the tough political, arms-dealing elements with the action-adventure and comedy the kids will enjoy…and I enjoyed too. There’s a nice link to The Incredible Hulk as well…also worth a look.

2. JCVD

JCVD is the least known film on my list, so I’ll give you a little background info. Jean-Claude Van-Damme (stay with me here) plays himself, returning to Brussels after a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife. He arrives back in his small hometown and after signing a few autographs, goes into the bank to withdraw some money, only to find the bank being robbed and becoming one of the hostages himself.

In view of Van-Dammes recent straight-to-DVD output, you would be forgiven for thinking the above premise would result in a cheesy, very unremarkable film. You would be WRONG. JCVD is a revelation. The film is in French and shot with a washed-out palette, practically black & white at times, bringing a documentary-style urgency to the proceedings.

Evidently inspired by the 70’s Al Pacino film Dog Day Afternoon, JCVD is an uncompromising, suspenseful and darkly funny film. But that’s not all, remember that ‘revelation’ comment? Mr. Jean Claude Van-Damme is the revelation here. Van-Damme, acting in his native language (for the first time), inspired to bare more than just his pecs, delivers a performance of such honesty, such raw intensity, such humanity…I was moved to tears.

1. Cloverfield

Big in 2008? The first-person camera, POV (point of view) movie. The Spanish film [REC], it’s US remake Quarantine, Diary of the Dead and Cloverfield. The POV camera film made a major comeback. Unfortunately, this gimmick may get old as quickly as it did the first time around, but before that happens…remember one thing: Cloverfield ROCKS.

Some complain of the lack of logic, the lack of plot, the lack of video camera batteries, but I say these are minor quibbles when a film delivers this level of pulse-pounding excitement.

It’s tempting to discuss the film’s premise and content, but it’s much more fun to go in cold and see it for yourself…I say get the Blu-Ray, read as little as possible on the cover and prepare for a rollercoaster ride!

shane Films