Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Uliana Lopatkina was one of the last proteges of legendary Kirov ballerina (and, later, pedagogue) Natalia Dudinskaya. Lopatkina is so loyal to the memory of her teacher that she refuses to dance in the "new-old" reconstructions of Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere, as she considers the reconstructions a betrayal of Dudinskaya's husband, Konstantin Sergeyev, whose stagings of Swan Lake, the Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere and Raymonda were considered the standard stagings in the old Soviet Union.
This Swan Lake is the third full video version of Sergeyev's Swan Lake from the Mariinsky in twenty years. I think that, all things considered, it is also the best, although the film with Yulia Makhalina and Zelensky is also very fine. The reason I give this film the slight edge is that it was filmed in front of a live audience, and thus has a frission and excitement missing from the Makhalina/Zelensky video, which was a "canned" performance. Also, Makhalina in 1990 was a lovely dancer, but very young, and her O/O in my opinion was beautiful but not a fully developed portrayal. Lopatkina also handles the technical challenges of the ballet better than Makhalina.
Sergeyev's Swan Lake, despite employing a jarring happy ending and an annoying jester, remains one of the most elegant versions of the ballet anywhere. The Mariinsky corps de ballet dances Swan Lake as if it were in their blood, making Ivanov's famous "white" acts a hypnotically beautiful experience. The national dances in Act 3 are danced with an impeccable vigor and sense of character. This is Russian ballet at its best.
As for the leads, I admit I find Danila Korsuntsev good-looking but a bit vapid. I wonder if he was chosen because he's one of the few dancers tall enough to partner the 5'10" Lopatkina.
Indeed, from the minute we see her bourree onto the stage, with her long arms flapping slowly like a swan, it is the Lopatkina Show. She is so tall and long-limbed that she makes Syvlie Guillem look petite and stubby. She is the most regal Swan Queen I have ever seen, with strong emphasis on the Queen part. Her Odette has an air of remoteness and inscrutability. You have the feeling that Odette has been a swan for a long, long time, and this is not her first heartbreak. Perhaps to give the idea that this Swan Queen is so very Sad, Lopatkina even eschews the traditional jete of Odette's entrance. Lopatkina's ultra-thin arms give her the illusion of absolute weightlessness. On the one hand, this is incredibly beautiful, with each hand gesture seemingly designed to accompany a note of the score. On the other hand, sometimes it can seem like a lot of "fingers stretch to the left, eyes glance to the right" posing, albeit beautiful posing. There's little sense of spontaneity - indeed, Lopatkina's Odette at times barely seems to be aware that she is dancing *with* Siegfried. The "Love Duet" is danced so slowly Makarova would check her watch, with Lopatkina assuming a trance-like expression from the first unfolding of her arms to the last penchee. It's all a bit marbelized. I wish that there was more warmth behind the magisterial beauty, yet it's an undeniably commanding portrayal, and one that I'm happy was caught on video.
If Lopatkina's Odette has an air of almost supernatural remoteness, her Odile is arrestingly hard, like a diamond. She does not smile seductively -- instead, she has an air of a "touch me and you die" femme fatale, much like a film noir heroine. Whereas her Odette seemed to be a showcase of adagio dancing, her Odile has traces of her teacher Dudinskaya's famed technical brilliance. Her long legs swing through the air like knives. Her Plisetskaya-like red hair seems to glow and clashes brilliantly with her shiny black tutu. Her fouettes are brilliantly executed, with several doubles thrown in. Her long bravas at the end of the act are well-deserved.
I must admit that I really dislike the tacked-on happy ending of Sergeyev's Swan Lake, choreographed to please the Soviet era bigwigs. The beginning of the fourth act is breathtaking beautiful, with the formerly energetic swans of the second act transformed into sad, elegiac creatures. Indeed, there couldn't be a ballerina more unsuited to the happy ending Swan Lake than Lopatkina. Her remoteness works to her advantage in Act IV. Odette has become unreachable, despite Siegfried's pleas. Lopatkina has such a grand air of tragedy in the fourth act, that her sudden transformation to a smiling human is unforgivably jarring. But I suppose no version of Swan Lake is ever fully satisfying, and we should all be grateful that Lopatkina's Odette/Odile was captured on film for posterity.

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TCHAIKOVSKY:SWAN LAKE - DVD Movie

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Pioneer SE-DIR800C Wireless Headphones with Dolby Headphone Technology Review

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(More customer reviews)I had purchased an inexpensive Sony home theater in a box system that was a pretty nice system for the money spent. But I found myself with problems that had nothing to do with the quality of the system. As I watched movies, I was bothered by various ambient noises from my apartment... street noises, the people upstairs, water running through pipes, the hum of the refrigerator, etc. And, if I was hearing noises from the outside, it's a pretty good bet that people on the outside can hear what's coming from inside. So, I needed a solution, and it seemed the mutually beneficial solution was headphones. Unfortunately, while my HT receiver has a headphone jack, it only outputs 2 channel stereo sound, and it seems like a waste to have to rely on that when I have a system capable of outputting 5.1 channel sound. Doing some research I realized there was no way to get surround sound through headphones with the equipment I had, even if I purchased expensive headphones. In fact, many tech-savvy posters on message boards scoffed at the notion of headphones producing surround sound altogether. Fortunately, they are mistaken.
In my research I found out about Dolby Headphone technology and read about the Pioneer SE-DIR800C. Dolby Headphone technology treats the sounds from different channels in a way to make it sound like it's coming from different directions, the directions they would be coming from in a traditional 5.1 based speaker set up. I had heard the effect for myself with cheap stereo headphones and was not overwhelmed. But since the reviews of the Pioneer system were all so good, I decided to blow my tax return on them.
What this Pioneer system does, based entirely on the movie watching experience, is everything I needed. The simulation of surround sound is completely convincing. So much so that I have a hard time believing its simulated. The headphones are well designed, lightweight and comfortable and do a great job of keeping out sound. I've watched several movies so far with them, and often the sounds of the movie are all I can hear through the length of the film... a far cry when I watch movies with my speaker based system. Invariably you forget you are listening to headphones and lose yourself in the film, if you are watching a good film. The sound is clear and open, and the bass is deep, though it can't recreate the effect of an earth shaking subwoofer. But it's such a joy to have the volume cranked up without worrying about disturbing anyone. There are some minor inconveniences with the design of the unit... there's no outputs or remote, for example... but that wouldn't be a problem if you had a separate receiver with an output and remote... just have a single digital output going from your HT receiver to the pioneer receiver and you can still control all your inputs with the HT receiver remote. I wouldn't have minded using a wired headphone but this wireless set is flawless for watching movies (if you're listening to music and want to walk around you'll lose the signal if you leave the room).
The Pioneer receiver has a separate headphone jack, so if you have one friend over (or two perhaps, with a headphone splitter), they can listen. Since I have no headphones as nice as the wireless ones included in the set, I'm not sure if high end headphones plugged into a Dolby Headphones processing jack would be as effective as these headphones. If I didn't already have a speaker based HT system, I might have considered looking for one that has Dolby Headphones processing and purchasing a pair of expensive, high end headphones. But since I already had a system, purchasing this Pioneer system was less expensive (though expensive none the less) and offers me everything I could have possible needed. There is one problem with the headphones... you might get spoiled. After using them I saw a movie in a theater with great DTS sound. But I could hear people whispering, eating popcorn, sucking down the last of their sodas, and a man with respiratory problems, and I found myself wishing I could have been using these headphones in the theater.


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Don't let a sleeping family keep you from your new action adventure movie, DTS 5.1 concert, or online video game tournament by setting up these Pioneer wireless surround sound headphones. The SE-DIR800C phones, which connect to any 5.1-channel source--including a DVD player, game console, digital cable box, or satellite receiver--are equipped with Dolby Headphone technology, which produces up to five virtual loudspeakers in your head by directing and reflecting the sound from each channel. The effect is a stunning surround experience, far more dimensional than with typical headphones, and, some say, even better than with a high-performance surround speaker system. The audio is natural sounding and doesn't cause "listener fatigue" as do many other headphones. The phones also work with a variety of surround formats, including Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Surround.
Most conveniently, the SE-DIR800C phones are completely cordless. The small wireless transmitter connects to your source (DVD player, game console, etc.) and broadcasts a clear, strong signal via infrared technology to the headphones. Thanks to the wireless technology, you won't snag a headphone cord on furniture, your dog, your glasses, or anything else.
The phones feature a trio of "virtual room" presets from which to choose. The options actually reproduce the sound of a playback system in up to three different listening environments based on the acoustic measurements of real rooms. The small room setting (DH1) re-creates a small, well-damped room with very little reverberation that's perfect for both movies and music-only recordings, while the medium room (DH2) is a more acoustically live (or "wet") room that's well suited to both formats as well (with moderate reverberation). Meanwhile, the large room setting (DH3) offers a bigger sound, more like the audio within a concert hall or movie theater.
A final bonus stems from the onboard volume control. With a volume dial on the headphone itself, users can easily turn up the audio without getting out of the chair. The SE-DIR800C phones, which offer a transmission range of up to 26 feet, are an ideal choice for folks who live in busy households where people go to sleep early, or for anyone who wants a little audio privacy while watching movies or listening to music. The phones are backed by a 90-day warranty on parts and labor.
What's in the Box Wireless headphones, transmitter, rechargeable AA batteries, charger, coaxial digital cable, two-way stand, user's manual.

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Actiontec Ethernet Over Coax MoCA Adapter - Twin Pack Review

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(More customer reviews)My Environment:
I want to use my PS3 to access Netflix , HULU (via PlayOn) and the shows that are recorded in my PC (a combination of HD and SD). My PC is upstairs (where the cable modem is) and my TV is downstairs where i do not have any Ethernet port and rewiring is not an option in my home.
Various Methods Used for connectivity:
Tried Wireless G and N but was never able to stream anything from my PC. Then tried various power line products from Sling, Belkin (rated as 1000 MBPS) but was not satisfied. Belkin one worked quite well but was not consistent, something was interfering and impacting the performance as the output would vary wildly at different times. Then heard about MOCA technology and was initially skeptical but wanted to try it out.
Set up using Actiontec MOCA device:
Ordered these Actiontec ones as they are cheaper than Netgear ones. Received them and all the package had was the two units, two Ethernet cables, power cards and a sheet of paper with instructions. Just plugged them in with the following set up and within few min the set up was done and configured my PS3 to use wired connection.
Coax from wall --> Input of first unit ,Output of first unit --> Cable modem.(Office) and then plugged in the ethernet cable from my router to the ethernet port of first unit
Coax from wall --> Input of second unit,Output of second unit--> STB(Living Room)and then plugged in the ethernet cable from the second unit to the PS3.
Input is labeled as Coax and output is labeled as STB/TV on the two Actiontec units
So far did not see any degradation in the TV signal or the internet connection.One thing to note is, if you want to use this set up i,e use this as a pass trough for your Coax signal, you need a couple of Coax cables(F-pin) which are not included and might be better to order along with these units, if you want to do the set up right away.
Conclusion:
I did not measure the throughput and do not know if my home has any splitters or amplifiers but could see reliable connectivity and could stream HD video (only have 1080i) flawlessly,Netflix and HULU worked quite well and would recommend it to anyone who has Coax wires all around the house. I hope that the same performance continues in the future and do not have to update this review.


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The MoCA Network Adapter bridges the divide between coaxial cable and Ethernet networks, allowing users to experience the future of home multimedia experience home today. Designed specifically for homes with cable television, this MoCA adapter is strong enough to handle any transfer load and is optimized to provide high-speed delivery of all multimedia applications. Leverages the existing coax wiring in any home for fast network connections. Eliminates the need for rewiring or settling for lesser-performing wireless solutions. Perfect for home theater/home entertainment, gaming or simply adding an Ethernet connection where coax exists.

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Sony STR-DG500 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver Review

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(More customer reviews)This 6.1 reciever offers 110 w/channel with subwoofer output. Sony has clearly worked to make the receiver smarter to provide the best audio experience with minimal intervention from the user: a microphone input (mic provided) automatically locates each speaker attached and balances all outputs.
If you're interested in simply having great home theater experience, without excessive tweaking, this is the reciever for you.
Pros - multiple a/v inputs, with support for component video and and optical connections for dvd audio.
Cons - no upsampling video sources (component output from component input only), no optical connection for cd players.

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The STR-DG500 Home A/V Receiver delivers the digital world to your living room and beyond. Designed as Sony's entry level surround sound receiver performance and simplicity are the key. With 110 Watts X 6 this receiver is truly a powerhouse and coupled with Digital Cinema Auto Calibration setup is a simple as connecting the supplied microphone and pressing a button.

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Epson EX31 Multimedia Projector Review

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(More customer reviews)This projector works great; easy set up, clear picture, simple controls, and even easy keystone adjustment. The one thing I didn't expect was to hear it. If you're getting it for powerpoint presentations, it may be a little loud. I use it for videos so the volume of the video overpowers the projector, but I was disappointed because I do also use it in a small classroom setting where it would be nice if I couldn't hear it. I don't know Dbs, but it's louder than I had hoped. The Decibals weren't listed in the specs. That would've been nice.


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Epson EX31 Multimedia Projector

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ZVOX 325 High-Performance Single-Cabinet Surround Sound System Review

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(More customer reviews)This is by far the best sounding, easiest to set up all in one theater system I have owned or heard, bar none. I have owned many 5.1 systems, and also two different soundbar systems (the highly rated Sony HT CT-100 being one of them), and the zvox 325 is the best bang for the buck.
Crystal Clear vocals, smooth bass, and the phase cue option is great for action movies (Wanted and Matrix Blu-ray sounded amazing, although music sounds much better with the phase cue turned almost all the way off.)
While the CT-100 worked great in my bedroom, vocals were still a problem, and the bass was way too punchy even at lower levels. Since I had just ditched and sold all my 5.1 equipment (yamaha 1000 watt receiver, boston acoustics bookshelves, and some older bose fronts) the last thing I wanted to do was run wires all over my condo, as well as have my fiance complain about space issues and how confusing it was for her to just watch tv through the internal speakers. I also did not want to drop thousands of dollars on other sound bar systems just because they had digital audio and hdmi switching capabilities.
My hdtv has 4 hdmi inputs, which is more than enough for me. I have my blu ray, wii, and hd cable all run through hdmi into the tv (except for wii, component), and the analog audio out to the zvox 325. I still do not buy the digital audio is always better bs, as this sounds 10x clearer than my ct-100, and can go twice as loud through a stereo mini jack! No, it is not true 5.1, but during movies I can hear background effects side to side, and most importantly, I can actually HEAR the dialogue. If there is one con, its the flimsy remote, but I can deal with it. I think zvox now has a customer for life, and for $299, I dare you to do better.

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The ZVOX 325 is the perfect choice for someone who wants to add terrific sound to a television – without the complication and expense of a 5.1 surround sound system. It delivers remarkably accurate, wide-range sound from a single compact cabinet; with only one connecting wire\'.and a one-page owner\'s manual. The 325 was created by legendary speaker designer Winslow Burhoe (founder of EPI Loudspeakers and Burhoe Acoustics). Frankly, we are amazed at how good the 325 sounds. It is simply delightful. Female vocalists sound warm, rich and natural. Music is reproduced with true high fidelity. Live concerts sound big and airy and awesome. Movie soundtracks are delivered with startling realism - including punchy, accurate bass. Even sporting events take on a new dimension with the 325 – you\'ll hear details you\'ve never heard before. And all sound is reproduced with a sense of distortion-free ease. Never before has an audio system offered this combination of high performance, small size, simplicity and affordability. Just hook up its single connecting wire and you will transform your TV into a terrific home theater system...but without all the wires and boxes. "The 325 sounded great. An awesome system." - Sound & Vision magazine "Inspires sincere gadget lust...surprisingly good surround sound." - PC World "Superior to most we've tested." - CNET "Remarkable. We're amazed." - Maximum PC magazine "Great sound." - About.com

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