TRACK ONE
S&V software reviews matter.
A RECENT reader comment on soundandvision.com gave high praise to the magazine’s A/V equipment reviews, but then went on to condemn our “weak” attempts to review movies on Blu-ray disc. The gist of the message was that movie disc reviews are best left to websites that can cover them on a timely basis, as opposed to the weeks or even months that it takes for Sound & Vision to turn out reviews of the same titles.
While I understand (to a point) where the commenter is coming from, I’d like to make a case here for the importance of movie and music reviews in Sound & Vision magazine.
Yes, product reviews and tech info are undoubtedly the main reasons why readers turn to S&V— those topics are clearly our speciality. But I’d also argue that A/V gear should not exist in a vacuum. Movies and music are the lifeblood of what we do; nobody goes through the trouble of putting together a high-performance system simply to view video test patterns and listen to audio test tones. (And if you do, well….)
The above-average systems that our mag’s reviewers have access to also make us uniquely qualified to comment on the visual and sonic quality of a particular release. When a review in Sound & Vision points out the crisp picture on a specific disc, or the dynamic character of its soundtrack, you can take that info to the bank. This is probably the biggest advantage S&V offers over more general disc review sites.
I’d also like to comment on the caliber of Sound & Vision’s stable of reviewers. Chris Chiarella is a film fanatic who has been churning out disc reviews since way back in the laserdisc days. Josef Krebs is a cineaste with a deep knowledge of classic, independent, and international film. Thomas J. Norton and David Vaughn are not just gear reviewers, but movie buffs with state-of-the-art home theaters who also regularly attend theatrical screenings for reference. As for music, S&V music editor Mike Mettler is a lifelong collector with an extensive vinyl and CD archive. Mike also has what is probably one of the world’s most complete libraries of 5.1 surround music on DVD, Blu-ray, SACD, and Dvd-audio, which he regularly digs into as a resource for Remaster Class.
To sum up, I am in total agreement with the suggestion that disc review websites like The Digital Bits, Blu-ray.com, and High-def Digest (not to mention Cinesavant and Dvdbeaver) do a solid job of covering the latest releases, and doing so on a timely basis. But let’s not completely count Sound & Vision out of the disc reviewing biz. We may be slower on the draw, but our bullet almost always hits its target.