Are you prepared for the Ludovico treatment?

KOROVA AWARDS 2003-2008

2008
01. THE FALL (Tarsem Singh, UK)
02. IN BRUGES (Martin McDonagh, UK)
03. CHOP SHOP (Ramin Bahrani, USA)
04. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS (Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
05. BREATH (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea)
06. FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLON (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, France)
07. FUNNY GAMES (Michael Haneke, UK)
08. THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (Faith Akin, Germany/Turkey)
09. MAD DETECTIVE (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, Hong Kong)
10. PARANOID PARK (Gus Van Sant, USA)

2007
01. THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA)
02. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel & Ethan Coen, USA)
03. EASTERN PROMISES (David Cronenberg, UK)
04. WAITRESS (Adrienne Shelly, USA)
05. ONCE (John Carney, Ireland)
06. GRINDHOUSE: PLANET TERROR (Robert Rodriguez, USA)
07. THE HOST (Bong Joon-ho, South Korea)
08. PAPRIKA (Satoshi Kon, Japan)
09. THE BOSS OF IT ALL (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
10. TIME (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea)

2006
01. UNITED 93 (Paul Greengrass, USA)
02. MANDERLAY (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
03. BATTLE IN HEAVEN (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)
04. L'ENFANT (Jean Pierre-Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, France)
05. THREE TIMES (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan)
06. SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (Park Chan-wook, South Korea)
07. DUCK SEASON (Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico)
08. THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
09. CAVITE (Neill Dela Llana & Ian Gamazon, Philippines)
10. THE PROPOSITION (John Hillcoat, Australia)

2005
01. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong)
02. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (David Cronenberg, USA)
03. OLD BOY (Park Chan-wook, South Korea)
04. BIN-JIP/3-IRON (Kim Ki-Duk, South Korea)
05. KONTROLL (Nimrod Antal, Hungary)
06. VOZVRASHCHENIYE/THE RETURN (Andrei Zvyaginstev, Russia)
07. OR (MONS TRESOR) (Keren Yedeya, Israel)
08. LAST DAYS (Gus Van Sant, USA)
09. LA NINA SANTA/THE HOLY GIRL (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina)
10. DARE MO SHIRANAI/NOBODY KNOWS (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan)

2004
01. DOGVILLE (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
02. OPEN WATER (Chris Kentis, USA)
03. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (Jared Hess, USA)
04. BEFORE SUNSET (Richard Linklater, USA)
05. KILL BILL VOLUME 2 (Quentin Tarantino, USA)
06. FAHRENHEIT 911 (Michael Moore, USA)
07. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Michael Gondry, USA)
08. YING XIONG/HERO (Yimou Zhang, China)
09. SHAUN OF THE DEAD (Edgar Wright, UK )
10. THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD (Guy Maddin, Canada)

2003
01. ELEPHANT (Gus van Zant, USA)
02. LOST IN TRANSLATION (Sofia Coppola, USA)
03. 21 GRAMS ( Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, USA)
04. SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...and SPRING (Kim Ki-Duk, South Korea)
05. AMERICAN SPLENDOR (Shari Springer Bergman, USA )
06. CIDADE DE DEUS/CITY OF GOD (Fernando Meirelles, Brazil)
07. LE TEMPS DU LOUP/TIME OF THE WOLF (Michael Haneke, France)
08. KILL BILL VOLUME 1 (Quentin Tarintino, USA)
09. LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (Peter Jackson, USA)
10. THE STATION AGENT (Thomas McCarthy, USA)

The Technology of the Korova Theatre
So what infernal devices make up the Korova Theatre? I'm glad you asked. If you are going to follow any of my recommendations based on PQ (image quality) or SQ (sound quality) then you need to know what equipment I use. Makes sense, dunnit? I have upgraded my theatre over the past few years because I believe it's important to watch a film in the particular way that the director envisioned: OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) only in my house! DVD has become the standard format replacing VHS in the past ten years. VHS was plagued by poor image and sound quality, almost every release was pan & scan, and a tape contained no extra content. They were also a bitch to rewind constantly which would wear out the tape. DVD came along with superior PQ and new 5.1 remaster audio for surround sound setups, and boat-loads of extras. But things change. Blu-Ray (BD) has won the war of competing High-Definition formats. These discs contain 1080p video remasters and new amazing PCM lossless soundtracks that are truly unbelievable!

COMING SOON!
JVC DLA-RS10 High-Definition Projector and 106 inch Draper M1300 White Screen with 1.1 gain. I am currently building a dedicated Theatre Room that will be acoustically treated with optimal light management control. The RS10 will be ceiling mounted and the screen permanently fixed to the wall. The room dimensions are 12 feet wide x 17 feet long and will seat eight people comfortably. All cables (speaker wires, HDMI, Subwoofer) are custom made from Blue Jeans Cables.

01. Mitsubishi 55413 CRT High-Definition Television. This is the centerpiece of the Korova. It is a lovely 1080i rear-projection unit with outstanding film-like PQ that can't be matched by fixed pixel displays (IMHO). This set has been professionally modified by Craig Rounds. He has twice done a complete calibration including the 2% overscan and which just takes the PQ to a whole new level. He has also calibrated the set to be compatible with all of the other components listed below.
02. Lumagen HDQ Video Processor. All of my componants pass through the processor via HDMI so I have one cable to my reciever and only one to the TV. Check out the Lumagen HDQ specs.
03. Denon 2930CI DVD Player. This player has been modified to be region free and has a standard 16 meg PAL converter. I believe this to be the finest region-free player under a thousand bucks! This is connected to the Lumagen through HDMI at 480i (yes, this Denon allows a pure 480i signal to be output!) and is then upscaled through the Lumagen to 1080i. The layer change in this machine is seemless too.
04. Toshiba HD-XA1 High Definition DVD Player. I have the latest firmware installed and the HD image quality is outstanding. I have compared HD discs to their DVD counterparts and the contrast is shocking: I did not realize how much information (re: quality) was missing on DVD due to the limitations of the format. The Toshiba is connected via HDMI to the Lumagen then passed through my Yamaha so it can decode all the high resolution PCM audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is an epiphany. The Toshiba upscales better than the Denon surprisingly enough!
05. Playstation 3 Blu-ray DVD Player. I have the PS3 connected via HDMI to the Lumagen and then passed through the Yamaha. Lossless PCM is outstanding! BTW: I don't use the PS3 for video games and have discovered the usefullness of the optional remote. My only complaint is that it's not the best for upconverting DVD.
06. ONKYO TS-SR606 7.1 Home Theatre Reciever. This mid-priced Onkyo reciever is one hell of a bargain! It decodes all of the new lossless audio codes such as DolbyTrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital Plus, et al. It has a video Pass-Through mode that allows the signal to be passed unfiltered without clipping black/white levels and also passes 1080p 24/fps unmolested. With my external scaler, this reciever is useless for upscaling and I would not recommend it if that is your primary need. The 606 has 4 HDMI inputs which is very helpful so no switcher is needed (which can sometimes be problematic). The 90 watts per channel powers my 7.1 setup with accuracy and headroom while delivering a nice punch when needed. The Audyssey setup works quite well but a little tweaking is necessary. The only drawback is that this reciever has no Phono Input, but that is easily fixed. (See below).
07. Music Hall-PA 1.2 Phono Preamp (MM & MC). A very nice little preamp that allows a hookup through an unused Onkyo Stereo (red/white) input. Delivers a very smooth and warm sound, better than any built-in preamp in most recievers!
08. Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Turntable. Vinyl is not dead! I replaced the standard cartridge with an Audio-Technica 440MLa and the difference was astounding. Welcome to the warm and lush vibes of true vinyl sound.
09. Polk RTi10 Tower Front Speakers; Polk CSi5 Center Channel, Polk FXi5 Rear Side Surrounds; Polk RTi8 Tower Rear Surrounds: (7.1). These speakers are voice matched and sound great! I have these speakers bi-wired for optimal performance. I have the Onkyo speaker setting adjusted to Full for the Front Speakers while my Sub handles the LFE. All other speakers are set to Small with a 50-60hz crossover.
10. 12" Polk PSW505 300 Watt Powered Subwoofer. This powered subwoofer can shake the room. I have the crossover frequency set to 80hz and the speaker setting (on reciever) to FULL, but not DOUBLE BASS! I want my front speakers faithfully reproducing all the high and mid-range sounds and let this unit handle everything below the crossover. I have this floating on a Auralex SubDude isoaltion platform and the bass is less punchy and much more focused. What a great tweak for under $50!