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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
Technical Consultant,Audio . . . . . . .Richard Marsh
Contributing Writers . . . . . . . .Alice Artzt, Bill Cruce,
Thom Duffy, Neil Gader, Bob Gendron,
Robert Harley, Alen Koebel, Bruce Lawton,
Tom Martin, Andrew Quint,
Barry Rawlinson, Paul Seydor,
Jonathan Valin, Heidi Waleson
Art Director . . . . .Nancy Josephson for Design Farm
Proofreader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aubin Parrish
Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gary Oliver, Illustrations
David Omer, Cover Photography
Steve Friedman, Benigni Photos
Absolute Multimedia, Inc.
Chair man and CEO . . . . . . .Thomas B. Martin, Jr.
Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mark Fisher
Finance & Adminst ration . . . . . . . . . .Trish Kunz
Accoun ting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Scott Pettit
Advertising Represen t ati ves . . . . . . .Anne Hart,
Mike Grellman
Circulation Manager . . . . . . . . . .Steven Wa y n e r
Legal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jim Robinson
Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vito Colaprico (printing),
Richard Sabella (HP’s business),
Howard Arber (HP’s legal affairs)
www.theperfectvision.com
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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
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T
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-
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 Ti g 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.
W h 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 q u 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.
S R
I N T H I S I S S U E
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