Comments on: The Perfect Vision…now merging with Playback

By: lawrence block

lawrence block — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:21:30 +0000

Not only has the Perfect Vision been far from perfect, or barely useful in the past one to two years, its sister publication, Absolute Sound has deteriorated from what HP first initiated. The redundancy of these publications has been woeful, the review of new product dismal, and the quality of insight for the videophile and audiophile progressively disappearing– much like the US economy. Purchased a Pioneer Elite plasma screen based on your raving review only to have the unit electronically fail within thirty-six hours (review of reliability has been lacking) and the Pioneer service center cannot even put it on the bench for four weeks (review of support?)– there are that many failed units in this area!
I truly regret having to write this diatribe of what used to be the Absolute and Perfect vision of HP. Rest in pieces.

By: David D.

David D. — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:04:29 +0000

Very disappointed and alienated. In its earlier days I was attracted to the Perfect Vision because it was not afraid to print the good or bad aspects of each product with critical in-depth reviews. To help convey this it created a rating system that has been invaluable. The reviews included those often hard to find technical details too. All of this was done with a focus on video presentation and multi-channel listening. In these areas it aspired to be what The Absolute Sound is to a stereo audiophile. It appears all has been lost with your transition to a more comprehensive consumer electronics magazine. While I applaud your business decision to create a more comprehensive magazine I feel you have abandoned what attracted me to the The Perfect Vision. Playback is far too general and misses the critical and technical details I desire. The Absolute Sound is an excellent example of what I’m looking for, but it misses the audience I’m in. I’m looking for the NPR of news, not the mainstream news everyone else offers. I’m very disappointed and sorry to see you abandon the audience you first attracted.

By: nathan

nathan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:25:05 +0000

What’s the world coming to? First the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater disappears into the online ghetto (after becoming UltimateAV in an effort to drum up more advertiser dollars) and now the same has happened to the Perfect Vision. That only a single videophile publication left, Widescreen Review, in a field that used to have three videophile magazines. It’s very sad. Even though the editorial choices of The Perfect Vision had gone downhill during the last 18 months (cell phones in a videophile magazine? and no in depth movie reviews?), I still still mourn this passing.

By: steven miller

steven miller — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:51:24 +0000

I am very disappointed that you are discontinuing The Perfect Vision, and in particular that you are merging it with an online only magazine. I, for one prefer print over online reading. I find having a magazine in my hands is easier to read, portable and accessable without having to be tied to a computer.