So many hi-tech product reviews on the net today are completely useless. Take iPod reviews, for example. If you search for reviews of the iPod, about 90% of the ones you'll find will conclude that the iPod "sounds great!" However, almost no review will have any measured data to quantify their opinion, except for reviewers like Bill Machrone [machroneblog, ipodnanomachrone], who shows via actual measurement that most iPods are unable to reproduce low bass frequencies.
Case in point for this DVD Player review on the popular HD Beat blog. The reviewer somehow decided that the Helios HVD2085 is a "very good DVD player," partially justified by his "true scientific" single blind test with an SVGA (read: NON-HD!) plasma screen at his local electronics super store. He even lets it slip that his main TV at home is an old 36" Sony that doesn't even support progressive scan input. Great "review", pal.
In the mean time, the crew at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity reviewed this same DVD player in their long-running DVD Shootout performance test. Their conclusion, backed up by actual performance test data? This DVD Player is a complete turd.
The real bummer with the number of lame reviews is that they clutter Google search results with useless info. I wish there was a Google button called "Cull the Crap."
