Scott Wilkinson

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How Often Do You Go Out To The Movies?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 03, 2012  |  14 comments
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PCM or Bitstream from Blu-ray Player
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 03, 2012  |  6 comments
Which is best, PCM or bitstream from a Blu-ray player to the A/V receiver? I have reviewed many posts on various forums, but I have not found a definitive answer. I have an Onkyo TX-SR608 AVR and an LG Blu-ray player capable of decoding DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD lossless audio. I view Blu-ray discs and regular DVDs about 50/50; certainly Blu-ray when available. Should I set the player to output PCM or bitstream? Why one over the other? Do I need to tell the AVR which stream is incoming?

James

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New TV for Super Bowl XLVI
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 01, 2012  |  18 comments
I need a new big-screen TV for the big game. I can afford between $2000 and $2500. I was told that plasma is way better than LCD, so I have spent about three weeks researching my options. I finally narrowed it down to either the Samsung PN64D7000 or Panasonic TC-P65ST30.

I promptly went to BrandsMart just to look at the two and finally decide which one. Of course, BrandsMart had neither model, but then the salesman tried to sell me on LED, which I had not researched before. He said plasma technology is on its way out and LED was the wave of the future, and that the Sharp LC-70LE735U was what I needed. What's your take on this?

Also, does it make sense to buy the same brand of TV, sound system, and Blu-ray player? Lastly, not being a techie, is it really hard to connect all three?

Rich Mickiewicz

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 97: Diego Stocco
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 31, 2012  |  0 comments
Sound designer Diego Stocco reveals how he makes almost any common object into a musical instrument, how he developed the Experibass (which Hans Zimmer hired him to play on the score for the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes), the benefits of mixing to multichannel rather than 2-channel, the importance of high-quality audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more. We also get to watch and hear clips of some of Stocco's amazing music.

Run Time: 1:03:28

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How Many Oscar-Nominated Movies Have You Seen?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 27, 2012  |  7 comments
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Blown Speaker
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 27, 2012  |  9 comments
I recently added Energy CF-50 towers to my system. My other equipment includes Definitive Technology C/L/R 2002 center and SM 350 bookshelf speakers for the surrounds, all powered by a Denon AVR-1912. I'm concerned that I may be underpowering my speakers, because within the first two weeks, the left speaker blew out. Luckily, I was able to exchange the blown speaker, but my question is, should I upgrade to a more-powerful receiver?

Dan Marchio

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Best Blu-ray Output for 1366x768 TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 25, 2012  |  2 comments
I have a Sony KDL-32M4000 LCD TV, which has a native pixel resolution of 1366x768. It can accept a 720p or 1080i video signal, but not 1080p. So which looks better for watching Blu-ray, 720p or 1080i? The TV seems to auto-select 1080i.

Jim Irwin

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 96: Phil "Captain 3D" McNally
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 24, 2012  |  1 comments
Phil "Captain 3D" McNally, stereoscopic supervisor at DreamWorks Animation, talks about why he thinks 3D is here to stay after several previous attempts to bring it to the market, why people have such strong opinions about 3D, the difference between real-life 3D and stereoscopic images, what makes a good 3D presentation, how filmmakers can support the story with 3D while avoiding eye strain and other negative side effects, active versus passive glasses, autostereoscopic displays, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Run Time: 1:01:30

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Best Connections to Older AVR
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 23, 2012  |  13 comments
I have a Cambridge Audio 540R V3 receiver, Panasonic DMP-BD210 Blu-ray player, Pace RNG200N HD/ENP cable box, and Panasonic TC-P42ST30 plasma TV. The guy at the store where I bought the two Panasonic products told me to connect the cable box and Blu-ray player to the TV with HDMI and connect the TV's digital audio output to the receiver with a Toslink cable. I am new at all this, but I do not think this is the best way to have the best sound considering my receiver—which, by the way, can only deal with video via HDMI, not sound. What do you think ?

Luc Lesage

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VoteCES 2012
What Are You Most Excited About From CES?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 20, 2012  |  9 comments
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