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CEDIA Expo 2014 Preview: Let the Geekfest Begin
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Sep 09, 2014  |  First Published: Sep 08, 2014  | 
2014 CEDIA Expo Coverage Begins Wednesday

In the grand scheme of all things electronic, it’s not as big a deal as the annual CES in Las Vegas. In many respects, though, CEDIA Expo 2014 is an even more important event for people interested in customizing home technologies to make them seamless, integral parts of their customers’ lives. Oh, hell, what am I saying? “Customizing home technologies…” The guys—and most of them are guys, although that’s changing—who go to the CEDIA Expo every year are fascinated by gear that can be hidden, be controlled at a distance, is motorized or otherwise moveable, and can be tweaked and tinkered with. Sure, we talk about "lifestyles", but the reality is we go to CEDIA to geek out on the gear.

It’s a completely safe bet that when the show floor at CEDIA Expo 2014 officially opens at 9:00 AM on Thursday, September 11, the place will be packed‐and a number of us from Sound & Vision will be fighting our way through the throngs of installers, designers, specifiers, representatives, and booth demonstrators...

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Grace NotesAudio Video NewsNew Products
Samsung Flaunts Flexibility with Bendable 105" Ultra HD TV
Leslie Shapiro  |  Sep 07, 2014  | 
Samsung has a mind-bending new product that’s shaping up to be a real breakthrough, just revealed in Berlin at IFA 2014. Sure, Samsung’s new focus on curved TVs is exciting. But in addition to a complete lineup of 17 new curved TVs, including one that’s 105-inches (debuted at CES 2014), Samsung has announced a revolutionary 105-inch bendable TV. Yup—bendable! Stand back Gumby, step aside Elasti-Girl, Samsung’s flexing some serious muscle with this bad boy.

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Audio Video News
Who Needs All These Useless Channels?
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 03, 2014  | 
American cable subscribers get way more cable channels than we really want. In 2008, according to Nielsen’s Advertising & Audiences Report, U.S. households received an average of 129.3 channels and viewed 17.3 of them. In 2013, the number of channels jumped to 189.1, of which 17.5 were viewed. So the number of channels went up 46 percent, but the number viewed rose only 1 percent. Why are cable systems jamming so many channels down our throats? Their dilemma is that channels travel in packs—and a network that owns a popular channel will always insist that cable operators buy all of its channels. “However,” says the Los Angeles Times, “the rising cost of sports programming is starting to lead to louder calls that at least some content should be sold to consumers who want it and not forced on everyone.”
Audio Video News
Tidal High Fidelity Music Streaming Service to Launch in U.S.
SV Staff  |  Sep 03, 2014  | 
Service to Include HD Music Videos and Editorial Content from Music Journalists

WiMP HiFi, the Scandinavian music streaming service, today announced it will introduce Tidal, a high fidelity streaming service in the U.K. and U.S. later this fall with a monthly subscription of $19.99.

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Audio Video News
Sony Announces Walkman Hi-Res Music Player
SV Staff  |  Sep 03, 2014  | 
Walkman NWZ-A17 Hailed as “World’s Smallest and Lightest” Hi-Res Audio Player

The iconic Walkman name will appear on what Sony is calling the “world’s smallest and lightest” high-resolution digital music player, the Walkman NWZ-A17, slated to hit store shelves in November with a suggested retail price of $300.

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Audio Video News
Vizio Heads to Canada
SV Staff  |  Sep 03, 2014  | 
Vizio today announced its expansion into the Canadian market. Beginning September 12, the company’s TV and audio products will be available in-store and online at Best Buy and Future Shop locations throughout Canada.

Vizio has also expanded its customer service to the Canadian market.

For more information, visit vizio.com.

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Audio Video News
Long Time CE Industry Leader, CES Founder Jack Wayman Dies at Age 92
SV Staff  |  Sep 02, 2014  | 
Jack Wayman in the early days of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

International CES founder and consumer electronics (CE) industry legend Jack Wayman died Saturday, August 30 of natural causes at the age of 92, announced Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President and CEO Gary Shapiro.

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Audio Video News
Beatles in Mono Listening Sessions in NY and LA Open to the Public
SV Staff  |  Sep 01, 2014  | 
Universal Music Group is celebrating the September 9th release of The Beatles in Mono vinyl box set with listening sessions in New York and Los Angeles. Each session will feature yet-to-be-announced special guest speakers.
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Audio Video News
Atlantic Technology Announces Dolby Atmos Speaker Module
SV Staff  |  Sep 01, 2014  | 
Atlantic Technology announced plans to introduce by the end of the year a compact Dolby Atmos-enabled speaker module that can be added to existing speakers in its line or any existing home theater setup.
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Audio Video News
Poll Results: Surround Height Channels Make a Respectable Showing
SV Staff  |  Aug 31, 2014  | 
With the new Dolby Atmos surround format on the immediate horizon we wondered how many Sound & Vision readers’ are using special surround processing to derive height channels in their current home theater setups. Turns out that nearly a quarter of respondents have setups with height channels—a respectable showing considering the effort involved in installing extra speakers.

Here’s the complete breakdown of answers to the question we posed: Is Your Home Theater Configured with Height Channels?

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Other TechAudio Video News
Car Tech Crescendo
Bob Ankosko  |  Aug 27, 2014  | 
The Pace of Change Shows No Signs of Letting Up.

The road to driverless cars is lined with technology we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. From auto parking and rich head-up displays to cutting-edge “infotainment” features, dashboard tech is right up there with horsepower/performance, handling, and other traditional car buying metrics. And the pace of change we’ve seen over the past decade shows no signs of letting up—if anything, it’s accelerating now that technology has become an integral part of the shopping experience.

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Audio Video News
LG Taking Preorders for 4K OLED TV in Korea
SV Staff  |  Aug 26, 2014  | 
LG announced yesterday that it will begin taking preorders this week in Korea for the first OLED TV with 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution.
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Audio Video News
It Was 50 Years Ago Today... Exclusive Sneak Peek at "The Beatles in Mono"
SV Staff  |  Aug 20, 2014  | 
Ready to go back to mono—with The Beatles? An exclusive sneak peak at Pete Nash unboxing "The Beatles in Mono" vinyl box set, courtesy of Capitol/UMe and Apple Corps Ltd. The video goes live on The Beatles’ YouTube channel Friday.
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Audio Video News
CEA Standard Monitors Energy Use
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 20, 2014  | 
The CEA-2047 CE-Energy Usage Information Standard allows information about a device’s energy usage to be programmed in and used to calculate its energy use over time. Says Bill Rose, chair of the working group that developed the standard: “Energy consumption in the Internet of Things can be broken down to individual devices such as appliances, pool pumps and heaters, air conditioning systems, and other devices so consumers can see exactly where, how much, and when electricity is being used.” The standard can apply to any device operating on a home network.
Audio Video NewsNew Products
High-Resolution Harvest
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 19, 2014  | 
Editor's Note: Following Sound & Vision's initial print publication of this article, Neil Young took the post of PonoMusic CEO, replacing John Hamm. The company also named Rick Cohen, PonoMusic's general counsel, to be its COO, and accomplished producer Bruce Botnick to be its Head of Content Acquisition.

If there’s one thing we know about Neil Young, it’s that he’s deeply passionate about how his music gets heard. As an artist who’s long championed sound quality over final-mix compromise, Young has been on a lifelong quest to make sure listeners have the opportunity to hear his music the way he intended from both the studio and the stage, whether it be via high-grade 180-gram virgin vinyl or high-resolution stereo PCM on Blu-ray. “That’s all I do now—192/24,” he tells me. “Back when I started recording, we did everything we could so that our listeners could hear the music. The more we presented and the more you were able to hear, the happier you were. We lost touch with that.”

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