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Music Reviews
CD Review: Emmylou Harris
Rob O'Connor  |  Apr 28, 2011

Hard Bargain features the trio of Emmylou Harris, producer Jay Joyce, and multi-instrumentalist Giles Reaves alone in the studio. However, this isn’t a rustic, back-to-basics album. Rather, it has a pleasantly lush sound, made with the complete understanding that people come to hear Harris sing.

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Projector Reviews
Digital Projection HIGHlite Cine 260 HC DLP Projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 28, 2011
Price: $29,995 At A Glance: Outstanding resolution and color • Bright—even on a 10-foot screen • Black level and contrast well short of cutting edge

DLP Hangs Tough

Digital Light Processing (DLP) may have jump-started the whole digital display revolution in the late 1990s, but to the consumer, the technology might look like it’s fallen on hard times. Only one major HDTV manufacturer—Mitsubishi—now makes DLP rear projectors. And since DLP is a projection technology, there are no DLP sets that can project an image across a distance of 2 inches or less to compete with today’s popular flat panels.

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Audio Video News
YouTube to Do More Movie Rentals
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 28, 2011
YouTube is planning to move further into movie rentals, enlarging a small existing operation to include more major titles.

What, you didn't know YouTube does movie rentals? The Google-owned site started renting indie films in partnership with the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010. But now the push is on to make YouTube's rental service more of a mainstream operation like Netflix or iTunes.

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Ask S&V
Bias Lighting, JVC PJs, Legacy Components
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 27, 2011
Does bias lighting improve the viewing experience? How do the current JVC projectors compare with previous generations? What are "legacy components"?
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Music Reviews
CD Review: Steve Earle
Rob O'Connor  |  Apr 27, 2011

Named after the last single that Hank Williams released before his death, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive is swamped in Steve Earle’s contemplations of mortality. His father died weeks after Earle began writing the album.

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Ask S&V
16:9 on a 21:9 Screen
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 27, 2011
Vizio is introducing ultra-widescreen LCD TVs with an aspect ratio of 21:9. I believe their screen sizes will be 50, 58 and 71 inches. Can you provide the formula that reveals how large a 16:9 unaltered picture will be on such a screen? I’ve read elsewhere that a 50-inch ultrawide would produce an unaltered 46-inch 16:9 image, but I have no idea how 46 inches was arrived at.

Carl King

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Headphone Amp/DAC Reviews
Review: Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air
Michael Trei  |  Apr 27, 2011
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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 63: David Cole & D.J. Roller
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 27, 2011
Next3D co-founders David Cole (pictured) and D.J. Roller discuss the problems with current 3D broadcasting and explain how their new technology solves them by encoding 3D images at much lower bitrates, allowing high-quality 3D to be broadcast and streamed online. They also talk about Next3D's VOD (video on demand) streaming service that will offer 3D content exclusively, the company's agreement with Turner Broadcasting to shoot sports in 3D, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 58:53

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Human Planet: The Complete Series (Blu-ray Disc)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 27, 2011
From Greenland to Mongolia, Cambodia to Kenya, people are living by their wits, braving the elements, seizing opportunities, and overcoming huge obstacles to survive and thrive. Whether it's a line of woman and children who use star and sand dune patterns to traverse the Sahara in order to trade their wares, or dozens of young Pa-aling fishermen who breathe air through a tangled web of pipes attached to a diesel engine, humans find a way to endure.

BBC Earth has quite a pedigree with hit documentaries such as Life, Planet Earth, and Blue Planet. They've taken us all around the globe and given us a better understanding of what a marvelous place we live. In Human Planet, they weave 80 different stories over eight episodes (Oceans, Deserts, Arctic, Jungles, Mountains, Grasslands, Rivers, and Cities) to show humanity's uncanny ability to adapt and live in every corner of our diverse world.

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Audio Video News
Buy Panasonic Stuff, Get Avatar
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 27, 2011
Panasonic's exclusivity deal with the Blu-ray 3D release of Avatar has a new variation. Now you can buy a Panasonic Blu-ray player or compact system and get the hot disc. Previously it was available only to purchasers of Panasonic Viera TVs.

The BD 3D Avatar remains unavailable in stores.

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