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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
African Cats
David Vaughn  |  Oct 14, 2011
Deep in the heart of the African savanna, a rivalry between two lion prides takes place while a cheetah family tries to stick together. Mara is an endearing lion cub who strives to grow up with her mother's strength, spirit, and wisdom, but an accident threatens to make her an orphan. Then there's Sita, a fearless cheetah and single mother of five newborns who must try and keep her cubs alive until they can fend for themselves. Finally, there's Fang, the leader of the pride who must defend his family from a rival lion clan that is looking to take over his land.

This is the first Disneynature production I've had a chance to see, and while the narrative is geared toward younger audiences, I still enjoyed it. The young cheetah and lion cubs are adorable, and I kept wondering how the filmmakers were able to get such close-up images. The story can turn a tad dark at times, but Disney provides a great vehicle to introduce kids to the African savanna.

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Ask S&V
Soundbar in the Center
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 14, 2011
I have the opportunity to update my home theater audio system and have decided on the Marantz SR7005 AVR. My room is small, and when I remodeled 10 years ago, I installed four Paradigm in-wall speakers and a large center-channel speaker for my 5.1 system. It occurs to me that if I replace the center channel with a 3-channel soundbar, I could use my existing in-wall speakers for the surround and have a full 7.1 system.

What do you think of this approach? Paradigm makes a 3-channel soundbar, the Millenia 20 Trio (shown above). I like my Paradigm speakers, but I thought that looking at other brands might be a good thing to do.

Byron Servies

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Tech2
South — a 3D Sports Bar — Opens in L.A.
Brent Butterworth  |  Oct 14, 2011

Like every other Sound+Vision writer, I’ve seen a lot of 3D TV. But I never saw so much 3D TV as I did last night, when I walked into South, Los Angeles’ first 3D sports bar. Everywhere I looked, I could see a Vizio flat-panel TV showing 3D programming—sports mostly, of course, but also games and a couple of Blu-ray Discs.

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The Big Picture
BYO3DG—Bring Your Own 3D Glasses
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 13, 2011
When you go to your local cineplex to catch a 3D movie, you are provided with glasses that isolate the left and right images for the corresponding eyes. I always assumed that the theater bought these glasses, resulting in higher ticket prices and an admonition to toss them into a bin on the way out so they can be reused. But Sony Pictures' announcement two weeks ago that, in May 2012, it will stop providing theaters with RealD glasses—which are used in the majority of commercial 3D presentations—belied that assumption.
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New ProductsAudio Video NewsStreaming Device Reviews
Whole-Home Audio for the Rest of Us
Michael Berk  |  Oct 13, 2011

Legrand - a leader in residential wiring and custom install components - in something of a surprise move announced the airQast wireless music system at this year's CEDIA Expo.

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Projector Reviews
Digital Projection M-Vision Cine 230-HC DLP Projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 13, 2011

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $6,995 At A Glance: Satisfying brightness on a big screen • Excellent resolution and color • So-so black level and contrast

A few months back, we reviewed the Digital Projection HighLite Cine 260-HC (Home Theater, May 2011). But like most three-chip DLP designs, its $30,000 price could buy a nicely equipped new car. Some day, perhaps, the prices of such projectors may come down to earth, but until then, most of us are left to other options.

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Ask S&V
AVR and Two Subwoofers
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 12, 2011
I want to hook up two Velodyne Impact 10 subwoofers to my Integra DTR-6.5 AVR. Do I need three signal splitters? Will I lose some signal using that many splitters? Should I use the Zone 2 sub output?

Mario B.

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Audio Video News
AudioStream.com Launched For Computer Audio Enthusiasts
HT Staff  |  Oct 12, 2011
AudioStream.com is a new website edited by Michael Lavorgna dedicated to making sense of the evolving world of computer audio and getting the best sound from your computer-based audio system.

The site's motto is "Computer Audio For Everyone" and will focus on the world of computer audio hardware, software and music resources. Topics will include hardware reviews from the mass-market right up to the bleeding-edge of what’s possible as well as in-depth analysis of music management software and an exploration of our newest music resources including HD download sites, streaming media and cloud services.

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New ProductsHeadphone Amp/DAC Reviews
Beats by Dr. Dre Holiday Preview
Michael Berk  |  Oct 12, 2011

S+V dropped by the Beats by Dr. Dre/Monster Cable holiday product preview last night, to check out what the company had to offer to follow up on the Beats Pro headphones we looked at in this month's headphone shootout.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Horrible Bosses
David Vaughn  |  Oct 12, 2011
Three friends, Nick (Jason Bateman, Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dales (Charlie Day), are slaving away at their jobs in Los Angeles and have one thing in common; they each have horrible bosses. One night they hatch a foolproof plan to murder them and hire an ex-con (Jamie Foxx) as an adviser. Well, he isn't what they expected and their foolproof plan has a very likely chance to get them thrown behind bars for the rest of their lives.

At some point in your life, you're going to end up with a horrible boss. In fact, I've been unfortunate enough to have a few of them over the years. But as bad as things were, I never once contemplated murder (torture, maybe, but never murder!). Anyway, I found this movie to be mostly entertaining for the first two acts and I actually felt a little something for the characters. Sadly, the third act falls apart with childish antics and plenty of foul language.

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