LATEST ADDITIONS

Ask S&V
TV Recommendation, In-Ceiling Speakers, Panasonic or Samsung Plasma
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 23, 2011
Which 46-inch non-plasma, non-3D TV do you recommend? Can I get in-ceiling speakers individually instead of in pairs? Should I get a Panasonic VT30 or Samsung D8000 plasma?
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Ask S&V
What to Look For in a Home Theater
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 23, 2011
I'm going to look at a new house with a home theater in the basement. I just hope the theater was professionally done; I would hate to have to rip it out and have it done right. The house is 10,000 sq. ft. Original price was around 3 million, but the current asking price is $1,939,000. What are some things I should look for when I go to see the theater? BTW, I love the Home Theater Geeks podcast!

Stephen Wedel

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Audio Video News
Best Buy Offers Music Cloud
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 23, 2011
Cloud-based storage is clearly the trend of the year. Best Buy is the latest company to offer a cloud music player, joining Amazon, Apple, and Google.

The Best Buy Music Cloud uses a PC or Mac application which scans your iTunes library (though this is not specifically an Apple-related service). Then it accepts music uploads and streams them to computers or mobile devices, the latter including iOS, Android, or BlackBerry. You can upload playlists as well as music files.

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Music Reviews
The Mahler Symphonies on SACD — and Vinyl LP
Robert Ripps  |  Jun 22, 2011

Back in September 2002, I interviewed Michael Tilson Thomas about the launch of a bold new project with the San Francisco Symphony: a complete cycle of the Mahler symphonies to be released on hybrid multichannel SACD via the orchestra’s fledgling in-house label, SFS Media. At the time, Thomas already had clearly formed ideas about the sound he wanted:

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Ask S&V
Aging Projector Lamps
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 22, 2011
Given that projector lamps change over time, what should one do to keep their projector up to snuff? Periodic full recalibration? Just tweak the brightness once in a while using a setup disc?

Doug Farrow

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 69: Tyll Hertsens
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 22, 2011
Our own Tyll Hertsens, editor-in-chief of InnerFidelity.com, talks about the surprisingly social hobby of headphones, measuring the performance of headphones and how that relates to the subjective experience of listening to them, in-ear versus on-ear versus over-the-ear designs, simulating surround in headphones, how sound levels impact sound quality and hearing safety, noise cancelling, breaking in headphones, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Run Time: 58:21

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Audio Video News
Near Field Communication: payment- and party-enabling
Michael Berk  |  Jun 22, 2011

While we have yet to see an explosion of NFC-enabled products, Nokia's brought the near-field communications protocol to a new range of home entertaiment products launching along with its much-lauded new Continue Reading »

Audio Video News
Forecast continues to be Cloudy
SV Staff  |  Jun 22, 2011
Everybody's heading to the cloud these days, of course (even Best Buy is launching a service), but various little glitches along the way have made some of us reconsider trusting our data to somebody else's distributed network. We told you a few...
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Eagle (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 22, 2011
Celebrated Roman solider Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) is on quest to restore the reputation of his father and find the golden emblem that disappeared with him and 5,000 of his troops 20 years earlier. With the help of an slave (Jamie Bell), Marcus navigates the wild highlands of Caledonia in order to restore his family's honor.

When I sat down to watch this one I had never heard of it before and for good reason&8211;it's not very good. The acting is wooden and the story has no heart. At no time did I feel anything for the characters plight and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

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Audio Video News
ReplayTV EPG to Cease
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 22, 2011
The ReplayTV DVR platform is about to lose its electronic program guide updates. It's another nail in the coffin for what was once TiVo's major rival.

The ReplayTV website reports that the EPG will be "permanently discontinued" on July 31, 2011. Users will still be able to program their units or software manually, but will no longer be able to use the EPG to record.

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