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Audio Video News
The Wizard of Oz Returns to the Big Screen in IMAX 3D September 20
HT Staff  |  Jun 05, 2013
75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Box Set to Follow October 1

Marking the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros. has produced a remastered 3D version of the film that will return to the big screen for a one-week engagement in IMAX theaters across North America beginning September 20, 2013.

Following the theatrical release, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release The Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition box set on October 1, 2013...

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AV Receiver Buying TipsAV Receiver Tech
How to Buy an A/V Receiver
Rob Sabin  |  Jun 05, 2013
If there’s been any real change in the home theater audio landscape recently, it’s been the emergence of the anti-AVR. From soundbars to powered tabletop systems to wireless streaming speakers that can double as your TV’s audio system, the trend is toward all-in-one solutions that are simple to shop for, easy to install, and a cinch to operate. Granted, even the most basic receiver is none of those things. But the Swiss Army knife of the A/V world still remains the best value in the land, packing more power, features, flexibility, and (when mated with good speakers) performance than any integrated approach.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Catch Me If You Can
Shane Buettner  |  Jun 05, 2013
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Master director Steven Spielberg has made enduring classics in horror, sci-fi, adventure, and historical drama. 2002’s Catch Me if You Can is just his second screwball comedy (the first being the box-office disaster and cult classic 1941), and even if it’s not a classic, it’s his hippest and most outrageously fun film to date. Strap yourself in for the unbelievable true story of one Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio).
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
eXistenZ
Shane Buettner  |  Jun 05, 2013
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In spring of 1999, while the masses were jacking into The Matrix, braver souls were leaping into the alternate gaming universe of David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ. Ostensibly, über game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is on a promotional tour with her newest game and game pod, which is an electrical organism that creates its virtual reality by plugging directly into the gamer’s nervous system via spinal cord bioport. She and her marketing man, Ted Pikul (Jude Law), come under attack and flee from realists who object to extreme gaming’s impact on humanity and its reliance on endangered mutant amphibians for gaming pods (!).
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Bourne legacy
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 05, 2013
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I knew Jason Bourne. Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), you’re no Jason Bourne.

The first Bourne movie not based on an actual Robert Ludlum novel, Legacy gets quite a lot wrong, frankly. The story brings us back to the era of 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum, when extreme measures were being taken to maintain the secrecy of the covert, overly ambitious super-soldier program that created Jason. A whole new crop of men has become the subject of some risky new behavior/performance-enhancing experiments, and as one of these lethal lab rats, Aaron is desperate for answers—and the necessary meds to keep his edge—despite the nasty opponents pursuing him at every turn.

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Audio Video News
CEA Jawbones FCC on Cable Waiver
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 05, 2013
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is crying foul over a cable operator’s request for special treatment from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is the latest shot in a long-running battle over who should control the security technology built into set-top boxes. In 2007, the FCC banned digital STBs with integrated security, instead requiring that all boxes use a removable CableCARD.
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Audio Video News
Our Insatiable Appetite for TV…& Gadgets
Bob Ankosko  |  Jun 05, 2013
The American love affair with TV is stronger than ever. Motorola Mobility’s Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer study found that we watch an average of 23 hours of TV programming and six hours of movies each week—four hours more than the global average of 19 and six hours, respectively, and higher than any of the 17 countries surveyed. Looked at another way, we watch more than a full day’s worth of programming every week.
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Bluetooth Speaker Reviews
Review: RockSteadyXS
Brent Butterworth  |  Jun 05, 2013

Bluetooth speakers are like cheap econobox cars: Even in normal daily use, you're likely to push them to their limits. Most of the compact Bluetooth speakers I test put out 81 to 87 dB at 1 meter, loud enough for casual listening but not loud enough to get your foot tapping and your head bobbing.

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Track One
Devon Allman's Turquoise Soul
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 04, 2013

"It's rich. It's got depth that you'll never get from an MP3, and it's just cool, man. It's got more soul." That's Devon Allman, talking about one of our favorite subjects, vinyl.

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This Week
This Week in Movies & TV, June 4, 2013: Dead & Deader
Josef Krebs  |  Jun 04, 2013

A Good Day to Die Hard

The latest chapter of the popular, 25-year-old franchise is a Die Hard film with subtitles. But, fear not, ardent fans, it's just for a scene or two at the start and that's as arty as it gets. The rest of the film is standard slam-bam, big-boom, non-stop adrenaline-filled, Yippie-Kai-Yay thrill seeking.

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