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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Pioneer AVR Features ‘Virtual’ Atmos for Under $500
SV Staff  |  Apr 03, 2017
Pioneer has announced two 5.1-channel AV receivers, one of which will be the first to feature Dolby Atmos virtual surround processing.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
SI Debuts Perforated Versions of Slate & Pure Screens
SV Staff  |  Apr 03, 2017  |  First Published: Apr 05, 2017
Screen Innovations (SI) has announced acoustically transparent versions of its Slate Slate and Pure series projection screens.
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Audio Video News
Z-Wave Alliance & CTA Fortify Smart Home Security
SV Staff  |  Apr 03, 2017
Addressing consumer concerns over smart home security and privacy, the Z-Wave Alliance has announced that it will require strict and uniform adoption of a new, advanced security protocol for all smart home devices submitted for certification.
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Editor's Eye
Fear and Loathing Beyond Vegas
Rob Sabin  |  Apr 01, 2017
As night settled in with hours left to drive, I pulled off the highway in Barstow to tap the Wi-Fi at Starbucks and download the Audible version of Fear and Loathing to my iPhone. That’s when I saw him, working behind the counter, his wild gray hair dancing in the overhead lights...
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Girl on the Train
Chris Chiarella  |  Mar 31, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
Rachel (Emily Blunt) is a lost soul who eases the lingering pain of her divorce with ample doses of alcohol, particularly on her daily rail trips to and from Manhattan. Her only diversion is an elaborate fantasy about someone she sees from her moving window, Megan (Haley Bennett), and projecting all of her longing onto this stranger. And then one day Rachel spies Megan doing something she ought not to, threatening the idyllic life the voyeur has imagined for her. She even goes so far as to attempt a confrontation with Megan, but it quickly becomes a boozy blur of violence.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Hardcore Henry
Corey Gunnestad  |  Mar 31, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
Henry is part of a radical military experiment that merges cybernetic machinery with biological tissue to create the ultimate super soldier. When Henry wakes up in a high-tech laboratory missing two of his limbs, he is unable to speak. He also has no memory of who he was beforehand. A fetching lab technician attaches his new cybernetic limbs, and very shortly thereafter, the door to the lab explodes open and all hell breaks loose… and pretty much stays on the loose for the next 90 minutes.
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Audio Video News
March 2017 Top Picks at a Glance
SV Staff  |  Mar 31, 2017
Thank you March for bringing us spring…and 10 stellar Top Pick recommendations. Among our picks for the month: headphones ranging in price from $200 to $2,300, a pair of Class D amplifiers that will make even the most devout audiophile smile, and possibly the most sophisticated speaker system on the planet.
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Audio Video News
Logitech Harmony Remotes Get Google Voice
SV Staff  |  Mar 31, 2017
You can add Logitech Harmony hub-based controllers to the rapidly growing list of electronics gear that incorporates voice control.
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Audio Video News
Bluetooth Speaker Is the Latest Device to Self-Ignite
SV Staff  |  Mar 31, 2017
The burned speaker as seen in a video taken by its owner.

First it was Samsung’s self-igniting Galaxy Note 7 phones. Then it was an exploding headphone. Yesterday in New Jersey a battery-powered Bluetooth speaker began smoking before bursting into flames.

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3D Projector ReviewsProjector Reviews
Sony VPL-HW45ES 3D SXRD Projector Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 30, 2017

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $2,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent color and detail
Bright, punchy picture
That price!
Minus
Middling blacks and shadow detail

THE VERDICT
With all of today’s hullabaloo about 4K and HDR, it’s easy to forget that there’s something special about a theater-like image on a big projection screen—even if it’s plain vanilla, standard dynamic range, and 1080p. One look at the Sony VPL-HW45ES will remind you of that fact.

I've been projector-less for a good two years. It began with a 2015 move across the country from California to Florida. Then came a steady stream of flat-screen TVs as that technology progressed from the 2K era to the age of Ultra HD with 4K resolution, advanced color, and high dynamic range (HDR). Still, it’s not like I’ve been exiled to the proverbial desert island. Those top-of-the-line TVs have been a treat, and there’ll be more to come. I’ve missed having a big screen, however, with the sense of image immersion that only a frontprojection setup can provide.

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