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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Gods and Generals Extended Director's Cut (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  May 27, 2011
Recounting the fierce allegiances and combat of the early Civil War, Gods and Generals recreates the two years prior to the historic battle of Gettysburg and delves into the lives of Stonewall Jackson (Stephen Lang), Joshua Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels), and Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall).

I love history (especially American history), so I really wanted to like this film. Unfortunately, the script is all over the place and the pacing is downright awful. It doesn't help that it's been expanded with an additional hour of footage and clocks in at 280 minutes in order to lengthen certain scenes and adds a subplot of John Wilkes Booth (Chris Conner). On the plus side, the battle scenes are well done and Duvall's depiction of Lee is marvelous.

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Audio Video News
Apple Prepares Cloud Service
Mark Fleischmann  |  May 27, 2011
Apple is fixing to follow Amazon and Pioneer into the cloud. Music industry sources say Apple is lining up support to launch a new service that would store music online.

What would make Apple's service different than the other two? It would license the music, instead of leaving the legal details of acquisition to the user. Hence the music industry consultations.

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Custom Installation How-To
Buffalo Technology CloudStor Network-attached storage Server
Al Griffin  |  May 26, 2011
Key Features
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Music Reviews
CD Review: Lady Gaga
Billy Altman  |  May 26, 2011

Listening to Lady Gaga’s relentless new CD, I can’t help but think of those old TV commercials in which a housewife would unscrew the cap to a bottle of Ajax liquid cleanser and unleash a “White Tornado” on her kitchen floor. Except in Gaga’s case, it’s a (bleached) white tornado being unleashed on every dancefloor of the planet.

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Audio Video News
DLNA to Stream from Cable STBs
Mark Fleischmann  |  May 26, 2011
Over the years DLNA has emerged as a useful standard enabling a/v products to pull content from router-connected computers, among other uses. Now some new interoperability guidelines will enable it to do the same from cable, satellite, or telco TV set top boxes.

The new standard was developed in conjunction with CableLabs, the research arm of the cable, satellite, and telco TV industries, and uses DTCP-IP link-protected streaming. It effectively means you can stream pay-TV signals throughout the home without having to pay for extra set top boxes, though you will need at least one box using the new technology.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Blu-ray Review: I Am Number Four
Marc Horowitz  |  May 26, 2011

When Michael (Transformers) Bay is attached to a project, you know you’re not in for an intellectual workout. So crank up the surround channels and the subwoofer, cue the safely rebellious (and very pretty) boys and girls, and let’s take a PG-13-sanctioned trip into fantasy adolescence.

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The Big Picture
Kung Fu Panda 2
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 26, 2011
After the Samsung reviewers' workshop at DreamWorks Animation last week (see my report here), we were treated to a preview screening of Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D. However, we were instructed not to publish anything about the movie until it opened on May 26—that is, today.
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Ask S&V
Top-of-the-Line TV Shopping
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 26, 2011
I'd like your help deciding on a new LED LCD TV. I was going to purchase a Samsung UN46C8000 in January based on Home Theater's review, but then I saw the D8000 series at CES and decided to wait for that TV. The UN55D8000 is finally available in my area, but I have not seen many reviews of it other than on CNET, which says it "exhibits poor screen uniformity with excessive brightness variation and banding." Do you have any experience with this TV model? Is it an improvement over the C8000? Is there a comparable television from another manufacturer that I should consider?

Luke Salsman

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Blu-ray Review: Solaris
Josef Krebs  |  May 25, 2011

A brown leaf floats on brilliantly clear water that flows over rich green seaweed. That’s just one of the many lyrical images that fill the opening sequence of Solaris. A horse trots along in the background. A cup of tea overflows in a momentary thunderstorm — the rain stopping as quickly as it started, leaving the sound of dripping water and then a serene silence.

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Ask S&V
Upscaling, DIY Repair, HDMI Handshaking
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 25, 2011
Which device does the best upscaling? I want to replace the failing DMD chip in my DLP projector. My AVR has developed an HDMI handshaking issue with my cable box.
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