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Audio Video News
TV Blare Bill Passes Senate
Mark Fleischmann  |  Oct 04, 2010
Are you tired of TV ads blaring at what seems like a much higher level than the program you actually want to watch? Relief is coming thanks to the CALM Act.
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Audio Video News
Toshiba discontinues OLED production
SV Staff  |  Oct 01, 2010
The development of organic LED displays in home entertainment faced a huge setback, as Toshiba announced that it won't pursue OLED production anymore. Toshiba, together with Panasonic, spent over $190 million to set up an OLED manufacturing...
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Custom Installation How-ToHome Movie Theaters
Wall Unit Retrofit
Kim Wilson  |  Oct 01, 2010

We often think of a retrofit as a home entertainment installation within an existing home, versus a new construction install. Robert Crone, otherwise know as the Cable Guy to his clients was asked to retrofit and update an existing wall unit. When he was contacted it was outfitted with a 27” CRT TV and various legacy components, nothing up-to-date.

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CEDIA 2010
Parting Shots
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 01, 2010
Here are a few final photos of the Georgia World Congress Center and the show floor, plus one more from the Georgia Aquarium. I really liked the architecture of Building B's foyer.
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CEDIA 2010
LG CF3D 3D SXRD Projector
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 01, 2010
LG first introduced the CF3D projector at CES last January, but as one rep told me, "now it's real" and expected to ship by the end of the year for $15,000. The CF3D is unique in that it uses two completely separate SXRD imaging engines and lamps—one for each eye—and a single lens. Also, it uses passive polarization, so it needs a special silver screen and inexpensive polarized glasses. Another unique feature is a built-in camera that monitors the projected image and automatically adjusts the convergence and light balance between left and right. The CF3D can accept four 3D formats—frame-packed, frame-sequential, and frame-compatible side-by-side and over-under.

Although the demo wasn't perfect, I have to say that it knocked me out in certain ways...

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CEDIA 2010
Leon Dragon Speaker
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 01, 2010
On the last day of CEDIA, I happened upon this incredible wall sculpture in Leon Speakers' booth. It turns out to hide five of Leon's new Profile 631 in-wall speakers, each with two 6-inch woofers, two 3-inch midranges, and a silk-dome tweeter, all powered by McIntosh amps. The entire package also includes four of Leon's Aaros ultra-thin subwoofers with 10-inch aluminum cone drivers, which were sitting on the floor, powered by the two of the company's L3-1K 1000W amps. The dragon itself is cut from a 16-foot sheet of solid ¼-inch billet aluminum using a giant water-cutting machine, and it includes 800 strands of fiber-optic cable and DMX-controlled LED lights.

When I asked about the price, I was told it's "seven pounds of gold." Really? Yes, really. I know that gold is popular in a troubled economy, but using it as actual currency is pretty unusual. Of course, the company would also take cash, which comes to almost $146,000 at gold's current price of about $1300/oz.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Iron Man 2
David Vaughn  |  Oct 01, 2010
When Iron Man's true identity as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) becomes public knowledge, a brilliant and ruthless Russian physicist (Mickey Rourke) with a family-based grudge is hell-bent on destroying the playboy billionaire.

The first Iron Man was considered to be one of the best comic-book adaptations ever done, and the sequel is equally impressive. There's a captivating story, an all-star cast, and tons of action that's perfectly suited for an ultimate demo.

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Audio Video News
Star Wars Series to Go 3D
Mark Fleischmann  |  Oct 01, 2010
Inspired by Avatar, George Lucas is preparing to give the 3D treatment to the six films in the Star Wars series for theatrical re-release.
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Audio Video News
NHK and BBC coomplish the first super-high-resolution broadcast from UK to Japan
SV Staff  |  Sep 30, 2010
1080p high-definition is nice. 4K (4096 x 2160) is even better, but only a few theaters have projectors that use that resolution yet. Super Hi-View is even better than that, with a resolution of 7680 x 4320, 4 times greater than 4K and 16 times...
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CEDIA 2010
Digital Projection Short-Throw Projector
Scott Wilkinson  |  Sep 30, 2010
At CEDIA, Digital Projection introduced a product so new, it doesn't even have a name yet. It's a 1080p, LED-lit DLP projector expected to list for about $10,000 and designed for extremely short-throw situations—in the demo from which this photo was taken, the projector was directly above a 6-foot-wide Stewart Studiotek 130 screen at a throw distance of only 12 inches! The light from the lens bounces off an integrated mirror and onto the screen at a severe angle, which means there must be some pretty sophisticated geometric processing going on. It also provides wireless HDMI connectivity, though the rep I spoke with didn't know which type. Unfortunately, it was difficult to judge image quality in the brightly lit show-floor environment.
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