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Audio Video News
Monitor Audio Announces Updated Radius Series Speakers
SV Staff  |  Aug 26, 2013
Monitor Audio has upgraded and expanded its Radius Series line of speakers. The new eight model lineup includes the R200 center-channel speaker and Radius One soundbar—both slimmed-down to 2.5 inches deep—and two reengineered compact powered subwoofers, the Radius 380 and 390.
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Bluetooth Speaker Reviews
Review: Cambridge SoundWorks Oontz and Oontz XL
Brent Butterworth  |  Aug 22, 2013

One thing about capitalism: If you're successful, people will immediately copy what you're doing.

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3D Projector ReviewsProjector Reviews
JVC DLA-X95R 3D D-ILA Projector
Kris Deering  |  Aug 22, 2013

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $12,000
At A Glance(br) Plus: Best contrast ratio performance ever • Hand-Picked Parts • 3D performance is catching up
Minus: Not true 4K • Loud in high lamp mode

THE VERDICT
The best contrast performance I’ve seen or measured to date and spectacular pixel focus and uniformity.

Earlier this year, I had the chance to review JVC’s spectacular DLA-X55R 3D D-ILA projector and proclaimed it “the best 2D picture I’ve seen from any projector in my room to date.” That was the truth until my personal DLA-X75R arrived shortly after. The DLA-X75R is one up in JVC’s lineup and had improved contrast performance and was actually a bit sharper. So when I was given the opportunity to review JVC’s flagship DLA-X95R I was more than happy to accept. This would give me the opportunity to see just how much improvement JVC’s hand-picked parts added to the performance. Boasting a 130,000:1 native contrast performance while supposedly maintaining the brightness of my DLA-X75R, I was more than intrigued.

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Premiere Design
One Chance To Make A First Impression
Michelle McCarthy  |  Aug 22, 2013
Some people revel in the process of executing every single step in the home theater build process, painstakingly picking out color swatches and test-driving cup holders. And then there are those who have their eye on the prize: kicking back and enjoying their favorite flicks. First Impressions Theme Theatres is in the business of helping the latter group with its complete architectural and interior design-engineering services for dedicated personal cinemas. Its services include end-to-end building, shipping, and installation projects. The company handles all woodwork, upholstery, seating, and special effects packaged into a comprehensive, performance-based contract.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Schindler’s List
Chris Chiarella  |  Aug 22, 2013
Picture
Sound
Extras
Interactivity
Steven Spielberg’s long-rumored dream project—bring- ing the factual, Holocaust-set book Schindler’s Ark to the screen—finally arrived to great acclaim in 1993, culminating in Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Picture, and more. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a clever civilian businessman and a bit of a cad who achieves a fortune by manufactur- ing pots and pans for the German army during World War II. His secrets? World-class schmoozing and an unpaid legion of Jewish laborers. He has no love of the Nazis or their agenda, but as he bears witness to their escalating atrocities, he is reluctantly moved to become a champion of his ill-fated workforce. His steps are small at first, ultimately leading to the creation of a list of more than 1,000 names of people to be kept at his factory instead of sent to concentration camps or gas chambers. This decision winds up costing Schindler all of his vast wealth, but his selfless act made history. It’s a profound tale told with great passion and indelible images.
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Audio Video News
Watch ABC App Blossoms
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 22, 2013
The Watch ABC app is the first from a major broadcast network to allow streaming of live TV, including network, local, and syndicated programming. Viewers may also get on-demand content in the ABC Full-Episode Player and app. Watch ABC was up and running at press time in New York and Philadelphia for subscribers of several major cable operators. ABC is not inexperienced with apps, having rolled them out in 2012 for the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, and WatchESPN. Look out for a Watch ABC Family app early next year.
Remotely Possible
IOGEAR Puts Wireless HDMI into the Matrix
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 22, 2013
When my kids were born, the obstetrician let me cut each one’s umbilical cord. Those cords were surprisingly tough to sever, even with a pair of super-sharp surgical scissors. Still, it’s no where near as easy as that was to cut through the clutter of cables we use to connect our AV gear together. (You didn’t see that segue coming, did you?) HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) simplified things quite a bit from the multiple-cable analog way of making connections; but, at the end of the day, an HDMI cable (regardless of its version number, speed rating, or whatever confusing denomination it happens to be a member of) is still a flippin’ cable. IOGEAR says its new $399 Wireless 5x2 HD Matrix (GWHDMS52) offers a way to get rid of one of those HDMI cables in your system – specifically one of those long suckers that are both costly and annoyingly difficult to run from component A to display B. To prove it, IOGEAR recently shipped a Wireless 5x2 HD Matrix for me to give a brief tryout. Considering the fact that I needed to rejigger the cable configuration running from the main system in my theater room to the 46” outdoor SunBriteTV still battling the elements on my back deck, I figured I had the perfect scenario to put the new wireless switcher to the test.

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Audio Video News
Yamaha Announces High-End Stereo Amp and CD/SACD Player
HT Staff  |  Aug 21, 2013
Joining in on the recent “back to hi-fi” trend sweeping across the A/V industry, Yamaha is adding a new flagship integrated amplifier and CD/SACD player to its hi-fi lineup. The retro-styled A-S3000 amp ($8,000) and CD-S3000 player ($7,000) will be available in retail stores in September.
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This Week
This Week in Movies & TV, August 20, 2013: Killers With Kids
Josef Krebs  |  Aug 20, 2013

Boardwalk Empire: Season 3

This is a story of fathers and sons. As previous seasons have shown, every gangster, it seems, starts as a kid with a difficult relationship with their dad and every hood has an equally important relationship with their boy. James "Jimmy" Darmody (Michael Pitt) stabs his father, Commodore Louis Kaestner (Dabney Coleman).

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
This Week in Movies & TV, August 20, 2013: Killers With Kids
SV Staff  |  Aug 20, 2013
Boardwalk Empire: Season 3, Shadow Dancer, Star Trek: Enterprise: Season 2, Amour, Killing Season, The Big City (Mahanagar) & Charulata (The Lonely Wife)
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