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Audio Video NewsNew Products
New Open-Ear Earphones Sit On (Not In) Your Ears
Bob Ankosko  |  Apr 03, 2024
Baseus, a Chinese accessory maker that also sells inexpensive wireless earbuds, is the latest company to offer open-ear earphones that don’t fully block your ear canals like conventional earbuds.
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Projector ReviewsProjection Screen Reviews
Quick Take: Elite ezCinema Tab-Tension CineGrey 4D Screen & Anker Nebula Mars 3 Projector
Mark Henninger  |  Apr 03, 2024

Home theater comes in many shapes and sizes, but one constant is that it could be a more portable experience. But it’s not impossible! Elite recently sent an ezCinema Tab-Tension CineGrey 4D screen to evaluate, which is an excellent match for an Anker Nebula Mars 3 projector ($1,099) that I have on hand. The Mars 3 has a built-in battery with up to five hours of playtime, although using the projector at its full light output lowers that to around two hours.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Kaleidescape Unveils 96-Terabyte Movie Server — its Biggest Ever
Bob Ankosko  |  Apr 02, 2024
Kaleidescape, the Silicon Valley firm that pioneered the home movie server more than two decades ago, today introduced a server that packs a mind-boggling 96 terabytes (TB) of storage space — enough to house around 1,600 high-bitrate 4K movies.
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Editor's Eye
Visions of the Future
Mark Henninger  |  Apr 02, 2024
When Apple first announced the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, it set off a chain reaction of responses and predictions. Its extremely high-resolution OLED display holds promise for entertainment experiences like movie watching, but can a personal device visually surpass what’s achievable with a traditional TV screen or projection system?
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Noble Audio Features All-Silicon Microspeaker in New Wireless Earbuds
Bob Ankosko  |  Apr 01, 2024
Noble Audio, the Texas-based company specializing in high-performance in-ear monitors (IEMs) with exotic finishes, is once again embracing silicon-based microspeakers in its latest wireless earbud model.
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Signals
BREAKING NEWS: Government Ban On Turntables!
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 01, 2024
When I saw the press release, I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought it was some kind of joke or, as they say — misinformation. But I checked and double-checked and even placed a call to a high-ranking official in Washington. They confirmed that it is true. Starting in 2025, sales of turntables will be banned in the United States.

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Immersive Audio File
Crossing the Atmos Rubicon With The Pineapple Thief’s Visionary Mix Maestro, Bruce Soord
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 30, 2024

Bruce Soord, guitarist, vocalist, and founder of the British post-prog collective The Pineapple Thief, caught the surround-mixing bug well over a decade ago, and he’s yet to shake it—something that’s quite good news for those of us who admire his learned approach to the 360-degree soundfield. Soord’s recent Atmos forays include The Pineapple Thief’s evocative new album It Leads to This, as well as current albums by Jethro Tull and Big Big Train—and he’s not done yet. During a recent Zoom interview across the Pond to Paris, music editor Mike Mettler and Soord discussed how he first got into surround mixing, what mistakes he made along the way, and why he strives for achieving a “natural feel” in his Atmos mixes. . .

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Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Fugitive
Brandon A. DuHamel  |  Mar 29, 2024
Picture
Sound
Extras

An esteemed doctor on the run (Harrison Ford), a dogged U.S. marshal (Tommy Lee Jones) on his trail, a one-armed killer, and… F. Lee Bailey? These disparate elements all come together to form a delectable whole in Andrew Davis’s thrilling crime drama, The Fugitive, which has been brilliantly restored in 4K.

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Audio Video News
FCC Endorses the ‘U.S. Cyber Trust’ Program. Whew...
Bob Ankosko  |  Mar 28, 2024
Last October, S&V’s man about town and all-around tech expert Ken Pohlmann wrote about a government-sponsored cybersecurity labeling program designed to give consumers peace of mind that TVs and other smart products they buy are essentially hack-proof. On March 14th, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to approve the program.
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4K TV ReviewsOLED TV ReviewsTV Reviews
Samsung 77" S95D Quantum Dot OLED TV Review
Greg Tarr  |  Mar 28, 2024

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $3,500

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Ultra bright picture for an OLED display Wide natural color gamut coverage Impressive matte anti-reflective screen Low input lag and high refresh rate for gaming
Minus
No ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV tuner
Slight blooming from anti-glare technology
No Dolby Vision HDR
No Google Assistant voice support

THE VERDICT
This series greatly improves Quantum-OLED tech's brightness game. It has an excellent reflection-reducing screen that sets it apart from other Quantum OLEDs we've seen. It's worth the extra cost over a 2023 S95C close-out. But you will likely find a better deal if you wait for key sales events later in the year.

Samsung's 77-inch QN77S95D TV is the third version of its OLED TVs, which combine quantum dots and blue OLED light. This technology is called "Quantum-OLED" by Samsung Electronics and "QD-OLED" by Samsung Display, the company that makes the screens. It uses quantum dots to change blue OLED light to red and green light for its RGB pixels.

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