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Natasha Richardson
Mike Gaughn  |  Mar 19, 2009

By now, you've heard about the sudden death of actress Natasha Richardson. I wrote about her and husband Liam Neeson's home theater for the January '09 issue ("A Class Act"), and wanted to share a few thoughts about her:

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Audio Video News
Bang and Olufsen announce BeoVision 103-inch rotating plasma
SV Staff  |  Mar 19, 2009
In case the $70,000 103-inch Panasonic TH-103PF9 wasn't already fancy enough for your refined tastes, Bang and Olufsen have set it on an impressive-looking automated stand. The panel is designed to adjust to the proper viewing height and angle...
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Ask S&V
PS3, Blu-ray, Mom
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 19, 2009
PS3 PCM
I was getting ready to buy a new A/V receiver to take advantage of the new audio formats Blu-ray has to offer, but I found out my PS3 will not pass Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD bitstreams—instead, it decodes them to PCM internally. Will the PCM signal be as good in quality? Or do I need to buy a new Blu-ray player and receiver? Or should I buy a Blu-ray player with 7.1 analog outputs and hook that up to my existing Denon receiver's multichannel inputs? It does not have HDMI inputs.
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Kim Wilson Blog
B & W Music Club Goes 24-Bit
uavKim Wilson  |  Mar 19, 2009

The Peter Gabriel-curated <A HREF="http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=3550">B&W Music Club</A> is now providing music downloads in 24-bit FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) files. Subscribers now have a choice of three formats for download. The new 24-bit FLAC format, a 16-bit FLAC version and a 16-bit Apple Lossless version. The new file format is also available for people on a free trial, who can download an EP of 24-bit lossless music. Full membership runs $59.95 for a year and $39.95 for six months. You can download one new album a month, which comes to $5 an album with the annual membership. Sometimes there are bonus downloads, making the membership even more valuable.

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Audio Video News
FCC Tweaks DTV Transition Scenario
Mark Fleischmann  |  Mar 19, 2009
Having managed the transition of some of the nation's television broadcasters from analog to digital broadcasting in February, the Federal Communications Commission is using what it learned to set down rules for the remainder of the stations, which will complete the transition in June.
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Audio Video News
SXSW 2009, Day 1: Bob Ludwig, the Grates, more
SV Staff  |  Mar 19, 2009
My feet may be aching already, but my fingers are eager to give you the scoop on the first long day and night at the South by Southwest Music & Media Conference. Ken Richardson here, your faithful Entertainment Editor, down in Austin for my...
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Other Tech
Gadget Gary: Viva Las Vegas
Gary Dell'Abate  |  Mar 18, 2009

For years, I've heard about a magical convention - a convention where people like me can go to see the latest, coolest, most cutting-edge electronics that are slated to be "coming soon." We all know it, of course, as the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, and lucky for me the Sound & Vision fairy tapped me with his wand and sent me to the big event in Las Vegas this past Janua

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Ears On
Man Does Not Like Cables
Mark Fleischmann  |  Mar 18, 2009
Two things you need to know about Christoph Niemann. His artwork has appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, and American Illustration. And he does not like cables. In this visual essay in the New York Times Opinion section, he explains why. Niemann is not so much Luddite as everyman: Is there anyone out there who cannot relate to the following statement?: "The true malice of headphones, however, is revealed when they are allowed to mingle with other cables."
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Premiere Design
Ultrawide LCD
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 17, 2009  |  First Published: Mar 18, 2009

If CES 2009 was any indication, it looked like Philips was getting out of the consumer-electronics business, seeing as how the company had no booth or press conference this year. We know for sure it won't be selling TVs in North America, having reached a deal whereby Japanese electronics manufacturer Funai will market Philips and Magnavox TVs in the US and Canada while Philips concentrates on Europe and key emerging countries.

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Audio Video News
Panasonic 2009 Line Show
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 17, 2009  |  First Published: Mar 18, 2009
As we saw at CES in January, Panasonic is bullish on plasma, a point that was driven home at the company's product showcase held last week in New York and this week at the Panasonic Hollywood Labs (PHL) in Los Angeles. The 2009 Viera TV lineup includes no less than 17 new plasmas with screens measuring 42 to 65 inches diagonally and seven new LCDs with screens in the 26- to 37-inch range.
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