LATEST ADDITIONS

Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Crimson Peak
Josef Krebs  |  Jun 24, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
Set in the late 19th century, Crimson Peak is a Gothic romance, a mystery mixture of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, with a dollop of Young Frankenstein. After the death of her mother from cholera when Edith is 12, the hideously deformed ghost comes back to warn of Crimson Peak. Fourteen years later in bustling, modern Buffalo, New York, the child, daughter of a self-made American building magnate, has become a beautiful aspiring author. She’s swept off her feet by a mysterious, darkly handsome English aristocrat who’s come to America seeking financing for his steam-powered digger of the clay his house is built upon.
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Audio Video News
K.I.S.S. AV Launches On-Wall TV Speaker System
SV Staff  |  Jun 24, 2016
Orlando-based startup K.I.S.S. AV has launched a $125,000 Kickstarter campaign to fund a patented 2.1-channel on-wall TV speaker system said to “fill any room with 3D sound, from any audio source, with no special electronics or multi-channel audio content required.”
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Tech2
HTC Vive Review: Part 3, Final Thoughts and Future Hopes
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jun 24, 2016
Check out Part 1 about setup, and Part 2 about some games.

After two weeks with the HTC Vive I have some overall thoughts about it and hopes about the once and future of gaming: VR.

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Audio Video News
Netflix Traffic Drops Due to New Encoding Scheme
SV Staff  |  Jun 24, 2016
Netflix represented 35% of traffic on North American fixed networks, down slightly from 37% six months ago, according to Sandvine’s 2016 Global Internet Phenomena study.
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Headphone Reviews
Parrot Zik 3 Headphones
Lauren Dragan  |  Jun 23, 2016
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $400

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent ANC
Decent Bluetooth sound (with ANC off)
Wireless charging
Minus
Inconsistent sound quality
App mandatory for major functions

THE VERDICT
While the Zik 3 has allure with fun features, it falls short on core functionality, especially against its price competition.

Since their first version, Parrot Zik headphones have been consistently beautiful to look at and have featured technology that is a nose ahead of the competition. It’s the combo of pretty and new that has made the Ziks the darlings of the tech-enthusiast set. Now in its third iteration, the new Zik 3 is packed with all sorts of bells and whistles. Some will be familiar to users of the Zik 2.0: touch-sensitive controls on a sleek-looking earcup, deeply customizable noise cancellation and EQ via an app, sensors that trigger a pause in the music when the headphones are removed. And some are new: wireless charging, USB audio, Apple Watch, and Android Wear compatibility.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Tiny Module Brings 3D Sound to Any Headphone
SV Staff  |  Jun 23, 2016
Paris-based tech startup 3D Sound Labs has announced the availability of a $99 accessory that transforms any headphone into a “smart 3D headphone” suitable for music, movies, and gaming.
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Throwback Thursday
An Electrifying Flashback: Franklin Flies a Kite
SV Staff  |  Jun 23, 2016
Electricity. The force behind everything readers of this magazine cherish. Try to imagine a world without it. Impossible. 264 years ago this month Benjamin Franklin—inventor, entrepreneur, and one of America’s founding fathers—hypothesized that lightning was an electrical phenomenon that could be transferred to another object and set out to prove it by flying a kite during a thunderstorm.
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Ask S&V
Choosing Overhead Speakers for an Atmos Setup
Al Griffin  |  Jun 23, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q It’s my understanding that the overhead speakers in a Dolby Atmos system are meant to create diffused sound. I have a pair of dipole surround speakers with a front-facing woofer and side-facing drivers. Could these be used in a 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos system if I hung them from my cathedral ceiling with the woofer facing down and the side drivers firing to the front and back of the room? — Al Erdelyi / via email

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SmartStream
Hands On: Roku 3600R Streaming Stick and Remote App
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jun 22, 2016
The newest Roku streaming stick has the power of a full-sized Roku. In this hands on review, learn more about what this flash-drive sized stick can do.
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The S&V Interview
Chicago Asserts Its 4.0 Sonic Authority
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 22, 2016
To say it’s been a banner year for Chicago might be a bit of an understatement. Not only is the band in the midst of its (yes) 49th consecutive year on the road, but it’s also celebrating a well-deserved induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which took place back on April 8 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. “Rather than limping into our 50th year, we are sprinting uphill,” observes Chicago co-founding member and trumpeter Lee Loughnane (pronounced “Lock-nane”). Not only that, Rhino has just released Quadio, a collection of the band’s first eight studio albums plus their first greatest hits compilation in 192/24 DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 mixes on nine Blu-ray discs. Recently, Loughnane, 69, called me to discuss quad and surround, the challenges of mastering digitally, and the unique way the band recorded its most recent studio album, 2014’s Chicago XXXVI – “Now.” In many ways, it feels like it’s only the beginning.
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