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Audio Video News
2 Million 4K UHD TVs Sold So Far this Year
SV Staff  |  Nov 06, 2015
Driven by double digit growth in key digital categories, U.S. consumer spending on home entertainment nudged up in the third quarter of 2015 to $3.9 billion and is up 0.2 percent year over year, according the Digital Entertainment Group quarterly report.

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Audio Video News
RIP: Stewart Filmscreen CEO Grant Stewart
SV Staff  |  Nov 06, 2015
Stewart Filmscreen has announced the death of President and CEO Grant Stewart, age 60. Mr. Stewart passed away on the morning of October 27, 2015, after bravely battling cancer. His wife Mary, who retains ownership of the company, their two children, his father Pat and the entire Stewart family, survive Grant.
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Ears On
Living with the Compact Disc
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 06, 2015
It's been 30 years since I bought my first Compact Disc player and first CDs. With the CD format in a death spiral, the LP recovering nicely, high-resolution downloads on the rise, and streaming capturing a new generation of listeners, defending the CD at this moment in history may seem like pure contrarianism. That alone is reason enough to reevaluate the CD—even if it seemingly contradicts things I myself have written in the recent past. But let's make it clear that if I am about to find a few kind words to say about the dear old shiny disc, it doesn't mean I don't love my vinyl and FLACs any less. It's just that my music library has room for more than one format. I still buy CDs, but I collect LPs and high-res audio too.

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Audio Video News
Dead & Company Show to Stream Live on Saturday
SV Staff  |  Nov 06, 2015
It’s been 20 years since Jerry Garcia died, bringing 30 years of the Grateful Dead to an end. Over the years surviving members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart have carried on in various offshoots of the band and reunited sporadically for one-off performances and tours featuring many guests.
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Audio Video News
Vizio Reference Series TVs Offered at Magnolia
SV Staff  |  Nov 05, 2015
The first two high-dynamic range-enabled TVs in Vizio’s new Reference Series are now available to order through Best Buy’s Magnolia Design Centers.
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In-Wall Speaker Reviews
Origin Acoustics Director D108 In-Ceiling Speaker Review
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Nov 05, 2015

Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,600 each, $14,400 as reviewed

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Tool-free twist-lock mounting
10-inch woofer fits an 8-inch cutout
Aimable tweeter and midrange
Minus
Requires 7.5 inches of mounting depth
Wants lots of power
Raised soundstage

THE VERDICT
No in-ceiling architectural speaker is perfect, but the D108 comes stunningly, spectacularly close.

Love him, hate him, or simply wonder what’s up with all the tattoos, there’s no denying the fact that Jeremy Burkhardt is one of those distinct personalities who has had a profound effect on the custom audio/video industry. Then again, he may be someone you’ve never heard of, unless you’re in the custom installation business. Unlike other notables—such as Polk, Carver, and Bose—Burkhardt isn’t the name of a speaker brand. Nevertheless, if you’ve listened to a set of in-wall or in-ceiling speakers, especially one of the bazillion or more models SpeakerCraft has produced over the past 25 years (including tons built for other brands), you’ve felt—or, rather, heard—Burkhardt’s influence on architectural audio.

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Audio Video News
Klipsch Adds $400 Soundbar to Reference Lineup
SV Staff  |  Nov 05, 2015
Klipsch today introduced the Reference R-4B soundbar system, which the company says draws on design and engineering principles used in its Reference home theater line.
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Audio Video News
10 Year Flashback: Recalling Sony's Rootkit Fiasco
SV Staff  |  Nov 05, 2015
A decade ago Sony was scrambling to recover from the infamous CD Rootkit Fiasco, brought about when Sony BMG, then the second largest music group, placed copyright protection software on 52 CDs.
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Streaming Device ReviewsSmartStream
Roku 4 Streaming Media Player Review
Barb Gonzalez  |  Nov 04, 2015

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $130

AT A GLANCE
Plus
4K streaming to UHDTV
Agnostic search finds titles in multiple services
Notifications when specific movies become available

Minus
Remote mic is inaccurate
Search can’t find specific episodes of specific seasons

THE VERDICT
If you own a 4K TV, this is a slam-dunk. If not, the advances in hardware are still enough to step up from a Roku 2.

One must wonder if Roku waited to release its fourth-generation media streamer until the aptly named Roku 4 was capable of streaming 4K content. The newest Roku box can connect to compatible UHDTVs to stream 4K movies, TV shows, and videos from Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, M-Go, and a growing number of 4K streaming sources. And though 4K streaming is the Roku 4’s main appeal, improvements in hardware and the software interface make it the best Roku box yet.

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Ask S&V
Can a Receiver Send 5.1 Surround to a 2nd Zone?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 04, 2015
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I am in the market to buy a high-end Dolby Atmos AV Receiver for my basement home theater and have shortlisted the following receivers: Yamaha RX-A3050, Denon AVR-X5200W, and Marantz SR 7010. I also have a Sony receiver that powers a KEF 5.1 speaker system in my living room.

I was looking at the manuals for these receivers online and they all have second-zone HDMI and preamp outputs. Would it possible to use the new receiver’s Zone 2 HDMI or preamp outputs to send surround to my 5.1 system upstairs? —Bhaskar Vooradi

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