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Audio Video News
Samsung Announces Ultra HD Blu-ray Player at IFA
SV Staff  |  Sep 03, 2015
Samsung announced at the IFA 2015 consumer electronics show in Berlin that it will launch a 4K/Ultra HD Blu-ray player early next year at a price of less than $500, according to press reports.
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Audio Video News
CBS to Live Stream Regular Season NFL Games for First Time
SV Staff  |  Sep 03, 2015
CBS Sports announced plans to stream NFL games in October and November, marking the first time regular season games will be streamed live.
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Audio Video News
Kuro, Redux? Panasonic Launches “4K Pro” OLED TV at European Show
SV Staff  |  Sep 03, 2015
Panasonic may have a follow-up to the legendary Kuro plasma TV technology that it acquired from Pioneer in 2009. The company introduced a 65-inch “4K Pro” OLED TV at the IFA 2015 consumer electronics show in Berlin said to deliver its most accurate picture quality ever.
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Ask S&V
Why Do AV Receivers Lack Phono Preamps?
Al Griffin  |  Sep 03, 2015
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I’ve noticed that almost every low/mid-priced (under $700) AVR that Sound&Vision has reviewed recently lacks a phono input. With the recent resurgence of LPs, it’s annoying to think that one would have to spend more money to hook up an external phono preamp when in the old days every receiver had one.

I know that HDMI and wireless inputs are all the rage, but don’t want to spend $500 on a receiver plus another $50-150 for a phono preamp, just to listen to my LPs. Are there any reasonably priced AVRs available that have a built-in phono preamp, or should I bite the bullet and buy an external phono preamp for my current receiver? If the answer is the latter, could you suggest a good model for under $100? —Tim Marlow

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
New Bose SoundLink II Wireless Headphone Touts 15-Hour Battery Life
SV Staff  |  Sep 02, 2015
Bose today introduced the SoundLink II full-size wireless headphone featuring 15 hours of battery life, NFC Bluetooth pairing, and a foldable, lightweight and impact-resistant design for use on-the-go.
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The Connected Life
I Watched the New Mission Impossible at Home for $500
John Sciacca  |  Sep 02, 2015
OK, full disclosure: I didn’t really spend $500 of my own, personal, John money; I had a reviewer’s account. But I did watch Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Terminator: Genisys and Southpaw in my home theater over a month ago using the coolest piece of technology you’ve probably never even heard of. The company behind it is PRIMA Cinema and their movie player allows an elite group of owners the ability to watch first-run Hollywood films in the privacy of their homes, usually on the same day they are released to the cinemas. Not only that, but PRIMA delivers the best picture quality of anything you’ve ever seen outside the Arclight or El Capitan.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Polk Launches Entry-Level Home Theater Speakers
SV Staff  |  Sep 02, 2015
Polk Audio has introduced the T Series, a mix and match collection of entry-level home theater speakers of modeled after the Monitor Series that launched the company 43 years ago.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Jupiter Ascending
David Vaughn  |  Sep 02, 2015
Picture
Sound
Extras
Born under the stars crossing the Atlantic while her mother immigrated to the United States, Jupiter Jones was told she was destined for great things. Unfortunately, it looked like her destiny was to clean toilets as a poor immigrant teenager in Chicago until Caine, a genetically engineered alien, arrives on Earth to save Jupiter from a band of Keepers (alien hit men). It turns out that Jupiter’s genetic markings label her as intergalactic royalty—she’s the reincarnation of the matriarch of the House Abrasax, who was murdered and somehow reborn on Earth. This upsets the balance of intergalactic politics, and Jupiter’s now in mortal danger.
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A/V Veteran
Let the Ultra HD Game of Thrones Begin
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 01, 2015
Last year the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) laid down what it considered the minimum standards for a 4K Ultra HD set. A few months later it introduced a voluntary UHD logo program that manufacturers could use in advertising and labeling sets that meet the standards. This logo also clarified the name to be used for these sets: 4K Ultra HD. While manufacturers are free to make and sell 4K Ultra HD sets of any description (the CEA has no legal authority to stop them), they can’t use the logo if their sets don’t meet these standards. The logo will read either 4K Ultra HD or 4K Ultra HD Connected (though there’s nothing to stop a manufacturer who doesn’t meet the standards from calling their sets simply 4K, or Ultra HD)...
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Audio Video News
HDMI 2.0a: What, Again?
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 01, 2015
HDMI 2.0a is almost upon us. But why? Didn’t A/V manufacturers just assimilate HDMI 2.0?

The answer is that HDMI 2.0a will further improve picture quality, firming up 2.0’s Ultra HD support with complementary HDR (high dynamic range) technology. Does that mean 2.0a will transmit video in a new way?

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