LATEST ADDITIONS

Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Brandon A. DuHamel  |  Oct 21, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (military code for, umm, WTF), Tina Fey plays real-life reporter Kim Baker who, tired of her stagnant career, accepts a three-month assignment embedded with the U.S. Marines covering the war in Afghanistan, much to the dismay of her boyfriend. As three months turns into four years, Baker meets a collection of colorful war correspondents, marines, and corrupt government officials, including a Scottish playboy (Martin Freeman) who becomes her love interest and a gorgeous rival reporter (Margot Robbie). But as she endures the almost surreal dangers and day-to-day activities of Afghanistan, she begins to realize that the place is having a negative effect on her perception of reality.
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Audio Video News
Audio Trend Report Finds Sound Quality Matters
SV Staff  |  Oct 21, 2016
The music-loving public may be finally coming back to the notion that sound quality matters after years of putting convenience over quality and accepting whatever’s offered, including plenty of bad sounding MP3 files.
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Audio Video News
Free Live Stream of Johnny Cash Tribute Tonight
SV Staff  |  Oct 21, 2016
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Audio Video News
Buy a Vizio TV, Get Star Trek Beyond in 4K
SV Staff  |  Oct 21, 2016
If you buy a SmartCast TV before the end of the year, Vizio is throwing in a free digital copy of Star Trek Beyond.
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Audio Video News
Samsung Adds Free Spotify To its Smart TVs
SV Staff  |  Oct 21, 2016
Samsung and Spotify have teamed up to optimize the music streaming experience for 2015 and 2016 Samsung smart TVs.
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AV Receiver Reviews
Onkyo TX-RZ610 A/V Receiver Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Oct 20, 2016

Audio Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $799

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Crisp, clear top end
FireConnect wireless capability
Attractive, simplified remote
Minus
Atmos limited to 5.1.2
Single-position room correction

THE VERDICT
The Onkyo TX-RZ610 is an excellent-sounding receiver with sensible ergonomics and unusual FireConnect wireless capability in addition to the usual Wi-Fi, AirPlay, and Bluetooth.

Onkyo has long been an industry leader when it comes to packing the latest and greatest features into their under-$1,000 A/V receivers. The Onkyo story has been just as interesting behind the scenes. A few years ago, Gibson Brands—yes, the guitar people—acquired a majority stake in Onkyo USA, while also investing directly in Onkyo Corp. (Onkyo Corp. also invested in Gibson, Onkyo reminded me; each CEO now sits on the other’s board.) More recently, in the spring of 2015, Onkyo Corp. acquired Pioneer’s Home A/V division. Together, Gibson, who is in essence partnered with Onkyo, and Onkyo, under the aegis of its corporate parent, now market three prominent AVR brands, including Onkyo, Integra (aimed at the custom installation market), and Pioneer (it’s actually four brands if you count separately Pioneer’s offshoot premium Elite brand). In the small world of AVR manufacturers, that makes this American/Japanese duo something of an empire.

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Throwback Thursday
Flashback 1985: Blockbuster Is Born
SV Staff  |  Oct 20, 2016
Thirty-one years ago this week, 29-year-old entrepreneur David Cook opened the first Blockbuster video store in Dallas, Texas. An investment group later bought the company and parlayed it in to a national powerhouse that became synonymous with movie rentals—from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray.
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Ask S&V
Can You Recommend an Energy Efficient AV Receiver and TV?
Al Griffin  |  Oct 20, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I'm big into home theater and computers, hobbies that naturally consume lots of electricity. Now that my AV receiver and TV are both due for replacement, I'm hoping you can recommend “green” products that will give me the same great experience, but without the ding on my energy bill and the planet. —Justin Nealis

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SmartStream
Review: The Roku Ultra Struts its Stuff
Barb Gonzalez  |  Oct 19, 2016
In the past year, TVs and streaming services have upped their game adding HDR (high dynamic range) for a broader color display. Roku is keeping pace with the Roku Ultra ($130) that streams 4K video and supports the HDR10 format.
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The S&V Interview
Rik Emmett on the Allied Forces Behind the Sound of RESolution9
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 19, 2016
Rik Emmett is an artist who’s always reveled in the creative benefits of teamwork and collaboration. The former guitarist/vocalist of Canadian power trio Triumph has forged quite the formidable and far-reaching solo career since he left the band in 1988, but he’s quite adamant about the all-for-one, band-centric, and exhilaratingly electrifying flavor of RES 9 (Provogue Records), the forthcoming album from his new four-man collective that’s been appropriately dubbed Rik Emmett & RESolution9. I called Emmett, 63, to discuss the sonic impetus behind RES 9’s audio identity, how life experience informs his songwriting, and the ongoing impact of Triumph’s Allied Forces, which was released 35 years ago this past September. “I got a burning heart/I got a hungry soul,” Emmett sings on “Human Race.” RES 9 more than RESolves the pangs of those cravings.
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