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Ask S&V
Aging Projector Lamps
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 22, 2011
Given that projector lamps change over time, what should one do to keep their projector up to snuff? Periodic full recalibration? Just tweak the brightness once in a while using a setup disc?

Doug Farrow

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 69: Tyll Hertsens
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 22, 2011
Our own Tyll Hertsens, editor-in-chief of InnerFidelity.com, talks about the surprisingly social hobby of headphones, measuring the performance of headphones and how that relates to the subjective experience of listening to them, in-ear versus on-ear versus over-the-ear designs, simulating surround in headphones, how sound levels impact sound quality and hearing safety, noise cancelling, breaking in headphones, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Run Time: 58:21

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Audio Video News
Near Field Communication: payment- and party-enabling
Michael Berk  |  Jun 22, 2011

While we have yet to see an explosion of NFC-enabled products, Nokia's brought the near-field communications protocol to a new range of home entertaiment products launching along with its much-lauded new Continue Reading »

Audio Video News
Forecast continues to be Cloudy
SV Staff  |  Jun 22, 2011
Everybody's heading to the cloud these days, of course (even Best Buy is launching a service), but various little glitches along the way have made some of us reconsider trusting our data to somebody else's distributed network. We told you a few...
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Eagle (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 22, 2011
Celebrated Roman solider Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) is on quest to restore the reputation of his father and find the golden emblem that disappeared with him and 5,000 of his troops 20 years earlier. With the help of an slave (Jamie Bell), Marcus navigates the wild highlands of Caledonia in order to restore his family's honor.

When I sat down to watch this one I had never heard of it before and for good reason&8211;it's not very good. The acting is wooden and the story has no heart. At no time did I feel anything for the characters plight and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

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Audio Video News
ReplayTV EPG to Cease
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 22, 2011
The ReplayTV DVR platform is about to lose its electronic program guide updates. It's another nail in the coffin for what was once TiVo's major rival.

The ReplayTV website reports that the EPG will be "permanently discontinued" on July 31, 2011. Users will still be able to program their units or software manually, but will no longer be able to use the EPG to record.

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Premiere Design
Wolf Cinema SDC-15 3D Projector
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 21, 2011
Wolf Cinema is known for its extremely high-end home-theater projectors, several of which I've profiled in this blog. Now, the company has announced its latest offering, the SDC-15—also known as "the Cub"—a 1080p projector with full 3D capabilities and a surprisingly affordable price, at least for Wolf.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Kill The Irishman—Anchor Bay
Kris Deering  |  Jun 21, 2011
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3/5
Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene and the Italian mafia. Based on a true story, "Kill The Irishman" chronicles Greene's heroic rise from a tough Cleveland neighborhood to become an enforcer in the local mob. Turning the tables on loan shark Shondor Birns and allying himself with gangster John Nardi, Greene stops taking orders from the mafia and pursues his own power. Surviving countless assassination attempts from the mob and killing off anyone who went after him in retaliation, Danny Greene's infamous invincibility and notorious fearlessness eventually led to the collapse of mafia syndicates across the U.S. and also earned him the status of the man the mob couldn't kill.
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Ask S&V
DVR Hum
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 21, 2011
I have a Dish Network Model 722 DVR (pictured above) connected to a Vizio E420VO HDTV via HDMI. When I turn the TV's volume up above 0, I get a slight low-level hum, almost like a 60Hz hum, which does not increase as I raise the volume level. If I turn the volume down to 0, there is no hum. The audio from TV programs is loud enough to mask the noise when listening at a normal volume level. I tried another HDMI cable with no change. It doesn't happen with my LG Blu-ray player; I even swapped the inputs, and the noise followed the DVR. The cables are 6-foot HDMI and not expensive. Everything is plugged into an APC uninterruptible power supply unit, though the hum happens with or without the UPS unit in line with the AC outlet.

Am I making a big deal out of nothing? Should I just ignore it or try to cure this low-level hum?

Dan Roy

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Audio Video News
The Big Man Joins the Band in the Sky
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 21, 2011

The Big Man has left the building.

Clarence Clemons, the powerful tenor saxophonist of the E Street Band and onstage foil for Bruce Springsteen for 40 years, died Saturday at age 69 due to complications from a recent stroke.

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