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Redbox Renters Beware: Mystery of the Missing Audio Track
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Nov 24, 2015
When you buy a Blu-ray Disc for $25, you expect the very best quality. When you rent a Blu-ray for $2, do you still expect the best? Or would the budget pricing lower your expectations? Do you simply assume that the bits comprising a rental movie are the same as the retail movie? You might be surprised to learn that not all bits are created equal. And therein lies a mystery.
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Soundbar Reviews
Atlantic Technology 3.1 HSB Soundbase Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 23, 2015

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $799

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Impressive bass without external sub
Smooth, unfussy top end
Suitable for TVs up to 100 pounds
Minus
Passive design requires use of an AV receiver

THE VERDICT
Atlantic Technology’s 3.1 HSB uses H-PAS bass technology to deliver real bass response along with enviable smoothness and dynamics.

Visualize, if you will, a home theater system with a flat-panel TV and 5.1-channel surround sound. For many readers, this is nirvana. For others, it’s too much stuff—a TV, three speakers in front, two surrounds, and a subwoofer. How do you reduce the intrusion into the room? Wall-mounting the TV is a no-brainer. Now imagine that the three front speakers have disappeared, along with that pesky sub. What’s left, you’re probably thinking, is some kind of typical soundbase or bar. It offers bass hardly worthy of the name, fake surround, and a fraction of the features of a receiver-based system. For this Atlantic Technology model, you got the first part right—the 3.1 HSB is a soundbase—but the rest is wrong.

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Ask S&V
Is It Realistic to Expect an LCD TV to Last 10 Years?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 23, 2015
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Should an LCD TV be expected to last 10 years without repairs, or is that unrealistic? — Pat Templeton / via e-mail

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Audio Video News
Torque Audio Ships Adjustable Bass Headphone
SV Staff  |  Nov 23, 2015
Torque Audio, creator of the innovative TorqueValve tunable headphone, has announced that its adjustable-bass t402v headphone is now available.
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Tech2
Star Wars Battlefront Review: A Donut of Sound and Fury
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Nov 21, 2015
There was no game releasing in 2015 I was more excited about than Star Wars Battlefront. The trailers looked amazing, it was built on a solid and known engine, and really, how do you screw up a Star Wars game where you get to attack AT-ATs on Hoth?

Well…

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Furious 7
David Vaughn  |  Nov 20, 2015
Picture
Sound
Extras
After their last adventure in London, the team headed by Dominic Toretto has made a new enemy in ex–black ops assassin Deckard Shaw, the brother of Owen Shaw, the mercenary they just took down. With revenge on his mind, Shaw systematically targets every one of the crew for death, and they must band together in order to survive—which isn’t a guarantee. Help comes from Mr. Nobody, a secret U.S. government agent who is willing to trade support for the gang as long as they can capture Ramsey, a hacker who has created a technology that will make finding Shaw a piece of cake.
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AV Receiver Reviews
Denon AVR-X1200W A/V Receiver Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 20, 2015

Performance
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $599

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Dolby Atmos and DTS:X on board
HDMI 2.0a with HDR video
Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction
Minus
Like other seven-channel AVRs, just two Atmos height channels
Remote volume keys undernourished

THE VERDICT
Triple wireless connectivity and excellent room correction may lure more listeners to this top-performing budget receiver than its limited 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos and DTS:X capabilities will.

The Denon AVR-X1200W is among a growing trickle of receivers that name-check DTS:X surround sound. By the time you read this, it might even be operational.

For every one of Dolby’s home surround standards, there has been a DTS equivalent. The competition began in the mid 1990s, when Dolby Digital and DTS first went head to head on laserdisc, with DVD following soon after. Dolby then added back-surround channels for Dolby Digital EX; DTS responded with DTS-ES. Dolby upgraded to lossless encoding with Dolby TrueHD; DTS shot back with DTS-HD Master Audio. Object-oriented surround—which uses metadata to map objects in a dome-shaped soundfield—is no different. In response to Dolby Atmos, which has just begun infiltrating surround receivers, DTS offers DTS:X. This is a transitional time, and you’ll find some models supporting Atmos without supporting DTS’s answer. Others are “DTS:X ready,” but not yet functional as they await the release of new firmware.

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Audio Video News
Video: Mixing Mad Max in Dolby Atmos
SV Staff  |  Nov 20, 2015
The War Rig is racing down Fury Road through the apocalyptic wasteland in Mad Max:Fury Road and you feel like you’re along for the ride. The expansive soundtrack pulls you deep into the action. You start to fear for your life.
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Audio Video News
Live TV Is Still First Choice
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 19, 2015
One-third of viewers casting around for something to watch still make live TV their first port of call, said a Hub Entertainment study. However, that’s down from 50 percent in 2013, and Netflix is making inroads among younger viewers. Millennials prefer live TV to Netflix by just 33 to 31 percent. And those 16 to 24 prefer Netflix over live TV by 40 to 26 percent.
Audio Video News
Throwback Thursday: Remember HD DVD?
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 19, 2015
Nothing quite like a good old format war. Ten years ago this month we reported on Toshiba’s decision to postpone the U.S. launch of HD DVD from December 2005 to early 2006.

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