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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
You Again (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 07, 2011
High school can be the best of times or the worst of times, depending on your experience. For Marnie (Kristen Bell), it was the latter. Teased throughout her years because of her acne and not being part of the "in" crowd, her memories are anything but fond. Years after graduation, she heads home to see her brother tie the knot and discovers he's marrying her nemesis (Odette Yustman) from high school.

With a cast that includes Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, and Betty White, one would assume these stars wouldn't attach their names to anything but a surefire hit. Wrong! The laughs are hard to come by, the slapstick is anything but funny, and the ending is vomit educing.

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Audio Video News
Today's TVs Are Energy Efficient, You Fools
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 07, 2011
The next time you hear someone complain that today's TVs are energy guzzlers, feel free to say "shut up, you don't know what you're talking about." A study by the Consumer Electronics Association on TVs made since 2003 shows that video displays have only become more and more energy efficient during that time.

It makes sense. While screens are getting bigger, the waning of the direct view and rear projection categories in favor of more energy efficient flat panels means you can get more picture size out of fewer watts. Moreover, today's LCDs and plasmas are more efficient than earlier generations.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Ray (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 06, 2011
A remarkable story about one of America's great entertainers, Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx). From his humble beginnings in the South through his meteoric rise to the top of the American music charts, Charles overcame many obstacles to become a music icon.

I'd always had been a fan of Charles' music throughout the years, but it wasn't until I saw this biopic in 2004 that I realized how high a mountain he had climbed to become a success. He never wanted any special treatment because of his blindness, but his stubbornness led him to drug addiction like so many other entertainers.

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How Many Speakers Are Too Many?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 04, 2011
At CES this year, there was a lot of talk about 3D audio and expanding the speaker array beyond 5.1 or 7.1 with extra width and height channels. Of course, Dolby Pro Logic IIz does this already by synthesizing two height channels, and Audyssey DSX can synthesize two height and/or two width channels. DTS demonstrated its Neo:X algorithm in Las Vegas last month with native 11.1 mixes as well as 5.1 soundtracks expanded to 11.1 with width and height channels.

Such an system sounds remarkable, with smoother pans to the sides and a much more hemispherical soundstage that gives new meaning to the term "surround sound." But during the show, I heard one question asked over and over—will consumers be willing to expand their home theaters to include 11 main speakers? Obviously, this requires a greater financial investment, and very few non-enthusiast spouses would be willing to accept a room crammed with speakers.

Of course, one could even go beyond 11.1—I've heard systems with as many as 45 speakers in the walls and ceiling, and the Iosono system (profiled here) places literally hundreds of speakers around the periphery of a theater. So at what point does this game go too far? How many speakers are too many for a home surround system?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

How Many Speakers Are Too Many?
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Audio Video News
Marantz to Sponsor Garrett Violin Tour
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 04, 2011
Marantz, celebrated by us for its surround receivers, will sponsor a concert tour by violinist David Garrett, a young crossover artist who has been known to perform Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The tour will hit concert halls and theaters in 21 U.S. cities this month.

Corporate sponsorship of concert tours is not exactly new. Rock dinosaurs have been doing it for years. This arrangement is a good fit for both Marantz, as a company intimately involved in musical reproduction, and Garrett, with his rock star chic.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Middle Men (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Feb 04, 2011
An ordinary businessman (Luke Wilson) becomes embroiled in a dark and dangerous world of questionable morals and organized crime during the early days of the Internet. The family man has a successful career and idyllic live until he gets involved with two troubled geniuses who need business advice on getting their Internet scheme off the ground.

One would think a story about the birth of Internet porn would sizzle with excitement, but that's far from the case here. The screenplay lacks direction with silly subplots and then suddenly takes a bizarre turn in the third act. It can be funny at times, but mostly it's boring and uninteresting.

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Audio Video NewsThe Big Picture
James Cameron Plans Better 3D for Avatar 2
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 03, 2011
As wildly successful as Avatar was, many people still complained of eye fatigue, headaches, and other symptoms of what I call 3D sickness. (If you haven't yet taken our poll on whether or not you suffer from this malady, I invite you to do so here.) So director James Cameron plans to significantly improve the 3D experience of Avatar 2—scheduled for release in December 2014—as revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog.
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Premiere Design
Marten M-Amp Monoblock Power Amp
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 03, 2011
Swedish Marten is well known for high-end speakers—I profiled the incredible Coltrane Supreme last June. But the company introduced something different at CES 2011—its first power amplifier, the M-Amp monoblock.
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Audio Video News
Best Buy Announces Buy Back Program
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 03, 2011
Super Bowl Sunday will bring more than a game and some high-profile ads. It's also when Best Buy is expected to announce a new program that will offer consumers a small degree of price protection and encourage them to upgrade old purchases to new ones.

To enroll in the Buy Back program, enroll your product purchase for a fee. Best Buy will then offer to buy it back for a percentage of the original price within six months. The longer you wait, the more the percentage goes down. Good deal? That's up to you. But if the product is something whose value would depreciate quickly, and you're inclined to update often, it may be worth considering.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Never Let Me Go—Fox Searchlight
Kris Deering  |  Feb 02, 2011
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5
Kathy, Tommy and Ruth live in a world and a time that feel familiar to us, but are not quite like anything we know. They spend their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. When they leave the shelter of the school and the terrible truth of their fate is revealed to them, they must also confront the deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to pull them apart.
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