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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Fred Kaplan  |  May 19, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Robert Altman’s best film by far, has often been called an “anti-Western,” but that’s a bit off. The plot is pure Western: A stranger comes to a frontier town, builds it up; bad guys come to kill him and take it away; he tracks them down on the street and kills them first; and oh, yes, there’s a whore with a heart of gold. The difference here is that the plot is infused with circa-1900 realism: The stranger’s a bit of a dunce; the town is a muddy mess; the bad guys are corporate poachers; our man kills them by shooting them in the back, and afterward he dies in the snow from gunshot wounds while the townsfolk put out a fire in an unused church; and, oh, the whore is also a shrewd merchant with an opium habit.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Deepwater Horizon
David Vaughn  |  May 19, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
April 20, 2010 started out like any other day for oil rig chief of maintenance Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and superintendent Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell). As its shore leave ends, the crew boards a helicopter for the flight out into the Gulf of Mexico to begin their duty on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore rig. Standard protocol is broken when the old crew leaves and the new one arrives, raising the suspicions of Harrell that something is amiss. The project is overdue and over budget, and BP is doing whatever it can to cut costs—penny wise, pound foolish.
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The Connected Life
4 Ways to Hide Your TV in Plain Sight
John Sciacca  |  May 19, 2017
How to enjoy a large TV without having it dominate your room.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
HiFiMan Unveils ‘Zero Distortion’ Planar Headphones
SV Staff  |  May 19, 2017
Reaching ever higher, HiFiMan’s new $6,000 Susvara planar-magnetic headphones use acoustically invisible “stealth magnets” to improve sound quality by keeping sound waves intact.
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Ask S&V
When Will AVRs Support MQA?
Al Griffin  |  May 18, 2017
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q There’s been much discussion about MQA technology and its capabilities, but the only products that support MQA are a handful of DACs and stereo amps.

When can we expect to see MQA in mainstream AVRs such as those from Marantz, Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, and Onkyo? For me, there’s no point in upgrading to a new receiver now if MQA decoding can’t at least be added via a firmware update. —Jacek G.

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The S&V Interview
Richie Kotzen Seeds His Songwriting Future on Salting Earth
Mike Mettler  |  May 18, 2017
Richie Kotzen is a human dynamo. The prolific triple-threat songwriter/guitarist/vocalist has just released his, yes, 21st solo album, Salting Earth, on his own custom label, Headroom-Inc., but he doesn’t view that somewhat stunning stat as any kind of milestone. “I started making records when I was 18 [circa 1988], so it all makes sense to me. I’m persistent and consistent.” I got on the horn with Kotzen, 47, to discuss how microphones and preamp choices are critical for getting the sounds you want in the studio, why compression is a good thing, and his views on streaming.
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Soundbar ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Bluesound Pulse Soundbar and Pulse Sub Review
Daniel Kumin  |  May 18, 2017

Pulse Soundbar
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Pulse Sub
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,598 as reviewed

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent musical sound quality
Notable bass extension, with or without sub
Many streaming capabilities, including hi-res audio
Multiroom system architecture
Visually outstanding
Minus
Some level and dynamics limitations
Occasional cumbersome or inconsistent operation

THE VERDICT
Accurate, dynamic musical sound, lifelike stereo imaging, and remarkable bass extension and control—plus extensive multiroom streaming abilities—easily counterbalance the few ergonomic quirks of a lovely, ultra-compact design.

Don’t look now, but the soundbars are gaining on us. Hardcore home theater heads like you and me can scoff all we want, but consumer electronics’ all-inone answer to audio for video is getting better, smarter, bassier, and popular-er, by leaps and bounds. High-end-ier, too.

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Audio Video News
LG Demonstrates High Frame Rate 4K Broadcasting
SV Staff  |  May 17, 2017
LG and European satellite operator SES demonstrated 4K High Frame Rate (HFR) broadcasting at the recent SES Industry Days conference in Luxembourg.
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Throwback Thursday
Flashback 1965: FBI Probes the Lyrics of “Louie Louie”
SV Staff  |  May 17, 2017
Almost a decade after Elvis Presley was dubbed “Elvis the Pelvis” for the “vulgar” act of gyrating his hips on national television, the FBI in reacting to an outcry from parents launched a formal investigation into the supposedly pornographic lyrics of the R&B standard “Louie, Louie,” written and recorded by Richard Berry in 1957 but popularized by The Kingsmen in 1963.
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4K TV ReviewsOLED TV ReviewsTV Reviews
LG Signature OLED65W7P OLED Ultra HDTV Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 17, 2017

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $8,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Jaw-dropping black level and contrast
Wide viewing angle
Thin, thin, thin. And light
Minus
Expensive
Must be wall-mounted

THE VERDICT
We could argue with the mandatory inclusion of an outboard soundbar, the lack of a stand-mount option, and a lower (but still perfectly satisfactory) peak brightness for HDR than the best of the LCD competition provides. But it’s hard to imagine that any other 65-inch Ultra HDTV in 2017 will offer overall superior performance, or a more impressive aesthetic, than the best LCD competition.

Dateline: March 2017. Along with several other bit-drenched members of the audio/video press, we’ve been brought to San Francisco for a day with LG. The events will include a briefing on the company’s Ultra HDTV lineup for 2017, a visit to Dolby headquarters for the latest pitch on Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR), and several hours of hands-on experience with the 65-inch OLED65W7P, the smaller of the two new 2017 OLED models in LG’s flagship Signature series. (A 77-inch version should be available later this year; no price had been announced as we went to press, but if that’s your ticket, bring money.)

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