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Audio Video News
The Sweet Science
SV Staff  |  May 05, 2008
"A boxer, like a writer, must stand alone," so wrote A.J. Liebling, a journalistic contender in his own right. Similarly, in the squared circle of knock-down, drag-out consumer electronics, a video display must stand alone too. Or at least be able...
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Audio Video News
The Sweet Snell of THX Home Theater
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 23, 2004
Snell Acoustics is tightening the grilles and polishing the dust caps on three new upgraded speakers which they'll introduce to the world during the CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis on September 7th. But you don't have to wait to hear about these new THX Ultra 2 Certified models, because we're going to spill the beans here before anyone else does. (Besides, unless you're a dealer or custom installer - or unemployable writer-type like most of us here - you wouldn't be able to crash the heavily armed security at the CEDIA Expo anyway. Just be thankful you've got us working for you. We sure are.)
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Audio Video News
The Swiss Army Knife of TV Tuners?
 |  Dec 24, 2000

In an effort to simplify the mess that the 500-channel TV universe has become, <A HREF="%20http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A> announced last week the shipment of its new DirecTV-enabled HDTV receiver to retailers. In addition to receiving and decoding both DirectTV and DirecTV HD satellite transmissions, the TU-HDS20 is a DTV-ready multiple-format tuner capable of receiving all 18 ATSC digital television broadcast formats as well as current analog (NTSC) signals.

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Audio Video News
The Trouble with DTV
Jon Iverson  |  Mar 10, 2002

It looked good on paper and at the demo: Digital Television and HDTV would revive the video market and create a wave of demand for new sets and playback equipment. Then there were the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?785">8VSB versus COFDM</A> and <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1237">copy protection</A> flaps, leading to shifting connection standards and uncertainty both on the manufacturing end and in the marketplace.

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Audio Video News
The two best things in the world under one roof
SV Staff  |  Jul 16, 2009
The Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles hosts what might be the only place that combines the two greatest passions of the world's most serious connoisseurs: vinyl records and barbecue. Territory BBQ + Records merges a shack-style barbecue...
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Audio Video News
The Ultimate Couch Potato Device?
Jon Iverson  |  Nov 19, 2000

While computer makers are still struggling to find consensus for the recordable DVD format, with the front-running rivals DVD-RW and DVD-RAM duking it out, a few consumer electronics products incorporating DVD-R are beginning to appear. Last week, <A HREF="http://www.toshiba.com/">Toshiba</A> announced its introduction of the RD-2000, which it describes as "the world's first combination of hard disk drive and DVD-RAM video recorder" for recording TV programs. The new recorder is planned for sale in the Japanese market only, starting December 22.

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Speaker Buying TipsSpeaker TechAudio Video News
The Ultimate Guide to Smart Speakers
Michael Antonoff  |  May 27, 2018  |  First Published: May 24, 2018
The smart speaker is about to change the way you live. Are you ready?

It’s not every day that a new consumer electronics category comes along that has an adoption rate projected to be faster than that of any other device, including smartphones, computers, TVs, and radios.

Some 56.3 million smart speakers are projected to ship this year, nearly twice as many as last year and 10 times the number shipped in 2016, according to Canalys. In the first quarter of 2017, only 7 percent of U.S. households had smart speakers. By the end of 2020, 75 percent are expected to have them, according to Gartner and Edison Research.

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Audio Video News
The Unbearable Heaviness of Being HD DVD
SV Staff  |  Jan 06, 2008
"As you can imagine, this is a tough day for me," said Jodi Sally, VP of Marketing Digital A/V for Toshiba. "I've had better." Sally's better days, to be more specific, were right before last Friday, when Warner Bros....
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Audio Video News
The VCR Is Dead
Mark Fleischmann  |  Oct 29, 2008
The VCR quietly passed away this month as JVC stopped making standalone VHS decks. There are still some VCRs in the pipeline--and VHS will survive in DVD/VCR combos. But the era of the VCR has drawn to a close.
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Audio Video News
The Video-On-Demand Gold Rush Continues . . .
 |  Apr 26, 1998

More set-top box news this week: On April 21, <A HREF="http://www.sciatl.com">Scientific-Atlanta</A> announced an agreement with <A HREF="http://www.schange.com">SeaChange International</A> to develop a complete server-to-set-top digital video-on-demand (VOD) system for cable networks. This agreement makes Scientific-Atlanta the first company to offer cable operators all network components for an integrated, commercially feasible digital VOD service in 1998.

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Audio Video News
The World of Riven Comes to DVD
Jon Iverson  |  May 31, 1998

Computer-game developers have been moving toward the home-theater market for the last couple of years. And with DVD players now catching on with computer buyers and home-theater buffs, the format is ripe for a crossover hit. What is needed, of course, is the killer title that makes good use of both a computer and a home-theater system.

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Audio Video News
The World of Chess Prodigies
Wes Phillips  |  Jun 17, 2001

<I>Joe Mantegna, Joan Allen, Max Pomeranc, Ben Kingsley, Laurence Fishburne. Directed by Steve Zaillian. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 2.0. 109 minutes. 1992. Paramount 32673. PG. $29.99.</I>

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Audio Video News
The World's Most Gifted Home Theater Receiver?
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Sep 15, 2004
Denon calls it their "flagship" receiver; but if you want to fully carry out the nautical metaphor, you'd have to refer to the new Denon AVR-5805 as the biggest, baddest, boldest combination battleship/aircraft carrier/submarine/destroyer/frigate/(throw in some secret stealth technology reference here) ever to have floated on the home theater seven seas. Denon claims it's "the world's first A/V receiver with 10 built-in amplifiers and 16-channel output...[and] unprecedented multi-source and zone capabilities with perhaps the most comprehensive analog and digital audio/video switching configurations ever offered."
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Audio Video News
The Young Pope Available for Download Today
SV Staff  |  Apr 10, 2017
Season 1 of the HBO limited series The Young Pope, starring Jude Law and Diane Keaton, is available for download today, with Blu-ray and DVD releases to follow June 6.
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Audio Video News
The ‘Wizard of Oz’ Celebrates 80 Years with Reissue on 4K Blu-ray
SV Staff  |  Nov 13, 2019
There was no hoopla a couple weeks ago when Warner Bros. quietly released the 80th Anniversary 4K reissue of one of the most beloved movies of all time — The Wizard of Oz.
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