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Other Tech
Getting Started in Computer Audio
SV Staff  |  Nov 12, 2013  | 
Michael Lavorgna’s “Getting Started in Computer Audio,” which appeared in the October print edition of Sound & Vision, is now available online here.
Other Tech
Truly Useful Apps: Watching TV on the Second Screen
Michael Antonoff  |  Feb 21, 2013  | 
So desperate are the networks to keep you cuffed to their shows that they’ve been launching apps for the second screen. Made for the tablets and smartphones to which viewers’ eyes keep darting—often at the expense of the TV screen—these apps are intended to boost fan loyalty.
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Other TechNew Products
Ho-Ho-Home Theater’s 2012 Holiday Gift Guide!
Chris Chiarella  |  Dec 07, 2012  | 
What do you get for the home theater buff who has everything…even if that home theater buff is you? We’ve uncovered an assortment of add-ons, doodads, and whatnot that will raise the bar on your audio/video rig and beyond.
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Other TechThe Connected Life
Gift of Control
John Sciacca  |  Nov 20, 2012  | 
For want of a smart control, the table was cluttered with remotes. For want of the right remote, the A/V receiver was turned to the wrong input. For lack of the right input, the audio and video signals were lost. For failure of the A/V signal, the movie could not be watched. For lack of the movie, the party was ruined.
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Other TechSmartStream
A Word About Video File Types
Barb Gonzalez  |  Nov 12, 2012  | 
Ever try to stream a video from your library only to find that it won't play it—or find that certain files don’t appear on your media player when you browse the folders where they are saved? The problem could be that your media player doesn’t recognize those file formats.
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Other Tech
DLNA Certification: What It Means for Streaming Video
Barb Gonzalez  |  Oct 24, 2012  | 
Digital media streaming has exploded in recent years. It’s everywhere—from sharing digital photos (does anyone print photos anymore?), to streaming a missed TV show on Hulu Plus, to watching high-definition movies on Vudu. Internet and router speeds have increased to accommodate streaming high-quality audio and video. Find out what DLNA certification means and why it's important.
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Other TechSmartStream
What Is a Media Renderer?
Barb Gonzalez  |  Oct 11, 2012  | 
Media renderer is another Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certification that is part of the home network streaming experience. It can play videos, photos and music that are sent to it from a media controller. I know of no devices that are exclusively media renderers. Typically the ability to accept media files is a feature of media streaming device.
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Other TechSmartStream
The Need For Speed
Barb Gonzalez  |  Oct 09, 2012  | 
Streaming high-quality video with multichannel audio requires a fast connection. For Vudu, Hulu, and other online streaming sites, you must have fast Internet speeds. To stream huge, high-definition files from your media server to your smart TV or media player, you must have a fast connection within your home network.
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Other TechSmartStream
What You Need to Know About Media Servers
Barb Gonzalez  |  Oct 09, 2012  | 
In the world of digital media, there’s no doubt that you have downloaded movies and/or music, and saved digital photos to your computer. Now you want to watch them on your TV and home theater. Before you can stream the movies, music or photos from your computer, networked external hard drive, or network attached storage (NAS) drive, the media player must first find the sources—“see” the device where you have saved your media files. The computer or device where your files are saved is called a “media server.”
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Other TechSmartStream
‘Fling’ Web Videos to Your TV with Flingo
Barb Gonzalez  |  Oct 05, 2012  | 
Media streamers and Smart TVs are only as good as the content they can provide. Yes, it's important to have good picture quality, but often the determination of which player you buy comes down to what you can stream to it? If you like TV shows, you want Hulu Plus. For movies make sure you have Netflix or Vudu. Beyond the big-named online streaming services, there is a plethora of special interest websites that stream short-form videos. Thanks to app publisher, Flingo, many of those channels are becoming available on media players and Smart TVs. The Flingo Queue adds the possibility of watching any video you find on the web on TV.
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Other TechAudio Video News
UltraViolet: Building a Movie Library in the Cloud
Bob Ankosko  |  Sep 24, 2012  | 
I half expected an ordeal as I walked into Walmart carrying a small shopping bag with several movies, ready to take the new Disc-to-Digital service for a spin. I was directed to the electronics department where I was greeted by a large placard that read: “Access your movie collection. Any time. Any place. 3 Easy Steps...” Offered in Walmart stores across the country, the service is operated through the chain’s online streaming service, Vudu, and is intended to provide an easy way to set up a cloud-based digital movie library with DVDs and Blu-ray Discs you already own.
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Other Tech
The Future of Surround Sound
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Sep 18, 2012  | 

Close your eyes. Wait, don’t do that. You won’t be able to read. Imagine yourself sitting in the center seat, center row, of a dark and empty theater. It’s a good theater, quiet, and you can feel the space stretching out from you in all directions. A sound rises to an audible level far in front of you. It’s a bee. Okay, maybe you don’t like bees. It’s an old plane, rotary engine struggling to turn over, the sputters emanating from a center channel speaker unseen behind the screen in the dark theater. The plane taxis left. There’s no picture on the screen: You localize it just by how the sound moves toward the left speakers.

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Other TechThe Connected Life
Resolution Revolution
John Sciacca  |  Sep 18, 2012  | 

High-rez music is the most exciting audio development to come along in years, and I’ve written quite a bit about it. But I’ve received enough questions concerning high-rez that I felt it was time to devote a column to the subject. What follows is a primer that touches on the basics of high-rez music: what it is, how to get it, and how to play it.

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Other TechThe Connected Life
The State of Control
John Sciacca  |  Aug 14, 2012  | 

My family recently visited the Magic Kingdom park at Disney World in Orlando. One attraction we checked out was “Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress,” a revolving theater that follows a “typical” family through the decades, starting around the 1920s and winding forward to the future.

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Other TechSmartStream
How Much Bandwidth Do You Need for Streaming Video?
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jul 16, 2012  | 
For those who stream video from online sources, the speed at which data can be sent into their home is critical. If your connection isn't fast enough, streaming video can sometimes stall as it fills the buffer in the receiving device, or the content provider might send a lower-quality stream because it senses that your available speed can't handle anything more. So how much speed do you need?
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