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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
No Time to Die
Chris Chiarella  |  Feb 11, 2022
Picture
Sound
Extras
Daniel Craig's fifth and final outing as the world's most famous secret agent (umm...) is a fitting farewell to an era that saw old-school spy James Bond struggling to find his place in the contemporary world. That's no small task when his reputation as a gun-toting, martini-swilling, two-fisted womanizer precedes him, and so the plots often revolve around his apparent unsuitability for the job of protecting England and the rest of the planet—before he proves the haters wrong, of course.
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Spatial Audio File
Loving Spatial Audio Is The Right Thing to Do
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 11, 2022
Welcome back my friends, to the column that never ends—but in our case, that’s a good thing indeed. Yes, it’s Week Two here in the wide world of the Spatial Audio File—and rather than just ramble on, I’m instead going to get right into our choices for this week’s pick-six of great Dolby Atmos mixes Made for Spatial Audio on Apple Music. Happy Spatial Listening, everybody!
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Editor's Eye
New Ways of Watching
Al Griffin  |  Feb 11, 2022
Premium VOD (Video On Demand), Early Access, Theater at Home, In-Theater Rental. Each of these terms essentially describe the same thing: new movies screening in theaters that can also be streamed for home viewing. Premium VOD (we’ll run with that label) is a fairly recent development, one that quickly accelerated with the arrival of Covid. And while theaters have since re-opened, Premium VOD appears to be here to stay in a big way, with many new movies available to stream from services such as Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and more.
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The S&V InterviewAudio Video News
8K Update: What’s Next for the Budding TV System?
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 10, 2022
When the original NTSC broadcast system gave way to high-definition television at the end of the 20th century it was the first major upgrade in almost 50 years, so it was a huge deal. A dozen or so years later, TV makers rolled out the first 4K Ultra HDTVs, which accounted for three-quarters of the 45 million TVs shipped in the U.S. last year, and, now, 8K beckons. But when will the next-gen TV format actually start to take off? To get a handle on how things are progressing in the world of 8K, we decided to check in with Chris Chinnock, executive director of the 8K Association (8KA).
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CES 2022
TV Trends of CES 2022
Al Griffin  |  Feb 09, 2022
After going fully online in 2021 due to the global pandemic, CES 2022 was an in-person event, with both manufacturers and attendees required to provide proof of vaccination and don masks prior to entering the show floor. Actually, it wouldn't be entirely accurate to describe CES as "in-person," since some companies opted to present products online while retaining their usual show floor real estate. I
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Technics Aims to Keep its Legacy Alive in New Earbuds
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 08, 2022
Yes, Technics makes wireless earbuds (who doesn’t these days) and, as you might expect from the brand that gave us the iconic SL-1200 turntable, they’re designed to stand out.
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A/V Veteran
Positioning Speakers for Best Performance
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 08, 2022
Chances are if you're reading this you're careful about setting up and configuring your loudspeakers. But if you're new to this game, perhaps you're not. The average consumer may unpack those new speakers carefully, but then simply plunk them down wherever they happen to fit. We've heard stories of surround speakers being placed up front near the mains because it was too inconvenient to run wires to the back of the room! That's certainly understandable, but then why even bother; such placement will almost certainly make the sound worse than simply leaving the surrounds in their box.
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Signals
You Can't Have TeslaMic
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 07, 2022
I have bad news for you. Really bad news. The TeslaMic is sold out. I know – it is soul crushing. Your dreams of karaoke world domination have been shattered.

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The S&V Interview
Ian Anderson on the Zealous Nature of Jethro Tull's Past, Present, and Future
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 04, 2022
Ian Anderson has never taken his foot off the creative gas when it comes to both producing new music and harvesting the wealth of catalog material from Jethro Tull, the groundbreaking prog/folk hybrid band he co-founded in 1967.

That said, considering just how active an artist Anderson has been over the past six-plus decades, it might surprise you to learn the stalwart British collective's latest release, The Zealot Gene (InsideOut Music) is in fact the first new Tull studio album in more than 19 years.
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Spatial Audio File
I Hope We Passed the Spatial Audio Audition!
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 04, 2022
Welcome one and all to the inaugural weekly installment of Spatial Audio File. Some people call me the Spatial Audiophile—some people call me Maurice, though I advise against it—but at any rate, each Friday in this space, I will be reviewing select Spatial Audio releases on Apple Music by vetting and recommending key individual tracks and (occasionally) full albums via listening sessions on my home system and headphones alike.
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