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SmartStream
Black Friday Deals! Hulu and Channel Add-Ons for $1 and Lots More
Barb Gonzalez  |  Nov 24, 2021
Black Friday deals on streaming subscriptions may be the best way to try out new apps. Many channels and apps have dollar deals that give you enough time to watch those titles that you didn't want to spend full price to see. This is a push by the streaming services to get more subscribers (that equates to more advertising dollars for ad-supported services). And they are hoping that once you subscribe, you'll stay with the service. Between Thanksgiving day and midnight on Cyber Monday is the best time to sign up for deals on Hulu, AMC+, and many add-on channels, as well as streaming player/streaming software bundles.
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AV Receiver Reviews
Yamaha Aventage RX-A6A A/V Receiver Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Nov 24, 2021

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $2,200

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Tremendous surround configurability
Solid multichannel power and sound quality
Powerful Scene memory system
Minus
Complex setup
Limited remote control direct-access to inputs, surround modes
YPAO auto-EQ less accurate than other solutions

THE VERDICT
Yamaha’s high-end AVR offers everything but the kitchen sink, plus solid audio quality and the company’s unique DSP-surround.

The first A/V receiver I ever reviewed had four channels and five inputs. That was back in nineteen eighty sev...well, never you mind when it was. My point is, AVRs have changed a bit.

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Audio Video News
CTA’s 2021 Holiday Gift Rankings: The Wish-Give Gap
Michael Antonoff  |  Nov 23, 2021
Maybe it’s human nature, but when it comes to holiday presents there’s a chasm between what people desire and what they intend to give.
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Audio Video News
BluOS and Sonos Updates Expand Surround Options
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 23, 2021
BluOS and Sonos have announced software updates that expand surround sound options on a number of products.
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Audio Video News
Black Friday Is Bass Friday
SV Staff  |  Nov 22, 2021
Forget laptops and phones. Forget robot vacuums, instant pots and all that other stuff. Black Friday this year is all about A/V, and to drive home that point, the subwoofer maestros at SVS are selling their 1000 and 2000 Series models at historically low prices.
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Signals
Music Contra Instagram
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Nov 22, 2021
Hang on a minute while I check my receiver's front panel..... Okay — as I suspected, it doesn't have a switch that limits the amount of time I can spend listening to music.

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Music ReviewsMusic and Soundtrack Features
The Beatles: Let It Be Super Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 19, 2021
Performance
Sound
Could May 1970's Let It Be possibly be The Beatles' most underrated core studio album—and is such a thing even possible? To be sure, when Let It Be initially dropped as the free-thinking 1960s gave way to the much grittier 1970s, the album was seen as an imperfect endpoint for a once-in-a-lifetime epoch in popular music—whereas September 1969's Abbey Road, which was actually completed after the Let It Be sessions but was still released eight months ahead of that album, actually serves as a better-suited final exclamation point and nod to their fans as the final, definitive statement of the fully active Beatles era.
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Audio Video News
Black Friday Deals Are Here!
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 18, 2021
Black Friday, the once-official kick-off to holiday shopping, is a week away yet the deals are already in full swing and have been for quite some time (“Black Friday in July” anyone?) as retailers get a jump on holiday selling and wary shoppers scramble to grab must-have gifts. Only a handful of companies reached out to us with early BF deals so we scoured the web to see what kind of deals we could find. Here’s a sampling of what we found…
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4K TV ReviewsOLED TV ReviewsTV Reviews
LG 65G1PUA OLED Ultra HDTV Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 17, 2021

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $2,800

AT A GLANCE
Plus
High peak brightness for an OLED
Unrestricted viewing angle
Vivid color and powerful contrast
Minus
Remote control can be confusing
Cluttered smart TV home screen

THE VERDICT
Featuring an upgraded OLED panel, LG's new G1 “Gallery” model sets a new standard for OLED peak brightness while otherwise maintaining the company's traditionally impressive overall video performance.

LG's G1 "Gallery Design" TVs are the company's flagship OLED models for 2021, replacing last year's GX series. The now-discontinued WX models excepted, the G1 series comprises the slenderest Ultra HDTV line we've yet seen.

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Ask S&V
Can I Use Bipolar Side Surrounds in an Atmos Setup?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 17, 2021
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I read your response to a reader who asked about using dipolar speakers as surrounds in an Atmos system. You recommended “losing any side-mounted dipole surround speakers in the system and replacing them with properly positioned direct-radiating models.” Does that same advice hold for bipolar surrounds? —Darryl Brooks, via email

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