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Audio Video News
Bluesound Knocks $200 Off Price of Award-Winning Pulse Soundbar
SV Staff  |  Mar 01, 2018
Bluesound, sister company of audio stalwarts NAD and PSB, today announced a price cut for its Pulse Soundbar, one of only three soundbars to make Sound & Vision’s prestigious 2017 Top Picks of the Year list.
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Media Server ReviewsOther Source Component Reviews
TiVo Bolt Vox DVR and Streamer Review
Michael Antonoff  |  Mar 01, 2018

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $200-$500 plus service plan

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Voice-assisted search and channel changes
Skip button for vaulting commercials
QuickView feature
Minus
Voice control adds little to program navigation
New Experience interface is sometimes cluttered and confusing

THE VERDICT
Finding cable, streamed, and recorded content through the voice remote is much faster and more fun than using an onscreen keyboard. But the joined-at-the-hip New Experience interface may frustrate TiVo veterans until they get the hang of it.

With folks chatting up their smart speakers and smart TVs, TiVo owners may have felt like they were living in the silent era of cinema. Being behind the tech ball was especially galling for the TiVo community, which, not unlike the Apple fanbase, is willing to pay more for superior technology. In late 2017, TiVo, a name synonymous with the DVR, finally responded with a new remote and interface that recognize the value of voice recognition—especially when a viewer is searching for something to watch from among innumerable over-the-air, cable, streaming, and recorded-program options.

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Ask S&V
Can I Use Cloud Backups With a Music Server?
Al Griffin  |  Mar 01, 2018
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q My Windows-based Music Server (MediaMonkey) recently died and I want to replace it with one that supports music streaming services and will let me control playback with a tablet. I spent many hours ripping FLAC versions of my CD collection. Those files were stored on my PC’s hard drive, and I had them backed up offsite using iCloud. Here’s my question: If I buy a standalone music server like the Elac Discovery or Bluesound Vault 2, how can I restore access to my music collection that’s now sitting in the cloud? Also, can you backup data directly from the Elac or Bluesound servers to storage services like iCloud? —Jacques Simard

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SmartStream
Hands On: Tablo Dual Over-the-Air DVR Streamer
Barb Gonzalez  |  Feb 28, 2018
The Tablo Dual OTA (over-the-air) DVR can record local broadcasts and stream local TV to devices both in your home and while you're on the road. In my hands-on testing I was pleasantly surprised.
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Music Reviews
Eagles: Hotel California - 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 28, 2018
Performance
Sound
Ah, the ’70s—the literal age of excess, as documented by the “everything, all the time” lifestyle credo personified by pop-music superstars like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. And yet, amidst all that glamour, glitz, and high drama also resided some damn fine music, too. Listen closely, and you’ll clue into a good bit of prescient social commentating by artists very much aware of the pitfalls of their experimentations, even while they basked in the afterglow.
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Audio Video News
Is a TV Bundle Revolt Looming?
SV Staff  |  Feb 28, 2018
The inability to select individual channels and being forced to choose among a small selection of overblown bundles with channels you’ll never watch has long been a bugaboo for cable subscribers. And as the Age of Streaming TV hits stride, viewers are overwhelmed and becoming increasingly frustrated with the explosion of viewing options, according to a new study from Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Hub Entertainment Research.
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Audio Video News
‘The Americans’ Season 5 Slated for Digital…and DVD
SV Staff  |  Feb 28, 2018
As the hit TV Series, The Americans, heads into its sixth season, Fox has announced that the fifth season of the KGB espionage thriller is being readied for release on digital and DVD. No word on Blu-ray yet.
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A/V Veteran
Sussing Out the Churchills & 2 Hidden Sci-Fi Treasures
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 27, 2018
No, this not a list of Sci-Fi Movies about Winston Churchill, or Churchill movies with a Sci-Fi twist. I admit that these might make for a high concept movie or two. I'm not attempting to give Hollywood ideas here, but I'm open to a big payday for story credit. After all, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, not to mention Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter were huge hits! We might also enjoy Churchill and His Time Machine, perhaps, or has that already been done—though I don't recall Bill and Ted picking up Churchill along with Lincoln, Socrates (pronounced So-crates for you Philistines) Napoleon, Freud, and others in their time-travelling phone booth.

But enough of that. The first two of my Hidden Treasures are serious films about Winston Churchill, and the other two are light science fiction...

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Remotely Possible
HUMU Augmented Audio Cushion Is a Vibration Sensation
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Feb 27, 2018
When I first saw Flexound's HUMU Augmented Audio Cushion at CES 2018 in early January, my initial reaction was "[deleted] gimmick!" But then I sat down for a demonstration followed by a long discussion with Mervi Heinaro, Flexound Systems' CEO. As you might guess, I don't normally spend much time talking with folks about gimmicky products or technologies. (I have enough crazy ideas running through my head already, thank you very much.) As it turned out, HUMU is the real deal-one of those magical products that I always hope to find at CES. A product that's simultaneously unusual, cool, compelling, and ready to ship. At least in this case, I got three out of four, because Heinaro said HUMU wasn't available in the US at that moment. She assured me, however, that Flexound could ship a sample to me by the end of January.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
McIntosh Product Flow Continues with SACD Transport
SV Staff  |  Feb 27, 2018
McIntosh is on a roll with new products. The latest is aimed at audiophiles who prefer their hi-res audio in physical form.
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