LATEST ADDITIONS

A/V Veteran
Rethinking Home Theater's 'Money Seat'
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 18, 2017
In two-channel stereo playback, you invariably get the best results with the speakers set up properly—in the same plane and generally between 6- and 10-feet apart. The listening seat is normally at least as far back as the speakers are apart, or somewhat more. They’re set up to fire either straight ahead or toed in—sometimes just a little, sometimes more.

These flexible parameters allow for a wide variation in setups, depending on the speakers themselves, their radiation patterns, the room, the positions of the speakers and the listening seat in the room and, of course, the listener’s preferences. But for a solitary listener there is one fixed goal: the seating position should be dead center between the left and right speakers. This is often referred to as the “money seat,” (ostensibly in honor of the assumed founder of the audio feast). That seat invariably offers the best stereo perspective.

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Audio Video News
THX Joins Streaming Video Alliance to Advance the Online Experience
SV Staff  |  Apr 17, 2017
THX, the company founded in 1983 by filmmaker George Lucas to deliver best-in-class entertainment experiences through technical certification, has joined the Streaming Video Alliance where it will use its experience benchmarking and setting quality standards to advance the quality of streaming.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Next Level Acoustics Offers Custom Soundbar Cases
SV Staff  |  Apr 17, 2017
Next Level Acoustics, a Boston-based startup specializing in custom speaker systems, also offers a unique line of custom soundbar enclosures designed to provide “the perfect balance between aesthetics and integration.”
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Audio Video News
RI, DE, MD, and UT Have Fastest Internet in U.S.
SV Staff  |  Apr 17, 2017
How fast is your internet? If you live in Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, or Utah, congratulations! Your state is home to some of the country’s fastest internet speeds in the country, according to the Consumer Technology Association’s Innovation Scorecard.
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Audio Video News
New AI-Based Hub Ups the IQ of Smart Homes
SV Staff  |  Apr 14, 2017
San Francisco startup SmartBeings is getting ready to ship WooHoo, the “world’s first” voice-controlled, AI-based smart home hub, a Kickstarter project that beat its $30,000 funding goal by $24,000 in February.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Dying of the Light
Steve Guttenberg  |  Apr 14, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
I spent a big chunk of my life running movies in New York City neighborhood dumps, art houses, and palaces, so I may be a little biased, but Peter Flynn’s The Dying of the Light documentary about projectionists brought tears to my eyes. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Flynn, since projectionists are much more at home on the other side of the lens. They all share a common bond, knowing that if they do the job well, the audience will be unaware they did anything at all. That’s the beauty of it.
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Blu-ray Player Reviews
Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 14, 2017

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $549

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Outstanding overall performance
Detailed info screen
Plays virtually everything
Minus
No headphone output
No support for HDCD

THE VERDICT
Oppo’s first Ultra HD Blu-ray player has been eagerly anticipated by UHD enthusiasts everywhere. The wait was worth it.

We’re now into the second year of the Ultra HD Blu-ray era, but up to this past January, Samsung, Philips, and Panasonic pretty much had the UHD player market all to themselves. That month’s Consumer Electronics Show, however, saw the introduction of models from LG and Sony, together with new ones from Samsung and Panasonic.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Jason Bourne
Corey Gunnestad  |  Apr 14, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
Matt Damon returns to the role that Universal has built a hit franchise upon and resolutely keeps churning out. Once again, Jason Bourne’s mysterious past is catching up with him faster than he can remember it. The titular protagonist is still living off the grid and making ends meet by pit fighting in some dark corner of the globe, apparently standard procedure for all retired super-soldiers living abroad.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
BDI Introduces Customizable AV Storage Console
SV Staff  |  Apr 14, 2017
BDI Furniture’s new Elements Collection of media and storage consoles can be configured 24 different ways, making it one of the company’s most customizable offerings to date.
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Ask S&V
Why Can’t My TV Stream 4K Video from YouTube?
Al Griffin  |  Apr 13, 2017
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I recently watched a video labeled “4K” using my Panasonic Ultra HDTV’s built-in YouTube app. When I paused the video, I noticed an icon next to the playback controls that said "Stats for Nerds." Clicking on the icon, I discovered that, while the video was originally shot in 4K, it wasn’t playing back at that resolution. Why does YouTube claim to have 4K content when their system doesn’t play the videos in 4K? —Wayne Mathews, Stone Mountain, GA

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