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Hybrid Plasma?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 28, 2011  | 
A salesman at a store I visited said the Samsung PN64D8000 is a hybrid plasma with LED backlighting, which makes it much better than the Panasonic plasmas. He says it has the brightness of LED and all the qualities of plasma. What is your opinion of this technology?

Joe Souders

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TV Shopping
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 27, 2011  | 
It's time to get rid of my Sony Wega 40-inch TV, which cost over $3000 when I bought it years ago. My local A/V retailer carries Sony, Samsung, LG, and Sharp, and a local furniture store offers Panasonic, Toshiba, and Hitachi. The most important features to me are sports, movies, and Ethernet (I have a lot of movies on my new Windows 7 PC).

Chris MacDonald

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Flat Panel Break In
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 24, 2011  | 
I heard you recommend "breaking in" a plasma TV for around 100 hours before calibrating it. Do you also recommend something similar for LED-illuminated LCD TVs?

Ronnie Klejka

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What to Look For in a Home Theater
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 23, 2011  | 
I'm going to look at a new house with a home theater in the basement. I just hope the theater was professionally done; I would hate to have to rip it out and have it done right. The house is 10,000 sq. ft. Original price was around 3 million, but the current asking price is $1,939,000. What are some things I should look for when I go to see the theater? BTW, I love the Home Theater Geeks podcast!

Stephen Wedel

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TV Recommendation, In-Ceiling Speakers, Panasonic or Samsung Plasma
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 23, 2011  | 
Which 46-inch non-plasma, non-3D TV do you recommend? Can I get in-ceiling speakers individually instead of in pairs? Should I get a Panasonic VT30 or Samsung D8000 plasma?
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TV Recommendation, In-Ceiling Speakers, Panasonic or Samsung Plasma
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 23, 2011  | 
Which 46-inch non-plasma, non-3D TV do you recommend? Can I get in-ceiling speakers individually instead of in pairs? Should I get a Panasonic VT30 or Samsung D8000 plasma?
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Aging Projector Lamps
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 22, 2011  | 
Given that projector lamps change over time, what should one do to keep their projector up to snuff? Periodic full recalibration? Just tweak the brightness once in a while using a setup disc?

Doug Farrow

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DVR Hum
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 21, 2011  | 
I have a Dish Network Model 722 DVR (pictured above) connected to a Vizio E420VO HDTV via HDMI. When I turn the TV's volume up above 0, I get a slight low-level hum, almost like a 60Hz hum, which does not increase as I raise the volume level. If I turn the volume down to 0, there is no hum. The audio from TV programs is loud enough to mask the noise when listening at a normal volume level. I tried another HDMI cable with no change. It doesn't happen with my LG Blu-ray player; I even swapped the inputs, and the noise followed the DVR. The cables are 6-foot HDMI and not expensive. Everything is plugged into an APC uninterruptible power supply unit, though the hum happens with or without the UPS unit in line with the AC outlet.

Am I making a big deal out of nothing? Should I just ignore it or try to cure this low-level hum?

Dan Roy

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Archiving the Work of John Saxon
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 20, 2011  | 
My husband is John Saxon, and we have many of his movies on commercial VHS and DVD, while others and some of the TV shows he has appeared on are recorded on a DirecTV DVR. We'd like to make DVD copies of the tapes and DVDs as well as archive the TV programs from the DVR. What would you suggest for a DVD recorder?

Gloria Saxon

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Dream Home Theater
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 17, 2011  | 
What gear would you get if you were building your dream home theater? Let's say you had an unlimited budget for video and $100,000 for audio. What speakers, amp, preamp, projector, and screen would you get? Also what would your surround configuration be? 7.1, 9.2, 11.4? Where would you put the speakers? Would you utilize the back surrounds or front height and width channels?

Spencer Torgan

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Downloading Home Theater Geeks
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 16, 2011  | 
I love your Home Theater Geeks podcast; I listen every week. But I can't find a way to download older episodes. They are all available at twit.tv/htg, but when I follow the link to download them from iTunes, all I can see are the most recent 20 shows. I am trying to download episode 25 but cannot because of this.

Matt Olan

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"Reference" Products
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 15, 2011  | 
I have often seen products with "Reference" in the name, such as "Professional Reference Speakers." Exactly what does that mean? Is it a standard or just hype to sell a product.

Terry Bavousett

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Pioneer vs. Elite AVRs, DVD Recorders, 1440p
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 15, 2011  | 
Should I get a Pioneer or Elite brand AVR? Are there DVD recorders with an HDMI input? Is 1440p real?
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Sony KD-34XBR960 CRT TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 14, 2011  | 
Do the current high-end and mid-range LCD, LED, or plasma TVs equal the picture quality of Sony's KD-34XBR960 CRT TV?

Dave Butler

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HDMI Misconception
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 13, 2011  | 
I read somewhere that HDMI only provides 2-channel audio from a Blu-ray player or other source device to an A/V receiver. This implies that the coax digital output from the player must be used for 5.1-channel audio to the A/V receiver. Is this true? If so, does the same apply to the digital out of a satellite receiver?

Don Sigman

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