Sound & Vision January 2017

ULTRA HD SETTLES IN And with it, UHD Blu-ray and HDR. As we were going to press with this Ultra HDTV–focused issue, representatives of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), the consortium of technology companies and Hollywood studios responsible for developing the optical disc format, came to a hotel suite in New York to promote UHD and HDR while putting the PR spin on why we still need silvery movie platters in this age of streaming. Of course, as the editor of S&V, I needed no persuasion. But they shared some interesting updates on the march of UHD and UHD BD into the market, and the current environment for streaming 4K content to homes. Here are a few tidbits: • As of early November, UHD TV shipments for 2016 were estimated to be up…

E-mail them to HTLetters@sorc.com.Please note: Questions about the features and functions of a particular product are best directed to the manufacturer. Questions about what product you should buy are best directed to a dealer who knows all the details of your system, your preferences, and your personal habits. All submissions are considered the exclusive property of Sound & Vision magazine and TEN: The Enthusiast Network. We reserve the right to edit letters for brevity. Due to the volume of mail that we receive, we regret that we cannot respond to every letter. He Had a Dream As a longtime subscriber to Sound & Vision and its predecessor Home Theater, I sometimes re-read my back issues to see the evolution in audio and visual technology. I recently re-read the June 2012 issue of…

15 Minutes with Cleerline President Robert D’Addario Fiberoptics has been around in audio gear for years. Verizon’s Fiber Optic Service, better known as FiOS, has 7 million internet subscribers in nine states with plenty of expansion potential. Google, too, has been rolling out its Google fiber service in recent years, though on a much smaller scale with limited service in seven states. Meanwhile, copper is still far and away king of signal transmission both inside and outside of the home. But for how long? To get a sense of what role fiber will play in the future, we sat down with Robert D’Addario, president of Montana-based Cleerline Technology Group, an innovator in optical cable.—Bob Ankosko S&V: Cleerline has said we are in the early stages of the “copper sunset,” a scenario you…

JVC’s DLA-RS4500 Ultra HD D-ILA projector is the first to use a Blu-Escent laser phosphor light source. The $35,000 projector supports the HDR10 and HGL HDR standards, the latter new... Vizio’s Smart Cast has received improvements including Google Play Movies and TV, a new Quick Start mode over Wi-Fi, and improved navigation... Sharp Is Reviewing its TV licensing deals in Europe and the Americas in the wake of its $3.81 billion acquisition by Taiwan-based iPhone maker Foxconn. However, “Hisense has not been contacted,” says the Chinese-owned U.S. licensee frostily, “and has no intention of ending its agreement with Sharp early”... TVkey lets you sign up and pay for pay-TV services directly from a Samsung TV. The USBbased security platform may come to other brands... 8K TVs may arrive in 2020 (whether we want it…

Kicker Bullfrog Jump Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker PRICE $400 “THAT’S AN UGLY SPEAKER.” Oooh. That’s not what I was expecting to hear when I walked into the family room, Bullfrog Jump in tow. I like the way it looks. Then my son chimed in: “Well, it does sorta look like a space heater.” Hmmm…. He’s got a point, I thought to myself. OK, so it isn’t a work of art. It’s not supposed to be—it’s an outdoor speaker. And a darn good one at that. The Bullfrog Jump hails from Kicker, the iconic car stereo brand founded by Oklahoman Steve Irby in 1973. Irby invented the self-contained speaker box for cars and pickups and went on to build a company that today offers a range of audio products—from headphones to portable speaker systems to a…

CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) is the international trade association representing 3,700 member companies worldwide and serving more than 30,000 professionals focused on designing and integrating technologies into connected homes. Every year since 1990, CEDIA has held an annual trade show attended by manufacturers and integrators alike. This year’s show was held this past September in Dallas and included more than 500 exhibitors (including over 100 first-time exhibitors), featured 115 training sessions, and had more than 18,750 attendees. At the show, CEDIA released its “Size and Scope of the Residential Electronic Systems Industry Survey” which shows control system installations are on the rise, with 86 percent of integrators installing wholehouse controls, and that same group expecting a 20 percent increase in installations over 2015. Beyond seeing a ton of cool…