Our Favorite Articles
Improving home entertainment and home automation systems one step at a time.
HDTV Screens – Clean Your TV Screen
[Note, This article orignally appeared on September 25, 2014 and was edited on March 8, 2017] Let’s be honest here. Just between you and me, you didn’t really download and read the owners manual for your HDTV screen, did you? Really? Did you get to the part about how...
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Kodi Playlist Folders
[Note, This article orignally appeared on February 15, 2016 and was edited on January 16, 2017] This article is a quick discussion of the locations that Kodi uses for the folders that are used for its Basic and Smart playlist files. Throughout the article, you'll want...
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Setting Up a Pioneer VSX-1130-K Receiver
We recently had a challenging experience with a customer who bought a Pioneer VSX-1130-K receiver. Our customer is like many others out there. Being very intelligent, they had configured their previous system and were reasonably confident that they could set their new...
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Fixing a Samsung TV Dimming Problem
Our company recently installed a new Samsung Smart TV for one of our customers (model # UN48J5500). Less than an hour and a half after we left, I got a call. Our customer told me, “The TV is dimming itself. All of the colors are there, it’s just – dimmer.” I said...
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How to Program Your Cable or Satellite Remote to Work With Your TV
The assortment of remote controls cluttering the coffee table is an eyesore at best, and a daunting puzzle of technology at worst. To the one who set the system up, it’s no biggie. They know which button to push - on which remote - to get the desired result. To the...
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Resolving U-Verse and Vizio Smart TV Sound Issues
I recently ran across an interesting issue with an AT&T U-Verse receiver model 1SB7005, and a Vizio Smart TV model M492i-B2. My customer complained that the volume would lower itself and after a few moments, would go back to where it was initially set. The TV...
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HDTV Screens – How Big Is It?
Looking at new flat screen TV’s can be confusing. Upgrading to a larger set isn’t nearly as intuitive as it should be. If you measured where you want to put your new TV, you know approximately how much room you have. But, I’ll bet you measured horizontally and...
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HDTV Screens – It’s All Relative
The question comes up when standing in front of the huge wall of flat HDTV screens at a retail establishment. How big of a TV should you buy? The answer came to me by way of another question. What frame of reference do people have in common, when talking about screen...
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