The iPad has a lot of potential. I’m sure all you geeks out there would love to touch screen everything. Well that’s just what’s going on right now, with the iPad at the base of it all.
Take, for example, this home theater chair from Elite Home Theater seating. They are taking iPad integration to the next level. → Read More
Short version: While you may not have heard of this brand, if you are looking for a complete home theater setup or even stereo setup, complete with powered sub, for $1k or less, you will likely be impressed with Orb. Try them in your home for 30 days. → Read More
Short version: Harman/Kardon makes great speakers, and this set is no exception. If you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive home-theater speaker system, you can definitely do much worse then the HKTS 20BQ. This is a complete 5.1 system in a box, and includes everything you need to get your system rocking. The speakers have great response throughout the range, and the 8 inch powered subwoofer will definitely shake things up. → Read More
I love the show Leverage. Partly because it’s filmed in my home town of Portland Oregon, and partly because of the high tech gadgets that they use. For example, the briefing sequences use a wall of LCD TVs. The each TV can show an individual shot, or can be combined into one massive display, which just looks like fun to me. Well, you can buy your own, better version, with the WindowWall. → Read More
And lo, from the Ballmer came the words, and the words were about the Xbox, and they did ponder the words as to what they meant. And then the idle speculation started, and people started posting stuff on the internet, and it just got silly. But judging from (and speculating from) some comments that Ballmer said at a recent UW speech, there’s a pretty good chance that there may be some new kinds of Xboxen coming to your television. → Read More
Well, TV manufacturers are definitely embracing 3D for the home. Obviously it’s going to require the networks to jump in too, as evidenced by Sony and CBS building the “Sony 3D Experience” in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. → Read More
ViewSonic announced the latest addition to their family of projectors recently, the PJD6531w. What makes this particular projector interesting is the fact that it displays at 120Hz, enabling it to be used to display those newfangled 3D movies that are so hot right now. The PJD6531w runs at 1280×800, and supports up to 1080p. The fact that it runs in 120Hz means it’ll work with existing 3D tech like Nvidia’s 3D-Vision and TI’s DLP. The lamp will last up to 6,000 hours (in eco mode) and features integrated 10w speakers. MSRP on the PJD6531w is $799, and it comes with a 3 year warranty from Viewsonic. → Read More
Get ready, the 3D revolution will be televised. Sears has started offering pre-order pricing on Samsung’s 3D televisions, with some models expected to be available in stores later this month. Sears is also starting to advertise a Blu-ray player with 3D glasses as well. → Read More
Victor JVC has announced [JP] a new home theater sound system for the Japanese market today, consisting of a set of two speakers (SP-FT1/FT2) and the corresponding amplifier (AX-FT1/FT2). And the system is very pretty, mainly because the speakers are just 30.8mm thin and weigh 0.85kg each. → Read More
With retail electronics stores closing down faster than the backwards-spinning water in an Australian toilet bowl, Best Buy is now trying to figure out how to compete with remaining high-volume, low-price super retailers like Wal-Mart.
And while trying to take on Wal-Mart’s ultra aggressive pricing isn’t necessarily in the cards, “Best Buy supposedly intends to create differentiation by playing up its product demonstration ability,” according to Electronic House. → Read More
OMG. This is without a doubt my favorite gadget I’ve seen or heard about all day. This beauty is a fully functional PC that features wireless HDMI, a full QWERTY keyboard, and a mini secondary touchscreen. No specs, pricing or availability info yet, but click on for more pics. → Read More
This is a trend, turning garages into home theaters? Might as well, right—the car business won’t be around much longer, so you’ll need to do something else with all that space. To that end, Electronic House has put together a small gallery of some of the best garage home theaters money can buy. I liked this one the best, designed by some dude named Bjorn Kristensen. For one, red carpeting oozes trashy nouveau riche sensibilities, and the wall paper, for some completely illogical reason, reminds me of the movie Beetlejuice. The theater was also locally grown. That is, Kristensen bought most of items at area stores, thus propping up his local economy for a little while longer. Good on him. → Read More
DLink’s DSM-330 is now available for $299. It connects to your home networks via Wi-Fi or Ethernet and can play back high definition DivX content on your TV using DivX Connected functionality, which basically streams DivX, Xvid, WMV, DV, MPEG-1, and MJPEG video content (various audio formats too) from your computer and also harnesses your CPU’s horsepower to make all the pretty menus. There’s HDMI output along with component, composite, S-Video, and Scart, plus RCA, S/PDIF, and Optical audio outputs. D-Link is selling the DSM-330 for $299, but you can find it for cheaper elsewhere – Amazon.com has it for $199 after rebate, for instance. More photos and full press release after the jump… → Read More
Klipsch’s new speakers look fantastic, and probably sound as good. Known for high-end sound with high end looks. It just announced these new home theater speakers that are put together in high-grain, furniture-quality wood. But like me, they’re not just beautiful on the outside, they’re also quality inside. The speakers use new horn tech to fit big sound into slim cabinets. That means you get the same audio quality as you would from huge cabinets in these discreet units. The new speakers come in five varieties that, when combined, give you one of the best surround sounds speaker options on the market. Main sound comes from WF-35 ($1,499) and WF-34 ($1,199) floorstanding speakers, or the WB-14 bookshelf speaker for smaller areas ($599), the WC-24 ($499) makes center channel and the WS-24 ($749) is your surround speaker. You’ll need to bring your own sub. Luckily they’re not singles, you get pairs at that price, except for the center speaker. If you’re looking for the total audiophile experience, this is where to start. If you can afford it. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
