The Philips uWand is no stranger to CES. It’s been at the show in the past, and as a prototype it has been around for even longer, but this time around it got an updated look and feel, along with refined control that now puts it pretty much at one-to-one sensitivity, and makes for a satisfying experience when playing games on the motion-enabled set top box it’s paired with. → Read More
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… → 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… → 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… → 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
I don’t know about you all, but I love me some home theater pr0n. I could stare at the pictures and read equipment lists all day long – sometimes I do, but don’t tell Biggs. → 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… → 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
Unless you’re in the biz of installing home theaters or you’re a hardcore home theater buff then you might as well pass on this Vudu news. The XL2 is a 1U rack-mountable doodad with a 1TB drive and is only available to order through a Vudu-certified custom installer or so the press release leads us to believe. Well, the goodness doesn’t stop there, folks. XL2 also offers IP and IR control… → 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… → Read More
At $800 the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 700 projector isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. It’s an entry-level projector so we’ll keep that in mind. The 700 can throw up a 270-inch image with a resolution of 720p and 2000:1 contrast ratio. The light output is 2000 lumens and life expectancy is estimated at 4000 hours in low light and 3000 hours in high light output mode. The white 700… → Read More
Today, the HT-S9100THX system was announced and it has its sights set on HD theater buffs across the country. The 7.1-channel system (130W/channel) includes THX’s Loudnes Plus technology and comes with four HDMI v1.3a ports. The more HDMI ports, the better, I say. Audyssey and Faroudja handle onboard audio and video processing. Faroudja’s DCDi Edge technology bumps all component, composite… → Read More
Launching this October for $499.99 is Samsung’s BD-P2500 Blu-ray player and its most notable feature is probably BD Live otherwise known as BD Profile 2.0, but it’s also backwards compatible with Profile’s 1.1 and 1.0. 1GB of internal flash memory is onboard for BD Live content. It also features Hollywood Quality Video processing, Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD decoding. You’ll also be able… → 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. → 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… → Read More
Either that strawberry’s been genetically modified way beyond safe eating limits, or the speakers that come with Sony’s new HT-IS100 home theater system are pretty small. The 5.1 channel setup pushes 450 watts (RMS) of power, though, so don’t let the tiny fruit-sized tweeters fool you. The two back speakers can be placed without running wires, thanks to an optional wireless kit and the head… → Read More
So you’ve got your fancy HDTV, surround system, and high-end speakers, but you have no idea how it all fits together. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a friend like me to help you out. Sadly, there’s just not enough of me to go around. Zip Installation is a service that doesn’t just know where your HDMI goes, but makes it look good. They run the wires, mount the screens… → Read More
STYLE AND SOPHISTICATION. That’s one way to describe Sony’s new Bravia home theater setup, the DAV-F200. Another, less boisterous way to describe it is by calling it what it is: a virtual surround sound, um, home theater setup. While “virtual” surround setups have gotten better over the years (so says one of the guys who calls into Leo Laporte’s radio show… → Read More
So you have a Soundblaster X-Fi card with SPDIF-out. And a nice home theater system that you want to run your sound through. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be all right. It turns out it’s not so hard. But since this really isn’t my area of expertise, I’m going to let the kind folks over here explain everything to you. Basically, depending on what model you have… → Read More
Onkyo today dropped a trio of home theater in a box set-ups, and they’re fairly affordable, full-featured systems. The HT-S3100 is your basic 5.1 home theater system with capacity to hand HDTV via component inputs. Up to three hi-def devices can be displayed on your HDTV, switched automatically. It also has plenty of standard analog inputs for your legacy gear. The HT-S4100 is the same… → Read More
Look, I’m all for decking out your home theater to make it the best it can be. You spend thousands of dollars on equipment just to entertain yourself, why not jazz it up? But this trend of theming your home theater room is getting silly. The Star Trek apartment, I thought, was a one-off. But now there are lots of people getting into the act, like the Konolds, who’ve set up their… → Read More
[photopress:onkyos.jpg,full,center] Onkyo makes good home theater gear, and today we get word of two new affordable receivers. They’re coming out in April, and they seem pretty sweet, as far as how they spec out. The TX-SR576 and 506 both come in black or silver, feature daul audio zones, 5.1 Dolby and DTS, and multiple HDTV inputs, including 3 HDMI inputs and two component video inputs. For… → Read More
[photopress:Logitech_Harmony_One.jpg,full,center] I’m a big fan of my Harmony 520 remote from Logitech, and was pretty impressed with its new Harmony One at CES, but I was only allowed a few moments with it, it was quite popular and Mossburg cut me off. Robert from About.com’s Home Theater blog has a pretty good and pretty fair review up now. If you’re a home theater nerd like… → Read More
[photopress:tvCompass.jpg,full,center] I’m a fan of Logitech’s Harmony line of universal remote controls. I’ve got a pretty awesome home-theater set-up in my apartment, and thus I need a capable control center, and it does the job nicely. When I first discovered the remotes, I was excited: a learning remote with USB? What will they think of next? Enter the tvCompass SR 1500… → Read More
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