Product Name: Philips HTS6100 and 6515D Description: These two new home theater systems try to help you minimize clutter in your living room. The HTS6100 is a soundbar-style speaker with a built-in DVD player, iPod dock, and USB input as well as a separate subwoofer. (It’s a cheaper and smaller version of the company’s HTS8100.) The HTS6515D is a home theater in a box, with a central… → Read More
Product Name: Samsung HT-Z series home theater systems Description: 2.1, 4.1, and 5.1 sourround sound home theater-in-a-box systems with wireless speakers and 1080p upconversion Price: N/A In-store date: May 2008 Site: Samsung home theater systems Why it’s cool: I’m a fan of upconverting technology. At first I thought it was snake oil, but then I saw it in action and was impressed. I… → Read More
[photopress:HT_X810__2.jpg,full,center] Product Name: Samsung HT-X810 Home Theater Sound Bar Description: A wall-mountable speaker system Price: TBA In-store date: MAy Site: Samsung home theater Why it’s cool: Look at it! That’s 99 percent of the reason why it’s cool. Add in a built-in upconverting DVD player, complete integration with their HDTVs and a host of Bluetooth audio… → Read More
It may be a little late to be recommending things for Christmas, but if you find yourself with a couple of extra dollars come tomorrow and have been in the market for a decent sound system and you live in an apartment, then I’d recommend you check out the Onkyo HT-SR800. It’s one of those all-in-one home theater deals, only it doesn’t suck (according to some of the folks over at… → Read More
Don’t let my 37-inch LCD HDTV fool you. When you want a real cinematic experience, there’s something special about watching it projected. For Tuesday night’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, I watched it in HD on a 60-inch whiteboard, as projected by a Optoma DX625 HD video projector. The picture was crystal clear, and bright as you’d want. The projector itself fits in… → Read More
I featured this buyer-made combo below in the Black Friday round-up, but it was so good I figured it deserved its own post so it wasn’t overlooked. Target is selling two items that, when put together, make one hell of a great home theater set-up. If you’re in the market for your first HDTV, and want to really do it right, this is your one awesome chance. It’s a TV and a home… → Read More
Yeah, never mind the missing second “n” in Millenia, because Paradigm’s forte is speakers, not spelling. The Millenia 20 Trio ($999) is an odd beast that combines left, right, and center-channel speakers into a single bar-shaped cabinet. Trying to fool your ears into thinking you’ve got separate speakers instead of a one-piece job is usually an exercise in futility, but the… → Read More
Samsung has announced three new 3rd generation hi-def players (two of which we reported on earlier), including one that plays both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs known as the BD-UP5000 Duo HD. All three will support up to 1080p and 24Fs/60Fs modes, Dolby Digital Plus audio, and will include HDMI inputs and outputs along with a bevy of other connections. We can also look forward to a new home theater… → Read More
Epson was also in town last week (who wasn’t? LOL!) showing off its wares and the biggest, both in size and in potential scope, was its Ensemble home theater system. It combines a set of Atlantic speakers and a 1080p Epson projector. The left-, right- and center-channel speakers are built into the piece that also holds the powered, retractable screen. The rear surrounds are built into the… → Read More
The biggest downside to Amazon’s Unbox service for TiVo—other than the painfully slow download times and the inability to start playing a video while it’s still downloading—is that you have to go to your computer to order a download to use on your TiVo. Today, Amazon and TiVo announced that this is no longer necessary, as you can now rent or buy Unbox videos directly… → Read More
If you have a Scientific Atlanta 8300 series digital video recorder from your cable company, maybe you noticed it’s got an eSATA port on it. Well Western Digital announced something last week that you’ll want to plug into it: My Library Video Edition DVR Expander. The $199 500GB external drive lets you add up to 60 hours of high-definition or up to 300 hours of standard-definition… → Read More
Laptop speakers generally need all the sound-quality help they can get. Thankfully Dolby Laboratories is lending some audio technologies to Acer’s Aspire notebooks, which will now feature the Dolby Home Theater suite offering “advanced home theater audio features and premium surround sound experiences.” Acer Aspire notebooks featuring Dolby Home Theater will be available… → Read More
Boston Acoustics and Denon Electronics today announced a collaborative contest that will give one extremely lucky person an extreme home theater makeover featuring electronics, furniture and installation worth more than $17,000. The criteria of the contest are thus: → Read More
I had the pleasure of checking out a few of Philips upcoming products today in Times Square and I’m not lying when I tell you that I’m pretty darn excited about a few products. The Ambisound home theater system, for instance, caught me by surprise. The sound quality was on par with other top of the line systems and its streamlined design adds a touch of class to any media center. The HTS8100… → Read More
The Altec Lansing iMV712 made an appearance back in January at CES, and if you’re loving your 5G iPod, it’s certainly not a bad way to spend $350. And, it’s finally hit the streets, so you can actually buy one now. Today. In consumer electronic stores or online at Altec Lansing. The company claims it can “deliver powerful, concert-like sound and a true cinematic video… → Read More
It stands to reason that the larger your TV set gets the more power it sucks from the socket and the higher your electric bill will be. Of course this also raises your cost of ownership, something few people take into consideration when buying a new TV. As you can see in the chart I swiped from CNET’s TV power consumption quick guide, running your average plasma TV requires 328 watts of… → Read More
It all depends on how you do the math and whether you see getting $100 worth of HD DVDs for free is actually “saving” $100. Here’s how the deal works: Buy a Toshiba HD DVD player before the end of July 2007 (the first-gen HD-D1 sells for $290.41 on Amazon) and you get to pick five HD DVD titles (a $100 value!) to be sent to you for free (allow 8-10 weeks for processing). Of… → Read More
While I’m certain there are people out there that think Apple pioneered the “mini” computer, Shuttle Computers has long been an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of small-form-factor (SFF) PCs. The Shuttle XPC X200 is a prime example of that leadership. Measuring 2.1×8.3×11.8 inches (HWD), the little black-and-silver box is a powerful Media Center PC. Operating… → Read More
The AVerTV Hybrid Ultra USB might look a tad on the dull side, but the little gray box contains a TV tuner for receiving both standard- and high-definition broadcasts and has an MPEG-2 hardware encoder as well. Plus, there’s an FM tuner built in for those of you that still listen to FM radio and want to listen and record it on your computer. The $129.99 (MSRP) package is designed to work… → Read More
Viewing pleasure that is! The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 was announced at the end of March, but Epson recently gave us a demo of the projector, which delivers picture resolutions up to 1080p at up to 120 inches in size at a price point of $2,999. And for the money, the high-def picture quality is impressive. This PowerLite actually uses 1,920×1,080 pixels on each of the projector’s… → Read More
I swear sometimes it’s like you people aren’t paying attention. Did you not know that digital media adapters or network media devices have already existed for some time? Could you not wrap your minds around attaching a laptop or desktop to your TV to view Internet content? All of a sudden ’cause Mr. Jobs says it’s OK for you to stream stuff to your TV, you drool and open… → Read More
While we’re on the subject of expensive audio equipment, we figured we should mention a companion piece of equipment for the Hovland Stratos: ELP Corp.’s Laser Turntable. In case you’re not familiar, the Laser Turntable uses, um, a laser to play vinyl instead of a needle. The laser not only doesn’t physically damage records from repeated playing, but picks up audio information that has… → Read More
Home theater in a box systems are a dime a dozen and most lack the flexibility of a good component system, but for the price the newly announced HS 500 and HS 300 integrated home theater systems from Harman Kardon might be worth a look… and a listen. Available later this spring for $1,199 and $999 respectively, these systems feature a 5.1-channel receiver/DVD-Audio/Video player, five sleek… → Read More
JBL’s On Air Control 2.4G wireless satellite speakers, mentioned on this very site at the end of January, promised to add some stereo audio to your life without all the necessary wiring required for standard sats. Well, turns out the speakers are about as wireless as something with a lot of wires. See, like all other “wireless” speaker systems currently available, the On Airs… → Read More
Home Theater Blog, via CNET’s Crave, has published some leaked details of five new Denon receivers possibly scheduled to arrive starting this summer. Speculation has the receivers being released in two waves, with two high-end models arriving in July and three less-expensive units hitting in September. The top models—the $2,500 AVR-4308CI and $1,600 AVR-3808CI—will “include… → Read More
With an arctic blast that has gripped much of the country it is a little hard to think about watching a movie under the stars, but now is a good time to start planning. If you have a decent sized backyard, and the funds to pay for it, Cal Spas can help you create the Ultimate Outdoor Theater. This system features a marine-grade, anti-fog, anti-glare 63-inch LCD HDTV with twin subwoofers and… → Read More
As if there already weren’t a ton of premium headphone options on the market, home-theater and audio-electronics maker Denon introduced five new models. Priced from $50 to $700, they are the first consumer-oriented headphones from the company. Styles include canal phones like the $200 AH-C700 (pictured, available in black or silver) and high-end over-the-ear models, such as the $700… → Read More
Tired of explaining to your friends and family about how they can watch “the big game” in high definition on their new HDTV? My advice is to ignore their questions and send them a link to this video HDTV explainer from Terry Schussler, a RadioShack store manager in California. It’s also a bit of an advertisement for Monster Cables (which you can find at your local RadioShack! → Read More
Maybe you’ve heard of HAVA, maybe you HAVA-n’t (ha!), but it looks like the company is here to stay as a prime competitor to Sling Media’s Slingbox. The HAVA Gold HD announced today (and available for sale) is a $129 box that not only allows you to turn your Windows PC into a TiVo-like video recorder, but you can stream MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video to multiple PCs as well. Those using… → Read More
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