As I wouldn’t be at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that’s about to start, I’ve put together a quick list of things I will be watching for virtually. As much as I would like to attend the show this year, life’s too busy at the moment. I’m looking forward to...
For some time, HDMI has been the king of home theater cables in terms of convenience and quality. In one cable, HDMI carries high-definition audio and video as well as ethernet (in the latest version). Now, there are challenges to HDMI’s supremacy: From one side, there’s wireless streaming tehcnologies such as Apple’s AirPlay and Intel’s WiDi....
Several readers recently have asked me what HDTV they should buy. Two of my friends in particular were ready to make a purchase so, after a little research, I took them Paul’s TV in Reading, Massachusetts. I like shopping at Paul’s TV since they focus on TVs, offer free delivery and the salespeople are...
Final Part of Finding a Home Theater A/V Receiver Welcome to the second and final part of our A/V receiver search. We’ve spent quality time with the Onkyo TX-NR609, the Pioneer VSX-1021-K and the Yamaha RX-V671. In part one, we looked at aesthetics, connectivity, streaming services and iPod connectivity of the Onkyo, Pioneer and...
Tech of the Hub reviews A/V receivers from Onkyo, Pioneer and Yamaha Recently, I came to the realization that it was time for a new receiver, despite the fact that my trusty Pioneer VSX-1014-K has done an outstanding job for the last six years. Because it has multi-channel analog inputs that allow me to rely on...
If Oprah can have a list of favorite things for the holidays so can we. The exception being that our list is much geekier than Oprah’s (and I don’t have a TV show or a billion dollars). There’s no one-size-fits-all for connected devices in the living room, so we’ll help you find the right box...
At this year’s CEDIA, THX made significant announcements fleshing out its Media Director ecosystem. Media Director’s mission is to ensure that digital content plays optimally on your home theater system. Optimally is defined as how the director intended it to be seen. It essentially auto-calibrates your home theater system on-the-fly by title. While Media...
I’ve built a couple of home theater PCs (HTPC) back in the day. With all of the dedicated streaming boxes such as Apple TV, Boxee and Roku on the market, it’s not as popular to build your own HTPC nowadays. Most of my experience was with MythTV, a fully functional freeware DVR and media...
Movie theaters are specifically designed and setup to ensure the best sound possible. Specially trained technicians set up the audio systems in movie theaters and calibrate it so you can hear what the film’s creators intended. There’s even a certification known as THX that ensures a theater is set up properly for picture and...
One easy way to make the build out of your home theater more affordable is to spread it out over several years. This way as you purchase a component, you can focus on it alone, research it and find what’s the best value. But how do you get started given all of the components...
