Audio Video News

"Shall we play a game?" Who doesn't remember that classic line from WarGames, the '80s classic with Matthew Broderick as a high-school hacker who launches a near-nuclear Armageddon? My, oh my, how computers have changed since then, right?...

Tributaries Cable, guys better known for high-end cables and the like, are introducing their first power-protection component, the TX500 Power Manager. The new unit is man enough to handle up to 10 components with 1,800 watts of combined demand. (That's almost enough juice to power a small, third-world nation.) After a surge of inspiration, Tributaries included protection for two telephone connections and for a pair of fully independent RF signal paths engineered specifically for cable, satellite, or antenna connections. Image quality is protected by an RF circuit design that maintains a consistent 75-ohm impedance with bandwidth capability in excess of 1.5GHz. (That kind of bandwidth capability could most likely carry the entire broadcast TV channel lineup of a small, third-world country.)

Onkyo USA continues to push the performance envelope for affordable home theater systems. On July 19, the Upper Saddle River, NJ-based company announced a 6.1-channel "Home Theater in a Box," the HT-S755DVC.

Onkyo USA announced plans to add to two top-of-the-line AV receivers and a new flagship AV preamp/controller to its RZ Series in September.

Onkyo and Pioneer have announced the availability of a firmware update that activates DTS Play-Fi wireless multi-room audio capability on several products.

Onkyo and Pioneer today announced the release of a firmware update that enables AV receivers from both brands to use Apple’s AirPlay 2 wireless platform to stream music from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to speakers around the house and use Siri voice commands to control compatible products.

The term "home-theater-in-a-box" has become an expletive in the A/V world. They're usually seen as catch-all, cheap, simple excuses for a carefully assembled home theater. Because of this, companies shy away from the term HTiB. Onkyo, for example,...