Tech2

I've got LG's new 50PZ950 plasma in my lab for an upcoming review in the magazine. The set had some cool features I didn't have space to mention, so I figured I could talk about them here instead.

The short version? It has some of the most extensive calibration settings I've ever seen on a TV.

And yet, they're not enough.

In the late 1990s, a product manager from Zenith brought me the company's first HDTV set for review. After an afternoon spent checking out the TV - an engineering marvel for its time - I told him how impressed I was with it. "Yeah, we'd sell a ton of them if it said 'Sony' on the front," he wisecracked.

I'm writing this from my sofa. In my lap is a keyboard. MS Word is part of a 50-inch tall image that also includes Netflix playing an episode of Sports Night, and Steam downloading Portal 2.

That, and much more, is the promise of a home theater PC. But in this age of ultra-cheap everything, is the complexity of an HTPC worth it? Well, I'm about to find out. Again.

There have been stirrings on the webs about a new push for OLED (or organic light emitting diode-based) TVs. These Holy Grail televisions promise the ultimate in black level, contrast ratio, and color fidelity, they poop kittens, solve baldness, and make people like you.

Most of that is true. Some. OK, part.

Sadly, an imminent OLED renaissance is still highly unlikely. Unlikely, like me dematerializing and rematerializing in the next room unlikely.

For anyone into ultra-low-budget home theater, yesterday was one of the greatest days ever. That’s because Optoma announced the HD33, which cuts the minimum price for a 3D home theater projector by 67%.

A five-year-old surround-sound receiver has all the appeal of a five-year-old banana. But a five-year-old (or even 25-year-old) stereo amplifier might sound and perform every bit as good as one built last month.

Bang & Olufsen knows its customers value style and ease of use more than being the first on the block with the latest thing, so the Danish company tends to wait for the bugs to be worked out of new technologies before it embraces them.