Audio Video News

As you savor every moment of a summer in full swing and get ready to head out for the weekend, why not take a minute to scan our Top Picks for the month of July. More than one of ’em are road worthy. Like Optoma’s awesome micro projector that weighs less than a pound and fits in the palm of your hand or the sleek music player from Questyle that puts studio sound quality in your pocket or Mass Fidelity’s outstanding battery-powered Bluetooth speaker. Need a set of killer earphones? Check out the four-star-rated Cardas A8’s. And for when you’re back at home we offer up two very different yet very special tower speakers for your consideration—both guaranteed to bring pleasure with movies and music.

LeEco, a China-based online video and internet TV content provider, is acquiring Vizio for $2 billion, the companies announced yesterday. The acquisition could mean even lower TV pricing from Vizio in the future.

Next year marks the 10 year anniversary of Apple TV, which was groundbreaking product at the time. Today it is overshadowed by the competition. What went wrong?

Ya gotta hand it to the marketing geniuses at Klipsch (and plenty of other companies) for coming up with out-of-the-box ways to promote their products.

Sharkk has launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund Bravo by Sharkk, an affordable over-the-ear hybrid electrostatic headphone that runs on 0.1 volts of internally generated power instead of needing an external power source.

Late this summer, or shortly thereafter, Sony will attempt to upend the way we look at UHD and high dynamic range (HDR) with its new Z9D series of premier Ultra HD. Don’t look for them at Joe’s Video down the street, however, but rather in premier outlets such as Magnolia (located in or adjacent to selected Best Buy stores) and custom installers. They’re also likely to find their way into more than a few professional facilities.

We sometimes stumble upon interesting things at shows. The Credenza from Richmond, VA-based design house Fern & Roby caught our eye for its originality.