LATEST ADDITIONS

Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 10, 2011
Blu-ray is making new friends at a healthy pace, according to figures from the NPD Group, while DVD is dead in the water.

Fifteen percent of U.S. households used a Blu-ray player in a six-month period spanning 2010-11, a big improvement from nine percent in 2009-10, while the percentage using DVD remained unchanged at 57 percent. So while Blu-ray remains behind DVD, it is catching up.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 09, 2011

In addition to my own Home Theater Geeks podcast, I'm an occassional guest on Thirsty Thursday Tech, a podcast with Stephen Heywood and Slick from The Tech Buzz. Check it out!

Run time: 1:00:35

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 09, 2011
Video demos were mighty scarce at T.H.E. Show last week. One notable exception was located in a ballroom hosted by Digital Ear, a high-end dealer in Tustin, CA. The centerpiece of the demo system was the 810 4K D-ILA projector from Meridian (profiled here) in its first public showing.
 |  Jun 09, 2011

My current favorite all-format album is the Raveonettes' Raven in the Grave (Vice), which sounds smoky-fab whether I'm listening to it via CD, MP3, or LP. I asked Raveonettes co-founder Sune Rose Wagner, 38, how the band (Wagner and co-conspirator Sharin Foo) corrals the backbeat for its 21st-century-cool Wall of Sound. Read on for his answers (and for a listen to "Forget That You're Young," a track from the new album.)

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 09, 2011
Last week at T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach, CA, I heard the G2 Giya speaker from Vivid Audio for the first time. This is the newer, smaller sibling to the original G1 Giya, both of which I profiled here.
Timothy J. Seppala  |  Jun 09, 2011

One of the key directives brought up during Sony's media conference at the Electronics Entertainment Expo this year was the company's desire to drive home their commitment to 3D gaming. They've focused on dismantling one of the biggest roadblocks in the way of mass consumer adoption: the price of the TVs themselves.

Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 09, 2011
Last year's Panasonic TC-P54VT25 and the new TC-P55GT30 are about the same cost. Which do you think is the better set?

Chris Wilson

Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 09, 2011

Performance
Value
Build Quality
Price: $528 At A Glance: Substantial and good-sounding monitors and center • Sub of modest size and power • Jaw-droppingly value packed for the price

Andrew Jones for All

Isn’t it preposterous for the Pioneer Corporation to assert itself as a loudspeaker manufacturer? After all, the company is best known in the home theater sphere as a maker of audio/video receivers. Those with just slightly longer memories recall Pioneer’s world-class KURO plasmas as some of the best HDTVs ever made. There was a time when the Laserdisc format, which Pioneer championed, was the signal source of choice among videophiles. Pioneer was also one of the Japanese audio brands that established the stereo receiver as a staple of dorm rooms (including mine) during the 1970s. But who thinks of Pioneer in connection with speakers?

Billy Altman  |  Jun 09, 2011

It’s a well-known story: A little over 2 decades ago, a Nashville record executive familiar with aspiring singer/songwriters Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn suggested that the two team up and see what might happen — and the rest was, indeed, history.

Rob O'Connor  |  Jun 09, 2011

Battles turned quite a few heads with 2007’s Mirrored. Like Tortoise, the band took experimental prog rock and made it cool for the lo-fi/postpunk set.

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