LATEST ADDITIONS

HT Staff  |  May 07, 2013
Until we’re able to use our minds to reliably control our A/V gear, most of us will continue to use a conventional remote handset to operate our equipment. But apps that that can turn a smartphone or tablet into a home theater remote control are becoming popular. Take a moment to respond to this week’s HT Poll and tell us how you control your gear stack. And if you use a remote control app, tell us what you like and don’t like about it in Comments.
Do you use your smartphone or tablet to control A/V gear?
Yes, for my TV only
1% (11 votes)
Yes, for a few A/V components
25% (207 votes)
Yes, for all of my A/V gear
10% (83 votes)
No, but I’m thinking about finding an app and checking it out
12% (102 votes)
No, I don’t see the point
13% (106 votes)
No, I love my pile of manufacturer-supplied remotes
11% (92 votes)
No, I love my programmable universal remote that controls all of my gear
28% (237 votes)
Total votes: 838
Josef Krebs  |  May 07, 2013

Jack Reacher

Reacher (Tom Cruise) is an ex-lifer military police officer living off the grid. He agrees to become lead investigator for attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike) who’s trying to keep a veteran sniper off death row since all evidence points to him having randomly shot five people.

Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 06, 2013

This is one of the nerdier posts I've done, but since I'm unabashedly a nerd, and I hope many of you are too, I figured it would work.

You see, I love LEDs. I think they're fascinating in how they work, what they can do, and so on. As you'd expect, I'm slowly replacing the CFL bulbs in my house with LEDs.

The thing is, not all LED bulbs are equal, and one of the biggest drawbacks is that not all offer the "warmth" in color temperature most of us love in incandescents.  So I put a few different LEDs on my test bench, measuring them sort of how I measure TVs, to see how they do.

Curious? Well I was, hopefully you will be too.

Darryl Wilkinson  |  May 06, 2013
Power cords. Three-prong adapters. Wall-wart power supplies and USB chargers with their thin, inevitably tangled cords. Running out of available outlets. These are all things I hate. Hell, even polarized plugs annoy the crap out of me. Let’s just say that when wireless power transmission – or power-harvesting devices – ever becomes a reality, I’m going to be a particularly happy individual. (If only Tesla were still alive…) In the meantime, the previously mentioned assortment vexing electrical necessities are things we all have no other choice than to deal with.

Fortunately there are plenty of devices out there that are specifically designed to lessen the pain of dealing with power cords and power supplies...

HT Staff  |  May 06, 2013
As part of its 40th Anniversary celebration, NAD Electronics has announced three compact, “eco-friendly” digital audio products, including an update of the iconic NAD 3020 integrated amplifier, one of the best selling hi-fi products of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 05, 2013

This is not your typical cell phone review. Mostly because I don't understand most cell phone reviews. It's a phone. You get a new one every few years. The fervor and intensity of Internet discussions about what phone is best is beyond my realm of understanding.

So what is this? Well, by most accounts the HTC One is, ahem, one of the top smartphones available right now (the others being the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S IV) and I was curious, how good is it? Not just from the dime-a-dozen subjective point a view, but an actual look at the hardware.

So I guess you could consider this a look at the HTC One mostly as an LCD TV and portable media player, judged as such, plus a bit of the other subjective crap because why not. Plus, we went ahead and did full video and audio measurements on it. Because why not.

Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 05, 2013

This is not your typical cell phone review. Mostly because I don’t understand most cell phone reviews. It’s a phone. You get a new one every few years. The fervor and intensity of Internet discussions about what phone is best is beyond my realm of understanding.

So what is this? Well, by most accounts the HTC One is, ahem, one of the top smartphones available right now (the others being the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S IV) and I was curious, how good is it? Not just from the dime-a-dozen subjective point a view, but an actual look at the hardware.

So I guess you could consider this a look at the HTC One mostly as an LCD TV and portable media player, judged as such, plus a bit of the other subjective crap because why not. Plus, we went ahead and did full video and audio measurements on it. Because why not.

Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 04, 2013

Val Kolton is the CEO and founder of the headphone and portable audio company V-MODA.  As a DJ and producer, he has toured the globe playing among the top DJs and musicians as well as held the residency at Hollywood's most elite clubs. Here he picks a Song from his Soundtrack.

Mark Fleischmann  |  May 03, 2013
Audio Performance
Video Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $1,000 At A Glance: Built-in Wi-Fi • Bluetooth with supplied dongle • Rudimentary room EQ

Sherwood can fairly lay claim to a slice of audio history. Born in Chicago in 1953, it was one of the great American brands of home audio’s infancy. Its vintage tube amps still sell on eBay as affordable alternatives to more sought-after brands like McIntosh and Marantz; some folks make a hobby of refurbishing them. Its early solid-state stereo receivers also have a modest following.

 |  May 03, 2013

No matter what your taste in music, movies, or sound, the goal of every speaker is always the same: to recreate the ambience and excitement of the original performance. However, recreating every type of musical performance-from a world-famous rock band performing in a sports arena to a folk artist playing in an intimate coffeehouse-is a task very few speakers can accomplish.

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