LG has announced that its 2016 smart TV lineup will have an updated webOS 3.0 Smart TV platform designed to make it "simple and fast" to find and switch between content from broadcast TV, streaming services, and external devices.
A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my home theater listening to some music—a recording of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony, actually—and it hit me: The symphony orchestra is the greatest analog audio playback machine ever invented.
If you saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens over the weekend, your hard-earned dollars contributed to an estimated domestic take of $238 million in its first there days, shattering the $208.8 million opening weekend record of set by Jurassic World in June. Add in foreign box office receipts—except China, where it has yet to open—and you’re at a half billion ($517 million), according to Box Office Mojo, which on a global basis is actually slightly less than Jurrasic’s opening.
Gone are the days of old, when all it took to prepare for Christmas morning was a warm batch of cinnamon rolls, hot coffee, and a spare pack of batteries. Even though more and more technology exists today to keep us connected, how easy is it to set up all these new gadgets come Christmas morning? Although the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, are you sure you’re really ready for Christmas?
One of the fun parts of this job is that we get to check out all sorts of weird and wonderful gear. Most of the time, things that seem crazy, are crazy. But every so often, something crazy is actually crazy good. These are the things that fit into that latter category.
So here are the top gifts we’d love to give this holiday season… if we only knew someone who we could give them to.
We just posted our annual Top Picks of the Year, representing our reviewing experience in the 2015 calendar year. Along with selecting the best or most intriguing products from among those that received our TP designation, we also select a Top Pick of the Year—the single product that most impressed us or best represented the evolution of our hobby.
SV Staff | Dec 18, 2015 | First Published: Dec 17, 2015
2015 was very much a transitional year for both audio and video technology. On the display side, Ultra HDTV continued its march into the marketplace, and we saw the first high dynamic range displays. A/V receivers caught up to the UHD displays with full passthrough of HDMI 2.0 signals bolstered, finally, by HDCP 2.2 copyright compliance—a key feature missing from most 2014 AVRs. We got our first real listen to object-based Atmos surround at home in both the nine-channel variety with four height speakers (a winner!) and the seven-channel variety with two height speakers (not quite so much). Beyond that, we saw more growth in the wireless multiroom audio segment, with several accomplished speaker manufacturers getting in the game. Here, then, is our list of standout products reviewed in the 2015 calendar year. Make sure you check current pricing online; we list MSRPs as originally reviewed, and some products are now heavily discounted.
Vizio has introduced the D-Series of budget-oriented TVs at prices ranging from $150 for a 24-inch edge-lit LED/LCD model to $1,300 for a 70-inch smart TV with full-array LED backlighting.
Sequels can be a tough nut. Age of Ultron is of course the follow-up to 2012’s The Avengers, but along the way, there were four other Marvel Universe movies that apparently need to be acknowledged here, coupled with the laborious task of tying in TV series and setting up movies yet to come. Throw in too many characters and some extraneous subplots, and the result is a sequel more exhausting than entertaining.
AT A GLANCE Plus
Striking design
Excellent build quality
Impressive sound
Subwoofer output (for
gamers and bass hounds)
Minus
A remote control would be nice (for some applications)
THE VERDICT
The extraordinary Talisman speakers take desktop music to a new level.
The decision to feature Serene Audio’s Talisman in our Premiere Design section (November) was a no-brainer. We’ve seen lots of unusual speakers over the years but nothing quite like the squiggly lines of Sia Rezaei’s imaginative design. You might hate it, but I find it inspiring. And it’s a desktop speaker that’s only 8 inches tall. I don’t know about you, but I spend way too many hours pecking away in front of a computer, usually with Pandora playing in the background through a pair of cheap (no excuses, I know) computer speakers. The promise of great sound from visually striking desktop speakers appeals to me, so I asked Rezaei to send me a set of Talismans.