Punches continue to be thrown in the fight over which next-generation DVD format will be established as the industry standard. (And there will be an industry standard, right corporate bigwigs? Although full-fledged format wars are great for selling magazines - go ahead, subscribe to our humble publication now, just in case - tech-savvy consumers tend to sit on the sidelines when it comes to spending money on hardware that may never have software.) Here are some of the latest developments in the march toward a higher definition DVD.
Paying $150 for a pair of 3D glasses isn't crazy. In fact, that's right around going rate for most active shutter specs. However, there's nothing active at all about these Oakley 3D shades, which celebrate the upcoming release of...
It seems that Oakley is joining the 3D glasses market. The fashion optical company recently announced that it will make a full range of 3D glasses, all equipped with Oakley's fashion sense, branding, and (presumably) hefty price tags.
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The President-Elect's transition team today announced that the conversion to digital TV, scheduled to occur on February 17, should be moved back. John Podestra chair of the transition team, sent a letter to the Commerce Committees of the House...
Like it or not, it's official. President Obama has signed the bill that pushes back the DTV transition back to June 12. Let the PSA's begin.Obama said, ""During these challenging economic times, the needs of American consumers...
This is not optional! When hooking up speakers, make sure the corresponding red (+) and black (–) terminals go from the receiver to the respective speakers. If you don’t connect red to red and black to black, bass and imaging will suffer....
First Avatar became the highest grossing film of all time. Now it looks like Avatar is the most illicitly downloaded Blu-ray Disc of all time.
According to BitTorrent blog Torrentfreak, over 200,000 copies of the Avatar Blu-ray Disc have been...
Trick or treat? No tricks here…only treats—especially for home theater enthusiasts weighing various pathways to object-based surround sound (a.k.a. Dolby Atmos or DTS:X). Here we present three Top Pick-rated options in AV receivers—from low to high to very high, as in drop-dead state of the art for those whose priority is sonic purity at all costs. Speaking of object-based surround, how about a simple soundbar-based system that provides a remarkably convincing Dolby Atmos presentation? You read that right—a soundbar. Rounding out this month’s Top Pick honorees are two headphones that couldn’t be more different: one with elegant, solid-wood earcups, the other a pair of “in-ear monitors” that distinguish themselves as the world’s first ’buds designed for listening to and “mixing” live music in real-time. Mind-blowing? You bet.
October may be gone but it’s not forgotten, having yielded a small but distinguished batch of Top Pick-designated products. Among them a high performing stereo receiver with distinctive retro styling, Sony’s impressive reentry into the vibrant world of OLED TV, a reference-caliber home theater speaker system that is surprisingly affordable, and a budget AV receiver that’s bustling with features. All are presented here in summary form for your reading pleasure.
Rovi has bought TiVo, everyone’s favorite DVR maker, and adopted its name. Why is this $1.1 billion deal so richly ironic? Rovi got its start in 1983 as Macrovision, a videocassette anti-copy system that caused strobing of images on playback of illegal tape-to-tape copies. As an unintended side effect, the system sometimes did the same even with authorized prerecorded tapes. So it’s quite an eyebrow raiser to see Macrovision’s successor absorbing a company devoted to personal video recording.
The doors to the Home Entertainment 2005 show officially opened to the public in Manhattan Friday, and five floors of the New York Hilton were jammed with attendees. It's truly an international, multicultural event. I personally heard at least five languages being spoken - English, French, Spanish, Audiophilish, and Wowish (none of which am I fluent in). Here are some highlights of what could be found the first hectic day of HE2005 (and the press day that preceded it).
Amid the usual flurry of TV-related news at last month's CES—including word that Sony is getting back into the OLED game—almost everyone missed a potentially big part of Sony’s TV announcement: That its 2017 Android-powered 4K TVs will be the first televisions to support Google Assistant, Google’s answer to Amazon’s Alexa.
2015 is shaping up to be a banner year for home entertainment as the promise of pristine 4K images from a new generation of Blu-ray players sparkles on the horizon. As a follow-up to Rob Sabin’s technical overview of the Ultra HD Blu-ray, we spoke with Ron Martin, vice chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s U.S. Promotions Committee and vice president/director of Panasonic Hollywood Lab to learn more about this highly anticipated product launch.