Peter Pachal

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006  |  0 comments

PADDED UP You've got a souped-up multiroom system - don't settle for a low-tech keypad. Elan's Olè suspends a touch-sensitive button membrane above a backlit slide graphic to give the illusion of a touchpad without the crazy expense of one.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006  |  0 comments

MORE SCREEN, LESS SET Got space issues with your TV? Before you go running to a flat-panel, have a look at this DLP from Samsung that's just barely over 10 inches deep. That's thin enough to put on your bedroom dresser, and the ultrathin bezel will ensure you see nothing but the 1,280 x 720-pixel (720p) screen.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006  |  0 comments

GOING DOWN Are you tired of budget home theater speaker systems with dinky "subwoofers" that aren't even worthy of the name? Cast your eyes on the PB10-NSD sub that comes with SVS's SBS-01 system - a 10-inch driver and a 300-watt amp fill out its nearly 2-foot-deep chassis. Ready to go boom?

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006  |  0 comments

CLEAR SHOT You'll be able to capture detail that most other camcorders never see when you shoot footage with Canon's HV10. Everything is recorded in the 1080i high-def format thanks to a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel CMOS image sensor, said to be quicker on the draw and more power-efficient than typical CCD sensors. It probably gets more dates, too.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006  |  0 comments

FIRST-CLASS SEAT Leather seats, power reclining, 5-inch-thick cushions - the home theater seats custom-made by Elite HTS bestow luxury viewing on the serious enthusiast. Details like scratch-resistant cup holders and a "wall-hugging" reclining mechanism that needs just 4 inches of clearance behind make all the difference.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006  |  0 comments

FREE MUSIC Slim, easy, and sexy - Logitech's Wireless DJ scores a trifecta in modern gadget design. Plug the transmitter into your PC's USB port and the Bluetooth receiver into any music system on which you want to listen to your downloaded tunes, even if it's a few rooms away.

Peter Pachal  |  Sep 04, 2006  |  0 comments

CRYSTAL CLEAR Whether you're just jumping into HDTV or have been getting the high-def picture for a while, Sony's line of SXRD sets deserves a look.

Peter Pachal  |  Sep 04, 2006  |  0 comments

CLUTTER CUTTER Everybody loves HDTV, but enough with all the cables already! Pioneer feels your pain, providing no fewer than four HDMI inputs on its new flagship receiver, the VSX-84TXSi. The Cadillac of connectors delivers both HD video and audio, so you can hook up everything from your high-def cable box to your HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc player and still not get tangled up.

Peter Pachal  |  Sep 04, 2006  |  0 comments

TIPPING THE SCALER The absolute best that high-def video can look is the en vogue 1080p format, which floods your screen with more than 2 million pixels as often as every sixtieth of a second (assuming you have a 1080p-resolution TV).

Peter Pachal  |  Sep 04, 2006  |  0 comments

MEDIUM MEDIA Fans of portable video face a stark choice: squinting at microscopic cellphone and iPod screens or lugging around a bulky laptop. Staking out the middle ground is the Pepper Pad 3, which sports a roomy 7-inch touchscreen and a 20-GB hard drive.

Pages

X