Still haven’t bought a Blu-ray player yet? None of those Black Friday deals were tempting enough for you? Maybe you’re scoping out today’s Cyber Monday deals looking for some budget Blu? We asked the trusty souls over on the AVS Forum for their Blu-ray player recommendations as part of our “AVS Recommends” series, and the results leave us with one big question for you—do you like video games? Sony’s PlayStation… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Info and Answers • Slideshows

There were some good signs from the recent Greenbuild show in Boston, where upwards of 30,000 browsed green building products, technologies and services—though once again electronics only played a bit part. Although progress seems to have been made this year, it appears that electronics shows like the CEDIA Expo and EHX don’t show much in green stuff, and the green shows don’t have much in electronics. We know the two… View this story
Miscellaneous • Green Technology • Shows and Expos • Info and Answers

Location, location, location. Anyone who’s ever bought property knows how important location is. A house that’s in a safe neighborhood, is near parks, the waterfront or the mountains is not only enjoyable, but has great resale value. The same can be said for a home theater. Put in a good spot and you’ll enjoy your home theater setup for years. Place it somewhere else and you may not use it… View this story
Location • How To • Home Theater • Info and Answers

If you thought the retail sales which surfaced around Halloween were impressive, then the real Black Friday should turn out to be one early Christmas and Hanukkah present. Shoppers will find $500 - $700 price cuts on new HDTV models and $300 - $400 off home theater components. You should also expect some surprise sales on the Wii, Playstation and Xbox in stores and on-line. Here’s some insight into the… View this story
Manufacturers • Retailers • Deals • Home Theater • Info and Answers

I got a good look at Lutron’s energy-saving Green button at the Greenbuild showin Boston last week. The Green button can be used with a wired or wireless Lutron HomeWorks lighting system, and enables lights to be dimmed to a preset degree. Say you have the lights on full in your media room and you want to dim them to be more energy efficient: Instead of pressing a button on… View this story
Lighting Control • Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Home Control • Info and Answers

So you’ve bought a beautiful flat-panel TV—be it a plasma or LCD—and you want to mount it on the wall, of course, so you and guests can stare in awe of it. And to make your room look great, too. But you also want to appeal to your design sense (or maybe your wife’s), so you can’t just have any old tower speaker flank the TV as part of a… View this story
Speakers • On-Wall Speakers • Buyers Guides • Audio • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Who’s winning the battle of the digital home? That was the question panelists from Macrovision, Comcast Cable, EchoStar and Verizon grappled with at the Future of Television conference held in New York this week. The battle seems to be far from over, but consumers are weighing in with their requests and service providers are listening. According to Kurt Scherf, VP and research analyst for Parks Associates, “Consumers are starting to… View this story
Displays • Networking and Communication • Set Top Boxes • Manufacturers • Info and Answers

When I first saw the FlatWire box and advertising materials at a summer preview in NYC and later in Denver, I thought this might be the be-all-and-end-all way that gets my family off my back for the clutter of wires stretching throughout our home. My wife, who has complained on these pages about our home’s CE clutter, was also enthused to install wires that are so flat that they are… View this story
Speaker Wire • Audio • Info and Answers • Slideshows

I feel really, really bad both professionally and personally that satellite radio is going away. What? You say the merger will preserve the longest running alternative to the slowly dying, little choice over-commercialized terrestrial radio? I don’t think so! No matter how this transition pans out, satellite radio will never be the same. Last week’s morphing of music and other radio content may do little to prevent the real fans… View this story
Industry • HD Radio • Satellite • Audio • Info and Answers

Forget the old stereotypes about gamers being overweight slobs whose waistlines rival the circumference of the new Yankee stadium. So-called “exer-games,” or titles which get players up off the couch and sweating, are one of interactive entertainment’s current hottest trends.  The verdict is in from parents as well as educators and the scientific community, and results are highly promising. According to studies conducted by the Mayo Clinic, children who played… View this story
Gaming • Games • Home Theater • Info and Answers • Slideshows