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Integrated sound systems for your iPod (or, gasp, other portable music players) are everywhere these days. But when it comes to Danish speaker manufacturer Artcoustic, the aesthetics are going to be a little different than your average system. The result for Artcoustic is its Superstar all-in-one music center, a single stereo speaker that will handle your digital sources like iPod and iPhone, as well as Sonos, Squeeze Box, Bose, Bang and Olufsen and others. Like most of the Artcoustic offerings, the Superstar is meant to… View this story
AV Components • Portables • Speakers • On-Wall Speakers • Soundbars • Audio • Product News

We know that HD DVD has been RIP for 10 months now, but we also keep hearing that many people haven’t put their HD DVD players out to pasture yet either. Since this is the season for deals, there’s an HD DVD deal going on at Borders that you might be interested in if you still give your HD DVD player good use. The retailer has its HD DVDs on clearance, so pretty much all of their 145 available titles are under $10. For the… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • HD DVD • Product News

It was only a matter of time before this one appeared on the radar: Blockbuster streaming to Blu-ray devices. The company hasn’t announced anything specific yet, but following the official launch of its MediaPoint set-top box product with 2Wire, the rental giant could be headed the way of its chief competitor, Netflix. In an interview with E-Commerce Times, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes noted that the set-top box was just the first step for the company in getting its On Demand movies to other devices that… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Digital Media Stores • Miscellaneous • Web Services • Enhancements • Product News

We were all pretty giddy earlier this year when news hit that LG’s BD300 Blu-ray player would be the first to include Netflix streaming so you could do the “Watch Instantly” feature from the video rental service. Then Netflix started partnering to stream its 12,000-plus “Watch Instantly” movies to a couple of Samsung Blu-ray players, TiVo, and Xbox 360 among others. The wow factor began to wear down a little, and the bigger question became whether or not these streaming services would let you watch… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Miscellaneous • Web Services • Movies and Music • Enhancements • Product News

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 3 gaming console doubles as far and away the most recommended Blu-ray player by the… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Didn’t think you could get past a Black Friday without seeing some deals from Apple, did you? Unfortunately, we’re not sure what those deals will be, but it seems Apple usually has something special in store for its events. And for Black Friday, you can peruse from the comforts of your home—Apple is teasing to go online (www.apple.com) to check out its one-day only Black Friday deals. We’re hoping there will be a few deal gems on the site that day, rather than a bunch… View this story
AV Components • Portables • Computer Systems • Computers • Deals • Product News

Got a ridiculously large music collection and looking for a way to store and manage it—and control it with a sweet interface? You might want to take a peek at Sooloos, which announced today that its impressive Sooloos Ensemble System has been lowered to $7,900. The Ensemble System is a change from what Sooloos has previously done in offering separate and costlier components for storing and playing your tunes. This one brings those components together for a single Ensemble server that can hold 2,400 albums… View this story
AV Components • Digital Media Servers • Home Control • Touchpanels and Keypads • Multiroom AV • Product News

We can stop holding our breath in anticipation now—Blockbuster has made its video streaming set-top option available. We learned about this possibility a couple of weeks ago, and today Blockbuster and 2Wire jointly announced that 2Wire’s MediaPoint digital set-top box is now available for people to purchase, and then rent on-demand videos from Blockbuster. They want you to put the MediaPoint digital player to good use right away, too—you can buy the player “free with the advance rental of 25 Blockbuster On-Demand movies for $99”… View this story
AV Components • Digital Media Servers • Digital Media Stores • Set Top Boxes • Product News

Iron Man was huge, but The Dark Knight is expected to crush Blu-ray sales records when it hits shelves on December 9. But is it enough to get you to buy a Blu-ray player? How ‘bout if Batman Begins is thrown in as well? That’s what Denon is offering with the purchase of its select Blu-ray players. Consumers who buy Denon’s DVD-1800BD player, DVD-3800BDCI player or DVD-2500BTCI Blu-ray transport can mail in their proof of purchase as well as a claim form and get the… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Miscellaneous • Movies and Music • Product News

Remember when floppy disk storage was a lot? Or CD-RW? Now you can walk around with 64 gigs in your pocket—not bad capacity for an entire PC at the start of this decade—with the latest to Kingston’s lineup of Data Traveler USB flash drives. The DT150 comes in two beefy flavors—a 32-GB version and 64-GB version. Both are compatible with Windows Vista, XP and Windows 2000, Mac OS X 10.3 (and above), and Linux 2.6 (and above). These little thumb drives are just 3.06 x… View this story
AV Components • Portables • Miscellaneous • Gadgets • Networking and Communication • Product News

We’re not sure if it’s because Black Friday is coming up, or just because it had to accelerate its liquidation, but Tweeter’s website homepage changed this week to make a big splash about the clearance sales going on. “Store Closing Prices Slashed Again, Everything 20 to 50% off!” now greets you when you click on Tweeter.com. The ad reminds us that Tweeter has some pretty sweet brands, if you’re looking for deals—Cambridge Audio, Focal, MartinLogan, Klipsch and more. The only problem might be finding some… View this story
AV Components • Displays • Flat Panel • Industry • Retailers • Speakers • Product News

Q. I have a single subwoofer output on my Onkyo TX-SR705 A/V receiver but want to run two subwoofers and a basshaker amplifier. What is the best way to pull this off? - Dennis, St. Louis A. This particular receiver is designed for 7.1 surround, which means it only supports a single channel for a subwoofer. Technically speaking, this cannot be done. However, if you want to do it anyway, you could use the 2-zone capability of this receiver to make this work. Install a… View this story
AV Components • Speakers • Audio • Ask a Pro