Recently Filed in Home Theater

Neil Young is about to go out of the black and into the Blu. The musician just announced that he will release his entire music catalog on Blu-ray. According to Electronista, the extra disc space will allow for a boost in sound quality—as well as a few tidbits, such as music videos, unreleased songs, and other extras. To date, movies have only been released on Blu-ray, with the exception of concert videos. Young’s archive will be the first to allow users to download content from… View this story
Blu-ray • Movies and Music • Home Theater • Audio • Product News

If you’re a custom installer looking for some differentiation and a cool product for clients, or whether your a consumer looking for an all-encompassing media server and music solution, Terra-San has added a beauty to its “Essentials” by Genre Collection of pre-loaded music. Now you can dig into Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which is being made available for pre-load onto a variety of media servers such as Apple TV, Crestron, Elan, Escient, Kaleidescape, ReQuest and more. This will save you… View this story
AV Components • Digital Media Servers • Digital Media Stores • Miscellaneous • Movies and Music • Home Theater • Audio • Multiroom AV • Enhancements • Product News

German loudspeaker manufacturer Canton is revitalizing its Karat series to replace discontinued models with six new speakers, and the high-end line is certainly a gem. Built on the same basics as its discontinued predecessors, Canton’s new Karats feature improvements in transducers, crossovers and internal cabinet details, the company says, with a refinement between the tweeter and midrange drivers chief on the list. Better aluminum diaphragm, soft rubber surround and associated crossover circuits of the midrange drivers help in that regard. So what’s in the offerings?… View this story
Speakers • Bookshelf Speakers • Floor Standing Speakers • Speaker Systems • Surround Sound • Home Theater • Audio • Product News

Rate increases, HD-Lite, outages – there are plenty of reasons why subscribers get fed up with their HD service providers. What are the alternatives? Switch to another provider? That’s one solution, but it could simply bring its own set of problems unique to that service. There’s always Over-the-Air (OTA) HDTV. Just like your mom and dad (and grandma and grandpa) got their TV for free through the rabbit ears, so can you get your HDTV for free. OTA HDTV in Brief Receiving OTA HDTV is… View this story
HDTV • Antenna • Set Top Boxes • Home Theater • Info and Answers • Slideshows

“Who’s a greenhorn? What’s a greenhorn?”—Homer Simpson While that answer may be obvious, there are plenty of Homer Simpsons out there when it comes to selecting and setting up a TV. Media Decor just announced a series of online tutorials to take some of the common misconceptions out of how to choose, install and conceal a flat panel. “Media Decor recognizes the increasing demands of the consumer in this market segment. People no longer want to see technology, they want to conceal it,” said Jonathan… View this story
Flat Panel • TV Mounts • Web Services • Home Theater • Product News

You have to take marketing claims with a grain of salt. However, research firm DisplaySearch took Sony’s recent claims to their lab. The XEL-1 has been drawing rave reviews for its awesome picture, and long-life span. However, DisplaySearch put their claims to the test, and got some interesting results. After running two units for 1,000 hours, they came to the conclusion that the unit would lose half its brightness after 17,000 hours of use—almost half of what Sony claims. Sony says that its 3mm-thin, 11-inch… View this story
OLED • Home Theater • Product News

You get it. Storing your music collection onto a hard drive is better than spinning discs on a traditional CD player. First off, you’ll be able to organize your library by genre, artist or alphabetically, making songs easy to locate. Besides that, you’ll be able to keep all your tunes on the hard drive of one machine, which means you can finally clean out the CD cases from the drawers of your entertainment cabinet.  It’s clear why you’d want to invest in a music server,… View this story
Digital Media Servers • Digital Media Stores • Web Services • Home Theater • Multiroom AV • Networking • Info and Answers

Odds have it you’d like a big(ger) TV for that man room. It’s probably just as likely you haven’t won the Powerball lately, and there’s the problem. Solution? Well, a lot of you (us) are contemplating swapping those LCDs and plasmas for the latest generation of front projectors like today’s deal, the Sanyo PLV-Z2000. This stylish “iMac-ian” projector gives you full 1920x1080 resolution with 1200 lumens (enough for a fairly dark room) and a healthy 15,000:1 contrast ratio. Reviews seem pretty good across the sites… View this story
Video Projectors • Deals • Home Theater • Product News

We’ve all marveled at the KURO displays and even the projector. Now Pioneer is pushing out components to accompany its luxury A/V line. The Elite BDP-05FD ($799) and BDP-51FD ($599) BonusView Blu-ray Disc players are designed with KURO in mind, with HDMI 1.3, picture-in-picture and other interactive features. Shipping this summer, the company says that both will feature support for Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD and DTS HD Master high-resolution audio formats. Speaking of audio, Pioneer has also announced plans for four A/V… View this story
Blu-ray • Receivers • Home Theater • Audio • Product News

Next time you can’t decide on which LCD to buy, you can default to the mob, and go with Samsung. A recent study by DisplaySearch says that the manufacturer has regained the top spot when it comes to LCDs in North America. However, it was a close race, with Samsung, Sony and Vizio as the top three, but separated by less than half a point of unit share. Sony previously held the top spot at the end of 2007. Bargain brand Vizio was right on… View this story
Flat Panel • HDTV • LCD • Home Theater • Product News

Brace yourself for a real blackout next month. Pioneer is unleashing its next generation of Kuro plasma displays in June, and the company is touting them as being five times improved over the black levels on current models—ones that Joel Silver of the Imaging Science Foundation told me were the finest black levels he’d seen in a non-CRT display. The deeper blacks will give the new Kuros even richer, deeper overall colors, and to help you optimize them for whatever room environment your TV will… View this story
Displays • Flat Panel • HDTV • Plasma • Home Theater • Product News

Q. There seems to be a lot of plasma TVs on sale, however I want to know which is better for a room with a lot of natural light; Plasma, DLP, or LCD? - Reggie, Bowie, MD If you do a lot of daytime viewing LCD would be the best choice for a room with a lot of light. LCD TVs are the brightest of the three. Plasmas have improved over the past couple years. They used to be near impossible to watch in any… View this story
Displays • DLP • LCD • Plasma • Home Theater • Ask a Pro