Home Theater

Our options for high quality wireless audio are getting better every day. Bluetooth has been around for a while now and  the audio quality finally sounds decent, but it remains a buggy technology and requires Bluetooth-specific devices. Apple's AirPlay sounds pretty good but its compatibility is limited iOS devices, iTunes, and pricey AirPlay speakers and A/V receivers. Neither option is flexible enough for those seeking a high quality… Read More

A regulatory filing with the SEC has revealed that Microsoft and TiVo have walked away from a potentially high-stakes patent battle involving video delivery and TiVo's critical "time-warp" patent. The statement reveals only that the companies have "reached an agreement" that dismisses all patent claims against each other. Neither company is walking away with anything: Microsoft doesn't get any use of… Read More

Make sure and check out our picks for the Best iPod and iPhone Speaker Docks. Just as it has become with headphones, managing a short list of potential iPod speaker docks has gotten a lot more complicated due to the overwhelming number of options now available. That’s where we come in. We check out some of the most popular iPod speaker docks (and a few you may never have heard of) to give you a qualified overview of how well these products… Read More

Have you ever wondered why a typical movie theater is set up in a dome or stadium-type room? Especially with IMAX theaters, the room tends to be taller with deep angles. The stadium room helps project the picture and sound in the most effective way, so both mediums are distributed in the theater as evenly as possible. However, when attempting to recreate this system at home, you might find that sitting in one part of the room gets you the best… Read More

According to a report from Advanced Television, DirecTV is rolling out plans regarding upgrades that will eventually send out an Ultra HDTV signal. While a 1080p high definition signal offers 1080 horizontal lines of vertical resolution, DirecTV will be offering services for both "4000-line and 8000-line services" according to the company. In order to enable the transition, DirecTV will continue moving away from Ku-band satellites… Read More

Sports has been trying to wrap its head around social data for awhile. Until recently, attempts were tentative to say the least. Leveraging this content to connect fans to chat and sharing integrations with online fantasy leagues have been popular, but for the most part these efforts make it look like the industry is uncertain what exactly to rally its social efforts around. RUWT might have the answer. The five and a half year old startup… Read More

It's my favorite time of year; not because St. Patrick's day gives me license to imbibe record quantities of Irish whiskey, not because store shelves are lined with candy and marshmallow bunnies in anticipation of Easter, not even because college basketball dominates the news on Sports Center. Nope, this is my favorite time of year because, right about now, all the top CE manufacturers are preparing to unveil their new A/V receiver… Read More

Announced on the Amazon.com home page in addition to a press release, the online retailer has just inked a deal with Discovery Communications in regards to providing approximately 3,000 more titles to Prime Instant Video. Discovery Communications is the media group that controls TLC, Animal Planet, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Investigation Discovery, the Science Channel, Planet Green, Discovery Fit & Health, the Military Channel and the… Read More

The legal battle is almost certainly just beginning, but for now Barry Diller-backed Aereo is bringing New Yorkers broadcast television via the Web, claiming that the airwaves are public property and the public ought to be able to access them in any way it likes. So, how is Aereo planning to earn its money? By charging $12 a month for customers to lease a tiny antenna that pulls in over-the-air broadcasts, and the service that sends television… Read More

Chipmaking giant Intel has been looking to expand its business beyond the chips that power notebooks, desktops, servers, and a handful of other gizmos, but hasn't met with much success. Now word comes from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and other sources that Intel is considering launching its own Internet-based pay-TV business. The idea is that instead of — or perhaps in addition to — buying television service from a… Read More

Mega-retailer Walmart already offers a streaming video service via Vudu, but new reports have the company on the verge of rolling out a new UltraViolet-compatible cloud-based offering that will enable consumers to tap into their own purchased video content from a wide variety of devices — and anywhere they can get a video connection. But there might be a catch: for consumers to get their videos into the service, they'll have to bring… Read More

Our headphone evaluation begins the moment the product lands on our desk. We take note of the product’s packaging and presentation before diving into de-boxing it. Out of the box The de-boxing process involves not only physically removing the headphones from their packaging, but taking note of the out-of-box experience as a whole. We like to see a nicely presented product, and at this stage we’ll be getting our first impressions of build… Read More

If you're a Comcast subscriber, don't expect to find Netflix as part of your cable bundle anytime soon. Following reports that Netflix was in negotiations with cable providers to have its video streaming service offered as an add-on feature in providers' set-top boxes, Comcast has revealed that it doesn't plan to strike such a deal. "We have no plans to offer access to Netflix to our customers through our Xfinity… Read More