http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/rss.xml We don't just report the news, we MAKE it. From time to time Audioholics staff will write about AV topics that may or may not affect your life and alter the course of human events as we know it. hourly 12 2006-12-01T00:00 http://www.audioholics.com/static/logo.jpg http://www.audioholics.com/ http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-68-deja-vu Tom and Dina are a bit punchy after some technical malfunctions a la the ever "stable" Mac. Dina finally sees our listener-created picture and her reaction? Priceless. Finally, the duo talks about important issues like AT&T's U-verse, Dina tells you the importance of watts for a sealed sub, and Tom talks about sub matching. Kenwood and JVC are hitching up, the ACLU hates the Army (duh), Tom loves Gears of War, and GTA IV sold like a billion copies. That's a lot of lunch money. tom 2008-05-16T11:18:52+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/audioholics-is-hiring-2013-apply-now In order to keep up with the surge in orders and customer support, we’re looking for a few good men (or women) to join the phone sales support team of the new Audioholics e-commerce store. If you’ve got good people skills, know your way around home audio and video, and would like to assist consumers on A/V related purchases, than we are looking for you. Gene 2008-05-12T14:50:17+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/blue-jeans-followup We've received a lot of encouraging words, questions, and concerns from our customers over the heavily-publicized threats made against our company by Monster Cable recently, and wanted to give everyone an update and an explanation. Our view of this situation is that, apart from revealing things like litigation strategy which, for obvious reasons, we need not to speak about publicly, we want everyone to know exactly what this is about, why it's going on, and what the merits of the case are. Whether we have war is, of course, entirely up to Monster; we will not start a war, but we are not the least bit hesitant to fight one if it comes. Don't fear the bully! Kurt Denke 2008-04-29T23:18:02+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/the-evolution-of-digital-music-on-demand Think back to a time when you couldn’t log onto the Internet and download any song you wanted in little or no time at all. It seems like that was an eternity ago, right? Once MP3s became more popular, users needed MP3 players to listen to their digital music. MP3s and MP3 players brought about the beginning of the digital music age, where music is downloaded, streamed, given away as prizes, ad-supported, and listened to everywhere. Mary Sekerak 2008-04-28T15:25:51+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/hate-crimes-against-geeks-on-the-rise The long running joke of high school is beating up the geek. It's in practically every movie in the genre. For many geeks it was considered a "right of passage" that gave them the drive and motivation to be successful academically so that they could later fire that tormentor and watch him degenerate into alcoholism and poverty. For many, this thought is the only thing that gets them through this most trying of times. tom 2008-04-24T12:01:47+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/hd-radio-next-big-thing HD Radio makes sense. Digital music with meta information similar to mp3, but with even more flexibility. As the digital transition looms nearer for televisions, radio - for the most part seems bent on staying analogue, even though the same fuzzy AM and FM radio has been annoying us for decades. HD Radio proved to change all that, but similar to HD DVD, there seems to be only one main technology player in town - iBiquity and they aren't exactly having adopters sign up in droves for a non-mandatory digital radio transition. clint 2008-04-21T07:57:12+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/cable-a-la-carte It seems to make intuitive sense - why should you have to pay for cable channels you never watch? It's not hard to see the benefit for the end user - only pay for the channels you actually watch. In my house this means no more Lifetime, TLC, MTV, VH1, BET, anything related in any way to country music, and a host more. But would I really save any money? tom 2008-04-18T12:56:18+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/paperless-society-on-the-horizon Japan has many long and established traditions, not the least of them is paper. That isn't stopping Japanese scientists from trying to do away with this resource dependent form of communication. Reuters is reporting today that new "electronic" paper is being displayed (forgive the pun) that vary from fairly thick and sturdy to thin and bendable. Will we finally get away from paper and trust our tech? tom 2008-04-17T13:46:58+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/high-definition-downloads In this new era of high definition TV and high speed Internet, it's almost ludicrous to think that in the coming years people will be content to wait for a physical disc to show up in the mail. Still, there are some challenges to the world of HD downloads and a lot needs to happen in order to meet those challenges. We took some time to outline what we think it will take to bring HD downloads to the living room. clint 2008-04-10T14:08:09+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/the-future-of-computers-and-entertainment As much as I love to bash Steve Jobs (and I really, really do), you got to give the man his props. The iPhone had barely hit the market before people were coming up with new and interesting uses for it. This year at CES, we saw an iPhone being used as a remote for a receiver. Scientists at CERN are even now discussing potential of their "Grid" - a new internet that has the potential to be 10,000 times faster than what we know today. Not only that, but they are thinking that someday everyone will store all their information online. Now, security issues aside, let's think about the ramifications of that... tom 2008-04-08T15:18:49+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/file-sharing-not-the-devil Just when you thought you'd never hear a scrap of reason from the big record labels, recently acquired ex-Google employee Glen Merrill who now heads up EMI's digital strategy department said that file sharing was "not necessarily bad" . While not exactly a crowning endorsement, it is a big step away from the usual practice of suing the pants off file-sharers. tom 2008-04-04T12:04:30+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/av-rant-55-monster-einstein In this episode, Tom and Clint answer questions about downloading high rez audio online, A/Bing speakers if you don't have a bunch of fancy equipment, and what do you do if you want to get high def audio without analogue audio outs. Clint reports on his visit to Monster with a preview of some of the results. For all this and more, listen in! tom 2008-04-03T15:33:38+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/wii-remote-iphone-bomb-robot Engineers have modified a US military bomb deactivating robot to be controlled by a Wii remote and an iPhone. The engineers just love their gadgets, but this could be one of those out-of-the-box solutions for a very serious problem. What’s next, Hasbro’s Easy-Bake Oven to help the fight against world hunger? wayde 2008-04-03T10:28:45+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/turn-off-you-home-theaters-tomorrow-to-observe-earth-hour Tomorrow marks the second annual Earth Hour event where major cities around the world will be turning off their power for a full hour. For home theater buffs, perhaps now is a good opportunity to buy a power conditioner with battery backup such as an APC AV S15 or S20, so you can enjoy your theater system interruption free while still being green. It would be cool to see how many fellow Audioholics participate in this event so please comment in our forums and let us know if you turned off your home theater systems during this event or switch to an alternative energy source. Gene 2008-03-28T19:48:32+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/making-peace-with-blu-ray I admit that I’ve had my share of anti-Blu-ray rants in the past. But that’s all over now. It’s time for the Toshib-ati to put away the pitchforks and just accept Blu-ray as the high- def disc format of choice. After all, there’s a bigger picture at stake for anyone who loves home theater. wayde 2008-03-27T10:44:01+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/av-rant-53-monster-podcast Tom and Clint have a ton of email to sort through so they get right to it. They start off touching on watts briefly and then move on to soundproofing. What should you look for when shopping for a front projector? What are the advantages to buying locally versus online? What's the deal with the PS3 and TrueHD, bitstream, DTS HD, and all that? And where is Clint going? Listen in for all this and more... tom 2008-03-26T15:09:08+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/av-rant-51-were-not-the-crazy-ones J and Tom tackle the questions we got over the weekend plus a few more issues. Should you go with a dedicated center or maybe do away with a center all together? Can iTunes make you want to buy CDs? Will esoteric fuses make your amps sing? Do we really need an esoteric Blu-ray player? Listen in for all this and more... tom 2008-03-19T16:54:56+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/meridian-mf10-projector-jvc-dla-rs2-plus-ripoff It's not uncommon the see manufacturers occasionally re-brand a product with their own moniker and sell it as their own. We've seen this in the past with Rotel re-branding APC power conditioners, and Atlantic Technology reboxing the same AV processor it sold under the Outlaw Audio moniker. None of it is really criminal and most times (as in the Rotel example) it simply allows customers to have matched components and maintain the uniform look of a branded system. Sometimes, as in the case of Meridian's latest product, it really seems like it's all about finding a new way to make money off unsuspecting consumers. clint 2008-03-17T16:36:23+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-50-the-real-dina AV Rant reaches the big 50! Tom and Clint need therapy. Tom will never learn his lesson about Wordpress but he did learn something about Dina. Chet weighs in on Knight Rider. Tom is reviewing Army of Two and discusses briefly. Look for the review soon. Are spikes worth it? What's the deal with speaker phase? Will that make a difference in sound? Tom and Dina discuss. Tom decides to hold a mini AV Rant contest. Are 3-D movies the next big thing? Listen in for all this and more... tom 2008-03-15T16:53:58+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/format-war-blu-ray-up-hd-dvd-down The long awaited end to the format war may help consumers by clearing up some confusion created by choice in HD optical discs, but it is not bringing about better pricing to the consumer. Based on price comparison research performed by TG Daily, the demise of HD-DVD and the industry charge to embrace Blu-ray Disc (BD) does not seem to be increasing market competitiveness that invariably should lead to reduced prices. Worse, current prices for players on the market are not just stagnating, but are actually drifting back up. david 2008-03-13T16:49:20+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-49-explicit-24p Clint and Tom tackle a bunch of questions from you. Ken, Rick, Cliff and Ed… thanks for the questions. What's the deal with Blu-ray Profile 1.1 and 2.0 and receivers that decode internally? How does bass management work with Blu-ray out over HDMI? Ever think about soundproofing a room? What does THX stand for? We can't promise you'll know by the end of this Podcast. Do receivers all sound the same? Is 24p important? Listen in for all this and more! tom 2008-03-13T14:18:24+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/mind-blowing-blu-ray-bd-live Recently a report came out on NewsFactor.com which covered a very interesting presentation given by James Gosling at the Sun Tech Day in Sydney. Gosling is the "father" of the Java scripting language and is somewhat of an expert on what it can do. What makes this an interesting topic is the fact that Blu-ray's specification includes mandatory Java scripting support (BD-J or BD-Java). Java is what is used to provide the interactive menus on Blu-ray Discs. The inclusion of a Java Virtual Machine as well as network connectivity in BD Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) devices will allow updates to Blu-ray Discs via the Internet - updates which can add features and additional menu content not included on the disc at pressing time. clint 2008-03-10T13:58:54+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-48-protect-mode Tom's dad ran into a very common problem with his receiver. What does Tom think about people that say that adding connectors to the end of your speaker cable degrades sound. Can you guess? Tom throws out an apology to you the listener. Geek lawn ornaments. DRM discussion. Tom and Dina discuss the new paradigm and what this means for the future. Listen in for all this and more... tom 2008-03-07T13:19:59+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-47-toshiba-headphones-test-discs J's back and we've got a lot of questions… don't worry, we'll get to you soon. Toshiba's plans post HD DVD is discussed. Upscaling DVD players? Downloadable content? What the heck is going on here? Jarret asks great questions about 1.0 systems and bitrates. J and Tom talk about some headphone recommendations. Listen in for all this and more tom 2008-03-05T17:48:24+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-46-fly-overs In today's podcast, the AV Rant HD DVD poll results are revealed and discussed. Tom gives a quick update to his Comcast Cable HD issues. So far - it isn't looking good. Where do you listen to music (visit AV Rant to take the poll)? Is the WAF (wife acceptance factor) still a big deal? HGTV is not helping the cause of good sound in home theater. Listen in for all this and more! tom 2008-03-01T17:56:56+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/hd-dvd-paramount-dreamworks All that’s left of the format war now are the official announcements of HD DVD abandonment. Thus far it had only been speculated that Paramount was going to walk out on some of its announced HD DVD releases. And it looked like DreamWorks was going to be left holding the bill on Toshiba’s failed format. wayde 2008-02-29T18:57:57+00:00 News http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/av-rant-45-power-conditioner-or-rip-off This podcast is sure to anger someone... could it be you? You'll have to listen in to find out. Clint and Tom tackle lots of questions like soundcards, 7.1 vs. 5.1, wireless speakers, running wires, and power conditioners. tom 2008-02-28T12:04:46+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-44-killing-brain-cells This podcast is full of topics such as more education about the high def formats (guess we should start referring to it as Blu-ray) is needed. While there are lots of types of compression, the thing to remember is that they are all bad. Want to see if your music has a lot of dynamic compression? Tom's got a suggestion. Want to become Internet famous? Call us at 978.OFF.RANT and we'll make you as famous as Kurt... Listen in for all this and more. tom 2008-02-22T15:01:59+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/xbox-360-blu-ray-rumor If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s what Microsoft might be saying after Toshiba sounded the death knell to HD DVD yesterday. Rumors are circulating about a possible Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on, but don’t get your hopes up too soon. The rumor of a quick Blu-ray player coming from Microsoft has the peculiar odor of link-bait. wayde 2008-02-20T19:20:59+00:00 Editorial http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/avrant-43-proper-planning Another podcast on the books. Michael Bay did something funny (and for once it wasn't putting his foot in his mouth). Dina was supposed to be here but she couldn't because of technical difficulties. HD DVD is dead. Tom and Clint disagree on what all you HD DVD owners should do. Call us at 978.OFF.RANT with your questions. We have a new site. Feel free to give us your feedback. Jon brought up a good issue of proper planning. It worked out for Jon but Tom and Clint give you a few tips for making sure it works out for you. Listen in for all this and more... tom 2008-02-19T21:33:10+00:00 Editorial