Recent Home Theater Editorials

Denon and Marantz have launched a new Audyssey MultEQ Editor app, giving home theater enthusiasts control to refine and customize the set-up of their systems for even better surround sound. The app is accessible via a tablet or smartphone device and allows for full curve editing and limiting to a certain range of frequencies for room correction. We are particularly excited about this since you can now limit Audyssey room EQ to below the room transition frequency (300Hz) to concentrate where it's needed most - the bass frequencies. Read on to find out which models support this and exactly what the app will allow you to do.

The latest round of Wikileaks is called Year Zero and includes over 8,000 pages of details about how the CIA is spying on just about anything with an Internet connection. Its a sobering prospect that exploits to only a handful of operating systems, including iOS and Android, and provides backdoor access to just about everything that connects to the Internet. Your phone, TV and set top boxes are child's play - the CIA now has access to weaponized hacks on any Internet connected machinery or vehicle with electronic controls.

The FCC has approved an innovation in digital broadcast television that could change everything you thought you knew about network TV. ATSC 3.0 is the first fully interactive, 2-way, IP-based broadcast standard that will behave more like a lightweight Internet than the passive, one-way broadcasts we know today. It all sounds so great! When content from every corporation that wanted to crush the Net Neutrality Act rides into your home on a mini-Internet approved and subsidized by the same government that wants to spy on you and store all your personal information for later use against you - what could possibly go wrong?

Vizio has always been a good TV in terms of bang-for-buck. You’d be hard pressed to beat Vizio over the last decade. But on February 6, Vizio went from being the toast of TV buyers everywhere to an electronic spy inside the homes of millions. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that Vizio will pay out a settlement of $2.2 million for illegally selling data collected on some 11-million consumers including viewing habits as well as demographic info on customers. Learn how to protect yourself from your own smart TV, because it's not just Vizio, just about brand of smart TV has similar capabilities.

Listen up, rookies! Team cable is on the defense as cord cutting threatens a deep run into their end-zone. This ain’t no puppy show! To get your head into the big game this year, you’re gonna’ need your grit, your wit and a high speed Internet connection. Oh, and a set-top streaming device like Android/AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, Windows, Roku or a game console wouldn’t hurt either. We examine how more and more people are streaming the Super Bowl LI this year.

The last manufacturers of 3D TV, Sony and LG, are set to end production on 3D sets this year. But the demise of 3D TV has been a long time coming. As flat panel HDTV became more and more affordable, 3D may have been seen as a the killer feature that got customers buying a new round of premium priced TVs. But 3D, a side-show at best, was miscast as a premium feature, and studios did it no favors by launching a flood of mediocre 3D movies that did little to showcase the standard's strength. It's no wonder 3D has such a bad reputation with consumers. RIP 3D TV.

The tractor beam has long been the stuff of science fiction, but it turns out that this technical milestone of nerd culture already exists thanks to developments in acoustic technology. Today, you can find instructions online to build your own tractor beam with a 3D printer. However, because it uses sound, the technology is limited to very small but visible objects. But it’s already being used to study the effects on life in space and shows potential as a component in a future medical tricorder. This is just another example of technology predicted by Star Trek.

Norway became the first country to begin a campaign of shutting down FM radio signals this week. The nation’s “Radio Digitization” program began on 1/11 at 11:11 am – a start time with a very “digital” feel. The FM shutdown will run through 2017 county by county, until the last FM signal is squelched and the airwaves over Norway go cold and silent in mid-December. Is Norway the first of what may eventually become a global push to 86 FM forever?

It's been a tough year of loss for so many of the musicians we love, especially those that grew up in the 80s and revered them as icons. Yet, I know it’s ridiculous to blame the arbitrary goal posts in time we call a year for the loss of the many beloved celebrities gone in 2016. I’m certain our perception of 2016 is skewed, yet I can't help but be glad to see an end to this year. Rest in peace 2016. And good riddance.

On Monday THX announced that it was purchased by Razer, a computer gaming hardware company. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan promises to let THX run independently. Tan added that there will be collaborations bringing together THX audio experience and Razer computer technology. But many see the deal as yet another low point for the once proud THX logo. Let's take a closer look at what the deal could mean to the future of home entertainment and how it could possibly leap forward Virtual Reality technologies.

We got a chance to pick the brain of Cary Christie, a legend in the audio industry and co-founder of Infinity Loudspeakers. This interview will give you a historical perspective of Cary's contributions to the audio world as well as his roadmap for his current company Artison. If you are looking for a killer sound system with high WAF that is virtually invisible, you owe it to yourself to check out the very innovative products coming out from Artison.

The Star Trek fan-fiction controversy that resulted in legal battles between CBS/Paramount and Axanar Productions may have concluded last week. CBS/Paramount have finally put forth its long-awaited guidelines intended to clarify acceptable fan-fiction so that it won’t get the creative Star Trek fan sued for copyright infringement. But in doing so, it may have launched Star Trek fan-fiction’s torpedo casket into space with a solemn salute. To be or not to be is the question which we ask about the future of Star Trek fanfilm.

We live in an audio world of cliché, hyperbole, misinformation, lies, factoids, and general horsehockey. And those of us who toil in this arena are all somewhat guilty. It’s hard to come up with “new stuff” to say about audio and video. In this article we guide you through some of the most commonly overused audio terms in the industry. The thing you have to remember is that a tired, worn out cliché is…a tired, worn out cliché. Be sure to share your favorites in the related forum thread.

After success at the box office, the Star Trek franchise reboot has proven it's profitable to turn out forgettable action movies that bear only superficial similarity to the Star Trek universe. Meanwhile, fanfiction like Axanar Productions have earned recognition with high production quality this becoming easier to obtain with today's digital technology. So, why is Axanar being sued instead of hired to make the next Trek movie? Why do some Trek fans think Axanar is bad for all fanfiction? Bad rap or is Axanar Productions getting the shaft from BIG Corp?