Recent Home Theater Editorials

AV Rant Podcast #251: Umbrage
Liz names her first podcast... and we note the deplorable lack of innuendo. Oh well, she's still learning. If you haven't already, please check out Tom's Master of Macabre story entitled "Fresh Air".

Steve Wilson "Grace for Drowning" Blu-ray 5.1 Music Release
Steve Wilson releases "Grace for Drowning" on Blu-ray in 5.1 HD surround sound with video content for every song. If you are a fan of progressive rock or great music in general, check it out!

Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray Review
When the release of Star Wars was finally announced as heading to the Blu-ray format, it was met with much trepidation from fans. Fear and rumor spread across the Internet

CEDIA & Consumer A/V: The Minority Report
According to research, up to 63% of women have the final say so in A/V related product purchases. The industry needs to address this and better market its need in our daily lifestyles.

CEDIA Expo 2011: Energetic and Hopeful
I can't explain why, but this year's 2011 CEDIA could be best described as energetic and hopeful. While the economy hasn't fully recovered, there was a sense that "we are all in this together".

Indianapolis Meets CEDIA 2011 and Goes Green
See how Indianapolis and CEDIA "Green up" and find out what new technologies are available in health and home for A/V and beyond.

Best Buy Sells Its Soul with Rent-A-Center Kiosks?
Rent-A-Center (RAC) is lining up a new program to offer electronics to people who, frankly, cannot afford them. And they are teaming up with Best Buy via in-house kiosks and a no-credit-check process.

Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree on the Degradation of Audio Quality & the Music Industry
This article shares lead singer of Pprcupine Tree Steve Wilson's views on compressed audio and the state of the music industry today. Support high res audio and educate the masses to preserve the art.

A Dialogue with HDMI Licensing about DisplayPort Cables
HDMI Licensing's latest "snafu" had to do with HDMI Licensing declaring HDMI to Mini DisplayPort cables persona non grata and (more or less) telling HDMI Licensees not to sell them.

CEA Study Finds Consumers Enjoy High Quality Audio
So this week the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) ventured into the realm of user listening preferences and released the results of a new study. The study explored the demand for HQ audio.

AV Rant #243: Stuck on Stuff
Part two of Liz's Soup to Nuts on streaming this week is about storage. More than you ever wanted to know about servers, clouds, and NAS. Plus ESPN3D and AT&T, modular design, Velodyne, and more.

Active vs Passive 3DTV Polarizes Industry, Experts and Consumers Alike
3D HDTV technology has polarized the TV industry! Two opposing camps have emerged with different methods of achieving 3D effects for home televisions, and each side is claiming superiority.

AV Rant #242: Swearing
Hear Liz's first in a three part series on streaming content. This week - where to get it. Also, Tom talks about his $2k receiver comparison article, Star Wars Blu-ray money grab, and cool installs.

AV Rant #241: Put a Glove On
If you read our $600 receiver comparison article, you'll want to hear this podcast. Tom talks all about it. Plus Liz breaks down Spotify for you and promises to host the next Soup to Nuts.

Netflix Imposes 28% Rate Hike on Existing and New Customers
While Netflix would like to hide rate increases under the garb of "better reflect[ing] the costs of each" and giving its customers "a choice", what it amounts to is the company passing along costs.

AV Rant #240: Cat Bacon
Despite the random name, there are quite a few important issues discussed on this podcast. This week Tom and Liz talk about the new Vizio CinemaWide displays, MoviePass, PlayLater, and Netflix.

AV Rant #239: Primed
This AV Rant podcast contains part two in a series of interviews with one of the foremost designers in the field of electrostatic speakers, David Janszen. Also, Tom and Liz talk about the latest in HT

Are Active (HDMI) Cables the Future?
We've espoused What's Wrong with HDMI before, but we're now wondering if we've just hit a wall. If, from here on out, even shorter runs of HDMI are going to more or less have to be active.

Video Gaming Celebrates a Supreme Court Victory
A California regulation that would ban the sale or rental of violent video games to minors met final defeat at the Supreme Court on Monday.

AV Rant #238: The Boot
This AV Rant podcast begins a series of interviews with one of the foremost designers in the field of electrostatic speakers. David Janszen is the son of Arthur A. Janszen, the inventor electrostats.

Overview of Audio Testing Methodologies
This article discusses various audio testing methodologies (ie. SBT, DBT, ABX, etc) and associated biases that may exist in each of them.

AV Rant #237: Static
If you haven't tuned in to AV Rant in a while, Liz Vinci is the new cohost (Dina finally had enough of Tom). There has also been an interesting "Soup to Nuts" series going on.

Nintendo Wii U, Technology and Bushido
Nintendo announced Wii U last week and failed to impress investors with behind-the-curve technology. But what the investors don’t know is that Nintendo is demonstrating the true code of the samurai.

Smoke and Mirrors and Upgraditus
Upgraditus. What is it? Well, simply defined, it is the feeling that something in your AV system needs to be changed or added. Unfortunately, manufacturers know all about it. Don't be fooled by them.

Video: Michael Bay and James Cameron Talk 3D
When Michael Bay and James Cameron sit down together to talk about 3D as it pertains to filmmaking, it's something any film aficionado should take notice of and enjoy.

Bose: Why Audiophiles Should Stop the Hate
Bose has been the punch-line of jokes about over-priced speakers with paper cones, patented so-called revolutionary technology

Survive the PlayStation Network Hack!
By now you've heard that the Sony PlayStation Network has been down all week. Sony finally identified that PSN was the target of an "external intrusion" and some of your personal data was compromised.

Taxi Driver Blu-ray Movie Review
Taxi Driver is a piece of film history. Now, the Martin Scorsese thriller makes its Blu-ray debut, fully restored, and marking the 35th anniversary of the film's 1970's theatrical release