Home Entertainment

When Sony wanted to highlight the immersiveness of movies available on the Playstation Store, they turned to UK-based agencies Studio Output and Marshmallow Laser Feast to create a series of shorts around the theme "great films fill rooms." Using the Playstation Move, the production team shot a handful of scenes depicting an ordinary man going from his couch to flying above skyscrapers as a robot and fighting sea monsters. The best part: not a single aspect of these videos was added in the editing room. Read More

According to Bose, only one third of homes in the U.S. have a home theater system, leaving the majority relying on the decidedly average speakers built into many TVs. While the major TV manufacturers generally try to market their products in terms of picture quality - be it blacker blacks, 3D capabilities or the latest and greatest image processing engine - audio performance seems to take a back seat. Bose has taken a different tack for its first entry into the TV market by putting audio performance front and center - or rather, rear and center - with its VideoWave entertainment system that integrates a 7.1-channel surround sound system and amplifier into the rear of a 46-inch LCD TV. Read More

With the increase in popularity of home theater PCs and internet capabilities being built into HDTVs, browsing the Web sitting on the couch is becoming a popular pastime. But with the web being a “lean forward” technology that requires more complicated input controls than the “lean back” consumption of traditional television, the ol’ remote control just doesn’t cut it anymore. While there’s been some outside-the-box designs, such as the GlideTV Navigator, the all conquering keyboard is already launching an offensive on the lounge room. The latest unit to join the fight is the GKM571R-581R 2.4 GHz wireless on-lap keyboard from IOGEAR. Read More

Netgear has announced its 3DHD Wireless Home Theater Networking Kit, a set of high-performance 802.11n wireless adapters designed to transmit HD and 3D HD video throughout your home. The 3DHD kit, which received a CES 2011 Innovations Award, delivers multiple jitter-free 1080p high-definition video streams without additional wiring or cabling. Each 3DHD adapter can be connected to a home theater device with a network port, and features four transmitters and four receivers for 4x4 MIMO connectivity. Read More

PrimeSense, the company behind Kinect's 3D sensor, is teaming up with Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS to bring us what might be the next big motion-control entertainment system for consumers. The WAVI Xtion (pronounced "WAVI action") utilizes a pair WAVI boxes to stream media from PC to TV and an Xtion sensor near your TV set to to bring gesture control into the mix. Read More

There’s no doubt the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray scared a lot of consumers away from upgrading from DVD to a higher definition format. Even though it’s been more than two years since Blu-ray took the honors and HD-DVD was relegated to the technological scrap heap sales of Blu-ray players haven’t really scaled the heights that manufacturers would have liked. But as prices continue to drop more and more Blu-ray devices are hitting the market. The latest is the world’s first mini-PCs with an integrated Blu-ray drive in the form of the Zotac Zbox Blu-ray series. Read More

The “one more thing” at Apple’s September 1 event was an updated Apple TV. Apple has certainly cranked up the ol’ shrink ray for a form factor that is 80 percent smaller than the previous generation. The rumored addition of apps didn’t eventuate nor did the rebranding to “iTV” but, as predicted, the update sees the device sporting an A4 chip and it will only be able to handle a maximum resolution of 720p. Because the new Apple TV does away with local storage altogether in favor of cloud-based storage and streaming of content, Apple says the choice of 720p was more a balance between quality and bandwidth than any rumored difficulties the A4 chip may have with Full HD content. Read More

Western Digital (WD) has announced that its WD TV Live HD media player is the first network media player compatible with Windows 7. Thanks to a firmware upgrade users can now initiate and control the streaming of video, music or photos to the WD TV Live HD media player and home entertainment systems from any Windows 7-based PC on their network. Read More

Halden-Caviglia has a designed a series of Flat Screen Showcases for home-owners who prefer to steer clear of the minimalist approach to home decorating. For some, that large, sleek and modern-looking TV just doesn’t go with the rest of the furniture. For others, it’s a cheaper option for turning their large screen TV into something more akin to a home theater. Whatever the motivation, the company is attempting to create an entirely new product segment that makes the most of the ubiquitous flat panel TV. Read More