Home Theater

"U.S. and Canadian Xbox Live Gold subscribers will find the free Slacker Radio app in the Xbox Live Marketplace this fall. Slacker Radio will give Xbox Live Gold subscribers a fully customizable selection of over 200 music stations that are curated and hosted by Slacker's expert music programmers, plus artist showcases (such as the Adam Yauch station), comedy, ESPN Radio, ABC News, and official stations for leading music festivals including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and Austin City Limits. Microsoft's Kinect motion-control accessory is compatible with the Slacker Radio app." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

""A lot of the critical response I was reading was people saying it's different. Well, yes, it certainly is," said Jackson in a different portion of the interview. "But I think, ultimately, it is different in a positive way, especially for 3D, especially for epic films and films that are trying to immerse the viewer in the experience of a story."" - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

"t can transmit up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio inputs on up to 64 discrete speaker feeds, including ones placed in the ceiling above the audience. So if a film is showing someone in a car on a rainy day, for instance, it will actually sound like the rain is coming from above. Dolby calls Atmos its "most significant innovation in years," and plans to roll the audio platform out in select "premium" locations in the US, Europe, China, and Japan later this year." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

"As Microsoft works on Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Xbox, users will be pulled back into its orbit, one product at a time." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Online and mail-order video company Netflix has no plans to bring its streaming service to Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"the cable ISP announced plans to bring back usage-based pricing—but only if you want to cap yourself. TWC's new "Essentials" plan will knock $5 off your monthly bill as long as you keep your usage below 5GB." - Josh Haley from Bookmarklet

So... sell your soul for 5 bucks? Uh, no. - Josh Haley

"Check out CNET's roundup of must-have Blu-ray discs." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

Ah, well yes of course then. - Tinfoil 2.0

Just now watching The Pacific for the first time after watching BoB for the second time. It's interesting to see the bright crisp colors in this after the almost black and white desaturation of the former. It's also making me want to watch Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line soon. - Derrick

I haven't seen both. :( But I want to. - AJ Batac

Oh, AJ, you gotta do it. Granted, I'm a bit of a military buff and films about WWII are really compelling and interesting to me, but if you've got even a halfway decent HT set up, this will NOT disappoint. - Derrick

"Despite the claims of the MPAA and other supporters of SOPA and PIPA, file-sharing does not negatively impact box office sales in the U.S., according to a new study conducted by economists from Wellesley College and the University of Minnesota." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

I always seem to test out a surround system with Independence Day. - Eric - seven eleven

Inception was non-stop soundtrack. It was aurally exhausting in a good way. Might be a good one that isn't as smash bang as Matrix (good one as well) or Transformers (bleh). - Josh Haley

"A group of investors has filed a class-auction lawsuit against Netflix and several of its executives, alleging that the film and TV subscription service purposely misled the plantiffs about its earnings prospects ahead before the company’s stock took a deep dive in the second half of 2011." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Just a week ago, the blogosphere was abuzz with the news that Google had officially locked down partners for a whole new generation of devices with its operating system for connected TVs. But if Google finally is gaining the trust and support of the consumer electronics industry, there was little evidence of it at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

Denon AVR-1612 and Energy Take Classic 5.1 - Derrick

Ixnayed the Denon. Saw some bad reviews. Picked up a Pioneer instead. - Derrick

"We've reached a point where Blu-ray players can't really add a whole lot more functionality. Size, then, is the next frontier, and Samsung's showing another player with a "slightly larger-than-a-disc" form-factor. It's the BD-ES6000, a decidedly petite player with a slot-loading mechanism and a boot time of just one second." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

"LG Electronics just announced its 55-inch OLED television — the inevitable home for the world's largest OLED TV panel revealed last week by LG Display. The TV will be featured at CES where the world's tech media will busy themselves photographing pencils, Moleskins, and Droid RAZRs next to the TV's 4-mm thick profile in an attempt to convey just how thin this 7.5-kg (16.5-pound) beauty really is. Better yet, unlike the overly saturated OLED panels we're accustomed to seeing, LG claims its image processing features combined with the WOLED panel produce "the most natural colors of any TV set" and at a "much lower price point" than OLED panels of this size would traditionally command, and its Color Refiner helps ensures consistent color across a wider viewing angle. All very important developments in LG's march to make WOLED "the future of home TV entertainment." Yet for all of its teasing, LGE's still not offering a ship date or suggested retail price." - imabonehead from Bookmarklet

"The ones will have much more one-ness" - Tinfoil 2.0

Quite a steal. I wish I could make commission on this but I have no affiliation with tigerdirect. - Josh Haley from Bookmarklet

THAT is a good deal. - AJ Batac

Honeycomb just dropped on it this past weekend, too. - Josh Haley

"Behringer, a maker of professional audio and music equipment, is launching the world's loudest -- and largest -- iPhone dock. The iNuke Boom is 4 feet tall, 8 feet wide, weighs 700 pounds, and costs $29,999. The product is real, though the only model in existence will be at Behringer's booth at CES as an attention grabber." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

Yes Walt, Behringer makes a lot of home studio and PA gear. Not really home h-fi. And yes, this will be a one of a kind device for marketing purposes. I just want to see how small an MP3 player will look on a giant speaker. - Eric - seven eleven

"Six years after the original Xbox 360′s debut, Microsoft this week is overhauling its video-game console, again, with a big software update that attempts to cement the company’s place in the living room. It also continues the expansion of the console beyond the world of games." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Where the TC-788-4 differs from most other 4-channel offerings is in its tape speed (38cm/s, like the pros !), closed-loop dual capstan drive with one AC Servo motor plus two induction for reel spooling, feather-touch transport pads, and all the other reliable features of the TC-75x series - one of the 1970s bestselling series of reel-to-reel recorders worldwide. Amp-wise, the inputs are FET-charged and recording bias is at a very high 160Khz ; concentric input and output pots can be pulled for -20dB gain for both front and back MIC inputs. Price-wise, this was indeed for the pro : 248,000¥ in 1974. Controls-wise... there is enough to get lost quickly if you keep in mind that four channel can also mean 4-channel in QUAD surround mode where record levels, balance and playback levels remain always set separately. The record modes, too. The panpots, too : left front, right front, right rear, right front and anything in between. For each of the four tracks. Like monitoring, left and... more... - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

Yes, we record most things at 7.5ips, but I did some multi-track music at 15ips. It was an awesome machine. - Eric - seven eleven

" It's well-made, attractive, apparently durable, and demonstrably superior to any other self-standing audio source at its price. Perhaps best of all, the RP-1 is easy to own and to use. It's not just that I can't imagine $445 buying more happiness; I can't imagine so modest an investment in money and effort buying more music." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

Yes, exactly! I'd like to just hear one one of these days. Does it sound $5,600 better than a used 1200? - Adrian

"Amarra is an aftermarket music-playback program designed to work with rather than replace iTunes: while iTunes retains the job of cataloguing your music, Amarra bypasses Apple's playback pathway and changes the sample rate of Apple's CoreAudio engine to match that of the file being played, disabling CoreAudio's real-time sample-rate converter. Amarra's sophisticated user interface inspires confidence; its luxurious feature set includes memory play, user-adjustable equalization, a Playlist Mode that lets users bypass altogether iTunes' song-selection interface, full compatibility with native FLAC files, and a handy switch for comparing the playback qualities of Amarra and iTunes. Perhaps best of all, Amarra sounded wonderful, always naturally detailed, and consistently involving." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

"Even as Internet video viewing increases, the vast majority of American households are still paying for television subscriptions and watching most video that way. Those who are canceling are doing so, it seems, because of poverty, not improved technology." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Netflix shares plunged in after-hours trading Monday after the US video service said it lost more US subscribers in the third quarter. Netflix, which has seen a spate of management bungles in recent months, said it had 23.8 million subscribers in the United States at the end of the quarter, a loss of 810,000 from the previous quarter." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"The Restio was designed by Yamaha's Masaharu Ono and has a small, colored LED screen that displays the time or track number for an audio selection. It also has an alarm clock function. The player is about 40 inches tall on its stand, which can be removed to mount the main unit on a wall. You can get a better idea of its size in the promo vid below from IFA." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

that looks an indoor street sign. but not nearly as cool. as an actual street sign - Michael W. May

"For the first time in four months, prices for HDTVs fell in August, according to IHS iSuppli. While that amount was negligible in aggregate — a drop of just $5 per set — it was more pronounced for sets ranging from 40 to 49 inches (3% decline) and 50 inches and larger (2%). Riddhi Patel, IHS director for television systems and retail services, concludes that “Larger-sized televisions have been hard to sell given the slow economy and the absence in general of a big-enough price decline to motivate consumers to buy.” The research firm cites the example of Sharp, which has been consistently been releasing larger and larger sets as a market differentiator. However, that led to few sales until the electronics company began slashing prices on its 60-inch HDTVs, resulting in enough sales to cut into rivals’ 55-inch set sales. IHS found that inventories for larger sets were “much higher” than usual, a good sign that further price cutting is on the way. Already, the average plasma sized 50... more... - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

"Tube amps have long been praised for their natural, warm sound, and now you can get that classic sound and treatment in a modern package with the McIntosh 50th Anniversary MC275 Tube Amplifier ($6,500). Sporting a gold-toned chassis, this limited edition MC275 merges the classic 1961 tube circuit design of the original with modern niceties like a multi-colored LED display, a High Speed Sentry Monitor circuit to automatically turn the amp off should a tube wear out, and Power Control input and output. Coming to an impressive hi-fi setup near you — complete with commemorative book and packaging — in December." - Eric - seven eleven from Bookmarklet

"Piracy is less of an issue for the movie industry than is the dominance of the digital distribution channel by a single company, such as Apple." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Netflix’s decision to raise prices and its ham-handed marketing of its new Qwikster DVD service has flopped with both consumers and investors." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet