LATEST ADDITIONS

Soundbar Reviews
Roku Streambar Pro Soundbar Review
Michael Antonoff  |  Jul 28, 2021

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $180

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Room-filling sound
Enhances dialogue
Built-in Roku streaming interface
Minus
None worth noting

THE VERDICT
The Roku Streambar Pro offers a considerable sound upgrade over a TV's internal speakers and comes with the company's comprehensive streaming platform built-in.

Soundbars are popular for a good reason. The speakers in a typical flat panel TVs sound puny compared with the visual sway of increasingly larger, higher-resolution displays. Also, since not every viewing room can accommodate the separate components of a home theater, a narrow-footprint soundbar solves the problem of raising the impact of the audio and it does so with one cable.

Continue Reading »
SmartStream
How to Customize Your Olympics Viewing Experience
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jul 28, 2021
Roku and Comcast/NBCUniversal have created the best Olympics streaming experience so far. Curated and aggregated videos of highlights, live events, background stories, and every sports competition can be accessed through a single screen on Roku TVs and players and Comcast Xfinity X1.
Continue Reading »
The Big Picture
Klipsch Celebrates 75 Years with Upscale Soundbars
Bob Ankosko  |  Jul 26, 2021
As part of its ongoing 75th anniversary celebration, Klipsch is upscaling its presence in soundbars with four new systems designed to evoke its Reference series of home theater speakers.
Continue Reading »
Signals
Not Coming Soon to a Channel Near You
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 26, 2021
I really, really would like to be an astronaut on the International Space Station. Wonderful views. Free parking. Cool science experiments to play with. Not feeling guilty about those extra pounds. Ability to work at home. And, best of all, I would be free of the hassle of Covid here on planet earth.

Continue Reading »
Music Reviews
Remaster Class: Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 23, 2021
Elton John was in the zone. The piano prodigy and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin were in the midst of an almost decade-long creative mindmeld, and October 1973's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was the apex of their collaboration. The initially unintended double album's 17 songs covered the gamut from nostalgic reverie for days gone by (the title track, the indelible "Candle in the Wind") to pumped-up '70s-style electric-boot rockers ("Bennie and the Jets," "All the Girls Love Alice"), and everything in between.
Continue Reading »
Projector Tech
A Guide to Projection Screens
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 21, 2021
Today's projection screen scene is far more complex and competitive than it was even a short 10 years ago, with numerous companies now offering a wide range of screen types at various shapes, sizes, and prices. Narrowing the options requires research, together with careful consideration of your specific needs and viewing environment. How tightly can room lighting be controlled? How big does the image need to be? What is the preferred aspect ratio? Should the screen's frame be fixed or retractable? Finally, how do today's high dynamic range (HDR) requirements—unknown a decade ago—figure into the choice?
Continue Reading »
A/V Veteran
Classic Films in 4K/HDR Keep the Blu-Ray Boat Afloat
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 20, 2021
We've fretted a lot (or at least some of us have) over the growth of streaming because it threatens the survival of packaged media—having your favorite films readily available on Blu-ray or UltraHD Blu-ray, at the highest possible consumer quality, sitting on your bookshelf where no tools from a streaming service with cancellation orders can barge in and carry them away (at least not yet!).
Continue Reading »
The Connected Life
Evolution of the App Part 2
John Sciacca  |  Jul 19, 2021
My previous column covered ways to control both a modern A/V system and a smart home using various manufacturer-supplied apps. With smartphone and tablet use now widespread, and smart devices capable of being controlled via free iOS and Android apps proliferating, app-based control has also surged. Whether you’re streaming music, controlling your A/V receiver, or managing your home’s energy or security systems, there’s now an app that can help you to do it smarter, better, and more easily. And since most people are now in the habit of carrying their phones 24/7, they basically have a full-blown system controller in their pocket at all times.
Continue Reading »
Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Secrets & Lies
Josef Krebs  |  Jul 16, 2021
Picture
Sound
Extras
As a kid in England in the late 1970s, I loathed director Mike Leigh's BBC TV dramas about what seemed like the drab lives of dull, ordinary people because they lacked the glamour and drive of Hollywood classics. Years later, I became enthralled with the pathos of universal pain and struggle shown in Leigh's Secrets & Lies, a microcosm of real relationships and feelings that is as moving and massively encompassing as any film I've seen.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
2021 Midyear Roundup: News & Gear
Bob Ankosko  |  Jul 15, 2021
Ah, summertime… Life has more or less returned to normal and we’re finally getting back to our pre-COVID-19 lives but the effects of the Great Pandemic linger — and I’m not talking about the Delta variant causing worry in some quarters. No, I’m talking about global chip shortages and shipping delays that continue to constrain the availability of a whole host of new electronics products. The upshot: As we head in to the dogs days of summer we’re seeing fewer new product announcements than usual, though there is still plenty to keep tabs on. Let’s take a look…
Continue Reading »

Pages

X