This might be my favorite tent in the annual Home Theater circus. The Home Theater Top Picks of the Year are the very best components we’ve reviewed over the past year in all the major categories. We also call out an overall Product of the Year and a Budget Pick of the Year. This year we see a terrific mix of emerging new technologies—3D and next-gen media servers are both represented—and stalwart audio brands that deliver high-end sound year in and year out amid the constant churn of technology.
As the song says, it's the most wonderful time of the yearor the most dreadful, depending on whether or not you plan to join the buying frenzy on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Many stores open at an ungodly hour and offer seemingly outrageous deals on certain products to get people in the door, hoping that they'll buy more than they bargained for and put the store's accounts in the black for the year, which is why it's called Black Fridayeither that, or it might be due to all the black eyes resulting from fights over the last remaining $40 Blu-ray player.
Scanning some of the myriad Black Friday websitesmy favorite is bfads.net because you can search by product category from multiple retailersI found a few great deals on home theater gear. In many cases, however, these products are already available at less than the MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price), so the savings I cite here might not be as great as they appear. I've included links to HT's reviews of the same or similar items if available, so let your mouse do the clicking before you venture forth to battle the hordes.
It’s always a blast around here to take a look back and see which of the hundred or so components we’ve reviewed in the last year really rose to the top. Of course, the best of these end up on our Top Picks list, but like watching a good movie whose message or performances resonate in the days and months that follow, there are always a few pieces of gear that prove themselves to be just a little more special over time.
You can't escape Twitter. Even if you don't use it, you're bound to hear people talking about it. But, amongst all of the updates about what people are eating for breakfast, is a heap of good info. Here's a starter list to get your feed working for you.
Hardly a month goes by when we don't receive a reader letter or e-mail taking us to task for discussing the "2:3 pulldown" functions of DVD players instead of the more commonly found "3:2 pulldown." Let me immediately put the confused at ease by saying that both terms refer to the same thing.
In a nearly deserted conference room, TDVision Systems (TDV) presented its sophisticated 3-dimensional imaging system. The company made it clear it is selling technology, not products. Already in use in some major teaching hospitals and by the Defense Department, the TDV 3D system is said to be fully compatible with standard 2D images.