Rob Sabin

Custom Installation Equipment ReviewsCustom Installation How-To
Video: Touring the Control4 Smart Home RV
Rob Sabin  |  Apr 20, 2017
Control4, the company behind the award-winning home automation platform favored by many electronics integrators, has taken the smart home on the road. A new "Smart Design, Smart Living" Airstream RV trailer outfitted with room vignettes designed to show off C4's technology is in the midst of a 12-week, multi-city tour to teach interior designers, architects, and consumers what home automation really is and what it can do. This miniature smart-home-on-wheels allows demonstration of automated lighting, whole-home audio and video entertainment, and security through the use of wall keypads, mounted touchscreens, conventional handheld remotes, smartphone and tablet apps, and even Amazon Alexa voice control.

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Projector Buying Tips
Projection's Reinvention
Rob Sabin  |  Apr 07, 2017
There’s something big goin’ on in the flat-panel TV market, in more ways than one. Sales of 4K Ultra HD displays are taking over new TV purchases at 55 inches and above, and once-pricey 75-inch 4K sets are suddenly very attainable, with some coming in well under $3,000.
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Editor's Eye
Fear and Loathing Beyond Vegas
Rob Sabin  |  Apr 01, 2017
As night settled in with hours left to drive, I pulled off the highway in Barstow to tap the Wi-Fi at Starbucks and download the Audible version of Fear and Loathing to my iPhone. That’s when I saw him, working behind the counter, his wild gray hair dancing in the overhead lights...
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Home Movie Theaters
Daily Double: A Theater Hides Behind This Music Setup
Rob Sabin  |  Mar 24, 2017
Photos by Jomar Bragança

Sometimes, you have to go big. And that’s just what one young power couple did when they built their dream home in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, a teeming metropolis that sits about a six-hour drive north of the Rio de Janeiro coast. To be more precise, they went 50,000 square feet big. With that area, the modern two-story residence shown in these photos, if laid flat, would cover the size of an American-style football field (minus a couple of end zones).

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Editor's EyeAudio Video News
Are You the Victim of a Silent Home?
Rob Sabin  |  Mar 01, 2017  |  Published: Mar 02, 2017
If something seems off-kilter in your life—for example, you've been feeling alienated and isolated from your family, or you're wondering why you're not having enough sex—Sonos thinks it may have found the answer.

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Editor's Eye
Ultra HD Settles In Along with UHD Blu-ray & HDR
Rob Sabin  |  Feb 13, 2017
Ultra HD is fast becoming our TV of choice, which bodes well for both UHD Blu-ray and high dynamic range technology.
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Editor's Eye
Top Picks of the Top Picks...and a Few Runners-Up
Rob Sabin  |  Feb 01, 2017
A look back at our product of the year picks for the past three years, and a few 2016 runners-up that deserve special mention.
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CES 2017
Sony Flagship Soundbar Features Atmos
Rob Sabin  |  Jan 05, 2017
Sony upped its soundbar game at CES with introduction of a new flagship model featuring Dolby Atmos capability, while also announcing a new mid-priced AVR.

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CES 2017
'QLED' UHDTVs Lead Samsung CES Introductions
Rob Sabin  |  Jan 04, 2017  |  Published: Jan 05, 2017
Samsung Electronics executive vp Joe Stinziano introduces new QLED UHDTVs at 2017 CES.

New advanced UHDTVs and UHD Blu-ray players were the most notable product announcements for A/V enthusiasts at Samsung's 2017 CES press conference today.

The brand's new QLED TVs are said to push the state of the art with a new metallic-core quantum dot formulation in the backlight, one that ultimately provides the ability to deliver brighter highlights and an even wider color gamut than Samsung's top-line 2016 models.

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4K TV ReviewsTV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
LG 65UH8500 LCD Ultra HDTV Review
Rob Sabin  |  Dec 22, 2016
2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,700

AT A GLANCE
Plus
HDR10 plus Dolby Vision HDR
Great color
Wide viewing window
Minus
Middling black levels
Backlight artifacts

THE VERDICT
LG’s midpriced 65UH8500 delivers good image quality with a super-wide viewing window, and it’s one of the few sets around that plays both predominant types of HDR content.

A year ago, I tested the LG 65UF9500, an LCD Ultra HDTV that retailed for $2,999, and I criticized it for offering no future-readiness for soon-to-emerge high dynamic range (HDR) content. Since then, Ultra HD Blu-ray has come to market, bringing HDR along with it, and there’s a growing library of HDR movies available for streaming. To LG’s credit, their line of so-called Super UHD LCD TVs for this holiday season, including the midline 65-inch 65UH8500 tested here ($1,700), recognizes both predominant types of HDR—namely, HDR10 (used currently on Ultra HD Blu-rays) and Dolby Vision (still only available via web streams). LG is one of only two TV makers to support both formats on a single chassis (in both their LCD and OLED models), the other being Vizio, which updated their Dolby Vision sets for HDR10 in mid-2016. So how does this wellfeatured, attractively priced set perform? Let’s have a look.

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