AudioVideo

Upgrading your family room to a family entertainment room is expected to be one of the hottest home improvement projects for 2008, and if you're among the millions planning to do it, the best place to start is by deciding how to put the main attraction, your new HDTV, on display.

Popular installation methods include sitting on top of a furniture cabinet, hanging from the wall, or even mounted overhead in the corner of a room. "The possibilities are really endless thanks to innovations in the technology available to support these TVs," says Keith Pribyl, vice president of retail sales for Sanus Systems, a manufacturer of audio video furnishings, mounts and accessories. Read more

An important change is coming in the way television works and it could affect you. It's called the "digital television transition" and it will be a seismic shift in the American television broadcasting system, as local TV stations meet a government requirement to transmit their signals in a digital format, starting in February 2009.

What does that mean for the average viewer? Well, it's more than a behind-the-scenes technical adjustment. Once the new requirement kicks in, most older TV sets that aren't connected to cable, satellite or a special converter box, will not display programs from local broadcast stations.

More simply put, an old "analog" TV that still relies on rabbit ears for a picture will go black. The good news is that cable customers can relax. Every TV set connected to cable will continue to display local stations, even after TV broadcasters launch the new transmission format. Read more

AC Power. If there is one thing in the audio/video/home theater world we take for granted it is the alternating current coming out of that little socket in the wall. What you may not know is that little plug is not only feeding your equipment with current, it is also serving up a heaping dose of garbage in the form of noise, spikes on the line, surges, cyclic dips, etc. All that noise (or "hash" as some folks in the A/V world refer to it) can not only cause your components to look and sound worse, it can cause them irreparable damage that you may not even notice until one day, Poof! And your DVD player or receiver just stops working... just like a light bulb that suddenly blows out. Many people notice power problems when their refrigerator cycles on or a vacuum cleaner is started and their lights dim for a moment. The lights dim because their flow of power has surged up and down and, just like your lights, your electronic equipment experiences these same power problems every day. It's just not as obvious.

You may think you are ahead of the game if you have purchased a "surge protector" in the form of one of those "$2.99 Special" 10-outlet power strips you found on sale in the Sunday paper. But really, those little power strips do little more than give you extra electrical outlets like a glorified extension cord. They may protect your components the first time lightning strikes the line, but instead of informing you of what has just happened, most just simply burn out their "sacrificicial circuit" and go into a sort of "bypass" mode. There they continue passing current to your components, but have lost their surge protection ability when their internal protection devices were destroyed.Read more

DC SEVEN, a new Audio Restoration and enhancement product from Enhancedaudio.com is now shipping. It is the newest incarnation of the world’s most popular Audio Restoration and Enhancement tools for PC computers. This new Hi-Def version offers users the ability to push filters far past the limits of standard restoration products in order to remove more noise from old vinyl and tape recordings.

New improvements and additions include:

Narrow Crackle filter is a new addition to the Filter Menu. This new filter tackles annoying crackle without introducing artifacts or inducing distortions. Improvements were also made which help the system be more precise when judging the difference between music and noise. It is especially evident when working with low-level recordings that have an impulsive noise floor. Read more

Sonos just announced new partnerships, features, as well as a new product for the Sonos Digital Music System. Music lovers can now play what they want, when they want, anywhere they want in the home. Think of a song, find it and play it, in any room…and all from the palm of your hand. Starting yesterday with Sonos, you can now search and find the music want from Rhapsody, Napster, Best Buy Digital Music Store or your personal music collection all from your couch– no computer required.

How does computer-free access to millions of songs work with Sonos? Check out this demonstration (click on ‘Get Music’): www.sonos.com/demos/house_demo/en Read more

Flat Panel TVs, video game consoles, HD DVD players, Blu-Ray Players, remotes, and a foosball table? Is that a coffee table or a shuffle board game? Wait a second … a game room in your living room? That’s right, the rooms themselves no longer have boundaries.

Do you remember when you first saw a landline phone in a bathroom? Or, a TV in the kitchen? That is when the lines of living room, bedroom, kitchen, and even the bathroom were blurred. Home is what you make it, and why not have a bumper pool table in front of the couch. I am sure this is reminiscent of some college days for most, but life should be fun! Read more

At the recent 2007 CEDIA Show in Denver, Colorado, Tributaries introduced two new ranges of cables for high-end value/performance connectivity category -- the Tributaries Series 9 and Series 7 families of interconnects -- made for to the most demanding audio and home-theater systems and installations.

Both new Tributaries ranges are offered in families dedicated to video, analog-audio, digital-audio, and digital-video formats. The Series 9 are the company’s finest cables they have yet created. The Series 7 cables come close to equaling Series 9 performance, but at substantial savings thanks to using less costly materials in less-critical positions.

Where the ultimate in performance is demanded and cost is no object, the Series 9 is the clear choice—but for many, the quality and value of the new Series 7 cables will be difficult to pass up. Read more

Ever wondered what it would be like to be able to carry your favorite guitar without worrying about how to transport it? Worry no more. Devillain has introduced the world's first folding electric guitar. The Centerfold guitar, priced at $3,370 solves a transport problem that every guitarist has experienced. The 'magical' thing is that the guitar can be played directly after it's been unfolded and it's just as tuned as when it was folded away.

Behind the development of the folding guitar, patent applied for in Europe, Japan and USA, is SAS airline pilot Fredrik Johansson. He is a devoted guitarist but couldn't take his instrument with him on flights around the world. During the last ten years, Fredrik has been working on the development of a folding guitar that could easily be taken on a plane. The resulting product not only solves the problem he was experiencing but also that of all the other guitarists who are fed up carrying their cumbersome guitar cases on buses, subways, bikes. Read more

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." – Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Fame Player/Coach

Every year we have a sports season – baseball, football, basketball, soccer, etc – a definite beginning and end. A winner. A loser.

In the PC/CE industry we have…Moore’s Law. We have an ever changing landscape of technology change. We have the mercurial wants, needs, desires of consumers. We love watching the industry push and shove to be in front of the competition with claims, counterclaims…threats, counterthreats…brags, counterbrags.

Nothing is more typical of this today than the desire to entertain us – you know the consumer. The folks who pay for the tickets to the game. Specifically the HD DVD team…the BD team…the everything over the Internet team. They’re all running the bases and have more points on the scoreboard…just ask them! Read more

They are now friends! Sonos and Sirius just announced that for Sirius’ premium account holders you can have internet radio delivered through your Sonos system. If you are not a Sirius premium account holder, it is only $2.99 a month with your Sirius account. And, if you are not a Sonos owner, or a Sirius subscriber … you are missing out on truly enjoying the music you love.

I applaud Sonos for staying on top of software updates that make their machine adapt with the times. The execution of partnerships that can deliver content are making this music player a must have for any home. The Sirius folks are also innovative with making sure those customers who already overlap (Sonos owners, and Sirius subscribers), bring their systems together. Read more