Cable

Let's face it – audiophiles can be a discriminating bunch. They want the best in everything; HDTV, sound system, speakers, even the A/V cables must provide the ultimate listening experience. There's a new line of high-end audio, video, digital, speaker and power cables from Gordon J. Gow Technologies (manufacturer of Tributaries cables) that are sure to please audiophiles worldwide – the Clarus Audiophile Collection.

What makes the Clarus Audiophile Collection so special? For starters, they're made from Pure Copper by Ohno Continuous Casting (PCOCC) – the purest copper in the world. They also feature CNC-machined gold-plated connectors, individually insulated cable strands and precision impedances. In addition, the cables are designed with three different conductor types – solid heavy-gauge conductors, flat conductors and spiral-ribbon conductors. By designing the cables with multiple strand sizes and shapes, clarity is greatly improved for a more enhanced, open sound. Simply put, the Clarus Audiophile Collection is truly in a class by itself. Read more

Tributaries unveiled the new Series 8 Reference Series of interconnect cables at the recent CEDIA 2011 trade show. Replacing the Series 7 and Series 9, the new cables boast a level of performance even greater than previous models, thanks to changes in the construction and an improved grade of copper.

Series 8 models are made with Long-Crystal OFHC copper, which is drawn to reduce the amount of crystals in the copper conductor. By lowering the crystal count, distortion is reduced and signal transfer is improved--resulting in an audio and video cable that delivers a high degree of fidelity and an extremely low noise floor.

"We are thrilled with the performance of the Series 8 cables," said Joe Perfito, President of Tributaries Cable. "The use of new materials and updated construction push the Series 8 to surpass the performance of our previous top performer. We're also proud to say these products are made in the USA, allowing us to offer a superior level of quality control."Read more

VIZIO this week announced three new Full HD 3D HDTVs, two new 3D Blu-ray players, a Wireless Internet router, as well as new HDMI cables. The XVT Series of 3D TVs include VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA) and are available in 42", 47" and 55" screen sizes.

VIZIO's latest XVT Full HD 3D TVs come packed with features including High Speed HDMI inputs, SRS TruSurround HD, built-in Dual Band 802.11n Wi-Fi and a Bluetooth remote with sliding QWERTY keypad. The 55" (XVT3D554SV) and 47" (XVT3D474SV) HDTVs also offer TruLED backlighting with Smart Dimming. These 3D HDTVs also feature VIZIO's 480Hz SPS high frame rate technology with Smooth Motion for beautiful 3D and 2D images.

VIZIO's 42" (XVT3D424SV) XVT 3D HDTV features VIZIO's Razor LED backlighting with Smart Dimming and also includes 480Hz SPS high frame rate technology with Smooth Motion. The new 3D HDTVs work with VIZIO's Full HD 3D active shutter glasses (sold separately). Read more

With Windows 7 becoming available later this month, many will be buying a new PC. If you're planning on purchasing a new computer, Belkin makes it easy to transfer all your files, music, photos, user accounts and more from your old PC to a new computer running Windows 7.

Belkin's Easy Transfer Cable was designed specifically for the Windows Easy Transfer utility from Microsoft. The uninterrupted transfer process is simple and a post-migration report gives you all the details on what files were transferred. Please note that the device does not support the transfer of software programs.

Setup is easy too. All you have to do is install the software, connect the cable, then follow the on-screen prompts. You're then ready to move files between the two PCs at speeds of up to 480Mbps. You can estimate the transfer time of about 7,500 songs per hour to your new computer.

The Easy Transfer Cable will be available on October 23, 2009 for $39.99.

The new Monster SuperThin Cables for HDMI are the first "fruits" of a recently announced collaboration with RedMere, a leader in advanced silicon chip development. Monster SuperThin Cable for HDMI products will be available in 4-, 8-, and 16-foot versions in the DigitalLife line of products (DL HDMI HSMI-4, DL HDMI HSMI-8, DL HDMI HSMI-16). Monster's Core line of cables for HDMI will also offer a SuperThin cable design in 1, 2, 4 and 5 meter lengths.

Thanks to the RedMere MagnifEye Active technology, the HD signals are boosted in the cable itself; thus, thick copper wiring is no longer needed, making this cable very light and thin. The SuperThin Cables have a 3.5mm diameter and are approximately 65% thinner than normal HDMI cables. These SuperThin Cables are perfect to accompany you super-thin TV!

Prices and sizes:

• Digital Life SuperThin High Speed Powered Cable for HDMI for (SRP) 4ft. $89.95, 8ft. $99.95 and 16ft. $119.95.
• Digital Life SuperThin High Speed Powered Cable for camcorder; Mini HDMI to HDMI 8ft. (SRP) $99.95.
• Monster's Core Line of SuperThin Powered Cables for HDMI 1m $79.95, 2m $89.95 4m $99.95, 5m $119.95.

HDMI 1.4 will offer the following enhancements: Ethernet channel, audio return channel, 3D over HDMI, 4K x 2K resolution support, a micro HDMI connector (around half the size of the existing HDMI Mini plug, 19pin) and an automotive connection system.

With that said, there will be 5, yes five, different types of HDMI 1.4 cables:

• Standard HDMI Cable – supports data rates up to 1080i/60
• High Speed HDMI Cable – supports data rates beyond 1080p, including Deep Color and all 3D formats of the new 1.4 specification
• Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet – includes Ethernet connectivity
• High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet – includes Ethernet connectivity
• Automotive HDMI Cable – allows the connection of external HDMI-enabled devices to an in-vehicle HDMI device

The HDMI specification 1.4 will be available for download at www.hdmi.org no later than June 30th, 2009. Until then, you can grab the full press release here.

The BIG screen being your 16:9 ratio HDTV home television. In our home we use the Apple cables to watch our iPod and iPhone content on the television. These cables are great for traveling with kids too. ezGear has an April special for $29 for this cable made for your iPod or iPhone. The cables that provide the same function from Apple are $49 on the Apple Web site. ezGear is an effective, affordable solution for this cable.

We call the video on the iPhone the electronic babysitter. You can go anywhere with the kids and to ask them politely to sit down and be quiet, but that doesn't work as well as handing a handheld video machine over – especially one with games! When traveling, we simply buy the kids some of their favorite content from the Apple iTunes store, and it becomes a plug and play solution. Most new cars with video solutions also come with the proper connections for this cable set. It is worth the money to buy these at this price.

More information is available at www.ezgear.com/iPod/ezGearVideoCable.html.

We've seen recent reports that new MacBooks are likely 33% of US notebook sales. Many of these are moving from PC to Mac. In addition to actually running Windows applications with something like Parallels, VMWare Fusion, or Crossover Mac getting all the existing data swtiched over is important.

The Switch-to-Mac Cable helps transfer more than just files like pictures and documents. Belkin says that the Migration Assistant also can transfer Outlook mail to Apple Mail, Internet Explorer settings into Safari, and pull My Music into iTunes.

Available now in the US, priced at $49.99.

Learn more from Belkin and watch a short demo.