Engadget’s Take
Electronic House Best and newest TVs
Collection of Stories from Home Theater Magazine 

Those are the articles we’ve enjoyed.  Let us know in the comments section if you’ve found anything that really piqued your interest!

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/dacs_the_missing_link_in_todays_music_systems/audio

http://www.hometheater.com/content/help-vet-donate-your-old-dvds-va-hospitals

If the inline link above does not work, try this:

http://www.hometheater.com/content/new-epix-and-amazon-deal-it-time-get-amazon-prime

Well with IPTV and internet connected devices for your entertainment center, it is as easy as pointing your remote and clicking.  There are now so many ways to get internet and digital content to your TV, the choices are multiplying every day and can be confusing.

Should you get an internet connected TV?  AppleTV?  TiVo Premier? Boxee? Roku? Internet Ready Blu-Ray?

Just like with Plasma and LCD TVs, or TV size, or type of computer, there is no easy answer.  It really depends on what you already have in your entertainment arsenal, what content you want on your TV and which new features you want or don’t want.  I am personally partial to TiVo because I think it is the best DVR solution on the market and you can get YouTube, NetFlix, Amazon Video on Demand and many more directly on your TV or and surround sound system.  Most of these same services are available with all of the options above.  Have thousands of songs and hundreds of movies and TV shows in your iTunes that you want to watch on the TV?  AppleTV is for you.

Don’t want another box in your home, but are getting a new TV anyway?  Explore an IPTV, a TV with internet protocols built-in. If you don’t want to buy a new TV, many of the features are also available with an internet enabled Blu-Ray player to replace that old DVD player.   Blu-Ray is high definition DVD, so you can take full advantage of the great picture on your HDTV when watching a movie.  And it only costs a few hundred dollars.

At Home Theater Advisors, we tend to recommend using dedicated devices for their main purposes – ie, AppleTV to stream content (TV, Movies and Music), a Blu-Ray player to watch movies on disk, and a Roku box or IP Blu-Ray player to stream content not available via AppleTV

Whatever your needs, there is a solution out there for you, it just takes time and patience and a bit of knowledge to nail down the right one.

Are you sick of having 6 or more wires snaking up your wall to connect your cable box, DVD player, Xbox, speakers and more to your TV? Wouldn’t it be great to have only two wires – Power and HDMI? And as a nice major bonus, get AMAZING sound from your TV too? AVRs (Audio/Video Receivers) do just that. Everything plugs into your AVR, which acts as the switch to choose what you watch, and it then sends the signal through a single HDMI cable out to your TV. It is like old-school receivers that supported a tape deck, turntable and had a radio tuner built in, but now it can do so much more. No more fumbling with the “input” button on your TV to figure out how to watch a DVD or get the Wii to work. All you do is pick up your remote control and select the button for the device to which you want to watch or listen, and your AVR will switch to the right input and send the signal to your TV and your speakers.

Speaking of speakers, you’ll now get amazing sound from everything you watch. In fact, this is the bigger reason to get an AVR. Imagine hearing every word of dialogue from your favorite TV show or being engrossed by the sound effects from that great Blu-Ray movie you just bought. If you are using your system mainly for TV watching, you can buy some great ‘satellite and subwoofer’ systems that have very small, unobtrusive speakers you can place almost anywhere or you can even explore in-wall speakers so you will barely notice them at all. But that is for another day and another post where I will cover all the different audio and speaker options.
So whether you want a cleaner look on your wall below your TV but don’t want to cut into the walls or want better sound, it really depends on what your needs are and what is important to you and your family, but an AVR is highly recommended.

First a few misconceptions about 3D that I want to clear up:

1. You CAN watch regular 2D TV on a 3D TV.  Just like you can watch black and white on a color set
2. You do not need special glasses to watch 2D (regular) content
3. You will need to use special glasses to watch any 3D content.  It will appear fuzzy without the glasses

Right now 3D is more of a novelty than a must-have technology.   That’s not to say the technology and experience at home isn’t amazing – it IS incredible.  The effects and experience at home are much better than anything ever before possible.  You will see things coming out of your TV and floating in mid-air.

While Hollywood is producing a dozen or so movies a year in 3D, there are precious few sporting events being broadcast in 3D and limited gaming options in 3D.   If you are a die-hard movie watcher and dream of the 3D experience in your home, then it may be worth the few thousand dollars to get the TV, Receiver, Blu-Ray and cables required for 3D viewing.  Ditto with gaming – if you are a hard-core gamer you will be blown away by the 3D experience.   But for your average TV watcher, it isn’t worth an upgrade.

One caveat: if you are replacing a component anyway, we recommend you upgrade to a 3D version to be future-proof.   For Blu-Ray players, for example, the extra cost is less than $200 for 3D and for receivers the price premium is fairly minimal as well.

Almost every client or potential client I speak with asks whether they should get a Plasma or LCD or LED TV. I will start with Plasma and LCD and address LED at the end. I will tell you what I tell them – the choice mainly depends on some aesthetics and personal preference, but your room, your lighting, and the main use for the TV also come into play.

1. Let’s start with you personal preferences and aesthetics Many LCDs today are being made super thin, which looks cool either mounted on a wall or set on a stand on a piece of furniture. This also makes them very light.

Plasmas do not come this thin are therefore not as light or as attention grabbing when not in use.

2. Let’s move on to the room and lighting. Plasmas show deep dark blacks and are great for watching movies and TV in dark rooms. One caveat – they are very reflective, so if light will directly hit the screen or be viewable as a reflection (for example, a lamp behind the couch), then the Plasma may not be right for you.

LCDs are better for brightly lit rooms, although the blacks are not as deep as on a Plasma. Having the TV professionally calibrated, however, will make the blacks as black and the colors as bright as possible.

3. Finally we will look at your planned viewing habits As implied above, plasmas tend to have a brighter picture, deeper blacks and handle fast motion well. This is great if you going to watching a lot of action movies or sports.

However if you are doing a lot of gaming (video games), a rare but possible issue with Plasmas is ‘burn-in’. Burn-in occurs when a single image is left on the screen for a long time, like the background in a game and a ghost of the image is permanently visible on the screen. Manufacturers have developed tricks and techniques to reduce this problem and some pixel repair DVDs are available to help remove burn-in

LCDs, while much improved in terms of ‘refresh rate’ still are not as good at fast motion as are plasmas. But in all honesty, to the normal naked eye you will never see the difference.

Now, on to one other piece of terminology that you may have heard: LED. Many people think LED is another type of TV like Plasma or LED. That is not true. LED is just the type of backlight behind the screen that provides the light to make the screen bright. Flat panel TVs, both plasma and LCD started with CCFL or Cold Compact Fluorescent Lights, essential fluorescent bulbs. They are bigger than LEDs and take a few seconds to warm up. In the past few years manufacturers have begun using LED lights to provide the backlight. On the very thin TVs, they use what is called Edge Lighting, which means the LEDs are around the edge of the TV and use reflector panels to redirect the light at the back of the screen. There are also some Full-Array LED TVs out there now which have LEDs all across the back the of the TV. The advantage to Full-Array LED lighting is that the LEDs can be controlled in zones and turned off and on very quickly to help produce the deep blacks evident on a Plasma.