Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

Even for those of us with dedicated home theater rooms, we probably make some small sacrifices to livability and décor over performance sometimes. Our walls might be a dark shade, but not a really dark, totally neutral Munsell grey, or our carpet is the somewhat lighter color that was already...

Recently I reviewed Epson's new Home Cinema 3020e projector and found it to be a tremendous value in the under $2000 class. It offers killer 3D, wireless HDMI, and superb image for less than the price of a 60-inch TV. It was only natural that I should also check out its big brother, the Home Cinema 5020UBE.

Streamers have been around for quite a few years. It took them quite a while to reach maturity. When this field was at its infancy, HD was just starting to get popular and Streamers offered a way to play back a DIVX or TS file without requiring a Home Theater PC in your living room. The beginning was very slow...

Whenever I attend the CEDIA Expo, I visit all the projector manufacturers, both large and small. While Mitsubishi is a large company, their projectors are not as well-known as other brands. At the 2012 Expo, I had a chance to check out their all-new DLP models. In this review, we test the Mitsubishi HC8000D-BL single-chip DLP 3D projector.

One of the Awards given out in 2012 by Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity for "Technology on the Rise" was for Cube Calibration. For most people this probably doesn't mean much yet, but for those of us that are calibrators, or enthusiasts with an interest in calibration technology, this was a huge development. One might even say that Cube Calibration is the biggest improvement to consumer display technology since the introduction of the Color Management System (CMS).

I'll be blunt: I don't like 3D. I've never been able to justify paying extra to see it in the theater, and at home it has always left me cold. Most implementations give me a headache almost instantly with their crosstalk-filled images and ghosting the drives me crazy... Fast forward to CES 2013 and BenQ is in the South Hall showing off a pair of projectors that are very similar to the W7000, but scaled down: the W1070 and W1080ST.

When I finally took the plunge into a projection setup in my home theater, the hardest decision I had to make was what aspect ratio to get for my screen. Everything that came after that, from the screen material to the projector, was dependent on that decision.

The number of Universal Blu-ray players on the market continues to be strong, despite the much-discussed "death" of SACD and DVD-Audio formats. While no longer mainstream enough to be found at your local Best Buy or other big box retailer, SACD especially remains a thriving format in the audiophile market. The A-1020 is a Universal Blu-ray player that handles virtually all disc formats you can throw at it. In addition to its Blu-ray and audio playback abilities, is has the ubiquitous Netflix support and integrated Wi-Fi for streaming the content. It sounds like a good package from the specs, but with the universal player market being so competitive it really has a lot of good competitors to deal with.

Each year at the CEDIA Expo, I look forward to seeing the latest projectors from all the major manufacturers. While some do not update their products annually, Epson always has something new to offer. This past September, I got an in-depth...

Every year Pioneer updates their Blu-ray players, and every year I wind up happy yet disappointed with them. Each year performance and features seem to improve only to have a flaw, like edge enhancement or poor colorspace support, derail the Pioneer from being really top notch. This year Pioneer is offering the BDP-62FD, a $400 universal Blu-ray player that carries the Elite badge and features dual HDMI outputs among other features.

If you have been to any recent home and garden shows, you may have noticed the increase in outdoor entertainment areas. These usually consist of a covered patio, comfortable seating, fireplace/firepit, and anywhere from just a grill to a full outdoor kitchen area with pizza oven. Sounds like a home outside of your home. But where's the TV? SunBrite has the answer.

For years now, Oppo has dominated the high-end of DVD and Blu-ray players. Virtually every other reviewer and enthusiast I know has at least one in their system, if not more. I've personally been using their players going back to the DVD days, and have had every single one of their Blu-ray players, including their new BDP-103, reviewed here.

At a CEDIA that was big on 4K and sound bars, the introduction of the VPL-HW50ES went under the radar a bit. Slotting into their lineup above the HW30 and below the HW95, the HW50 comes with a few features from each of those, but also has its own unique features to set...

Not long ago plasma and LCD were in a fierce competition for the flat panel market, but LCD has dominated sales the past few years. While the general public has moved to LCD for brighter images and more size choices...

Ever since I built my first AV system, I have wanted a slick touch-screen remote to control it all. Let's face it; once you have more than just a TV in your media room, you need a way to integrate that pile of remotes into an...

OPPO continues its tradition of being leader of the pack with the introduction of the BDP-105 Universal Player. It has every type of input that one could want, making it truly a player that can handle all types of media and sources. The video quality is superb (video results coming in Chris Heinonen's review of the 103 which has the same video circuit as the 105), and the audio quality (tested in this review) is what we have come to expect from OPPO: audiophile-grade.

There are a few different programs out there to assist in calibrating a display, but CalMAN from SpectraCal is currently the most prevalent. CalMAN is used for ISF Level I and II training, and is available in a variety of different configurations ranging from the DIY user to the full time calibration professional.

Darbee came into our lives after a dry period in the world of video processors. New video processors are coming out all the time, but the excitement behind them is pretty much the focus of videophiles and pro calibrators.

Just two years ago, 3D was the all the rage at the CEDIA Expo. Now 3D is in almost every display you buy and is not the hot, new thing. It has been supplanted by 4K, promising to offer so many pixels that we will never see them again, and out-HD our current High Definition. JVC took a half step onto the 4K platform with their e-Shift projectors, which use a slight pixel shift to potentially produce an effective resolution of 4K, though with only 1920 x 1080 panels and no 4K input capability. The JVC X70 is one such projector, and is reviewed here.

The Sony BDP-S790 Blu-ray player does a good job of performing at a high quality level, but at an affordable price. Dual HDMI outputs, Original Resolution mode, and multiple video settings are available to work well in any system.