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Sonos enters home theater with Playbar
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Music, Wireless / WiFi,
Gear Live's love affair with Sonos is no secret - we love the product dearly, and with today's introduction of the Playbar, it's grown even more. With the Sonos Playbar, the company is effectively entering the home theater space, providing a soundbar that's capable of pumping out massive sound through its nine drivers (size mid-range drivers and three tweeters.) Simply connect it to your television through optical TOSlink, and you are ready to go.
The Playbar isn't just a typical soundbar speaker--it's a Sonos product, and that means it ties right in to the Sonos ecosystem. You can use it to play music streamed from your iTunes library, streaming music subscription services like Rdio and Spotify, Pandora, and many more.
It gets better, too. Sonos says you can pair the Soundbar with the Sonos SUB and/or a couple of Play:3 or Play:5 units for a full-on 5.1 surround sound experience. It'll be expensive, but it leaves us salivating. You can pick up the Sonos Playbar next month for $699, and it's available for pre-order right now.
Read More 
| Sonos
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Logitech Harmony Touch review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Features, Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Product Reviews, Videos,
For a number of years, the Logitech Harmony One has been recognized as the best universal remote control, and now the company is back with the Harmony Touch. What's changed? Well, the Harmony Touch controls are focused mainly on its capacitive touchscreen, which is front and center. A lot of the typical controls that you'd typically have hardware keys for are moved to the touchscreen, which supports taps and swipe gestures. The goal here is to make is super easy for those of you who have a bunch of devices connected to your television or receiver, allowing you to swap between each with ease. The question is, does it do it's job as expected, and is it better than the Harmony One? Follow along in our full Logitech Harmony Touch review as we explore these answers.
Click to continue reading Logitech Harmony Touch review
Logitech Harmony Touch unboxing gallery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Features, Galleries, Home Entertainment, Peripherals,
Alongside our Logitech Harmony Touch review, we also put together a gallery of images showing off the device, which is the follow-up to the fantastic Logitech Harmony One. Check out the review, and head over to the unboxing gallery to get a look at the touchscreen universal remote up close! You can pick up the Harmony Touch on Amazon for a discount.
Gallery:
Samsung reveals HW-F750, world’s first vacuum tube soundbar, at CES
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: CES, CES 2013, Home Entertainment, Wireless / WiFi,
Samsung's latest audio line, revealed at CES, comes with a bold claim: it's are the first in the world to use a soundbar with a built-in vacuum tube amplifier, and Bluetooth to connect to your TV, ditching the wires if you use it alongside a 2013 Samsung television (or other Bluetooth-enabled TV, we'd imagine.) As you can see, it also has a subwoofer, making it a 2.1 solution.
This feat is apparently achieved by a wireless Bluetooth speaker (DA-F60) using the apt-X audio codec and NFC to connect to devices such as your TV. Furthermore, its 7.1 channel surround sound system should also please the home theater crowd, which will work with Samsung's 2013 television line-up. The system also uses a Gallium Nitride amplifier to enhance the sound quality.
Samsung also revealed a "premium" Blu-ray player capable of upscaling DVD content to 4K.
Read More | Samsung
Sonos Playbar set to enter your home theater
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: CES, CES 2013, Home Entertainment, Music, Rumors, Wireless / WiFi,
We've declared our love for Sonos multiple times here on Gear Live, which is why we're excited about the prospect of the company bringing its product line into home theater. An FCC filing reveals that Sonos has indeed submitted documents related to a soundbar with integrated Wi-Fi (like all other Sonos products) that should play nicely with the Sonos SUB that was released earlier this year. Perhaps we'll get a look at this one at CES next week, pretty please?
Monster GreenPower Plus HDP 1250G+ PowerCenter, HDP 950G+ GreenPower Bar
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, CES, CES 2012, Home Entertainment, Misc. Tech,
Aside from a ton of headphones, Monster also announced its HDP 950G+ GreenPower Bar and HDP 1250G+ GreenPower PowerCenter this mornings at CES 2012. These energy-saving accessories allows the user to select outlets that can be automatically shut off when devices are in standby mode, thus reducing wasted energy costs from "vampire" draw. They also keep your components safe with automatic voltage regulation in the event of energy spikes and surges. the HDP 950+ is the entry-level model and will sell for $199, while the HDP 1250G+ offers the maximum benefits for home theater, and will sell for $229.
2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Features, Home Entertainment, PC / Laptop, Family, Techies, Under $100, Under $500,
The Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB is one of the cooler items we're featuing in our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide. It basically turns your computer into a fully-functional live TV DVR. We know that features like Media Center exist on PCs, but the problem is that, until now, it's been hard to get a good signal into your computer. The InfiniTV 4 USB fixes that. It's a CableCARD adapter that plugs into your machine using USB. So all you need to do is insert a CableCARD from your cable provider, plug in your cable cord, and plug in to your computer. From there, you'll have access to all of the cable channels that you subscribe to, and you can record up to four different channels at once. See? We told you this was cool. Great for rooms where you only have a computer and no television, but also great if you want to incorporate a Mac or PC into your home theater setup, as it eliminates the need for a cable box, meaning you save on that montly rental fee. The Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB sells for $299, but you can get one on Amazon for $269, saving yourself 10%.
Logitech Harmony Link turns iOS and Android devices into full-fledged remote controls
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Home Entertainment,
Logitech is releasing a new product that will turn users' iPads into Harmony remotes by Halloween. The Logitech Harmony Link is the company's newest Harmony remote product, but it's not a device you hold and manipulate to control your home theater. It's a wireless device that can connect to your iPad, iPhone, or Android smartphone to let it function as a universal remote.
The Harmony Link is a disc-shaped device you place near your home theater to control all your devices. It functions as an infrared blaster, sending remote commands to your HDTV, Blu-ray player, set-top box, or compatible game console. The device itself can send infrared commands, and it comes with an infrared blaster so you can keep it in a cabinet with your other home theater devices and still send commands to your HDTV. It then connects to your Wi-Fi network, and can be controlled by any iOS device or Android smartphone through the Harmony Link app.
TiVo Premiere Elite: TiVo’s swan song?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Home Entertainment,
I've been a TiVo fan for many years, and a subscriber for about ten of those years. I've had various TiVo machines and have been happy with the performance of my HD TiVo. But like any tech-geek, I'm always interested in what's new.
The TiVo Premiere, released last year, intrigued me because of its HD interface, improved UI, larger storage capacity, and 1080p support. The specs sounded great and I was ready to upgrade my system, but as it approached time to pull the trigger, I began hearing stories of sluggish UI performance. Threads posted on TiVoCommunity.com indicate that the second core of the dual-core processor is disabled for stability reasons, thus crippling its Flash-based interface.
This week, TiVo announced the Premiere Elite ($499), which features four tuners and 2 terabytes of storage. Will it have a better processor that will take advantage of the HD UI or will it be more of the same? Unfortunately, I have a hunch that it will be more of the same.
Click to continue reading TiVo Premiere Elite: TiVo’s swan song?
Deal of the Day: Save 55% on Yamaha 5 speaker theater package
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Hot Deals,
eBay is featuring a 55% discount on the Yamaha 5 speaker home theater system. The NS-AP540E speaker system typically sells for $199, but for the next few hours, you can get it on eBay for just $89.99. Not a bad deal for an entry-level speaker system that's been positively reviewed. They've got limited stock, so the may run out before the three hours is up, so if you're interested, head on over:
Save 55% on Yamaha 5 speaker home theater system
Don’t forget, if you’re looking for other deals, be sure to check out our Newegg Promo Code thread.
Read More | Yamaha AP540E speaker system
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