Let's say you've had your HDTV for a few years now. Let's say you can't stop reading new TV reviews. Let's say you find excuses to stop at Best Buy to stare at the wall.

OK, you want a new TV. No problem. But do you need a new TV? Are the current models really that much better than what you have?

Let's take a look.… Read more

Audiophiliac readers have strong opinions about the gear I write about every day; now it's your turn to spread the word about your favorite audio products. Nominate your picks for best speakers, in as many categories as you want: iPod speakers, sound bars, desktop, bookshelf, tower, high-end, subwoofers, home theater, etc.

I'm also seeking nominations for headphones of all types: universal-fit in-ears, custom-molded in-ears, DJ, Bluetooth, full-size on- and over-the-ear headphones, studio headphones, noise-canceling headphones. How about receivers? Stereo and home theater receivers, or integrated amplifiers, as well as turntables, CD players, iPods, and other types of music … Read more

Bluetooth speakers are finally becoming more abundant, allowing you to wirelessly stream music from your phone or tablet. No docking stations, no auxilary cables. Ahh, freedom.

Ready-to-go Bluetooth speakers are convenient, but what if you already own speakers that you know and love? With Logitech's adapter, you can add Bluetooth streaming to just about any speaker for just $40.

A plug-and-play solution, the Logitech Wireless Speaker Adapter acts as a bridge between your existing speakers and your Bluetooth-capable phone, tablet, or computer. Here's how it works:

As with any wireless streaming solution, there will be audio compression. Meaning, … Read more

I went to the New York International Auto Show with just one thing on my mind: car audio. Like many New Yorkers, I don't own a car, so this was my chance to sample a wide range of premium car audio systems in everything from Smart cars to Rolls-Royces. For the most part, generic car audio or famous name-brand systems like Bose and Mark Levinson sounded thick and muddy. Not one was up to the standards of a decent home hi-fi system. They played loud and had lots of bass, but even the most expensive car systems at the … Read more

If your home media center feels fragmented and frustrating, there's good news: with a weekend or two of spring cleaning, you can make it all much easier to keep track of and enjoy. I've tried to keep this hardware-independent, though some tips assume you have networked storage or a particular operating system. Here are a few tricks and tips to get you started:

Music This is usually the toughest library for most people to manage. Depending on the tools you use, it can be hard to effectively manage more than 10,000 individual music files, and while some … Read more

It's been rumored that sooner or later Apple may come out with a television with unique capabilities, but until then there's the Apple TV device for viewing movies, music, and photos on a TV.

The Apple TV syncs with iTunes and other Apple programs, so while it can stream media from computers on a network or from the iTunes Store, it can also store a fair amount of photos and other files that you can access without other systems being powered on.

While in most cases what's stored on the Apple TV mirrors what's on your … Read more

It wasn't that long ago that Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and Onkyo were locked in a fierce competition in the home theater in a box (HTIB) market. Every year I'd report about the latest advances in their systems in my CNET reviews. These days, fewer people want to deal with all of the wires and setup requirements of a five-speaker, subwoofer, receiver, and Blu-ray player based system. Skinny sound bars that sit under a TV are now more popular than HTIB systems. Most sound bars are 2.0- or 2.1-channel stereo systems, though some promise a "virtual&… Read more

Admit it: you'd love to watch movies at home that never get too loud or too quiet. You'd never have to lunge for the remote when the villain's plane crashes, to turn the sound down. We want movies that always have the same volume, like music, where the volume never changes. We like it that way, right? Why should movies be any more dynamic than music?

Now, sure, most receivers and sound bars have some sort of "Night Mode" scheme to compress movies' soft-to-loud volume shifts. Some receivers include more sophisticated volume-leveling processors such as … Read more

I love HBO Go. Love it. Having instant, on-demand access to shows like "Deadwood," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Game of Thrones," and "Extras" is all kinds of awesome.

Too bad I can't enjoy it on the ol' flat-screen. There's no HBO Go channel on my Apple TV, and the iOS apps don't allow video out. Meanwhile, Comcast doesn't support HBO Go on Roku boxes (even though most other cable providers do), so that's a no-go as well. (Comcast doesn't allow it on the Xbox, either, as Scott Stein reported earlier today.)

Thankfully, there's a workaround. Here's what you need:… Read more