theaters

New TV? Old TV? New gear? Old gear? Are you sure all your settings are correct? Even if you're not planning on watching the big game, it's worth taking a moment to ensure you're getting the most out of your TV and assorted A/V gear.

Think of it like getting the oil changed on your car, or a visit to the dentist, except there's less chance of screaming and/or a tragic dental floss mishap.… Read more

Let's say you want to throw the ultimate football-watching party for the last game of the year. (Alas, using the name of said game is fraught with copyright challenges, so we're playing it safe.) Will a single big-screen TV suffice? Maybe. But what if you want to go really hard core, and have a few dozen people over. Can they all see the screen? Would the party be even better with multiple TVs in different rooms?

I'd say yes, and it's easier than you might think.… Read more

You've just sat down to watch "Les Miserables" and Russell Crowe's opened his mouth to bark, when the air is filled with the sound of... marimba? As you scramble to switch your phone to silent, you can look forward to Microsoft's vision of a future in which phones silence themselves when they realize they're in a movie theater.

Microsoft has filed a patent, spotted by InfoWorld, that allows your phone to put itself into "an inconspicuous mode of operation" in certain circumstances. Inconspicuous mode makes it sound like KITT going invisible when … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Usually at CES time, you can expect Panasonic to roll out slightly updated versions of its Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) solutions, featuring six-to-eight plasticky speakers and a whole lot of proprietary speaker wire. But CES 2013 is different.

Panasonic is ditching its standard assortment of HTIBs, opting instead for three new sound bar and convertible sound bar models. The SC-HTB770 and SC-HTB370 both feature a similar design; you can use them in the traditional horizontal alignment or you can break apart the sound bar and use the pieces as separate speakers. The SC-HTB770 converts into a 3.1 system, with … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Usually at CES time, you can expect Panasonic to roll out slightly updated versions of its Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) solutions, featuring six to eight plasticky speakers and a whole lot of proprietary speaker wire. But CES 2013 is different.

Panasonic is ditching its standard assortment of HTIBs, opting instead for three new sound bar and convertible sound bar models. The SC-HTB770 and SC-HTB370 both feature a similar design; you can use them in the traditional horizontal alignment or you can break apart the sound bar and use the pieces as separate speakers. The SC-HTB770 converts into a 3.1 … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Sharp brought a "go big or go home" attitude to the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show as it unveiled a bevy of new LED TV in the 60-, 70- and 80-inch screen classes.

Sitting below the 90-inch AQUOS display (touted by the manufacturer as "the world's largest LED TV") that Sharp debuted last year, all of the new Sharp TVs rolling out this week are promised to be "smarter" too.

All three screen classes feature some common traits, including (but not limited to) AQUOS 1080p LED displays, dual-core processors, built-in Wi-Fi, ultra-slim frames, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The mantra for Sharp's new AQUOS LED TV line unveiled at CES 2013 on Monday morning might be as simple as this: bigger and better.

The bigger quality will be obvious from the get-go with 21 new displays in the 60-, 70-, 80-, and 90-inch LED TVs in the AQUOS portfolio.

But the better comes in the form of upgraded display quality as well as more digital content and connectivity.

With the 80-inch class displays in particular, Sharp has added a new layer dubbed "Super Bright," which is the combination of an intelligent contrast engine with … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Sharp kicked off its media event at the 2013 International CES on Monday by revealing the future of the electronics giant's display portfolio.

Specifically, that strategy is being spearheaded by IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) technology as Sharp unveiled a 32-inch 4K resolution IGZO LCD monitor.

IGZO is based on a compound semi-conductor that produces approximately twice the resolution of current LCDs.

Sharp described that IGZO produces a more natural picture with greater presence while delivering more visual information than ever before.

Kozo Takahashi, executive vice president of Sharp Corporation, remarked during Monday's press conference that IGZO … Read more

The pragmatic and the weak tend to believe that if you can't beat them, you should join them. However, a significant number of the world's humans would just as soon carry on beating them.

Please choose sides, then, on a subject that may divide the artistic community from here to eternity.

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is the latest to offer something that might stick in a throat or two: tweet seats.

Yes, this is a specially cordoned-off pen in which digital obsessives whip out their iPhones and tweet: "Oh, look. The fat lady's dead!" … Read more