Rumors are still flying about the next great TV technology: organic light-emitting diode.
It's difficult to pry info out of the companies involved, but I figured it was worth putting down what we know, what we think we know, and what we know we don't know, ya know?
OK, go.… Read more
A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about AV receiver feature glut. Today's receiver manufacturers put an inordinate amount of time and money into designing feature-laden receivers, and feature glut might be part of the reason why today's receivers don't sound as good as receivers did in the 1980s. I get it, today's consumers rarely compare one receiver's sound with another receiver, but they can count HDMI connections, so that's where the money goes.
It's not that Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sony, and Yamaha aren't trying to make great-sounding receivers, … Read more
CNET reader Doug asks:
Hello! I was watching a movie on Blu-ray the other day filmed in the 21:9 aspect ratio and I realized that it technically wasn't "1080p" since about 1/4 of the screen was taken up by the horizontal black bars (called "letter boxing," correct?). Anyway, I was just wondering how many pixels were being used on the TV. Thank you!Ah, letterboxing, how I love you.
To understand letterboxing, we have to talk about aspect ratio. HDTVs are 16x9, or 1.78:1. Slightly wider than they are tall, they're pleasantly rectangular. Old-fashioned tube TVs were 4x3, or 1.33:1, so closer to square. … Read more
Leaked from today's 404 episode:
- F-bomb makes it into mainstream dictionary.
- Someone broke into Steve Jobs' home in Palo Alto.
- Hair-raising 4D movie theater chair gives you goosebumps.
- The CNET iPhone 5 rumor roundup.
Bathroom break video: Opting out of Olive Garden's bread bowl.… Read more
Editors' Note: An updated article entitled Why Ultra HD 4K TVs are still stupid was published on January 28, 2013.
A few months ago, hot on the multitude of 4K TV announcements at CES, I wrote an article called "Why 4K TVs are stupid."
I was shocked, shocked to find so many angry, contrary opinions on the subject. I mean, this is the Internet. Surely everyone is cordial and like-minded.
The comment section was the usual bog of ad hominem, straw man, and plain nonsense arguments. But buried deep within the chaff were a few good questions worthy of rebuttal. So if you'll indulge...… Read more
Andrew Jones has a degree in physics, but his real passion is speaker design. He worked as a research engineer for KEF, Infinity and now with Pioneer, and he's chiefly responsible for their ultra high-end TAD Reference line of speakers that sell for upwards of $80,000! So a few years ago when I first heard that Jones was working on a line of superaffordable speakers for Pioneer, I didn't believe it. I said, "You mean that Andrew Jones? No way." Well, it was that Mr. Jones, and the speakers were astonishingly good. The now-discontinued 5.1-channel, … Read more
Leaked from today's 404 episode:
- Sol Republic introduces headphones for cats.
- Digipacking: what to put on your emergency flash drive.
- Literally the worst word on the planet.
- How to use psychological tactics to avoid strangers on the bus.
- eBay testing same-day delivery service for iOS called eBay now.
- One percenter turns home theater into Nolan's Batcave.… Read more
Not all home theaters are created equal, and the following $2 million Dark Knight-themed setup is in a different league altogether.
Designed by Elite Home Theater Seating for a client in California, the custom Batcave theater features six full-size bat suits; a command and control center; and even an authentic Tumbler replica. While information on the actual A/V hardware is very limited, we do know that movies are projected on a massive 180-inch cinemascope screen. … Read more
CNET Reader Mike Smith asks:
Is there some kind of burn-in procedure to run on new plasma TVs? I've read some crazy stuff online that says all sorts of things and I just don't know what is real from what is nonsense. Please let me know. Thanks.You aren't kidding, there is some crazy stuff out there.CNET Reader R. Savoy asks:
I recently purchased a 60-inch plasma and used your recommended picture settings. Question: I have my picture settings set to Screen Fit instead of 16:9 and on some stations when they go from hi-def to 4:3 I get a white flickering line right above the top of the picture. This problem doesn't present itself on the 16:9 settings, please advise, thank you.Good question. Annoying answer, sadly.… Read more
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