Last years GT25 was a decent set, but the general consensus was that it straddled unnatural space between the G25 and VT25 with a price that wasn’t quite right given the feature set. With a year to correct that, maybe 2011 is the GT30’s time to shine. Panasonic has consistently been among our favorite televisions over the last few years, […]
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Spring is here, so as usual it is time for CyberLink to release an updated version of PowerDVD (PDVD) making this number 11. With PDVD 10 already a solid product we were not expecting a revolutionary shift in the Blu-ray (BD) playback software, so the rather evolutionary changes brought to the updated application including better 3D support, a richer media […]
Read moreSamsung has done an excellent job of making some of the best looking HD displays on the market, and with almost no bezel and 1.2″ depth the UN55D8000 may be the sleekest HDTV available this year. As an edge-lit LED LCD there are trade-offs in price and performance for the form factor, but you’ll have to check out the review […]
Read moreIn itself, there isn’t much newsworthy in a product announcement of an updated line of AVRs, but the expansion of the CI (custom integrator) features downward towards consumer pricing is – and hopefully the beginning of a trend. One of the main reasons I’ve been eying the current generation AVR-3311CI vs. the non-CI models are its RS232 and Ethernet (including […]
Read moreFor those looking for more guidance than “get the biggest plasma you can fit in the door” the HD Guru hits the feature list and helps break them down into easy buckets. Most of it won’t come as a surprise if you keep current, but it is a great read for those just getting started. There’s a lot to consider […]
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As anyone who has used a set top box (STB) with infrared (IR) blasters can attest; while they work most of the time even a minuscule failure rate is not acceptable with spouse acceptance factor (SAF) on the line. So when something besides IR is available to execute channel changes is available, the additional reliability is a welcome addition. So […]
Read moreThe cost and installation considerations have made direct view displays a much more appealing alternative in my home theater right now, but at some point (maybe when the kids get old enough that I can “multi-purpose” the family room) I’d love to have a nice projector. If you’re at that stage, and like me, need a good refresher on the […]
Read moreSo far details around the specific performance improvements found in Panasonic’s 2011 Plasmas have been scarce. We’ll still have to wait for reviews to get the whole story, the HDGURU has been able to round up some details for those itching to upgrade. I think the most disappointing thing that came out of CES around the 2011 lineup was that […]
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While the SageTV V7 interface is better than V6, it still lacks some “WOW” and that’s where the Diamond theme fills in nicely. I’ve been using the beta for a couple weeks and beside the obvious UI enhancements there are some really slick features (like custom movie walls – a feature I’ve wanted for forever). Finally the date has come […]
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Having previously examined both the 95 and 35 watt extremes in the Sandy Bridge CPU lineup, we now turn our focus to the 65 watt 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400S and Media Series DH67GD micro-ATX motherboard with built in IEEE 1394a (FireWire) support. With the basic capability questions already answered, let’s find out if by providing four physical cores with lower […]
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