TV & Audio

TV technology just keeps getting better every year, to the point it is hard to keep track and understand it all. One of the least talked about but greatest technological improvements for LCD screens is “in-plane switching” (IPS). IPS has advanced quite a bit in recent years and is definitely worth paying attention to because it is now behind the best LCD screens. The various screen technologies can be a bit confusing so let me try to explain what you need to know about IPS vs. others.

Roku has just made media streaming to your TV even easier, by introducing their brand new Roku Streaming Stick today!    Roku has been one of the biggest and best names in media streaming devices, and continue to show that they want to stay a leader in that market. The NEW Roku Streaming Stick puts nearly all the capabilities of a regular Roku box into a stick that looks much like a USB flash drive. With this latest announcement they have brought down the price of streaming and made it even simpler as it just plugs into an HDMI input in the back of your TV.

I’m an easy to please gamer tired of all the clutter in my living room and home office.  I’m tired of having to buy a headset for my PC, XBox, Nintendo and Playstation systems because they’re only made and optimized for that specific console.  How hard would it be to have something that was all-encompassing, doesn’t break the bank and doesn’t skimp on sound quality?  Not hard at all according to Plantronics, who believe their RIG Headset is all this and more.  Click below for my review of this dynamic headset.

The latest hot technology is Ultra HD. Also known as 4K it offers the absolute best resolution possible.   Many are predicting 4K Ultra HD is the future of TV viewing.   Are you ready for it?

Western Digital (WD) has been around since 1970 and is one of the world’s largest hard disk drive manufacturers. I have two Western Digital external hard drives for backing up my computer and they have been great! But WD makes other devices including media streaming devices, which they have had a lot of success with. I recently had the opportunity to test out the WD TV Live Media Player, which is their third generation device so they have continually improved it. Since I already have an Apple TV and a Roku device, I was able to compare the WD TV Live to its’ competitors, and it did extremely well.

If you’re a bit of a technophile or are in the market for a new television, you may have heard of something called OLED; but what is it? How does it differ from LED technology? What makes it special? In an effort to demystify OLED, I’ve put together what I call OLED 101 – the bare bones facts about this technology that is very likely here to stay. 

  When it comes to getting a brand spanking new TV for the home, size is always one of top decision-making factors. Naturally, we all want the biggest, best TV money can buy. But you also need to be cognizant of what size will make the most sense for the room. And sometimes, that might mean scaling down your ambitions a bit; or conversely, looking at a TV bigger than what you intended.  

    When was the last time you cleaned your TV screen?  How did you do it? For something that you probably spend so much time looking at, you really should clean it every now and then – every HDTV needs it at some point. The screen is electrostatic so it will attract dust and dirt, plus the occasional beer or other spray won’t help you see a clear picture. Cleaning it seems like a simple thing to do, but you really need to be careful as you could ruin the screen.

I got the amazing opportunity to interview Kristian Nairn and Isaac Hempstead Wright who play Hodor and Bran Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones. We talk about the Red Wedding, their strong bond on the show, their favourite TV show and much more. 

As we await the premiere of season 4, we will simply have to settle with season 3 of the highly rated HBO show, Game of Thrones, which is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD. Settle? Sorry, I mean indulge.