TV & Home Theatre

  What components would you put in the home theatre system of your dreams? Most of us watch enough TV that having an awesome home entertainment system makes a lot of sense, but few of us go that extra step – including myself. I have thought about what would make my dream home theatre.  

  With so much content available from such a variety of sources, more and more Canadians are looking at cutting their cable bills. One option to consider is taking advantage of TV stations that broadcast free over-the-air (OTA). I was able to test out the Homeworx HD Digital Converter Box combined with the Clearstream 4 Outdoor antenna and a Philips PVR and was surprised how many channels I was able to pick up in my little corner of the world. With this equipment it is a very economical and simple way to get a bunch of free OTA TV channels.

It's Day 8 of our 12 Days of Christmas Gifts Spectacular! On this auspicious day, we're going to look at a great gift for the family: a brand new 4K TV and what it can do for your home and family harmony, well after the leftovers are gone.

Dolby Laboratories has been in the business of improving and perfecting the sound experience since 1965. They started with Dolby Noise Reduction, which got rid of the hiss on audiocassette tapes. In the early 90’s they introduced Dolby Digital, which gave rise to ever-improving surround sound, ultimately evolving to Dolby TrueHD, which further improved the purity of sound reproduction. Their latest sound technology is Dolby Atmos, which has taken the sound experience to yet a new level. Atmos is to sound what 4K is to TV resolution.

Spring is an exciting time if you love colour and beauty. I’m not talking about flowers and trees; Samsung’s annual model changeover happens in May each year, bringing exciting new things to the home theatre space. Two new 4k models are hitting shelves soon and I had a chance to visit Best Buy Headquarters to see them in person. Are they everything we’ve come to hope from Samsung? Read on to find out.

Big TV brands came out for CES 2023 and a lot of new models are hitting shelves this year. Here's a recap of the TV announcements at CES 2023

        I was pretty excited to review this Audio Technica turntable, as it was a good opportunity to digitize some of my older classic vinyl records. This turntable is also a higher quality machine that is full of the features that I was looking for. It has a lot of flexibility since you can digitize LPs, play them through a receiver, a computer or directly through speakers. It also has DJ capabilities to create a lot of special effects, whether you are a DJ or not.

Logitech has been a long time leader in providing excellent universal remote controls. They provide such a wide range of universal remotes that you are sure to find the ideal remote for your entertainment system and budget. At the top end of their line is the Harmony Ultimate, which has amazing capabilities – in fact more than the average person will likely need. Logitech just introduced welcome additions to their lineup with the Harmony Ultimate One and the Harmony Smart Keyboard. They are both priced much more favourably than the Harmony Ultimate but have everything you will likely need. I got a chance to test them both so here is my full report.

Get excited for the experience of watching television at home again. Best Buy and Samsung are hosting a Twitter Party so you can learn why the new Samsung SUHD TVs bring back the exciteement of owning a television. Come and participate and you might also win great prizes! 

When the notice arrived for a rate increase, we were ready to say goodbye to cable. It took a bit of planning and introducing the ClearStream C1C short-range antenna and Tablo two-tuner over-the-air (OTA) DVR into the mix. But the cord’s been cut and we haven’t looked back since.