TV & Home Theatre

          As a person who regularly reviews products, you won’t be surprised to hear that I am a big fan of reviews. And I don’t mean my reviews, but from consumers that have bought the product, used it for a while and discovered the nuances about it, both good and bad. I would never buy a product unless I read quite a number of reviews about it as nothing can replace that user experience and associated perspective. So what I thought I would do is provide you a summary of what I found to the be top 5 best rated TVs, purely based on customer ratings and share some of their reviews.

  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.

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.

                                    Apple and Roku make the top media streaming devices in the market today. So if you want to convert your TV to a Smart TV, an Apple TV or Roku 3 are both excellent choices. Sure, there are quite a number of other choices, but Apple and Roku have a more established streaming platform since they have been at it much longer than most. You won’t go wrong with either one.   Although they both function largely the same, there are a number of differences between the Roku box and Apple TV. So how do you choose which one is best for you? I happen to have both units and can give you a side-by-side comparison to help you decide.

    Since announcing WebOS earlier this year at CES 2014 in January, LG just congratulated themselves on selling over 1 million WebOS enabled Smart TVs. But what is all the fuss about and why are they selling so many WebOS TVs? The answer is “simple,” no pun intended. The WebOS operating system for their Smart TVs is all about improving the user experience and making it easier to use. It is very easy and even entertaining to set up, and simpler to quickly access exactly what content you are looking for. It even allows you to flip back and forth between apps or different devices while returning exactly where you left off. Here’s how it works.

  You’ve likely heard about Sony’s X-Reality Pro Engine, and the latest version for 4K TVs. But what exactly does it do, and how does it work?

Today, a wireless keyboard is far more than just a computing peripheral. It can be used on-the-go with a tablet, for game-play and entertainment with a gaming console, and even as an integral part of the living room with a smart TV.

  Best Buy has all sorts of Kitchen appliances, from major appliances to small toasters, blenders, and coffee makers. But a couple of “appliances” I would also suggest for your kitchen is a TV and sound system. The kitchen is probably the one room that you spend the most waking hours in. It is the room that everyone congregates in at social gatherings, so why not have some entertainment in it? The cook doesn’t want to miss the action in the big hockey or football game, nor should they since having to cook is already punishment enough. Here are some suggestions on solving the entertainment system for the kitchen, since it is probably a trickier room to equip.

Sometimes your HDTV needs a little help. Sony’s new generations of Blu-ray players deliver a crisp picture and great sound to your HDTV. I tested both the Sony Wi-Fi Blu-ray Player BDP-S3200 and the Sony Wi-Fi 3D 4K Blu-ray Player BDPS-6200 to see how they performed.  Both offer a solid combination of a responsive Blu-ray player and a streaming device.

  Sony has taken an entirely new approach to their TV design for 2014, and they are bucking the trend. Their competitors have made their sets slimmer and slimmer, and some even added a curved profile instead of flat. Instead, Sony launched their innovative wedge design earlier this year at CES. I like the fact that Sony hasn’t simply followed the trend because the wedge design is not just aesthetically appealing, it also has a number of other functions that actually improve the TV.