TV & Home Theatre

    I recently posted on what to look for when buying a new TV, which made me think it might be helpful to explain some of the TV terminology that you will encounter in your search. There are a lot of TV technology terms out there, but I will discuss those that I think are more important when evaluating TV’s.

    Roku recently announced the launch of their new streaming stick, which looks similar to the Google Chromecast dongle so I researched both and wrote a  comparison of the two, to figure out which one is better.  In my opinion they are both good, but felt the Roku Streaming Stick is a better value device. I now have my hands on one of the first Roku Streaming Sticks and can provide you a proper review to let you know if it lives up to those expectations.

  Sonos has been a leader in wireless modular home speaker systems that can deliver music throughout your home.  They have been the leader in this market because it is their singular focus. They have excellent products like the Sonos Play 1 and the Sonos PlayBar, which we reviewed earlier. But there are other excellent wireless systems, like Bose Soundtouch, that have entered this market. Sonos has recognized they need to continue innovating if they want to maintain its lead position, so they overhauled their app that controls their home wireless systems, making some major improvements that you can’t get anywhere else. 

    Roku recently announced their streaming stick, now available at Best Buy.  Google Chromecast has been in the US market for quite a few months.  But how do they compare? They look similar but which is the better device? Although I haven’t been able to test either one of them in my living room, I understand each of them well enough to give you a pretty good idea on how they differ.

        You’ve probably already heard, either directly from a friend, or through “someone who knows someone,” that there is life beyond the confines of cable. You know, the person who decided to cut cable out of their lives and completely turn to distributed content online. Is it possible to make this kind of decision while still viewing quality content and keep up to date with your weekly programming? The answer is yes, and here’s how.

  4K TVs are the best you can get when it comes to picture quality these days, offering four times the resolution of high-definition at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels versus 1,920 x 1,080. But with all of the hype surrounding them, one question that’s not as often discussed is how lower resolution content will look on these 4K/Ultra HD/UHD TVs. And it’s an important thing to consider since that’s what most of us are still watching.

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.

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.