Home Theater Insider

Panasonic SC-HTB550 and SC-HTB20 Sound Bars

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:41:29 +0000

Are you looking for a sound bar solution for your home theater system this year? Panasonic seems to have just the thing for you and presents two new sound bars for 2012.

The 2012 sound bars from Panasonic bring superior sound quality to the table and cover all design options available, featuring both vertical and horizontal placement.

The Panasonic SC-HTB550 sound bar has been designed for large screen displays while the SC-HTB20 sound bar has been designed for smaller displays.

Panasonic’s SC-HTB550 and SC-HTB20 sound bars can be placed on the floor next to your display or you could choose to place them horizontally or vertically on your wall.

The SC-HTB550 is dedicated to displays larger than 42-inches while the the SC-HTB20 has been designed to complement the sound experience for displays between 32 and 37-inches wide.

The Panasonic SC-HTB550 also comes with Bluetooth connectivity so you can wirelessly stream music from your smartphone, tablet or any other Bluetooth-enabled device. There are also a few new technologies coming with the SC-HTB550 including MASH which eliminates noise distortion and jitter as well as Clear-Mode Dialogue system that makes speech a lot clearer for the human ear.

There’s also a wireless subwoofer that you can place anywhere you want and you’ll have to connect the SC-HTB550 through HDMI ARC in order to control the volume through your HDTV’s remote control.

Both the Panasonic SC-HTB550 and the SC-HTB20 sound bars will be arriving in the Spring of 2012. The company hasn’t released any pricing information yet.

Philips 6000 and 7000 WiFi-enabled Smart TVs

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:49:53 +0000

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Philips has announced their new 6000 and 7000 series of Full HD LED TVs coming with WiFi connectivity and Smart TV capabilities.

What’s special about these two is the the dual screen gaming mode allowing users to watch two separate images when playing games on their console, thus leading to an improved gaming experience.

The Philips 6000 was first seen at the IFA 2011 and uses passive polarisation technology for 3D as well as 2D to 3D conversion, a popular feature that enables you to watch your old movie collection in 3D.

The Philips 7000 series features 800Hz Picture Motion Enhancement and use Active Shutter Technology in order to provide 3D.

Philips hasn’t said anything about pricing or availability for these two series, but they’re expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2012.

via T3

Panasonic PT-EX500L 3LCD Projector

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:18:20 +0000

Panasonic has a new projector ready to hit the market very soon.

The Panasonic PT-EX500L is a 3LCD projector aimed to business professionals that are looking for a professional device to display their presentations.

The PT-EX500L features 5000 ANSI lumens, 2000:1 contrast ratio and 1024×768 resolution and Panasonic guarantees up to 4 thousand hours of lamp life in Eco-mode.

Connectivity includes Composite, Component, two D-Sub, DVI-D, S-Video and HDMI.

There’s no word about pricing or availability at this time.

Sharp AQUOS LC-70Q7 70-inch LCD TV

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:35:50 +0000

Sharp has just announced a new addition to its AQUOS line of LCD TVs, coming in the form of a brand new 70-inch display for the Japanese market.

The Sharp AQUOS LC-70Q7 LCD TV comes with a large, 70-inch LED backlit display making it perfect for watching movies in a hom theater environment.

Sharp has equipped this one with a WTuner and USB in case you intend to record TV content on a USB hard drive. There’s also DLNA connectivity with other compatible devices in your home and you can expect this one to cost around 550,000 Yen (~$6,900).

Onkyo TX-NR616 THX-certified 7.2-Channel Network Receiver

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:07:25 +0000

Onkyo brings forward a new THX-certified 7.2-channels network receiver, the TX-NR616.

Onkyo claims that their new TX-NR616 AV receiver is the first in the world to include the InstaPrevue feature allowing you to preview on-screen video thumnails of the media available on the HDMI-connected components to it.

The TX-NR616 features Marvell’s Qdeo processing technology allowing you to upscale your video content to 4K and watch it on a 4K compatible display and output your audio on 7.2 channels.

The Onkyo TX-NR616 comes with a USB port on the front panel where you can connect your iPhone/iPod so you can access you personal media collection.

Onkyo has announced that their TX_NR616 7.2-channel network receiver will become available in March for $699.

via TechFresh

Pioneer BDP-140 Network 3D Blu-ray Player

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:17:56 +0000

Pioneer has a great reputation in the home theater world and this time the company releases a new network-enabled 3D Blu-Ray player that’s bound to excite the fans.

The Pioneer BDP-140 is a 3D Blu Ray Player with network and wireless capabilities. The BDP-140 will play 1080p 3D Blu-Ray discs as well as DVD, SACD, CDs and regular Blu-Ray discs. That’s good news because you’ll still be able to play your old movie collection with the BDP-140 from Pioneer.

There’s strong audio support coming with the BDP-140 3D Blu-Ray player as well. This Pioneer Blu-Ray player is also able to decode high definition audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and Super Audio CD. The BDP-140 uses its HDMI 1.4a on-board to transmit Full HD 3D images to your big screen TV and is also able to handle formats such as DivX HD and DivX Plus HD(MKV/H.264) up to 1080p.

The network capabilities come in very handy and you’ll never be bored again in front of your HDTV. You will be able to access streaming content from streaming services such as Pandora, YouTube or Netflix.

The Pioneer BDP-140 3D Blu-Ray player also supports DLNA 1.5 and can wirelessly stream content from other DLNA-enabled devices in your home and also features a new technology. The Precision Quarts Lock System Bit-Stream Multi-Channel reduces jitter when you playback DVD, CD and Blu-Ray discs if you use a compatible Pioneer PQLS AV receiver.

The Pioneer BDP-140 is now available for $199.99 at Amazon.com.

Autostereoscopic 3D TVs reviewed on 3dtvs.co.uk

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:40:14 +0000

3D TVs have been around for a while now and many have already purchased their own. The trend started with Avatar and since than, the technology has started to improve. Companies are trying to build upon the success of the active 3D technology and bring in a clearer picture and lighter 3D glasses that will please the crowd.

The passive 3D technology is eliminating the use of 3D glasses altogether and paves the way for a new breed of 3D TV: the autostereoscopic display. A blog that keeps you up with the latest 3D TVs on the market is 3Dtvs.org.uk. These guys even encourage their readers to send in their own product reviews and earn money for it. If you’re passionate about 3D technology or you just want to read a few product reviews before you settle for the product of your choice, this blog is definitely worth reading.

Epson VS410 and VS350W Utra-Bright Projectors

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:00:45 +0000

Epson introduces two ultra-bright projectors coming for an affordable price. The Epson VS410 and VS350W have been equipped with E-TORL lamp technology which ensure a lamp life up to 4,000 hours in economy mode.

The Epson VS410 is a XGA projector coming with 4000 lumens of brightness while the VS350W comes with 3500 lumens and widescreen WXGA at 1280 x 800 resolution. There’s a USB Plug ‘n Play function that will enable you to project images from your Mac or PC.

The Epson VS410 and VS350W ultra-bight projectors will become available in September.

Sharp Elite PRO-60X5FD and PRO-70X5FD LED LCD HDTVs announced

admin — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:31:33 +0000

Sharp is getting ready to launch two new large screen HDTVs under the Elite brand. Sharp has partnered with Pioneer to produce the new Elite models – PRO-60X5FD and PRO-70X5FD coming in 60 and 70-inch screen sizes respectively coming with the highest image quality and latest technologies available on the market.

The Elite LED LCD HDTVs comes with RGB+Y technology, like Sharp’s own Quattron, adding a yellow sub-pixel to the standard red/green/blue color palette to produce a much broader range of color and creates higher brightness using less power and more accurately depicts vivid yellows and vibrant golds. RGB+Y technology makes possible Precision Color Plus, four sub-pixels composed of smaller dots, creating more than 8 million dots per screen for a much smoother, more appealing detailed image. The Elite TVs also includes Intelligent Variable Contrast technology that works with all of the other Elite technologies to automatically control brightness and backlight to create depth of color, brilliance, detail and dark areas. You can also expect Full Array LED backlight with Local Dimming, and FluidMotion for 240Hz smooth motion.

The Elite HDTVs are 3D-capable and comes with two sets of active shutter 3-D glasses. They are THX, THX 3D Display and ISF certified. The PRO-60X5FD andPRO-70X5FD both have built-in WiFi connectivity and supports video streaming services such as Netflix, VUDU and CinemaNow. The former is priced at $5999.99 and the latter at $8499,99.

BenQ M25 Full HD Camcorder released

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:50:45 +0000

BenQ has just announced a new camcorder to join their line-up this year. The new M25 model from BenQ is a pocket sized camcorder coming equipped with 8x optical zoom and Electronic Image Stabilization with GYRO sensor. This one is a Full HD camcorder that is capable of capturing HD 1080p images even at night time, featuring a built-in LED torch and flash that helps it work well even in low-lighting conditions.

The BenQ M25 Full HD camcorder also offers an array of useful functions such as slow-motion, time-lapse recording, pause recording as well as video effects that will lend a bit of style to your video clips.

The M25 Full HD camcorder from BenQ will be available in August 2011.