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Onkyo Announces New AVR’s

Mar 9

Posted by James in Home Theater | No Comments

It seems like just yesterday that Onkyo released it’s top value TX-SR607. Are you ready for the 608? The company is bringing THX Select 2 certification at this price point along with full 3D HDMI 1.4 support through all of its 6 inputs. The amplifier section also gets a bump from 90 to 100 watts using what the company calls a 3 stage Darlington output stage technology. It appears Onkyo is continuing to push the features per dollar envelope once again in 2010. Can’t wait to get our ears on this one.

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Turbo Tax + State + Elite for $36.49

Mar 3

Posted by James in Computing, HOT Deals | No Comments

With Tax time rapidly approaching its nice to know a little procrastination just saved you a few bucks.  Amazon has Turbotax Deluxe Federal + State + Elite for only $46.49 minus a $10 rebate making your total just $36.49 with free shipping with Amazon Prime.

See the Deal Here –>

Tivo Premiere and XL Launch

Mar 3

Posted by James in Home Theater | No Comments

It’s not every day Tivo comes out with new hardware which is why yesterdays announcement from the San Jose company of it’s new series 4, dubbed the Premier is such a big deal.  Along with a new interface Tivo is also offering a remote with a built in keypad which makes it handy for searching for shows to record.  There’s 2 models releasing next month.  The Premiere starts at $299 + subscription and features a 320GB hard drive while the XL version has 1TB of storage and adds THX certification for $499.  Tivo is offering a lifetime subscription of $199 for current lifetime members.  It’s important to note these boxes will work for cable and over the air signals and will NOT for satellite customers.

See the boxes here –>

Zune Gets It’s Facebook On

Mar 3

Posted by James in Gadgets | No Comments

For that 1% of the anti-ipod population who chose to go with Zune HD you now have a Facebook app.  Yes its free, and yes there’s no advertising. To download it, check out the Zune marketplace.

Redeye Turns Your Ipad Into a Control Freak

Mar 3

Posted by James in Gadgets, Home Theater | No Comments

I’m usually not a fan of touch screen remotes because they require both retinas along with your fingers to operate, but this little app from Redeye is intriguing.  It requires the use of an IR transmitter that plugs into the headphone jack that sends programmable commands just like a Harmony would.  The app gives you access to a database of stored codes but you could also have it learn unknown codes as well.  Pretty neat.  The best part?  The IR dongle is only $49 MSRP and the software is FREE.

The software also allows the use of macros such as “Watch TV” which will automatically turn on your TV, cable box and select the right input. You can even program the shake gesture to turn off the TV when your wife is watching Dancing with the Stars.  We guessed the iPad would be a huge hit as a home automation device and programs such as these reinforce our predictions.

Nasty IE Vulnerability Exposed for XP Users

Mar 1

Posted by James in Computing | No Comments

Those running Windows XP need to be aware of a new-found critical vulnerability with all versions of IE.  The exploit starts with a pop-up asking the user to hit the F1 key, at which point arbitrary code could run causing all kinds of havoc.  If you get this popup, simply close it. No fix yet from Microsoft but look for one soon.

Read about the exploit here –>

Price Dip: Harmony One for $153 after Rebate

Feb 26

Posted by James in HOT Deals, Home Theater | No Comments

Amazon has the wonderful Harmony One universal remote for $179 – $25 rebate shipped.  Also available in frustration free packaging.

See the Deal Here –>

Panasonic TC-P50S2 (2010 Model) $1078

Feb 26

Posted by James in HOT Deals, Home Theater | No Comments

Looks like 2010 models are popping up already.  We found this 50″ 1080p Plasma for $1078 with $3 shipping from Overstock.com.  Not a bad deal for a brand new set.  Early reports from AVS forum are trickling in and the black levels certainly seem impressive.

See the deal here –>

Walmart Buys Vudu Streaming Service

Feb 22

Posted by James in Uncategorized | No Comments

Looks like the movie streaming market is getting serious.  The NYT is reporting Walmart has acquired Vudu, arguably the highest quality streaming service available today.  This is big news because Walmart has tremendous buying power as they sell more packaged media than just about everyone.  Maybe it takes a company like Walmart to kick some of these studios in the butt and give us quality content at a good price. Whether or not Walmart decides to change the pricing structure of Vudu movies remains to be seen.  Stay tuned!

Read the article here –>

Pioneer BDP-320 Blu-Ray $165 (Updated)

Feb 22

Posted by James in HOT Deals, Home Theater | No Comments

We can’t say enough good things about the last round of Pioneer players.  They won’t win any speed contests but the audio and video they put out is first rate.  The BDP320 is a current model and fully 2.0 compliant so you can definitely get your BD-Live on.   Streaming fans will want to look elsewhere for but those who put quality over features should jump on this terrific price from Onecall.com

UPDATE2: Looks like 6ave decided to join the party.  They’re selling the player for $165 shipped with coupon code couponcabin.

UPDATE: Price has gone up to $199 which is still pretty good.

See the Deal Here –>

AV Foundry Video EQ Pro Review

Feb 20

Posted by James in Home Theater, Reviews | No Comments


Trying to explain this product goes something like this:

Me: Hey check out this cool box that allows me to control grayscale, hue, saturation and brightness for primary and secondary colors independent of the display!

Friend: <blank stare>

Me: Umm.  It’s an EQ box that makes colors as perfect as possible.

Friend: Dude, why didn’t you just say so?

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Is it Live? Or is it Memorex?

Feb 18

Posted by James in Editorials | No Comments

If you’re wondering why the production value for prime-time television shows is so remarkable this video shows you why.  Pretty remarkable stuff!

Redbox to Officially Add Blu-ray By Mid-year

Feb 18

Posted by James in Uncategorized | No Comments

This just dropped from Home Media Magazine.  Redbox has been testing blu-ray rentals in several markets and is now ready for a full scale roll out sometime during summer of this year.  No indications of price just yet but we’d guess it’ll land in the $1.75 per day range.

Read the article here –>

The Oppo Has Landed!

Feb 11

Posted by James in Home Theater, Reviews | No Comments

We just received a review sample of Oppo’s new entry level BDP-80 universal blu-ray player!  Look for a full write-up in a few weeks.

Tivo Has Something Up It’s Sleeve

Feb 11

Posted by James in Home Theater | No Comments

Looks like Tivo fans might have something to cheer about.  I guess those series 3 DVR’s that were suspiciously out of stock everywhere actually WAS a sign of special  things to come.  We’ll know on March 2nd when the company makes the announcement from NYC.