Home Theater

Sean Portnoy
  • Google to take on Sonos with wireless home entertainment system

    By Sean Portnoy | February 10, 2012, 4:37am PST

    Google is working on a wireless home entertainment system, according to the Wall Street Journal. Will it succeed where Google TV has not yet?

  • Latest Apple iTV rumors: Siri and motion controls built in, Best Buy polls consumers on price

    By Sean Portnoy | February 8, 2012, 4:31am PST

    The latest rumors about Apple’s purported television set suggest you can control it via voice or gesture controls. Also, Best Buy surveys its customers about their interest in an Apple TV.

  • Vizio's CinemaWide 58-inch 3D HDTV priced at $3,499, but who's buying?

    By Sean Portnoy | February 3, 2012, 4:31am PST

    Vizio is taking a chance that there’s a set of TV buyers who is looking to recreate the ultra-widescreen experience of the movie theater in its living rooms. The company introduced its new CinemaWide set, which uses a 21:9 aspect ratio instead of the 16:9 aspect ratio of conventional HDTVs, at CES last month, and [...]

  • Apple patents new touchscreen remote control for a future Apple TV

    By Sean Portnoy | February 1, 2012, 4:12am PST

    In addition to controlling home theater devices like DVD players and home automation systems, the remote concept could also work with your computer to run iTunes or execute other functions.

  • Boxee Live TV now available -- $49 dongle adds over-the-air TV to streaming device

    By Sean Portnoy | January 25, 2012, 4:35am PST

    Last November, Boxee announced a USB dongle that would provide over-the-air TV channels in addition to the Boxee Box’s streaming capabilities. Yesterday, the company made Boxee Live TV available for consumers for $49.
    The dongle attaches to an HDTV antenna or cable connection on one end, and then connects to the Boxee Box’s USB port on [...]

  • CES 2012: Can Sony Crystal LED Display HDTVs beat OLED sets?

    By Sean Portnoy | January 16, 2012, 5:51am PST

    Sony has given up on consumer OLED HDTV production, leaving it to the LGs and Samsungs of the world, but that doesn’t mean it has lost sight of it as a potentially disruptive display technology. So in response, the electronics giant has unveiled at CES a competing concept that it’s calling Crystal LED Display.
    Instead of [...]

  • Microsoft scuttles plans for TV subscription service over high fees

    By Sean Portnoy | January 11, 2012, 5:47pm PST

    There’s been talk that Microsoft was working on a TV subscription service that would let consumers bypass pay TV providers and watch live programming on their Xbox 360 or other device. According to Reuters, that chatter was accurate, but any hopes viewers would have about a Microsoft TV have been dashed, as the tech Goliath [...]

  • CES 2012: Samsung's 55-inch Super OLED HDTV will debut in second half of 2012

    By Sean Portnoy | January 10, 2012, 4:26am PST

    In the wake of LG’s announcement that it was releasing a 55-inch OLED set this year, Samsung has matched it with an OLED set of its own. The 55-inch Super OLED HDTV (being shown off above at Samsung’s press conference yesterday) is expected to debut in the second half of the year, though as with [...]

  • Comcast Xfinity closer to releasing Skype webcam for its cable set-top boxes

    By Sean Portnoy | January 8, 2012, 8:35am PST

    Thanks to those good ol’ FCC filings, we now know that Comcast’s Skype add-on camera for Xfinity set-top boxes is getting closer to reaching customers. Engadget was able to obtain more information about the unit, including the photo you see above.
    “Astro,” as the cam is being called, also comes with an adapter with HDMI in [...]

  • LG joins Google TV family, while Samsung, Sony, Vizio promise new Google TV devices for 2012

    By Sean Portnoy | January 6, 2012, 4:30am PST

    Google TV is under heavy pressure to show some successes as Apple supposedly readies a TV set and Microsoft continues to steal the connected living room thunder with its Xbox 360 console. In advance of CES, the company has announced a new partner, as well as further commitments from a few previously announced partners.

    According to [...]