Home Theater

For those of us without six figures of disposable funds, there are still some ways to improve a home theater/media room that don’t involve organ donation or a potential divorce. Here are some simple, won’t-break-the-bank enhancements that you can do on your own.

App is a word that was barely even part of the public lexicon a few years ago, but now has become such an entrenched part of it that even my mom — quite possibly the least technologically inclined person on the planet — drops the phrase, “There’s probably an app for that.”

Wi-Fi, 3G, and LTE networks may have been overwhelmed during CES 2012 itself, but news of wireless and wireless standards for audio (and video) was everywhere, with high-end manufacturers and do-it-all mega-corporations alike looking to free their consumers from their plastic-sheathed copper bonds.

In keeping with the overall haziness of CES 2012, the buzz came in the form of a meme with a few almost-maybe-real devices attached rather than as a single wowza product debut. During last Monday's press extravaganza, pretty much every TV titan talked about integrating content across all of the screens in their customer's expanding gadget arsenals, and while there was certainly plenty of excitement around do-it-all wired connections like MHL, making everything converge seamlessly seems to require a wireless approach.

An audio reviewer hears two lines over and over: “That never happened with any of the other samples” and “We created this [fill in the blank] because the products that are out there now are inadequate.” I heard the second line last week in a ramshackle Van Nuys, California industrial space bordered by a security gate and half-filled with piles of decades-old test gear. Unlikely as the setting seemed, its tenant actually delivered on his claims.