After teasing us last month at CES, Vizio has finalized the specs on its new ultra-wide 21:9 televisions. Closely approximating the standard CinemaScope 2.39:1 ratio, these new televisions allow you to crop and scale ultra-widescreen films to eliminate the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Launching initially as a 58-incher, the more »

PowerDVD is a staple of HTPC users, and Cyberlink has been working on making it a more versatile front end for all your entertainment instead of just a conduit for disc media. Key Features in PowerDVD 12 Ultra Play Blu-ray, 3D, DVD and any HD media: Whether it’s Blu-ray, upscaled DVDs, videos or photos, PowerDVD more »

I feel like I need to apologize. Perhaps to all the friends who’ve come to me asking for TV-buying advice over the past few years. Perhaps to the consumer electronics industry as a whole. Perhaps just to Samsung, I dunno. But my mantra when asked for flat-panel buying advice has consistently been, “Buy a plasma.” more »

These days, it’s hard justifying spending more than $200 on a Blu-ray player, given that so many at that price point and below do so many things so very well. But Pioneer makes a pretty solid case for spending the extra pennies (19,999 extra pennies, if you’re counting) on its BDP-52FD Elite 3D-Compatible Streaming Blu-ray more »

Custom installers rejoice! Any installer who has ever had their perfect home theater design ruined by a hard-to-reach connection should should send a thank-you note to the folks at Sanus. All those people who got a shiny new flat-panel display from Santa? The same people who then had to pull off some Nadia Comăneci-style gymnastics more »

Unfortunately, overloaded 3G networks and a complete lack of internet connectivity in my hotel room made much reporting from the show itself next to impossible (although hopefully you were following me @hometechtell for the handful of 140-character observations I could sneak out from time to time). But I’m home now, and after thinking over the more »

Many people find out that at least one of the components in their 3D chain isn’t ready for it, so solutions like dual-HDMI outs were born. IOGEAR thinks they have a better solution with their GHDSSW4 4×1 Super Switcher. Not just an input switch, the Super Switcher contains image processing that can fix contrast issues, more »

Samsung has debuted its new lineup of Blu-ray players, featuring some of the most elaborate Smart features of any BD player from a major manufacturer. All new 3D players feature Samsung’s new SmartHub, which includes access to cloud based services, apps, and a full web browser. The BD-ES6000 is a compact Blu-ray player, only slightly more »

Anthem has updated its D2v and AVM 50v A/V Processors and Preamplifiers with 3D capability. Users will now be able to switch between 3D sources on four HDMI inputs and one HDMI output, and can also enable automatic passthrough as a per-source menu option for video output configuration. Owners of previous-generation processors and preamplifiers will also be able more »

Breaking with their longstanding commitment to plasma, all but two of Panasonic’s new televisions for 2012 have moved over to LED backlit LCD panels. Their new IPS LCD panels focus on high performance scanning, fast decay rates (how fast a pixel goes to black or the next color) and wide viewing angles. The different series more »