Michael Gartenberg might end up right about 3D’s viability, but his reasoning for why is all wrong when viewed in historical context. While 3D could be LaserDisc, it could also be the next phase of HD – take a look at his points: 1) Cost – Yes you will need a new TV, but even now in the first year […]
Read moreI’m not sold on the 100HT-BD’s PC look (that power button looks really bright in the pictures), but for ~$700 it’s really hard to argue with the capability it provides. Ganesh did an amazing job of testing ASRock’s Arrandale based HTPC – even if you’re not in the market for a off the shelf SFF box it’s well worth a […]
Read moreI would have liked to have seen more on picture quality and a look how colorspace is handled between the different vendors, but overall Xbit does a good job of quantitatively measuring (IMO, their HQV HD scores are a bit generous) GPU performance for HTPC use. It is almost impossible to install longer graphics cards – such as ATI […]
Read moreIf you’re in the market for a new 3D HDTV (or top end HDTV that happens to support 3D) take a look at what the HDTVexpert has to say about ghosting issues on displays from Sony, Samsung and Panasonic. Our first stop was the Sony booth, where numerous Bravia 3D LCD sets were showing the Germany – Ghana World […]
Read moreBen is back with another one of the HD 101 series, this time focusing on device control. Most of it will be old hat to MissingRemote readers, but you might learn a thing or two. The problem is the devices just aren’t designed to work together, but that isn’t because the industry hasn’t tried. All the political reasons aside […]
Read moreIf you don’t care about 3D or 24p and still want all the plasma goodness – you owe it to yourself to take a hard look at the G20/G25 family. Panasonic’s G20 series is strictly 2D and offers 50- and 54-inch models. As of this writing, they are exclusive to Best Buy stores. If you shop for either set […]
Read moreNoctua has an excellent reputation for making quiet fans, so if you have a full height HTPC case, this might be the right HSF for you. Noctua’s NH-U9B SE2 cooler is a special edition of the NH-U9B cooler for HTPCs or smaller cases. The NH-U9B SE2 now comes with two of Noctua’s NF-B9 92mm fans and adds support for […]
Read moreIf you have the budget, adding a SSD to your HTPC is a solid way to improve performance and best of all they are completely silent and produce very little heat. It is hard to believe that almost two years has passed since we first rounded-up some of the first solid state drive offerings for the PC. Since that […]
Read moreI have to admit it was strange to find a section in the menus for updating the firmware on my new TV. The surprising thing wasn’t that it was necessary, but that it was so accessible. Some may complain about the need to do it in the first place, but to be honest I’d rather have the hardware now and […]
Read moreThese sorts of marketing claims make good copy, but I think they do more harm then good in the long term when we can see the big thumb on the scale when looking at the details. For example, take a look at what was compared and the driver revisions of the integrated graphics (IGP) solutions compared (driver verisons have been […]
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