Home Theater Blog | Home Theater News & Reviews

Boxee Review

B.Greenway — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:19:47 +0000

Right off the bat Boxee has a different feel to it. The menu system is smooth and once you shed off the trappings of conventional media centers and adjust to Boxee's way of doing things, it starts to feel intuitive. Boxee's a lot to take in early on which is a bit surprising given how spartan the interface appears. Notice I said appears because once you dive in a little deeper you'll quickly see there are a ton of settings and features to tweak should you wish.

Boxee Review

Blu-ray Statistics, the Other Side of the Coin

B.Greenway — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:01:59 +0000

If you haven’t had a chance to read the latest Harris Poll on HDTV and Blu-ray uptake among U.S. consumers, it might be quite the eye opener (Head’s up, PDF link). But before we get into some of those numbers, keep in mind that just like the data used by public relation firms, poll’s can be misleading as well.

Blu-ray Statistics, the Other Side of the Coin

Blu-ray Review: Indecent Proposal

B.Greenway — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:25:33 +0000

Plot: Strip away all the really, really good looking people (copyright Zoolander) and at its core, Indecent Proposal is a story of love, trust and ultimately regret. Take one young, attractive couple, mix in some financial problems, add a dash of aging billionaire playboy looking for love and you get the gist of the film; an indecent proposal indeed.

Blu-ray Review: Indecent Proposal

Last One Out Turn Off the Lights

B.Greenway — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:12:23 +0000

This Friday marks the end of analog television (knock on wood) yet according to CNET news some 2.8 million people aren’t ready.

Last One Out Turn Off the Lights

Blu-ray Review: Pinocchio

B.Greenway — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:54:49 +0000

"A lie keeps growing and growing, until it’s as plain as the nose on your face,” Evelyn Venable as the Blue Fairy. It was my intention to buy all the Disney classics on Blu-ray based solely on how good a job they did with 'Sleeping Beauty'. Although I have to admit to being a little skeptical that another animated film could be as impressive as 'Beauty', but of course I'm more than willing to give it a go.

Blu-ray Review: Pinocchio

Knocked out by Natal

B.Greenway — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:08:06 +0000

So again, what does Natal have to do with home theater? A better question might be, what doesn’t it have to do with home theater? Look past the gaming applications and think about the core technologies, voice recognition, this ones simple, “start movie”, “dim lights”, “next video”, so on and so on.

Knocked out by Natal

Blu-ray Review: Doubt

B.Greenway — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:30:58 +0000

Set in the sixties, Doubt takes place in a catholic parish in the Bronx, New York. The lead role is played Philip Seymore Hoffman who is compelling as always. From the first time "Donald" and "Father Flynn" met on-screen I felt myself cringing in fear of what might be depicted, a strong indicator of how well the groundwork had been laid for the events to come.

Blu-ray Review: Doubt

Movie Posters with a Twist

B.Greenway — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:06:29 +0000

The movie posters are manufactured by Todd McFarlane’s SPAWN toys, but before you start eyeing those old flat, two dimensional movie posters on your wall I should warn you; these “posters” aren’t posters as much as table-top decorations.

Movie Posters with a Twist

Dude, Where’s My Netflix Tab Inside Vista Media Center?

B.Greenway — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:39:04 +0000

Like many of you who heard about Netflix support coming to Vista Media Center I too was anxious to give it a whirl, the only problem is unlike most of the accounts I was reading, my tab wasn’t “just there when I opened media center.

Dude, Where’s My Netflix Tab Inside Vista Media Center?

Blu-ray Review: Dragons Lair II

B.Greenway — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:46:56 +0000

The game opens with Daphne kidnapped by Mordrok once again and Dirk right behind them. Dragon's Lair II Time Warp moves beyond the straight dungeons and dragons theme of the first installment and into themes as varied as Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, the Garden of Eden, a performance by Ludwig van Beethoven and a tomb in ancient Egypt.

Blu-ray Review: Dragons Lair II

Preview: Windows 7 Media Center

B.Greenway — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:20:01 +0000

If you resisted the temptation to “upgrade” your windows based HTPC to Vista this long hopefully what follows will reinforce that decision, Windows 7 could be as little as 5-6 months away and given the fact that Microsoft didn’t release a QAM/ATSC tuner update to the public (its only technically available with new OEM builds) the wait may very well be worth it.

Preview: Windows 7 Media Center

New Surround Features from Dolby and THX

B.Greenway — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:42:49 +0000

If you’re in the market for a new surround receiver you’ll no doubt find a bevy of new bells and whistles awaiting you, especially if its been a few years since your last upgrade.

New Surround Features from Dolby and THX

Physical Media is (Nearly) Dead, Long Live Physical Media

B.Greenway — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:23:19 +0000

Back during the HD DVD/Blu-ray catfight, a common call among HD DVD supporters was that Blu-ray may win the battle but ultimately digital downloads would win the war. This was often countered with “I’ll never move to digital downloads, I want a physical copy of my purchase”. As with many arguments the truth is often [...]

Physical Media is (Nearly) Dead, Long Live Physical Media

Myka: IPTV Done Right?

B.Greenway — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:23:10 +0000

The Myka is a download/streaming media player and self described "magic box" for watching hi-def movies on your television

Myka: IPTV Done Right?

Mini-Review: CoolerMaster Silent Pro M500 ATX Power Supply

B.Greenway — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:43:43 +0000

As time marches on I find myself using my HTPC more and more and my other source equipment less and less. With that, I’ve wanted to address one of my systems biggest hardware shortcomings, the noise. Unlike off the shelf consumer electronics devices, HTPC’s aren’t necessarily as quiet as a DVD player, cable box or vacuum cleaner for that matter…

Mini-Review: CoolerMaster Silent Pro M500 ATX Power Supply