Something people don't consider enough when spending a lot of money on audiovisual systems for their houses is the acoustics of their rooms. They just plonk thousands of pounds worth of equipment in the corner and think that the sound is as good as it gets; but they are wrong. Cheap, rough old floors can seriously distort the sound as it reflects off them, causing quality to be noticably impared. Flooring restoration or downright replacement can solve a lot of these problem. Of course, positioning takes a bigger priority, but that's a much more complex and involved task which I will deal with another day on this blog.

Axiom Audio Epic 80 Home Theater System Review The Wired Home Weblog

While I've got to say that a $2,500 speaker system probably isn't for the casual user, the Axiom audio Epic 80 is a beautiful setup for the serious audiophile. Audioholics.com has an intensive 7 page review and really like the system:Here's the bottom line. I feel that the Epic 80 system is worthy of designating as a movie theater killer. I mean this. I would be happier sitting at home [...] Read More


Philips MX6000i Wireless Home Theater System Review The Wired Home Weblog

It won't be long before all of our high tech home devices are wireless. Why not start with the Philips MX6000i Wireless Home Theater System? HomeTheaterMag.com has a nice review of this beauty that starts by saying: The latest product in Philips' Streamium line is their complete MX6000i home-theater-in-a-box system. The MX6000i sets itself apart from the HTIB pack with a uniquely designed main DVD/receiver unit that incorporates an LED display [...] Read More


Yamaha RX-V557 XM-Enabled Home Theater Receiver Review The Wired Home Weblog

I've been negotiating with my accountant (a.k.a. the wife) for some funds for a new home theater system. I'm really leaning towards the Yamaha RX-V557 XM-Enabled 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver. Robert over at Hometheater.About.com has a review that states: The most innovative feature of the RX-V557 is the inclusion of an XM-Satellite Radio tuner in addition to a standard AM/FM tuner. With the addition of a compatible XM Satellite Radio [...] Read More


Designing that Perfect Home Theater Creative Weblogging

Home theater enthusiasts spend gobs of time picking out everything from the color of the walls to the perfect size movie screen when setting up their home theater systems. But, don't forget about the furniture! It could be just about the most important item in the room next to the actual wired set up you have to put together. Wired Home has some tips about making decisions concerning the right [...] Read More


Music In The Walls! The Gadgets Weblog

As high-tech as I am in some areas, it'd probably amaze you to learn that up until my recent move, my audio system was in the stone age. We had a small stereo in the living room, a boom box in my daughter's room, and whatever computer speakers I managed to accumulate over the years. Everything separate and disconnected. And let's not even discuss the pre-1990 TVs we still own [...] Read More

A home isn't complete without a beautiful lawn to greet you each and every day. How-to grow beautiful grass so your home is "wired" on the inside-out. Something people often forget about when building their perfect wired home, is how it looks on the outside; why have a house full to the brim with technology and looking snazzy inside, to have it look like a dump outside? Make sure your lawn is neat, chuck down some grass seeds, plant some flowers, and make it look dead snazzy. You could also perhaps, to further wire up your house, setup some automated water sprinklers or the like so you are just as technological outside as in!

DVI vs. HDMI vs. Component Video The Wired Home Weblog

Last week we gave you some information about HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface). But does HDMI offer better audio and video than component connections? There's an excellent article at Ecoustics.com that shows it isn't always easy to say which is better. From the article:DVI/HDMI and Component Video are all video standards which support a variety of resolutions, but which deliver the signal from the source to the display in very [...] Read More


Onkyo Launches Next Generation HDMI Receiver The Wired Home Weblog

According to the folks at Crave: "Onkyo has become the first mainstream manufacturer to officially announce an array of home audio products that offer the two big features that have been MIA on home audio products to date: HDMI 1.3 and on-board decoding of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks found on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs." With prices starting at just $380 and moving up quickly, this [...] Read More


Unwired: Wireless HDMI Senders rock the boat The Wired Home Weblog

Despite the name of this blog being the "wired" weblog, there's certainly been a distinct trend over the past few years to head towards wireless systems, and televisions have been the one thing not complying with this; the uncompressed nature of HD content not lending itself to the reletively small bandwidth of wireless tech. Until now, that is, GefenTV have launched a set of wireless streamers capable of [...] Read More


Atlona Wireless HDMI Adapter Has Great Intentions and Greater Potential The Gadgets Weblog

I have always thought that wireless USB (WUSB) has fantastic potential. The ability to stream any USB data over the air (including video) is fabulous. There have been some manufactures that have embraced wireless USB; IOGear has some great option, and Panasonic has a LCD monitor with WUSB built-in, but unfortunately, the list is very short. Altona has announced a HDMI or VGA converter called the HDAiR WUSB. The Altona HDAiR [...] Read More


360 to get HDMI port? XboxSpace

This falls under the category of: I hope it's true...but I wish it wasn't. The pic comes from Xbox-Scene, I don't know much about it and neither does anybody else...so your guess is as good as mine as to whether it's legit or not. But here's a two reasons why I think this is legit: 1) Microsoft can put HD-DVD in the 360 2) It would be nice to have full digital output I just [...] Read More

Motorola 6400-Series DVR with Cox Digital Cable Review The Wired Home Weblog

DigitalProducer.com has a review of the Motorola 6400-Series DVR. While the reviewer has Cox Cable, this DVR is pretty much the standard for most cable companies. Overall it's a pretty positive review and the summary states:The Cox HD service with the Motorola 6400-series HD DVR is targeted toward home theater enthusiasts looking for a higher-quality alternative to Tivo. It features component video and optical (Toslink) audio out and provides 60 [...] Read More


Programming the 30 Second Skip Function on Your Motorola 6400 Series DVR The Wired Home Weblog

I've always been envious of TiVo and ReplayTV users and their ability to zip through commercials (recorded shows only) with a 30 second skip button. If you're not familiar with the 30 second skip, it's just like it sounds. You push a button while watching a recorded program and you'll skip ahead 30 seconds. During commercials, whacking on the skip button 3 or 4 times is much faster and easier [...] Read More


Axiom Audio Epic 80 Home Theater System Review The Wired Home Weblog

While I've got to say that a $2,500 speaker system probably isn't for the casual user, the Axiom audio Epic 80 is a beautiful setup for the serious audiophile. Audioholics.com has an intensive 7 page review and really like the system:Here's the bottom line. I feel that the Epic 80 system is worthy of designating as a movie theater killer. I mean this. I would be happier sitting at home [...] Read More


Analog Cable impedes Cables' competition with the Telco's The Digital TV Weblog

Perhaps you know someone who still subscribes to the old-fashion analog cable service. Did you know that this basic cable service takes up about 70% of the cable network's capacity. All other services, including high-definition, digital channels and broadband Internet access, have to fit in the remaining 30% of the network pipes. [...] Read More


Comic Book Artist: The Motorola Ming is Perfect for Me! The Smart PDA

My friend Jonas Diego is the only MOTOMING (that's Motorola Ming or Motorola A1200 for some people) owner I know. And somehow, the perennially popular Linux-powered smartphone (to think it was released more than a year ago!) is perfect for his life as a comic book artist: As a comic book creator, I use a lot of photo reference in my work and a digital camera has become an invaluable part [...] Read More