HDMI technology is getting really popular and it is now a must have connection for many. There are tons of HDMI gadgets in the market right now but the number of HDMI inputs on the large HDTVs and the receivers is quite limited. You have to spend more money if you want more inputs and this is where an HDMI switch is needed. Using HDMI switch, you can connect more compatible gadgets to the home theatre set up and you don’t have to pay a premium for AV receiver or HDTV. The switcher comes with an affordable price tag of just $50 and it has the most number of ports I have ever seen on switches to date. Monoprice HDMI switch is built quite well. The exteriors is all metal and it can easily accidental drops from your AV rack which is bound to happen if you have a lot of cables hanging from the back. On the front panel, there are 5 LED lights which indicate the source that  [...]

I am a bit biased when it comes to Bose products since they have excellent audio quality. The price may be a bit high but trust me, it is worth paying the extra buck. I got the Bose Wave Radio in my labs for review and before this, I reviewed the Bose centre of Excellence which had was quite good. I would recommend keeping the Bose Wave Radio in your bedroom close to your bed as it is compact. I would have been better if the manufacturer gave a built in DAB. This is not a deal breaker either as a lot of people now use things like Revo internet audio which sounds equally great. Bose gets a lot of bad publicity in the media and I don’t know why this company is at the receiving end of all this. Their products are really good and I don’t have anything to complain about them except for the high price. But again, you cannot have stellar quality at entry level price. Bose  [...]

This is not the first Logitech Harmony remote I have ever had in my labs; there have been a few these before. I really like these Logitech Harmony remotes as they have a good set of features. This brand was first developed by Canada's Intrigue Technologies and Logitech purchased it a few years ago. Logitech Harmony 880 that I am talking about here is the first remote to be made fully by designers from Logitech. Also, it is the first Harmony remote to have built in rechargeable battery, color screen and docking station. This Logitech Harmony remote is a bit bigger than the previous clickers but still has the dumbbell shape. The device is 1.3 inches deep, 2.3 inches wide, 8.1  [...]

Blu-ray disc burner is getting popular day by day and soon we will see Blu-ray burners replacing older CD and DVD writers totally. Blu-ray will soon emerge as the best option for storing media! It is used widely in some parts of the world and there are plenty of PS3 games and Blu-ray movies out there. Blu-ray discs can store 25 GB in one layer and dual layered ones can carry about 50 GB of data which is huge. Dimensions of a Blu-ray disc is the same as DVD or CD and the increased capacity can be attributed to the use of 405nm laser light as compared to 650 nm laser light on DVD. There were HD DVDs in the market too but they had less storage capacity and Blu-ray eventually managed to wrestle it out of the market. The first Blu-ray disc burner I am talking about here is Pioneer BDR-2203 and it is made by a very well known company. Pioneer  [...]

When I first saw the Philips DS8500 Fidelio Dock in my labs, my expectations were pretty low. The cost of this product is $199 and from the looks, I thought that this would be the same Philips SBD7500 speaker that the manufacturer had sent me last year. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the audio quality was much better than the earlier Philips speaker. The rounded white design along with gray grille relates to refinement and not mediocrity. The speaker is a bit heavy and the sound is quite robust. It seems that Philips has worked hard for the remote control. Such clickers are rare in this price range and product category. The Philips DS8500 Fidelio Dock is a pretty deep at 5.5 inches and this is unusual for a speaker that is just 16.5 inches wide and six inches tall. The manufacturer tries to minimize the depth by tapering and rounding the white plastic back. Another great  [...]

The FCC has shut off the over the air analog signals for television which means people who have analog TVs will need a DTV converter box if you need free TV over the air. The DTV converter box is really cheap at just $40 for the coupon from the government. One of the DTV boxes which you can buy through the coupon is Zenith 901 converter box and after reviewing it, I discovered that the box offers good value for money. The most important features here are the video quality and reception and this gadget performs impressively in these two areas. In fact, it is better than other boxes I have seen so far in my labs. I am not saying that the box is perfect though, the audio quality is not as good as I would have liked, the remote is very small and I would have liked full scale onscreen electronic program guide or EPG. But the positives on this device easily overshadow the shortcomings and I  [...]

Iomega eGo BlackBelt Mac Edition comes with a rubber band on the body which is supposed to protect it from shocks. The drive also comes with software suite. This product will put you back by $220 and for a 1 TB drive, it give excellent cost per gigabyte ratio. Iomega eGo BlackBelt Mac Edition (1TB) is 0.94 inch thick, 3.75 inches wide, and 5.88 inches long. It is a bit thicker than the previous product but the difference won’t be noticed easily. The manufacturer has sacrificed silver, red and blue finishes for muted black glaze which makes the drive look professional. The band on the unit is called "Drop Guard Xtreme Power Grip Band” which is way too exaggerated. It is just an X shaped band covering the exgterior. This band will protect the Iomega eGo BlackBelt Mac Edition from up to seven feet. The predecessor had protection up to four feet. The band can be taken off if you think  [...]

LG BD590 is the manufacturer’s flagship product and this is the first Blu-ray player in my labs to feature a built in hard drive. Through this internal memory, you can store lots of content and then watch it at your leisure. I had this player for around three days in my labs and I stored a lot of content on it by borrowing discs from my friends. I returned the discs back in no time and watch the movies when ever I had time. Another important feature of the LG BD590 is the support for CD ripping. You can rip music from audio CDs and store it on the internal memory of the player. But apart from this internal hard disk, there is not much difference between this and last year’s Blu-ray player from LG. The front face has a mirror like finish which is really shinny and you can easily see faces on it. The panel flips down automatically when the tray comes out. On the tray’s right, there  [...]