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The LH50 series of LCD TVs from LG include an array of broadband content options, including Netflix streaming, Yahoo widgets and YouTube.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
LG combines the first plasma capable of streaming Netflix with THX display certification.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
A new external hard drive from ioSafe offers protection against disaster.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
Displaylink and Acer announced at CES that the P224 monitor will now be available with a USB hub that not only includes a Dolby speaker system for built-in sound, but the Displaylink technology as well.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.

LG launches LED-backlit trifecta

January 7, 2009 9:00 AM PST
Posted by David Katzmaier
The LG LH90 series, available in three sizes, features LED backlight technology.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
The top-of-the-line LG 55LHX includes LED backlighting, a 240Hz refresh rate and wireless reception of video signals.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
Netgear's new Digital Entertainer Elite EVA9150 outdoes its predecessor with a 500GB internal hard drive, faster wireless connection, and then some.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
January 7, 2009 7:57 AM PST
The Leichtman Research Group (LRG) recently conducted a phone survey that showed 18 percent of HDTV owners think they're watching high-definition shows, when in fact they're viewing standard-definition programming. I'm not sure exactly what questions LRG asked and how it arrived at that 18 percent figure, but I can tell you that I spent part of my New Year's Eve this year confronting and rectifying a non-HD situation just in time to see the ball drop in Times Square in HD.

If the picture doesn't pop, it's not HD.

(Credit: CNET Australia)
This is not the first HDTV I've rescued from the standard-def dungeon. It's happened a few other times in the last couple of years. The conversation usually starts like this (and usually involves a large-screen LCD or plasma for which someone paid a fair chunk of change):

"Dude, what do you think? Pretty good, huh? I got the one you guys [CNET] recommended."

I look at the TV and there seems to be something a little off about it. I move closer and say:

"You have HD?"

"Yeah," he replies, pointing to the cable box sitting underneath the TV.

I tell him to turn it to an HD channel. Something in the 700s (the HD channels for Time Warner Cable in New York are all in the 700s).

"I have it on an HD channel."

For good measure, I have him turn to 702, CBS HD. (Now that we're owned by CBS, I always tell people to go to CBS HD first. Naturally.)

"Dude," I say, "You're not watching HDTV."

"I'm not?"

"No, you are not."

Read the rest of the column

Topics:
Televisions
Tags:
HDTV,
HDMI,
HDTV owners who think they're watching HDTV
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January 7, 2009 7:08 AM PST

Anthony Gallo Acoustics never made box speakers.

No, Gallo speakers, from the company's earliest days in 1994, always made speakers designed around spherical cabinets. Yes, others have followed suit, but Gallo was the first to perfect round sound.

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, which opens Thursday in Las Vegas, Gallo will premier its latest speaker, the double-balled Strada ($1,000 MSRP each). Measuring a compact 6.5 inches by 12.5 inches by 5.5 inches, the Strada is jam-packed with unique technology.

Round speakers are no cosmetic gimmick: round speakers get around the inherent structural and acoustic problems of boxes, which, to a greater or lesser degree, always adversely affect the speaker's sound. Boxes tend to "sing along" with the drivers, smearing the sound. Gallo's hardened-steel balls are so incredibly rigid, all you hear is the sound of the Stradas' woofer and tweeter.

The Strada

(Credit: Anthony Gallo Acoustics)

The thing is, small speaker cabinets tend to severely limit bass power and low-frequency oomph. So sure, the Strada would suffer from undernourished bass, if it weren't endowed with Gallo's patented S2 Technology. Here's how it works: the balls are packed with polyolefin flakes (they look like snow flakes) that absorb significantly more energy than commonly used wool or synthetic stuffing materials.

The polyolefin flakes' denser-than-air mass also replicates the volume of a much larger enclosure which allows the Strada's woofers to produce deeper bass, and the flakes minimize performance degrading reflections within the speaker itself. The Strada makes enough bass on its own there's no need to add a subwoofer for stereo applications, Gallo claims.

Nestled between the Stradas' spheres you'll find the latest update of Gallo's proprietary CDT 3 tweeter. Instead of the usual dome tweeter Gallo's tweeter is a silver-coated cylinder boasting vastly greater radiating area than conventional tweeters. Gallo's tweeter forgoes most of the moving mass elements common to dome tweeters -- a voice coil, coil-former, or a suspension -- maybe that's why it produces high frequency response extending all the way up to 50 kilohertz (dome tweeters barely make it past 20 khz). The tweeter is another reason Gallos sound better than conventional speakers.

The TR-3 subwoofer

(Credit: Anthony Gallo Acoustics)

The company is also introducing a matching subwoofer, the TR-3 ($984 MSRP). It nixes the usual boring cube shape in favor of a cylinder, it's a little thing, just 10.75 x 12 x 13.5 inches, but since it also uses S2 Technology it delivers deeper and more powerful bass than other mini subs.

Originally posted at The Audiophiliac
Steve Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to magazines and Web sites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Topics:
Music,
Lifestyle,
Entertainment
Tags:
Anthony Gallo Acoustics,
CES 2009,
round sound,
CDT 3 tweeter,
high-end speakers
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iVoice has announced the Diamond-X Bluetooth headset, which is apparently one of the first headsets with the ability to report the callers' name from a phonebook.
Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.