The increasingly unaptly named Home Entertainment Show opened its doors today in NYC at the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Terminal. I say that because there are no TVs, or indeed any video technologies, on display. No projectors, no mention of DVDs, let alone HD DVD or Blu-ray. In fact, few or none of the companies you know of that build home entertainment products are here.
But it's crowded: lots of gentlemen in their post-mid-life-crisis, pre-retirement years wander the halls in search of the perfect reproduction of Norah Jones. Her voice that is, sadly, not the rest of her. See, the main reason to come to the Home Entertainment Show—besides the rare gem like the Krell iPod Dock—is to check out Extra Big Ass Speakers.
We bumped into our friend Steve Guttenberg (the audio equipment reviewer, not the savior of both Johnny Five and Sweet Chuck). Follow the jump to have a look at what he thought was the "pick of the show."

I can't decide if these M...

OK, you've heard way too much about Intel's new chipset today. But do you ever think about tomorrow? What if you suddenly really want to know about Santa Rosa then? Don't laugh. One day, soon, Santa Rosa will pop back into your head, and you will want the facts. Fast. Well, guess what? They're all here in this post.
We start you off with the importance of being rosy, that is, everything you needed to know about Santa Rosa. If you did your homework, you know that the Mobile 965 chipset has an 800MHz front side bus with better power management, graphics jacked to 500MHz that can handle the Vista Aero experience and score a 95 on the really tough Silicon Optix HQV display test. You also know that the chipset supports Intel Turbo memory—optional NAND flash that boosts performance when DDR2 RAM is in short supply—and that it's got the Draft-N wireless, for disturbingly high-quality streaming video.
We showed you our favorite notebooks, and singled a few out:
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Filed under: Laptops

Looks like Sony's decided to go all the way with Santa Rosa -- not only did it introduce the new FZ today, it's also giving the AR and SZ lines the full Centrino Duo makeover, with Core 2 Duos ranging from 1.80 - 2GHz sitting on that oh-so-popular 800MHz frontside bus and 802.11n networking. The AR (pictured above) is the real bruiser here, with a 17.8-inch XBRITE screen powered by an NVIDIA GeForce 8400M, a built-in webcam, HDMI out, a recordable Blu-ray drive, and a digital TV tuner beakout box with a CableCARD slot. All that power doesn't come light, though -- the AR tips the scales at 8.4 pounds. Road warriors will be more interested in the 4.1-pound SZ, which drops the old-school EDGE modem of its predecessor for a Sprint EV-DO model but otherwise remains basically the same: 13.3-inch XBRITE screen with the ability to toggle between integrated Intel X3100 graphics and an NVIDIA GeForce 8400M chip to save battery life, built-in webcam, and a trick c...

Some days it just feels like Groundhog Day. With Santa Rosa popping in more places than the Virgin Mary today, each post feels exactly like that and here's the Sony VAIO FZ to prove it. Not only it has the already-sickening brand new Intel chipset, but it was leaked at the beginning of the month.
Today it's official though, and we have prices, full specs and more photos of this widescreen 15.4-inch Core 2 Duo T7300 notebook after the jump.
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The VAIO FZ is a bit of a Qosmio's nemesis: although smaller, the top of the line FZ has a Blu-ray player and burner, HDMI output and a similar multimedia control clickwheel. However, it will only give you 1,280 x 800 pixels coated in XBRITE HiColor Technology, for glosstastic color and increased brightness and contrast action.
It comes with 802.11n compatibility, built-in camera and microphone for videoconferencing and LocationFree software, which let's you see T...

While Pioneer is wowing us with its eighth-generation plasma displays with their 20,000:1 contrast ratios, its other release trick is its Pioneer Elite BDP-94HD Blu-ray player that'll be shipping this month but is curiously devoid of new features. In fact, it's not even going for the latest HDMI 1.3 connection, still sporting that old and less-colorful HDMI 1.2 port that we've grown to know and love.
On the plus side, there is a Dolby TrueHD for some lossless high-end audio, but we're wondering what's so elite about this Pioneer Elite Blu-ray player, other than its $1000 price. Maybe we'll just pass, and wait for Microsoft to release a USB-connected Blu-ray player for the Xbox 360. – Charlie White
Pioneer Announces Elite BDP-94HD Blu-ray Player [CrunchGear]

Filed under: HDTV, Laptops
Nah, it shouldn't surprise you one bit that Sony's officially squeezing in yet another option in the VAIO laptop lineup, but this 15.4-incher packs a media-centric attitude into a (debatably) lightweight package, and moreover, sports a pricetag that's very un-VAIO-like. Aside from the typical black / silver motif, you'll notice a widescreen XBRITE display, a bevy of multimedia controls atop the keyboard, Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, support for 802.11n, HDMI out, audio in / out, USB 2.0, VGA and S-Video outs, 4-pin FireWire, and the obligatory Blu-ray drive for watching HD flicks on the go. Additionally, the FZ will include an integrated webcam, LocationFree placeshifting niceties, an ExpressCard slot, and a Memory Stick reader. Fortunately for you, this fairly well appointed machine won't break the bank as you may expect, as the non-BD-equipped rendition will start at $1,400, while the "Premium" flavor comes in just $2,000. 
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The HP Pavilion m8010y Media Center (better known as the media center that swings both ways) is now available at the HP store. This is one of the first "box PCs" that can be customized to include a Blu-ray drive as well as an HD DVD drive. The bare minimum specs (including the two drives, processor upgrade and GeForce 8500GT to support the drives) make the final price $2,149, but wait, there's more! HP has a $150 mail-in-rebate bringing the final price down to $1,999. Two grand isn't a price I particularly get excited about, but the fact that HP, of all companies, has a dual-format media center perks my ears. Thanks, Vincent! –Travis Hudson
Product Page [HP]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment


It has almost been a year since the first generation Blu-ray players hit the market, and we're already starting to see second generation players; well the Pioneer BDP-LX70 is most certainly a new model, but we're not sure if it's second gen or not. The BDP-LX70 is currently only listed on Pioneer's Eurpean site and although HD DVD originally annouced their second generation players in Europe, they looked completly different from the first gen. Not only does the LX70 looks alot like the HD1, but the features are also very similar; in fact other than having a Dolby TrueHD decoder built in, it doesn't seem to have any other new features. The latest must have feature -- HDMI 1.3 -- isn't specifically mentioned, but what is mentioned, is the fact that an "HD audio bitstream output player" is already set to replace this model. Second gen or not, Blu-ray fans in Europe are about to get a new option in June when this new player hits the s...

It has come to my attention that the T and the R series Thinkpads, which were leaked by specs last month, have gnarly magnesium roll cages that remind me of Wolverine's reinforced skeleton. I've always been a Thinkpad fanboy. And while most of the other PC makers are handling this Santa Rosa launch with minor upgrades, I'm so glad to see the Lenovo Thinkpads are still evolving with robust engineering. These are the fastest, toughest, quietest Thinkpads ever.
The single piece roll cage under the keyboard is a single piece of metal, 3D, with mounts for the drives, motherboard, and other components, which when bolted in actually make the frame even stronger. The real genius is the replacement of the metal lid on the old Thinkpads with Plastic. Huh?
Yes. There's a 3D, honeycomb sub frame below the surface, which makes the lid not only stronger, but roughly 50% more durable against uneven impacts (like a baseball hitting the back of the LCD in one point). The antenna for W...

Filed under: Laptops, Wireless
Just in case the leaked specs weren't solid enough for you, Lenovo has finally opened up and revealed the 14.1-inch T61 to the world. In what's being dubbed the "strongest, coolest, and quietest ThinkPad ever," the T61 comes sheathed in a magnesium alloy frame (Top Cover Roll Cage in Lenovo lingo), and touts an "improved cooling system, enhanced wireless connectivity with Ultra Connect II, and up to 15-percent longer battery life through its Battery Stretch control option." Furthermore, you'll find a WXGA+ display, a wide range of Intel's Core 2 Duos, up to 160GB of 5400RPM HDD space (or 100GB at 7200RPM), NVIDIA's 128MB Quadro NVS 140M graphics set, an optional Blu-ray drive, gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n, and even an option for WWAN connectivity via EV-DO or HSDPA. There's also an integrated webcam, four-in-one media card reader and your choice of Windows XP / Vista. It looks like the May timeframe we had heard about earlier will actual...