Now playing: Watch this: Boston Acoustics TVee Model 25 2:20 When Boston Acoustics first came out with its TVee line of sound bars , its modest pricing and focus on simplicity were a welcome addition to a market filled with overpriced models. A few generations later, the TVee Model 25 faces a much different set …

Apple’s streaming-video box could get a lot better with a few improvements. The Apple TV could be even better with voice control, cross-platform search and true apps. (Credit: Apple) Rumours were abuzz earlier this week about a possible refresh of the Apple TV set-top box, as retailers are running out of existing stock. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if there’s …

The future of over-the-air TV is in the cloud. Or at least that’s what Aereo’s banking on. Startup company Aereo held a press conference in New York this morning to announce its new service, which allows subscribers to access live and recorded over-the-air TV on their iPad/iPhone for $12 a month. The service is limited to New York City at …

If you thought midrange AV receivers were going to max out at six HDMI inputs, you were wrong. Onkyo announced its 2012 line of midrange AV receivers this morning, with the TX-NR515 and TX-NR616 each featuring eight HDMI inputs, enough to handle your cable box, PS3, Xbox 360, Roku LT, Apple TV, and three other home theater gadgets. The front-panel …

All HDMI cables may be the same in terms of image quality, but that doesn’t mean they’re physically the same. In the photo above, the thick cable on the right is Monoprice’s current 50-foot cable; the cable on the left is the upcoming Monoprice 60-foot ultraslim cable. The new cable is dramatically thinner than traditional long-run HDMI cables–every editor at …

Now playing: Watch this: Yamaha YAS-101 2:28 Yamaha basically created the sound bar category and continues to sell its best-in-class Digital Sound Projector line, but it can be hard to recommend the company’s sound bars when they generally cost in excess of $1,000. The YAS-101 ($250 street price) is Yamaha’s entry into the increasingly crowded budget sound bar field, and …

Some might say “audiophile” and “digital music” shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, but Pioneer is hoping they’re wrong. Pioneer released two new networked audio players yesterday aimed at the audiophile crowd, the N-30 and N-50. The two players feature Pioneer’s Elite branding and have a sturdy-looking component-style design, including a 2.5-inch color display that shows cover art and …

Samsung’s audio announcements yesterday included an innovative sound bar and tube-based iPod speakers, the company also rolled out its new line-up of all-in-one Blu-ray home theater systems. Two new systems were announced, the HT-E6730W and HT-E5500W, both with a similar set of core features, including built-in 3D Blu-ray, hybrid vacuum tube amplifiers, built-in Wi-Fi, and Samsung Apps. Samsung HT-E670W Samsung …

If you’re getting a new Blu-ray player this holiday season, chances are it’s loaded with apps. And a lot of them aren’t worth trying. A broad selection of apps is theoretically great, but in reality there are entire genres of apps worth skipping on Blu-ray players. Sure, you could find that out the hard way by trial-and-error, but that’s particularly …

Western Digital announced several updates to the WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub streaming-media boxes today, including a smartphone app for both iOS and Android, plus a new slate of streaming services, including Vudu, Flixster, SnagFilms, XOS College Sports, SEC Digital NEtwork, Comedy Time, and Watch Mojo. While a lot of those services lack a broad appeal, the …