Secrets

Pioneer BDP-62FD Universal Blu-ray Player

Every year Pioneer updates their Blu-ray players, and every year I wind up happy yet disappointed with them. Each year performance and features seem to improve only to have a flaw, like edge enhancement or poor colorspace support, derail the Pioneer from being really top notch. This year Pioneer is offering the BDP-62FD, a $400 universal Blu-ray player that carries the Elite badge and features dual HDMI outputs among other features.

Burson Soloist Headphone Amplifier

Burson Audio hails to us from Australia, bringing its own design philosophy, "Less is More," to high-end headphone amplifiers. They gained notoriety with the successful HA-160 headphone amp, a pure class A design with an output of 250mW. Here, we review the Burson Soloist Headphone Amplifier, with a specified output of 4 watts.

XTZ

XTZ is founded in 2004 and is basically a border-crossing network of engineers, technicians, manufacturers and producers - all having long experience from...

SunBriteTV 5560HD 55” Outdoor All-weather LCD HDTV

If you have been to any recent home and garden shows, you may have noticed the increase in outdoor entertainment areas. These usually consist of a covered patio, comfortable seating, fireplace/firepit, and anywhere from just a grill to a full outdoor kitchen area with pizza oven. Sounds like a home outside of your home. But where's the TV? SunBrite has the answer.

Matching 3D Blu-ray Player with TV?

I'm looking at getting an LG 47LM7600 because I like the passive glasses. Also, I really like the Vizio XVT3D474SV, but it's hard to find a new one, not a refurb. I've heard you say that you don't think LG Blu-ray players are that good. So my first question is, will an LG TV work with, say, a Samsung Blu-ray player, since they are different 3D systems? Also, should I spend $200 more and get the Vizio XVT3D474SV? I don't have $499 to spend on an Oppo Blu-ray player, but I'd like a nice one.

- James Isom
Frankfort, IL

Oppo BDP-103 Universal Blu-ray Player

For years now, Oppo has dominated the high-end of DVD and Blu-ray players. Virtually every other reviewer and enthusiast I know has at least one in their system, if not more. I've personally been using their players going back to the DVD days, and have had every single one of their Blu-ray players, including their new BDP-103, reviewed here.

SunBriteTV

SunBriteTVs are the only time-tested TVs in the world that are specifically designed and built from the ground...

Pioneer SC68 9.1 A/V Receiver

Pioneer has been revising and refining their Class D amplifier technology inside of their Elite receivers for a few years now. The performance has kept improving, as it is one of the few receivers out there that actually delivers its rated power output into all channels at once. Pioneer's SC68 is a 9.1 receiver, and yes, there are nine power amplifiers in there, rated at 140 watts each. It weighs only 39 pounds. How do they get that much power in a 39 pound package? The Class D amplifiers.

Toshiba SBX4250 Sound Bar

Since the living room TV was now sitting on its own, the speakers put away to keep a curious toddler from hurting them or himself, it seemed like a good chance to see how a sound bar could improve the integrated speakers on my plasma. Toshiba sent over their new SBX4250 sound bar that also includes a wireless subwoofer...