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SunBriteTV 5560HD 55” Outdoor All-weather LCD HDTV

Stephen Hornbrook and Chris Heinonen

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.

HDTV

Oppo BDP-103 Universal Blu-ray Player

Chris Heinonen

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.

Blu-ray Players

Pioneer SC68 9.1 A/V Receiver

Chris Heinonen

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.

Receivers

Toshiba SBX4250 Sound Bar

Chris Heinonen

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...

Soundbars

Sony VPL-HW50ES Projector

Chris Heinonen

At a CEDIA that was big on 4K and sound bars, the introduction of the VPL-HW50ES went under the radar a bit. Slotting into their lineup above the HW30 and below the HW95, the HW50 comes with a few features from each of those, but also has its own unique features to set...

Projectors

Samsung PN51E8000 51″ Plasma HDTV

Chris Heinonen

Not long ago plasma and LCD were in a fierce competition for the flat panel market, but LCD has dominated sales the past few years. While the general public has moved to LCD for brighter images and more size choices...

HDTV

Vanatoo Transparent One Active (Powered) Bookshelf Speakers

Mark Vignola

The last several years have seen an explosion in digital and streamed audio - never before has it been cheaper or easier to distribute audio around ones house or apartment. From the advent of protocols like Apple's Airplay or Pandora . . . to Squeeze Box and Sonos, making our digital music accessible anywhere is almost an obsession with everyone. To help satisfy that obsession, Vanatoo offers the Transparent One Active Bookshelf Speakers, that have a digital input.

Bookshelf Speakers

Parasound Halo A 31 Three-Channel Power Amplifier

Chris Heinonen

Parasound has been making their Halo line of products for quite a few years now, but they are not one to make updates for the sake of change. Their A21 and A51 amplifiers have been unchanged since they debuted and remain a mainstay. The A 31, reviewed here, is a three-channel (250 watts x 3) power amplifier.

Power Amplifiers

OPPO BDP-105 Universal Blu-ray Player Review

John E. Johnson, Jr.

OPPO continues its tradition of being leader of the pack with the introduction of the BDP-105 Universal Player. It has every type of input that one could want, making it truly a player that can handle all types of media and sources. The video quality is superb (video results coming in Chris Heinonen's review of the 103 which has the same video circuit as the 105), and the audio quality (tested in this review) is what we have come to expect from OPPO: audiophile-grade.

Universal Players