AV products follow a hierarchy of coolness. You could argue a Kaleidescape or Sooloos server are at the cool end of the spectrum while products like HDMI cables, adapters and interconnects skew towards the necessary, but not worth talking about to your friends end of the spectrum. In between are all the myriad of output devices like projectors, HD TVs, speakers, Blu-ray players and more.

The funny thing about defining a AV coolness factor is that sometimes the most mundane sounding products actually allow other AV devices to improve their coolness factor, even adding new functionality that wasn’t there before. Case in point: IOGEAR’s new 2-Port Dual View Dual-Link DVI KVMP Switch may just look like a small black box with a variety of inputs and outputs, but take a closer look, and one can envision dozens of practical applications for this KVM product, both at home and in commercial settings.

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In the previous post, we made the argument that it’s time to redefine the meaning of TV because on-demand services , media center applications, gaming consoles, Internet connectivity and more are changing what can be managed and consumed with a TV. However, to benefit from all this magical convergence, proper AV accessories are required.

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Jim Louderback says that “…the average American household may have three TVs, but many, many more screens,” when contemplating a survey by Nielsen that revealed that the average American home has 2.93 TV sets. Consumers want to watch the programming of their choice, when they want and where they want. The use of digital video recorders (DVRs) and services like TiVo have illustrated consumers do follow specific shows, but don’t want to be confined to the original air date of those shows. Furthermore, the ability to stream content on-demand to PCs and other devices has opened yet another door for those who want to watch programming.

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A few weeks ago, we commented on the potential setbacks that may be experienced around Google TV, due to its requests for TV makers to delay their planned Consumer Electronics Show (CES) January 2011 introductions. It looks like these software refinements may open the door for other companies and technologies to make their stake in the next-generation TV-watching experience.

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The Consumer Electronics Show is quickly coming up next month in Las Vegas, January 6-9, 2011. Among the exciting new products and technologies that have been expected to make news at the show is Google TV. Simply put, this new web-based TV product brings Web video and other computer smarts to TV sets.

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The greatest challenge of putting together a home entertainment system is often choosing what components to install. Display devices alone give you the options of LCD, plasma, OLED, projectors and 3D. Once the display is in place there’s Blu-ray players, digital audio convertors (DAC), gaming systems and a myriad number of A/V cables and other components, each with its own specific feature set and appeal to the end user.
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An interesting thing happened recently. The number of U.S. households that subscribe to cable and other paid TV services fell for the first time since the dawn of cable – by about 335,000 households over the last two quarters out of about 100 million.

Time Warner Inc. also recently commented that it expects its HBO pay-TV service to decline by 1.5 million subscribers this year. Whether this projected decrease can be pinpointed on economic changes or promotional pricing as Time Warner indicated, one thing is clear – technology has been developing in such a way that consumers have been able to replace their cable subscriptions with content streaming from the web.

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Stable and interference-free wireless HD streaming has been a pursuit of hardcore AV enthusiasts over the last several years. New devices such as the Boxee Box and content sources such as Hulu and Youtube have inspired fans of home entertainment to search for the perfect combination of routers, connectors, controls and more to achieve wireless streaming bliss.



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This time of year, the technology industry is ablaze with talks of the latest gadgets and do-dads that are to be announced and revealed at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Come January 2011, all the top electronic manufacturers will be showcasing their latest innovations positioned to take the consumer electronic space by storm.

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If you’re one of the hundreds of millions of music and tech enthusiasts who own an Apple iPod or iPhone, there are an astounding number of accessories aimed at improving battery life, broadening connectivity and even adding a sense of style to your personal technology devices.

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