Before we opened the box to unwrap Sony’s 65-inch 850D series TV to test, I’d read a lot about the TV’s lack of really good contrast. The thinking was this: if you were watching  the set in a dark room, or you were watching a really dark scene, the TV would express blacks as dark gray.
We found that to be just a tiny bit true, but we also found this TV to be the best …

It’s really hard to walk into the TV store nowadays and stare at the row of impossibly then sets and not stop on a Samsung 4K TV. Whether really big or somewhat big or even curved, the Samsung TVs are stunning (especially when set on the brightest mode possible for the store environment, eschewing any need for color accuracy).
We got our hands on a 2016 version 65 inch KS8000 model recently and were very, very …

After spending a few months with a Samsung 4K disc player I have come to the conclusion that blu-ray is no longer enough.
There, I said it. Yes, folks, watching 4K movies is a much more immersive experience than watching my favorite films on Blu-ray. No there isn’t a lot of content, but what’s out there is enough to say it’s time for an upgrade.
The player is the Samsung UBD-K85009, the first to be offered in …

The NFL is coming to Twitter this fall.
Twitter has beaten out Verizon and Amazon for $10 million global rights to stream 10 NFL Thursday night games to fans around the world. Twitter will be able to show games on its app on platforms like Xbox game consoles and the NFl said it’s working on ways to allow Twitter to stream games via syndicated partners like Google and Yahoo.
 
Twitter will also be able to stream the …

In a recent  interview with the New York Daily News, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he wishes Apple would make its products in the United States.
He also said Apple is not paying its fair share of taxes here.
“No, Apple is not destroying the fabric of America,” Sanders is quoted as saying. “But I do wish they’d be manufacturing some of their devices, here, in the United States rather than in China. And I …

By now you’ve probably heard the news: “Batman Vs. Superman” is not a very good movie. The plot is going in a thousand different directions; there’s too much “stuff” in the film; the trailer gave everything away.
Blah, blah, blah.
And the first time I saw the 2 hour and 30 minute epic, I thought director Zack Synder had taken some missteps in Batman’s long-standing code of honor and made Superman too dull.
But after a second viewing …

We so dig attending the TEC Awards each year at The NAMM Show. It never fails to thrill, to delight, to educate and to entertain–yes, even when we’re eagerly awaiting the excited winner for Best Signal Processing Software. Trust us, you have to be there. It’s a long show. There’s a lot of cheering.
This year was equally as satisfying. Saturday night, January 23, the 2016 31st NAMM TEC Awards kicked off with the welcom return of last year’s …

This year we made our annual swing by the IK Multimedia booth where cool things are always afoot. Here are a few of their many offerings that caught our eye this year:
iKLIP A/V:
“The first smartphone broadcast mount for pro-quality audio/video.”
HANDY. That was our first thought upon taking a gander at the presser for this device. As smartphone technology rises to the demands of high-quality video, photography and recording, users now increasingly trust them to capture professional …

High performance cabling is cool and all but we confess: We’re also in this one for the kitsch. Might this be the same Corning of CorningWare fame? That iconic white ceramic glass cookware with its blue flowery trademark that shaped so many childhood kitchen memories? Yep–and while Corning no longer owns the CorningWare line, it was that fun little connection that lured us to the booth; we’re quirky that way.
But we’d also done our homework. Corning, Inc., …

Chevy and Ford would like you to think there is a war going on between the Camaro and Mustang. I say there isn’t.
I say that because people who like Mustangs like Mustangs. The same with Camaro fans. Yes, one may outsell the other for a while but then the other takes over and, well, you know the rest.
I’m sure Chevy will experience a big sales surge with this 2016 Camaro. This car is good to …