Do you need more sound or amplification? Well here is one iPod or MP3 add-on that should make a lot of noise! Just plug in your portable media player into this MP3 and iPod Speaker Amp and get some noise shattering bass and treble for the quality audio to share. Or if you don’t have a PMP, hook it up to your PC or laptop and make some noise from the amp which comes with a USB and audio cable. It runs on 3 AA batteries and delivers audio through 5W speakers with 200HZ -20KHZ frequency.

Price: $23.85

(Source) Find Me A Gift

Chill out this winter with this Equalizer Music Hat that will not just let you listen to your favorite tracks but also keep your ears warm. It is definitely an interesting gadget, ideal to beat the upcoming cool temperature as well as stay entertained on the go!

The Equalizer Music Hat has built in blue luminescent displays in either side that reacts to the volume and the beat of the music being played. The louder the music, the more lights gets illuminated. Powered by two CR2032 batteries, the hat uses 3.5mm audio connector and is compatible with anything that needs a headphone, such as iPod, MP3 player or Walkman. This hat will be perfect for your winter journeys. It is available for purchase at GBP19.99 around $30.

With the boom of karaoke these days, owning your personalized mic shouldn’t be something surprising. And while we are on the subject of personalization, Audio-Technica may have something that should highlight what it means to really have your own mic with the Audio-Technica ATR1205 Microphone which comes with four customizable wraps that fit around the microphone. The wraps included with the Audio-Technica ATR1205 Microphone are the “Tribal,” “Boom,” “Jackson,” and “Cutie”. The Audio-Technica ATR1205 will be available this month and will retail for $24.95.

(Source) Press

Love virtual big-screen TVs? In case you do then the Vuzix Wrap 310 video eyewear solution is ready to be ship straight to your living room. The Vuzix Wrap 310 is available for $249.95 and for that price you’re going to enjoy a 55-inch virtual screen in front of your eyes. iPod and iPhone support is included and you’re going to be able to connect the virtual glasses to various other devices in your home including DVD players, PCs, PMPs and all sorts of other mobile phones. The Wrap 310 will offer you all the 3D content you can take so go ahead and get it if that’s what you are looking for.

Coby Electronics Corp. has issued a voluntary recall on the rechargeable batteries that were sold with their DVD/CD/MP3 Players due to a fire hazard. There were about 19,600 units of the portable player sold. The batteries overheat and post a fire hazard which has reported about 10 overheating batteries and 8 fires. The product number for the Coby portable player is TF-DVD-8501 and the rechargeable batteries have serial numbers that start with “HY”.

The affected batteries of the recall will be replaced by Coby Electronics. People who have bought the players can still make use of the standard AC or DC power adapters.

(Source) Press

There are still some theaters out there–I personally know of one not too far from my very doorstep–that incorporate a game room into the lobby. And now, a home theater setup does the same thing.

Dino Theo is a man who knows what he wants, and when it comes to home theater, what he wants is everything.  The picture at right is a shot of the lobby of the home theater he built, and yes, those are slot machines and pinball games.

But it’s not all fun and games down in Dino’s theater, it’s also fun and MOVIES.  To that end, he’s got plenty of theatrical hardware involved in this setup too, including Rocket speakers, a Draper ninety six inch projection screen, and a Panasonic projector.

Pinball machines rebuilt by hand, an arcade machine emulator with tons of games, and plenty of choice hardware to view the greatest in movie fare.  Dino Theo’s got one sweet home theater setup here, make no mistake about that.

We’ve talked about the Logitech Squeezeboom here before, and how it helps get music to the various points of your house, but what we haven’t talked about is how other devices can join the Squeezeboom to make music in all sorts of different ways with all sorts of different options.

Now, the Squeezeboom by itself works great for getting online wireless radio stations.  This by itself represents a pretty significant advance, but when you couple the Squeezeboom with, say, your iTunes library, again over the wireless wifi connection, you not only get access to the radio stations, but you also get access to your own downloaded library.

Then, in another couple weeks here, we’ve got the Sonos S5, which is both wireless radio and music player all in one that is controlled via your iPhone or by a Sonos controller.  This combination allows you to do in one unit what you had to do via jury-rigging in the above description.

So if you’re a music buff, then you have all sorts of options for making your home theater spark.

One of the biggest new innovations in theater technology, and home theater technology as well, is the D-Box system of motion sensitivity, in which certain releases are packaged with a kind of code that can translate to the D-Box and provide movement synchronized to the presentation on screen.

And one of the big new movies of the year, Astro Boy, will be coming with its own D-Box instruction package.  That means, essentially, you’ll be able to move along with the movie you’re watching while you’re watching it.  And, chances are, the D-Box instruction package will follow along onto the home video version.

I’ve always been enamored with the idea of motion components added to movies, and some movies, especially those heavily featuring chase scenes or flight scenes definitely lend themselves well to this concept, and Astro Boy should qualify nicely.  Hopefully this is the start of several instances of D-Box package titles, with many more to come.

3M announces an optical film solution designed for LCD TVs below 40” to aid in providing quality brightness by recycling polarized light with the Vikuiti DBEF D3-260. With the Vikuiti DBEF D3-260, LCD TV owners can enjoy up to 32% energy savings without sacrificing viewing quality which also enhances display viewing angles. The optical film solution from 3M also works well with prism films.

(Source) Press

With the large influx of large screened Plasma and LCD TVs in the market, expect the demand for TV stands to equally increase. Probably one of the most overlooked things needed to complete their home entertainment needs, the larger TVs need customized stands that can hold up these big screens and PlastamTVStands.us.com aims to provide a functional new TV stand with the their line made for 50” wide TV stands.

They weigh less than 110 lbs. and are made up of a black tempered glass and a black aluminum frame. This contemporary stand is perfect for commercial and residential use as the market continues to look for such useful stands for their new wide screen TVs. They also include 4 wheels which can be locked and unlocked to make sure that you find that right angle for your viewing leisure.

(Source) Press

Kramer unveils another solution for rendering display for better computer video and HDTV video signals with the Kramer VP-420 ProScale Digital PC/HD Scaler. Through a 15-pin connector, this solution can easily scale inputs to selectable videos for ideal output. It supports widescreen resolutions and outputs computer graphics video resolution from VGA (640×480) up to WUXGA (1900×1200).

The VP-420 also supports component video signals of 480i, 480p, 575i and 576p resolution and HDTV signals of 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolution. It also features an on-screen display for easier setup which can also be accessed via an IR remote control. The VP-420 is available at the Kramer dealers and retails for $795.

(Source) Info Comm

If there are various cases made for mobile phones, would you believe there is now one for your flat screen TVs? TV armor provides TV owners a new way of safeguarding their TV sets from potential harm such as dents, cracks and scratches, particularly from erring kids who lack the understanding for such home electronic devices. The TV armor covers your TV with a thick and durable acrylic shield that is ¼ thick that will not compromise your TV’s picture quality.

The TV armor retails between $69 to $289, most probably depending on the TV size and type.

(Source) Slippery Brick

Here’s an interesting combo offered by Sharper Image: an LCD TV that can play DVDs, read SD cards and offer and iPod dock too. The 22-inch Sharper Image TSI-LCD22DVDi LCD TV is available for $419 while the 19-inch model will be available for just $359.99.

Interested in other features? Well you can expect HDMI, PC Audio, VGA, component, S-Video and RCA inputs, USD connectivity, 800:1 contrast ratio, 5ms response time and 1,366 x 768 resolution.

via Amazon

Give a cheer to the do it yourself home theatre spirit, folks, because when you’ve got three years and about twenty grand, a lot of sheer determination and grit, you too can make a sweet home theatre setup that celebrates golf.

It’s got a very eclectic mix of equipment, which in this case basically means he’s got a whole lot of stuff that really doesn’t fit in well with anything, but it all still works anyway.  For instance, he’s got an Adcom amplifier, a Harman-Kardon receiver, and a used NC CRT projector.  His speakers are all Polk audio and he’s got a ReplayTV DVR and three separate CD changers along with a Sony VCR.

He’s also got a small putting green in there with a regulation metal cup he got secondhand from a golf course, plus an equipment rack.  He’s been doing it in the modular style, which we recommend here for its efficiency and long-term value; in fact, about the only piece of original equipment he’s got in there is a Pioneer cassette tape changer.  Why a cassette tape changer?  As its owner puts it, “you never know”.

Indeed, you never do know, and that, along with a passion for golf, is what makes this a really sweet home theatre setup.

For some reason Emo Labs wants to offer us invisible speakers. We don’t exactly need our speakers to be invisible, do we? But I’d have to admit the idea is pretty cool so why not give it a try. So how does it all work? The invisible speaker is actually a clear membrane which will be mounted atop your display. Piezoelectric actuators will be used to make the membrane vibrate and give you stereo audio. Just check the video above to see exactly what Emo Labs wants to add to your home theater at some point in the near future.

We have no idea when the new technology will be available but we’re definitely keep an eye on Emo Labs and its future progress with invisible speakers.

via demo

Wow.  This one is an absolutely beautiful entrant into the sweet home theatre setup pantheon, not because it’s got a running theme or anything like that, but rather because of its impressive array of components, all wedged into a sedate, stately, graceful setting.  You can see it in the pic at right, but that’s just scratching the surface.  Here’s the rundown.

It’s got a ten foot wide screen with black velvet to improve ANSI shading, Classe DVD / CD player and amp, JL Audio subwoofer, Sim2 C3X1080 Lumis projector, and multiple Berkline seats.

I find myself just plain amazed by this setup, with its spectacular components in beautiful setting.  Though I have to wonder why they didn’t decide to go with the chocolate brown color scheme for the contrast help.  Maybe they think the black velvet around the screen takes care of the contrast issues, or maybe they’re not that concerned over contrast issues, especially when the place looks the way it does.

But regardless of that incredibly minor issue, I’m convinced of one thing–this is a SWEET home theatre setup.

If you’ve ever played a Wii and thought, wow, this would be a GREAT way to work a home theatre setup, then do I ever have good news for you.  It’s called the Hillcrest Loop remote and it’ll do exactly that–work a home theatre setup just like playing a Wii.

Most everybody thought this was a gigantic bucket of vaporware for the longest time, but no, the Loop is now available on Amazon for just ninety nine dollars.  The loop uses internal sensors to determine where your pointer is on screen, and then offers just two buttons to navigate on-screen menus.  You don’t even need a clean line of sight because it uses RF for its communications.

Admittedly, this is a cool idea, but will there be hordes of people willing to plunk down a hundred bucks to make Change The Channel into the newest Wii game?  Okay, so it DOES sound like something that would’ve been included in a round of Wario Ware, but that’s somewhat beside the point.  It’s still a cool idea though.

While the era of 3D glasses brings a new dimension to the world of enjoying a new age of displays to date, pick out the key word here in “glasses”. Now after that, associate it with the brands in the reading or even the sunglasses industry and you get a lot. Will they invade the market? Gucci will!

Word has it that Gucci will soon come out with designer 3D glasses in the market, possibly signaling a new trend towards separating 3D glasses from the standard ones for viewing pleasure. Now along with a marquee brand comes a price. Unfortunately that is something we don’t have right now. But soon, you may be hearing “What brand of 3D sunglasses are you using?” If so, that should separate you from the rest in terms of class! I wonder though if it will still be suitable for outdoor fashion. Nah I don’t think so!

(Source) Ubergizmo

I have to admit that this is easily one of the most ambitious predictions I’ve heard about home theatre technology in recent months.  But given the return of the 3-D movie in theatres, and the numerous development projects surrounding 3-D these days, I’m not sure that it’s really that outlandish.

3-D will go mainstream.  And it will do so sooner than anyone expects.

It’s true, that more and more movies are being shot for 3-D. The newest version of Saw, Saw VII, will be in 3-D.  And with plenty of others waiting in the wings, it doesn’t seem all that unlikely after all.

But still, there’s a long way to go here.  Granted, the theatres are getting somewhere with it. In fact, when watching a movie like My Bloody Valentine 3-D you can still get 3-D effects without glasses.  This is a significant step forward.  But trying to apply that to people’s home theatre systems?  That’s a different order altogther, and a much taller one.

So yes, maybe we’ll be watching everything in 3-D soon, but there’s a long way to go before we get there.

If you just so happen to live in Europe and are looking for a painless method of receiving television broadcasts on your computer, the picoStick has you covered. What you see above is PCTV Systems’ picoStick USB Digital TV tuner with allows you to do just that, recieve television broadcasts on your computer.

What’s great about this device is, other than plugging directly into a USB port, that it requires absolutely no antenna, just plug it in an your good to go.

If this is something that interests you, expect it to appear on Amazon.co.uk and Play.com sometime next week for £50 or about $83.

via engadgethd