Author: Avi Greengart

Computing

Revisting Vista

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

My former colleague Joe Wilcox wrote a fairly damning column on Microsoft Vista yesterday, and I generally agree with his overall analysis. I have also written here in the past that I simply could not get Vista running reliably as a media center upgrade. And yet, somewhat surprisingly, my Vista box is now running well: no crashes, no problems connecting to peripherals, no problems. Four things have contributed to the updated (and happier) state of affairs: I reinstalled a fresh copy of Vista. That’s never a good solution, but my alternative was reinstalling XP (or trashing the box altogether), so …

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Accessories / Computing

Logitech MX Air Blends HT and PC

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Logitech introduced a new "mouse" yesterday, and I put "mouse" in quotation marks because it’s an interesting product that blends a PC mouse with a gyroscopic sensor (think Nintendo Wii’s controller and you have the right idea) and software that can be used as a remote control for watching media content on a computer. There have been products like this in the past, notably from Gyration (a company that got bought by Thomson in 2004). A bunch of years back when I was heading home theater research at JupiterResearch I wrote a report where I recommended their Media Center accessory …

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Industry

Count ’em: *TWO* CEDIA Expos

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CEDIA (the show) has been growing by leaps and bounds each year, so CEDIA (the organization) announced that they’re adding a Spring show in Las Vegas. I do think that there is room for another targeted CE show in the first half of the year; CES has gotten way out of hand. CES is so big and so crowded that it’s impossible for a small company’s announcement to stand out and nearly impossible to navigate for attendees. But CEDIA is scaling back expectations for the event, saying that, “Feedback from CEDIA members indicates that there is strong support for a …

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Industry

HES Come, Gone, Missed

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

The New York Home Entertainment Show has come and gone… and I missed it (I was tied up at a meeting most of the day Friday and had commitments on Sunday). I am upset that I missed seeing Internet-only retailers Outlaw Audio, who showed off a new line of speakers, and Aperion Audio, also a speaker vendor. I can ask for review units (my home theater isn’t set up again just yet, but at least it’s not under water any more), but without a dealer channel, open-to-the-public shows like HES are the best venue for normal folks to see and …

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Uncategorized

The State of Home Theater View

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Home Theater View does not have a huge audience, but, based on the feedback I get, the quality of the audience is high. That said, my posts have been steadily slowing down: 2004: 9 posts per month (Nov. & Dec.) 2005: 3.3 posts per month 2006: 2.1 posts per month 2007: 1.5 posts per month It’s not just the post count that has changed, but also the focus. Many recent posts were tilted more towards digital entertainment and less at hard core home theater. There are several reasons for the shift, which I do hope to reverse – at least …

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Computing

Love Vista, Just Can’t Recommend Upgrading to It

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Microsoft sent over a copy of Vista Ultimate and I upgraded my Media Center test box to put it through its paces. I have had mixed results. First, the positive. Vista is building on XP Media Center, which was already a good media platform. XP Media Center 2005 Edition crossed over the threshold of "good enough" to serve as a PVR instead of a TiVo or ReplayTV. I found it quite stable, though it still needs an antivirus subscription, and works best as a DVR when used almost exclusively for TV rather than combination work/TV/test box with all the software …

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DVD

Getting Harder To Sell Obscure DVDs

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The New York Times (free registration required) has an article up on the difficulties facing independant DVD labels: DVD sales are stalled Retail is flooded with titles Retail space is shrinking (big box stores are cutting back, while independents and record chains are going out of business) Shelf space that might be dedicated to less mainstream titles is instead allocated to HD-DVD and Blu-ray The most important point? Overall DVD sales are stalled. I suspect that sales will start to fall next year as collectors have built their libraries and the market is saturated: anyone who doesn’t already own a …

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Displays / DVD / HDTV / Industry

50% of HDTV Owners Don’t Have HDTV

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

The Wall Street Journal has a great article (subscription required) quoting a recent survey showing that 50% of consumers who bought an HDTV set don’t actually have HDTV service. What’s more frightening – and yet entirely believable – is that 25% of HDTV owners think that they do have HDTV when they don’t. Well worth a read. -avi

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Computing / Industry

Apple TV Knocking off Cable?

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Alan Graham proposes that Apple’s Apple TV is aiming at the heart of the cable TV business model: Is Apple Out to Kill Tivo? by ZDNet‘s Alan Graham — Yeah, I’m calling it. I think Apple (and others) are about to send Cable TV and Tivo a clear message…your time is almost up. The Web 2.0 world is about to kick the door in and escort the old methodology to pasture. And I think it is going to happen pretty quickly. Don’t let the […] It’s well argued, and there’s no question that Apple TV is a TiVo competitor, but …

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