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Remote Dis-Harmony

Josh Zyber — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 12:00:50 +0000

I’ve used Harmony universal remote controls for years. As much as I greatly appreciate their broad range of device support, sometimes I find the limitations of Harmony’s programming options extremely frustrating. Some background: I have a couple of different Harmony units in use right now. For a physical remote, I still favor the older Harmony...

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Alexa, Turn on My Home Theater

Josh Zyber — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 17:00:33 +0000

As if the act of reaching for a remote control were just too much of burden, I’ve now added the ability to control my home theater by voice command. It’s a neat parlor trick, but will the function really prove useful? When I was a kid, my family’s living room TV was connected to a...

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Weekend Roundtable: Treat Yo Self

Josh Zyber — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 20:00:21 +0000

In theory, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the countless other retail sales you’ve been bombarded with recently are supposed to be the time to buy holiday gifts for friends and family. Be honest, though. You actually bought stuff for yourself, didn’t you? This week’s Roundtable is a bit of a confessional. What presents have you...

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Weekend Roundtable: Universal Remotes

Josh Zyber — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 19:00:03 +0000

One of the drawbacks of owning a lot of varied home theater equipment (HDTVs, Blu-ray players, A/V receivers, cable boxes and more) is that you wind up with a clutter of remote controls that manage separate functions on separate devices. In this week’s Roundtable, we’d like to know whether you’ve consolidated the control of your...

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Home Theater Headaches

Josh Zyber — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:00:47 +0000

We’ve all, I’m sure, experienced those days where it feels like the entire universe is actively conspiring against us. Last week, my home theater system did its best to drive me insane, all over what would turn out to be, essentially, nothing. I need an aspirin. In order to write up Friday’s Roundtable entry, I...

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Building an HTPC, Part 2

M. Enois Duarte — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:00:35 +0000

As described in Part 1 of this article, after much internal debate and heavy reading on the subject, I decided to build my own HTPC and customize it to my preferences. With the help of a very much appreciated buying guide written by Assassin HTPC Custom Entertainment, I determined the parts needed to create this...

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HDMI Handshaking Woes

Josh Zyber — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:00:32 +0000

The introduction of HDMI greatly simplified a lot of connectivity issues for home theater users. By combining the transmission of high-definition video and high-resolution audio all into just one cable per component, HDMI cuts down greatly on the cable clutter behind our equipment racks. This is a very welcome development. Unfortunately, at the same time,...

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My Home Theater in All Its Radiance

Josh Zyber — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:00:23 +0000

About a month ago, I detailed the trauma of what happened when my DVDO video processor – the central hub of my entire home theater system – suddenly died on me without warning. At the time, I made the decision to replace it not with the same or newer DVDO model, but rather with the...

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Weekend Roundtable: Next Upgrade for Your Home Theater

Josh Zyber — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:00:01 +0000

Every home theater owner comes down with a case of Upgraditis at some point. No matter how thoroughly equipped, no home theater ever really feels complete. Either some piece of gear needs replacing with the latest and greatest model, or some new toy that just hit the market needs to be added. For this week’s...

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