Articles & Books From TVs & Home Theater

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022
It's time to cut the cord (the cable cord, that is). The world of online streaming is positively teeming with services that offer everything from anime (see Crunchyroll) to zombies (see Shudder). However, outside of the standard TV and movie fare that you find on the likes of Netflix and Hulu, what most of us really want is stuff to keep our kids entertained, our sports cravings satisfied, and our thirst for news quenched.
Cord Cutting For Dummies
Cut the cable television cord and cut your monthly billsAre you one of those people who have 500 television channels to choose from and you can never find anything to watch? Maybe it’s time to cut the cable cord and take full control of what’s on your television. All you need to get started with this popular money saving strategy is an Internet connection, a device to stream to, and the advice in this book.
Video / Updated 03-28-2016
Audio Transcript To mount your flat screen TV and make sure it stays on the wall, you have to have to pick the right mounting kit for the job. Most are anchored into wood studs, but many include special anchors for concrete, drywall, metal studs and so on. Just remember, your anchors need to hold 5 times the weight of what you're putting on the mount.
Video / Updated 03-28-2016
Audio Transcript Before you can watch anything on your HDTV, you need to get a TV signal into your television. The most common way is via an antenna or cable box. Since most over the air television stations broadcast in HD signal, you can get high definition versions of most network shows using a good old fashion, rabbit ear antenna — if you live in a city or metropolitan area.
Video / Updated 03-28-2016
Audio Transcript Systems are different, but here are the general steps to connect your HDTV to your home theater or sound system. First, check your HDTV unit's input/output ports. Usually at the side or in back. Input jacks receive signals, output jacks send signals from your HDTV to your system. Now, check your audio amplifiers input/output ports, they're usually in back.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Chromecast is a wireless display casting device developed by Google Inc. Chromecast enables the stream functionality of Chromebooks, Linux desktops, Android devices, and Google Chrome web browsers on in-home network HDTV setups. Basically, this means you can display or “throw” content from your computer, phone, and tablet to your high-definition television (HDMI required).
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the latest and greatest digital audio/video cable connection and can give you great HDTV resolution. Besides HDTVs, HDMI is being included in a variety of devices these days, including DVD players, cable and satellite set-top boxes, Media Center Edition PCs, and the Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If you're turning a computer into a music machine, why not just do the obvious: Hook it up to the stereo? If you want to make audiotapes of your MP3s (or even streaming audio concerts) for your car's tape deck, this is probably a good idea. Also, if your band wants to convert a demo tape into MP3 format for posting on the Web, you can reverse the hookup — that is, run the sound out from your stereo into the microphone jack of your computer.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
An audio or home theater system generally includes the center channel speaker, the left and right front speakers, the surround channel speakers, and the subwoofer. The purpose of the center speaker is to provide highly localized speaker information; it's coming from the center of the screen. There's a high correlation between what you see on the screen and where the sound comes from.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Audio speakers are relatively simple devices. Basically, you have an enclosure (typically a box) into which speaker drivers are attached. The drivers are the round elements that many people call the actual speakers (they're not). The drivers look like cones or horns (or even ribbons or domes), and in fact, the large surface area of the drivers is called the cone or diaphragm.