Home Theaters

With so much information coming from the Consumer Electronics Show, it is easy to be assaulted by the barrage of new items, the buzzwords, and the hype. It is for some, the signal that it is time to pony up the bucks for something new. This is as the advertisers and manufacturers wish it to be.

It must be remembered, however, just how many things introduced at a CES are harder to find than hen’s teeth just one year later. Few things make it to the anniversary date, because so much stuff introduced is just that - stuff.

Look at how things can change in less than 60 days. In October, just around the last week of that month, the HD DVD backers were getting everything into high gear to push that format, those discs, and those players to the point of ubiquity. Players were introduced, and had their entire life span calculated in days (Toshiba HD-A2).  

Movies in the HD format were being given as a part of the promotion, 5 or 7, and then 10, with a player that was being blown out at dealer cost - simply to make a splash into the market, and stem the tide started by the Blu-ray consortium, with its leader, the Sony PS3.

By Thanksgiving, HD players were flying out the doors of retailers, and several pundits were predicting the demise of the Blu-ray player and disc format, simply because one of the movie companies decided to stop dual inventory.

Now CES has come and gone, and in a span of its 4 days, two studios have decided to swing the other way, and Blu-ray is in the driver’s seat, or so it seems. Articles about the long faces of the HD DVD purveyors, at their booths at CES were many.

Now the pendulum has swung the other way, and with some extra momentum. The future of HD DVD

  is not very bright right now, and some people are still waiting for the delivery of those free discs that were promised before Thanksgiving.

Because the world of consumer electronics is so mercurial, and things can change in a number of days, it is wise to evaluate what one has, and the qualities it offers. This is true of home theater equipment, audio reproduction equipment, computers, and anything else using circuitry.

Before deciding to plunk down for that new (insert item here), check to see if what you already have can be upgraded, repaired at reasonable cost, or repurposed - this will make you, your finances, and the green Earth, all happier.

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