Elite Home Theater Seating Blog

The New Vizio 42-inch 5.1 Home Theater Soundbar

January 17th, 2013

Vizio has announced a new addition of the Vizio 42-inch 5.1 Home Theater Soundbar with expected ship date to be in the spring of these year and an MSRP of $330.

“We’re very proud our 42” 5.1 Home Theater Sound Bar was named Best of CES 2013, This product is engineered to elevate the consumer home theater experience to new heights at an unparalleled value. VIZIO’s new slim, modern, size-matched design complements a range of HDTV sizes and are packed with technologies to amplify audio to match the visual experience consumers have grown to expect from their HDTVs.” - John Schindler, VIZIO Vice President of Product Management

As we’ve reported previously, Soundbars are gaining a lot of popularity. With pristine sound quality and a speaker system without the clutter and vast amount of wires used in traditional home theater speakers, there’s no wonder why Soundbars are catching on.

The Vizio  42-inch 5.1 Home Theater Soundbar can push out 102dB of output with less than 1% total harmonic distortion. With Bluetooth support for streaming audio directly from a Bluetooth enabled device like a tablet or smartphone, this new line of Soundbars may attract a huge audience.

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

 

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

 

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Dredd on Blu-ray (3D)

January 15th, 2013

DreddLast week, (January 8), Dredd was released on Blu-ray! Directed by Pete Travis and starring Karl Urban, Evan Rachel Wood, and Lena Headey. Dredd is set in a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury, and executioner.When released to theaters last year, the movie was liked by science fiction and comic book fans. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an overall rating of 77%.

“Lionsgate offers ‘Dredd‘ on a single 50 GB dual-layer disc with both the 3D and 2D versions of the film. The package comes in a slipcover that reproduces the cover art and an insert with a code for the Ultraviolet and Digital Copy included. The disc has several skippable trailers at the start, specifically ‘The Last Stand’, ‘Alex Cross’, ‘The Cold Light of Day’, an ad for the ‘Tarantino XX’ collection, ‘The Expendables 2‘, ‘The Men Who Built America’, and an ad for ‘Epix.’ (High Def Digest, 2012)

Dredd shouldn’t be mistaken for the Sylvester Stallone movie, Judge Dredd which was released in 1995. For those of you that haven’t seen this film, click here to watch the entire movie via YouTube. We have no affiliation with the person that uploaded the entire movie so if there are any copy write issues, we just posted a link to it here!

The special features:

1) Mega-City Masters: 35 Years of Judge Dredd
2) ‘Dredd‘ Featurette
3) Day of Chaos: The Visual Effects of ‘Dredd 3D’
4) Dredd’s Gear
5) The 3rd Dimension
6) Welcome to Peach Trees
7) ‘Dredd‘ Motion Comic Prequel
8) Trailers

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

 

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

 

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Belkin’s “Thunderstorm” Handheld Home Theater Case

January 7th, 2013

Belkin has introduced a handheld home theater case for the iPad. MSRP $199.99, the Thunderstorm  is a form-fitting case that protects the iPad the same way as a traditional case does but the Thunderstorm has a large stereo speaker along the side edges of the iPad. With an app you can purchase, the Thunderstorm is marketed as a handheld home theater system that allows the user to adjust the sound for different uses such as music, movies, or games.

There is one negative to the Thunderstorm and that would be the size and weight of the iPad. You may not want to hold on to it for too long as it does weight a lot more than your traditional iPad. The Thunderstorm comes with a stand so you don’t have to hold it the entire time.

Belkin has two versions of the Thunderstorm. One is for the fourth-generation iPad and fits its Lightning dock connector. The other is for the third-generation iPad and the iPad 2, which have the older Apple 30-pin connector.

Would you want a case like this just to have better sound? We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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Looper on Blu-ray

January 5th, 2013

Looper, directed by Rian Johnson and starring  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt was released on Blu-ray DVD this past Monday (New Years Eve). While Looper wasn’t a huge success at the box office ($66 million US and $166 million worldwide), the movie has slowly gained the attention of the public making this a highly anticipated release on Bluray. According to The HD Room, Looper  gained high sales from Amazon prior to release, making this an anticipated release. 

Looper revolves around criminal organizations that use time travel in the year 2074 to  send those they want killed into the past where they are killed by “Looper“, (assassins paid with silver bars strapped to their targets). Joe, (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) a looper, encounters himself when his older self (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to be killed. In Looper, time travel was invented in 2044 but outlawed and used by criminals for their own personal gain. These ”Looper“, dispose of the bodies in a time where the victim doesn’t exist but the only catch to this is that these ”Loopers“, are sent to kill their future selves. It sounds a little confusing but if you think back to how time travel operated in Back To The Future, the premise here is pretty much the same; what you change in the future changes the present.

The special features included on the Blu-ray are: 

1) Feature Commentary with Director Rian Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt  
2) Looper: From the Beginning – Making-of Featurette
3) 5 Deleted Scenes with Commentary
4) Scoring Looper
5) Looper Animated Trailer

Blu-ray Exclusives

1) The Science of Time Travel Featurette
2) 17 Additional Deleted Scenes with Commentary

With the holidays over most of us have time to relax and watch TV once again. This is a good way to kick it off.

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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Home Theater PC’s (HTPC)

January 3rd, 2013

Steiger Dynamics offer gamers a new home theater PC experience. For many years, home theater PC’s have been less than exciting and frequently ignored. In a recent interview with Gaming Illustrated, Steiger Dynamics CTO Martin Gossner sheds some light on the improvements of HTPC’s. Here are some excerpts of that interview:

“Gaming Illustrated: The concept of an HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) has always been a dumbed-down version of your main PC. You’ve challenged that concept with your line of HTPCs. How do you plan on changing the consumer dynamic to make them expect more from an HTPC and the higher price tag that goes along with it?”

“Martin Gossner: Home Theater PCs are typically characterized by features like silent operation, a form factor tailored to living room furniture, and a sleek looking chassis that allows a seamless integration into a home theater setup. Meeting these criteria traditionally came with a compromise in processing performance, gaming capability, and storage capacity. Our systems break with that tradition and are the first and only on the market to incorporate high-performance state-of-the-art hardware, while meeting all of the traditional HTPC characteristics. The key to this is our sophisticated chassis design, the sole use of liquid cooling solutions, and the consistent implementation of highly efficient components. Another crucial enabler is the increasing spread of TVs with a screen size of 55 inches and above, allowing for the full-fledged use of Windows from the couch. Connected to such a TV, the LEET completely replaces your desktop PC and at the same time integrates home server, TV, Blu-ray playback, and gaming functionalities. This lets you get rid of multiple devices in your household, making the LEET extremely efficient and the center of your digital life. Especially the gaming experience is elevated to a completely new level. The bigger and better picture and the precise surround sound make it incredibly real. And playing from the sofa with your friends is much more social and comfortable than using a desktop setup. We strongly believe that high-end PC Gaming is conquering the living room – and the LEET is paving the way.”

“Gaming Illustrated: What are some great home theater tips you can give our gamers that represent some common mistakes that degrade the overall experience of watching movies or playing games in the living room / man cave?”

“Martin Gossner: First, the picture: For lag free gaming in the living room it is essential to decrease the TV’s input lag to its minimum. Therefore, make sure to deactivate picture processing of your TV by enabling Game Mode in your TV settings.”

“Second, the sound: proper calibration of the surround sound system makes a huge difference. It lets you locate sounds more precisely, giving you competitive advantage especially in multiplayer games.”

“Third, the control: Whereas most wireless mice and keyboards work well with short distance desktop setups, many of them struggle with random hangs or lags in long distance living room environments.”

The full interview will give you insight on HTPC and what Steiger Dynamics has in store for us. Click here to read the entire interview from Gaming Illustrated and judge for yourself if you would prefer the HTPC. For many years HTPC’s have lagged excitement but just maybe, Steiger Dynamics may be able to change that perception.

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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2012: A Look Back

December 20th, 2012

Another year has gone by so quickly and it was a year of some great milestones, some new beginnings, and some great memories. 2012 was the year we took on social media with our accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest and we also committed ourselves to do more blogging because we love talking about all things home theater. Smart TV’s, Cloud Based DVR’s, The Dark Knight, Home Theater Themed Rooms, and Home Theater Trends really caught our attention. There were events outside of home theater that also made huge headlines. From happy moments like the second term win of President Barack Obama, the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup, and we can’t forget how the world danced in unison to Gangnam Style. There were also sad moments the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy, the horrific school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, and the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting. Just like any year, there were amazing achievements and tragic events, that’s just how it goes. Let’s focus on the good and recall some of our favourite home theater blogs of 2012. Now it’s hard to choose because we love all our blogs BUT we took some of the most fun to write blogs and most important (to us) and have listed our top 10. Hope you enjoy this look back at a great year.

1) Our Exclusive Dark Knight Themed Home Theater Room!! We have asked or pictures of the completed room and once we get them, we will post it right away!

2) Home Theater, A Great Movie, & The Kids! 

3) The Cinema Series

4) Home Theater Seating Comfort

5) Customizing Your Chair with Elite HTS

6) DIY Home Theaters

7) Sports Themed Home Theater Rooms

8) Sound Bar Speakers

9) 3D Technology

10) Friday The 13th

First and foremost we want to thank all our customers for being with us in 2012. We look forward to working with you again in 2013. For all of you that have supported us on social media, we cannot thank you enough. We are very excited for 2013 and we are excited to grow with you all.  We will still be blogging and on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest over the holidays but we know today is the start of many peoples Christmas holidays. So before some of you head out to see family and friends, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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Total Recall (2012)

December 18th, 2012

Total Recall, the reboot, is to be released on December 18th. The reboot stars Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, and Jessica Biel.  Total Recall will come in three versions: three-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and a two-disc Blu-ray release which include both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film, which feature 20 minutes not seen in theaters. 

If you haven’t seen the 1990 version starring  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside than you might enjoy the reboot. It was met with mixed reviews and nowhere is this more evident than Rotten Tomatoes review. “While it boasts some impressive action sequences, Total Recall lacks the intricate plotting, wry humor, and fleshed out characters that made the original a sci-fi classic.” With a 30% average rating, it wasn’t a favourite of theirs. However, sci-fi fans did enjoy it and are anticipating the release on Blu-ray.

Here is a comprehensive rundown of what is available on the 3 disc version:

Disc 1:
Special features include: 
Extended Director’s Cut 
Commentary on Extended Director’s Cut 
Total Recall Insight Mode 

Disc 2: 
Special features include: 
Gag Reel 
Science Fiction vs. Science Fact featurette 
Designing the Fall featurette 
Blu-ray Exclusives 
7 Total Action featurettes 
Stepping into Recall Pre-visualization sequences 
“God of War: Ascension” PlayStation®3 Playable Game Demo 

Disc 3: 
Special features include: 
Total Recall Insight Mode 
Gag reel 
Science Fiction vs. Science Fact featurette 
Designing the Fall featurette

We enjoyed this movie and are looking forward to purchasing the Blu-ray. To enjoy the extended directors cut this holiday season will be great!

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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Home Theater Gifts That Won’t Break The Bank

December 13th, 2012

Christmas time can be very expensive and we all know home theater equipment and supplies can have high price points. However there are necessities everyone with a home theater needs that won’t break the bank. On December 5th, last week, we looked at four home theater gift ideas. All the items listed were great but can be over budget for some people. This week, let’s look at items that won’t cost you too much. 

1) HDMI Cables: Home theater and HDMI cables go hand in hand and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. HDMI cables can cost as low as $0.83 (any liquidator or dollar stores and even on Amazon). Of course if you want gold plated, longer wires, and a high end brand name, the cost can increase substantially. However, HDMI cables are a big part of home theaters and is a great gift idea.

2) DVD Movies: If you’re looking to buy holiday movies, TV shows, music concerts, sci-fi, horror, or comedies, movies also make a great gift. With prices as low as $3.00 and up, you have a wide selection to choose from. Click here for some great Christmas movies from Amazon.

3) Netflix Subscription: For only $8.00 a month, Netflix is a great gift idea. As an added bonus, you get the first month for free! Click here to get more information on how to subscribe to Netflix.

4) Surge Protector Power Bars: Something so necessary yet overlooked. Surge Protector Power Bars are needed for almost every household. They are beneficial on so many levels especially when it comes to safety. Here’s a list of many available from Amazon. From as low as $13.39 and up, Surge Protector Power Bars are affordable and important.

5) Universal Remote Controls: A universal remote control makes life more relaxing. You don’t have to fumble through multiple controllers to operate your home theater system. Click here to see what’s available from Amazon. 

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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Cloud Based DVR

December 11th, 2012

Many households especially those with home theaters include a DVR, (PVR’s as they are called in Canada), the one drawback though is the lack of storage for previously recorded shows. Boxee and Aereo have introduced the cloud based DVR to eliminate this issue. For a monthly fee, you can have access to numerous content. 

MSRP of $99.00, the Boxee lets the user record an unlimited amount of TV shows through the DVR box’s two tuners. Everything is stored online through Boxee‘s servers. This is not to be mistaken with Boxee‘s app Cloudee, this is an actual DVR box.

This past October, Boxee CEO, Avner Ronen spoke to Bloomberg Televisions “Bloomberg West” regarding the new cloud-based DVR service. Click here to watch the clip.

One concern of any cloud computing service is the ability or inability to retrieve your stored content if the server goes down. For now, the concept of having an unlimited amount of storage for recorded content is ideal and hopefully the DVR can rectify the one issue people have with it. More storage space is ideal be it cloud based or bigger hard drives. We will all see in due time what will occur from cloud based DVR’s

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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The Bourne Legacy on Blu-ray

December 8th, 2012

December 11 will bring us The Bourne Legacy on Blu-ray! The Bourne Legacy was directed by Tony Gilroy and stars Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, and Edward Norton. In The Bourne Legacy Aaron Cross, (played by Jeremy Renner), a member of a black ops program whose agents are genetically enhanced, goes on the run once Bourne’s actions lead to the public exposure of Operations Treadstone and Blackbriar. The title character Jason Bourne does not appear in The Bourne Legacy, as Matt Damon, who played Bourne in the first three films.

“The Bourne Legacy takes the action-packed Bourne series to an explosive new level. On the verge of having their conspiracy exposed, members of the government’s intelligence community will stop at nothing to erase all evidence of their top secret programs – even the agents involved. Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) must use his genetically-engineered skills to survive the ultimate game of cat-and-mouse and finish what Jason Bourne started. Also starring Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz and Academy Award® nominee Edward Norton, critics are calling this a “thrilling, edge-of-your-seat heart-pounder” (Meg Porter Berns, WSVN-TV (FOX), Miami).

The Bourne Legacy received mixed reviews.  Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 56% rating and stated “It isn’t quite as compelling as the earlier trilogy, but The Bourne Legacy proves the franchise has stories left to tell and benefits from Jeremy Renner’s magnetic work in the starring role.” Regardless of reviews, fans of the franchise were happy about this release even if Matt Damon wasn’t apart of this film.

Fans will be happy with the bonus content available on the Blu-ray and DVD.

Bonus Features
1) Deleted Scenes
2) Re-Bourne
3) Capturing Chaos: The Motorbike Chase

 Blu-ray Exclusive Bonus Features
1) Moving Targets: Aaron and Marta
2) Crossing Continents: Legacy on Location
3) Man vs Wolf
4) Wolf Sequence Test
5) Feature commentary with director / co-writer Tony Gilroy, co-writer Dan Gilroy, editor John Gilroy, director of photography Robert Elswit, second unit director Dan Bradley, and production designer Kevin Thompson
6) BD Live – My Scenes

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com

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