By now most everyone is acquainted with surround sound, typically a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, which can do a more than fair job at recreating the audio experience afforded at the cinema. But Philips' new 360Sound ups the ante with a sound system comprised of five satellites speakers with a tripole configuration (one firing forward and two as side-firing), alongside a subwoofer and tripole center speaker. That's a total of 16 speakers, plus a Blu-ray player as the centerpiece, all in a fairly decor-friendly package thanks to the small size of these speakers. More

Katie Richardson's basement home theater just goes to show that you don't need a McMansion to set up a sweet home theater. Katie's underground entertainment room utilizes every square inch for her home entertainment needs, complete with a front projection system and even a velvet rope! More

They've been promising it for years, but 2010 is the year of 3-D -- according to Sony. Not only has the consumer electronics side of the mega company announced a slew of 3-D compatible Blu-ray players and TVs at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, but Sony Pictures Home Entertainment just announced that it'll be selling 3-D enabled Blu-ray discs and ESPN will broadcast games in 3-D. Welcome to the future. More

We've been quite pleased since replacing our Apple TV with the slimmed down PS3 console as the heart of our media center, with a transition smoother than expected. The tipping point for the switch was mostly due to Apple's updates continually nixing our Boxee and XBMC modifications. But we also found ourselves drawn to moving over to the PS3 for greater media playing options, including the recently added feature in the PS3's arsenal: Netflix instant streaming. Our first week impressions below.

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