Latest news with #homeTheater
Gizmodo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Sonos Beam Soundbar Hits All-Time Low Price, Now's the Perfect Time to Upgrade Your TV or Speaker
Sonos is a brand known and trusted all over the world for its great sound and easy-to-use products. While most Sonos devices are made for serious home theaters or whole-house music, a few models (like the Sonos Beam soundbar) bring this top-quality audio to more people. Right now and thanks to Amazon, the Sonos Beam (gen 2) is more attractive than ever for anyone who wants better TV sound or just a great speaker for their living room. Today, you can buy the Sonos Beam Gen 2 in black or white for only $369, down from its regular price of $499, which is a savings of more than 26%. This is a rare chance to get one of the best soundbars out there at a price that many more people can afford. The Beam 2nd gen isn't just for your TV: it's also a powerful WiFi speaker that can play music, radio, podcasts and audiobooks anywhere in your home. See at Amazon Our Favorite Soundbar The Sonos Beam is capable of delivering deep bass, clear and crisp dialogue and broad soundstage sound that will have you fully engrossed in your top movies, TV shows, and music. With Dolby Atmos support, the Beam Gen 2 delivers a true 3D surround sound experience which envelopes you in precise sound. If you watch action-filled blockbusters or unwind to soft dramas, the Beam Gen 2 presents each detail of the soundtrack with clarity and depth. This rich sound is made possible through advanced engineering and a thoughtfully calibrated set of drivers and amplifiers. The Sonos Beam Gen 2 is incredibly easy to set up with just two cables and step-by-step guidance through the Sonos app. The app also features Trueplay tuning which uses the mic on your smartphone to probe the acoustics in your room and automatically adjust the soundbar's output for optimal performance. Smart tuning ensures that the Beam Gen 2 sounds fantastic no matter where you place it on a shelf or below your TV. Another feature worth mentioning is connectivity: there are WiFi, Ethernet, and HDMI ARC options to choose from. Sonos supports the Sonos app, your TV remote, Apple AirPlay 2 and voice assistants Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant: You can adjust the volume, skip tracks or seek out content using a voice command, so Beam Gen 2 is as easy as it is powerful. When you're not binge-watching your favorite TV shows, the Beam Gen 2 is a high-performance WiFi speaker that can stream music from all of the services you enjoy. Its low price on Amazon today of just $369 is a bargain for a soundbar that's both an upgrade to your TV and a WiFi speaker for your home. See at Amazon
CNET
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
This Govee TV Backlight Turns My Living Room Into an Entertainment Oasis, and It's Just $60 on Amazon
Watching a good flick in a proper movie theater is pretty darn great, but I never thought to try to recreate that fully immersive experience at home -- until I found a simple TV backlight. After 20 minutes of setup and a quick calibration, I found myself totally drawn into my favorite shows as though I were in the theater, and for far less money than just about any other item I've purchased for my entertainment center. Skip forward a few years; now I own one of these backlights for every TV in my house. This Govee TV backlight is already relatively budget-friendly. And I'm glad to say it's even cheaper right now, thanks to a sweet deal during Amazon's Memorial Day Sale. The price has dropped to only $60, a solid 15% savings on something that's totally changed the way I enjoy watching and playing at home. Memorial Day TV Deals All of the biggest TV brands are offering big discounts for Memorial Day, and we've filtered through every one of them to bring you the very best deals. See now There are a couple of different kinds of TV backlights out there. Some keep a single color all around your TV, usually a warmer shade of white, which allows the colors on the screen to stand out more to most eyes. Govee's TV Backlight system is more interactive than that, but it works best when the lights in your room are low or off. It uses a special fisheye lens camera pointed straight at your TV to see what colors are currently happening on the edges of your screen. The software relays that information to the LED strips on the back of the television, which then extend that color onto the wall behind your screen. The result, as you can see in the image below, is incredible. Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money. Russell Holly/CNET I've set several of these up over the last couple of years, and it has never once taken more than 30 minutes to complete. These lights can also be turned on and off by an app on your phone, or by connecting the app to Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. It's extremely satisfying to call Alexa and see your TV suddenly pop with color. The settings are very easy to adjust to fit whatever living room situation you have, as long as your TV is near a wall. And if you really want a great experience, make sure your TV has a good soundbar to go with this backlight setup. Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite specs Power source : Corded electric, 12 volts (DC) : Corded electric, 12 volts (DC) Connection types : Bluetooth, Wi-Fi : Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Controller types : Govee app or voice (requires Alexa or Google Assistant) : Govee app or voice (requires Alexa or Google Assistant) LED array : RGBICW : RGBICW Cameras : One, Fisheye : One, Fisheye LED strip length: 7.8 feet (for TVs 40-50 inches), 11.8 feet (for TVs 55-65 inches), 16.4 feet (for TVs 75-85 inches) Does this backlight work with your TV? If you're concerned about whether this kind of backlight setup would work for you, there are a couple of easy things you can check before you try it for yourself. All you really need to know is your TV's size, its position in your room and how much control you have over lighting. TV size : Govee's TV backlight has three different products based on your TV size. This includes screens that are 40 to 50 inches, 55 to 65 inches and 75 to 85 inches. The larger and smaller sizes are different prices than the one I use, but the difference in price is usually fairly minor unless there's a big sale happening on only one size. If your TV is outside of these sizes, you won't have the same overall experience. : Govee's TV backlight has three different products based on your TV size. This includes screens that are 40 to 50 inches, 55 to 65 inches and 75 to 85 inches. The larger and smaller sizes are different prices than the one I use, but the difference in price is usually fairly minor unless there's a big sale happening on only one size. If your TV is outside of these sizes, you won't have the same overall experience. TV position : Backlights work best when your TV is close to a wall, and that wall should be free of interruptions for at least 5 inches in every direction. If you have pictures or art hanging behind your television, these will interrupt the light coming from the back of the TV and might deliver a poor overall experience. This is especially true if the surface behind the television is reflective. : Backlights work best when your TV is close to a wall, and that wall should be free of interruptions for at least 5 inches in every direction. If you have pictures or art hanging behind your television, these will interrupt the light coming from the back of the TV and might deliver a poor overall experience. This is especially true if the surface behind the television is reflective. Room lighting: Your room does not need to be completely dark in order to enjoy this backlight, but the room should generally speaking be dimmer than what would normally be considered good light to read by. If you are hoping to use this backlight during the day, be sure any windows in the room are covered. At night, I would recommend dimming your room lights for the best experience. There aren't a lot of traditional room layouts where you can't enjoy a backlight like this one, but with the tips above you can quickly go from having a good experience to a great one. Yes, there are other TV backlights out there Govee is far from the only company out there making multicolor adaptive backlights for your television, and on a purely technical level the TV Backlight 3 Lite is not the best you could possibly have for your television. Govee itself offers a more capable Envisual TV Backlight, which uses a pair of cameras to ensure the colors at the corners of your screen are precisely sent to the LED strip on the back. The Hue Play system from Philips reads the color information directly from the HDMI cable so there's the smallest possible delay between what you see on the screen and what you see in the backlights. Those LEDs also cover a wider color spectrum, so the colors behind the TV line up amazingly well. The TV Backlight 3 Lite from Govee is a fantastic setup for its price, which is why I love it. You can regularly get this kit for around half the price of Govee's more capable system--and for a fraction of the price of the Philips Hue system. But neither are better enough in my opinion to justify the added costs. This is something you can do on your own for relatively cheap, and the end result is loads of fun. And at the end of the day, that's why I'm in front of my TV in the first place. For more good bargains, we've rounded up all the best deals from Amazon's Memorial Day Sale happening right now. And if you're on the hunt for a gift, check out our roundups of the best gifts for grads and the best Father's Day gifts.
Digital Trends
16-05-2025
- Digital Trends
This Samsung Dolby Atmos soundbar combo is 57% off at Woot today
Nothing says 'surround sound' like a full-on Dolby Atmos soundbar system. While many of these bar-speaker bundles cost upwards of $1,000, one of the best Atmos rigs has a crazy-good discount at Woot today: For a limited time, you'll be able to score the Samsung HW-Q990D 11.1.4ch Dolby Atmos Soundbar for only $868. That's a $1,132 markdown from its original $2,000 price! Why you should buy the Samsung HW-Q990D Soundbar More than just an upgrade for your TV speakers, the Samsung HW-Q990D is a true, all-hands-on-deck surround sound, but minus a bulky AV receiver and all that speaker wire. Thanks to side-firing and up-firing drivers, the HW-Q990D is able to direct audio around you and up toward the ceiling for the height effects Dolby Atmos is renowned for. The system also comes with two rear speakers and a wireless subwoofer. One of the best features of the Samsung HW-Q990D is Spacefit Sound Pro. This calibrates the soundbar to accommodate the unique acoustics of the room it lives in, so you'll always have the best sound for the space. We're also big fans of the Adaptive Sound feature, which analyzes and enhances dialogue and vocals in real time, so you'll never miss a line of your favorite show. The Samsung HW-Q990D can be used for video passthrough to your TV as well, and has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity for streaming tunes wirelessly from a phone or tablet. Get Samsung's 2024 flagship audio system for only $868 when you purchase right now. You should also take a peek at our lists of the best soundbar deals, best Samsung TV deals, and best Samsung deals for even more discounts on top Samsung tech!
WIRED
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
Sony Bravia Theater System 6 Review: Great Performance, Odd Design
Of all Sony's Bravia home theater gear for 2025, the new Theater System 6 (not to be confused with the new Theater Bar 6) is the strangest. Part soundbar, part home theater in a box (HTB), the System 6 eschews the status quo of single-bar solutions with fancy Dolby Atmos speakers and networking features for a callback to budget home theaters of yesteryear. Photograph: Ryan Waniata The system's collection of 5.1 surround components includes a beefy subwoofer, two tall and musical surround speakers, and a small center soundbar that performs much better than you'd expect based on its thin frame and mundane design. The whole setup runs through the tubby sub, including all inputs and an amplifier box that acts as a bridge for the wired surround speakers. The mostly wired configuration feels more Vizio than Sony, while its layout evokes '90s A/V vibes. Without Wi-Fi, the System 6 is a pain to update and misses out on modern extras like smart assistants and Apple AirPlay, but features like Sony's virtual 3D surround engine and controller app give you more to work with than vintage plug-and-play solutions. Most importantly, the System 6's cinematic oomph is a blast for movies, gaming, and everything in between. Home Theater in a (Big) Box The System 6 may be all-in-one, but it's still something of a bear to set up, starting with lugging the massive L-shaped box into your TV room. Flipping open the side reveals a sprawling collection of components, including five main pieces, dual power cables, and flat-wire cables for connecting the surrounds and main bar. It's all pretty intuitive, but you'll want to block out some solid setup time. Props to Sony for including the same attachable soundbar feet found in its flagship Bravia Theater 9 to help it sit above TV stands
Digital Trends
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Save on soundbars: This Samsung 3.1-channel soundbar has a great deal this week
Home theater soundbars allow you to turn your average living room into a theater space that sometimes rivals the discount multiplex down the road. Brands like Samsung are responsible for some of the most impressive and immersive soundbars on the market, and as luck would have it, there's a great Samsung bar on sale this week. For a limited time, you'll be able to get the Samsung HW-B650 3.1ch Soundbar at Best Buy or Walmart for only $230, a $170 markdown from its $400 MSRP. Why you should buy the Samsung HW-B650 Soundbar The Samsung HW-B650 is an absolute godsend for lackluster TV speakers. Once connected to your TV via HDMI ARC or digital optical, all AV components and TV audio will be routed through your Samsung bar. Classed as a 3.1 setup, the HW-B650 features a discrete center channel and left-right channels, resulting in powerful front-of-the-room performance that holds up well in small to medium-sized spaces. And thanks to the wireless sub, this Samsung system even brings a fair amount of bass to the party! Thanks to Dolby Digital and DTS support, the HW-B650 can also downscale surround sound signals to virtualize a larger speaker system. It's not as immersive as a true surround setup or object-based tracking you'd get from a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X-compatible soundbar, but you can always add a Samsung rear speaker kit down the line for improved emulation. There's even a Bluetooth input for streaming music and podcasts wirelessly from a phone or tablet to your Samsung soundbar. This model has been out for a few years now, so we're not sure how much longer you'll be able to find it brand-new and for a discounted price. Take $200 off the Samsung HW-B650 3.1ch Soundbar when you purchase today. We also recommend taking a look at our lists of the best soundbar deals, best Samsung TV deals, and best TV deals for even more discounts on top AV devices.
