2 new Best Buy Insignia Blu-ray players get Netflix streaming

The ability to stream instant movies from a Blu-ray player, once relegated to higher-end models, is moving to the masses with two new Insignia-brand Netflix enabled Blu-ray players from Best Buy.

The two models with Netflix access are the Insignia NS-WBRDVD player, sale priced at $200, and the $180 NS-BRDVD3. Both are currently available at stores and on BestBuy.com. The key differentiating feature is that the higher-priced model has built-in Wi-Fi, so you can wirelessly access a home network to connect to the Internet.

In addition, the step-up model can decode both Dolby TrueHD [PDF] and DTS-HD Master Audio internally; the entry-level model only decodes Dolby TrueHD internally, though each can output both formats as bitstream if you have an A/V receiver that can decode them. —James K. Willcox

Pandora does not care if your friends don't like Britney Spears

Pandora claims to have a single mission: "To play only music you'll love." For those of you not familiar with Pandora, it acts as a personal, customized radio station that with input from the user, works to play music customized to the listener's tastes. The New York Times recently published a piece titled "The Song Decoders" that looks at how the musicologists and computer scientists at Pandora work behind the scenes to make sure the music you hear on your personal Pandora stations is to your liking.

These musicologists break out hundreds of data points for each song, but ignore the one factor that is a mainstay of so many other music discovery sites: Popularity. When the cultural influence of your peers and the music taste-makers is removed from the equation, you may be surprised at what you actually like.

In the New York Times article, Pandora's founder Tim Westergren relays an anecdote that explains the implications of removing popularity from computer music discovery algorithms. 

...a Pandora user who wrote in to complain that he started a station based on the music of Sarah McLachlan, and the service served up a Celine Dion song. “I wrote back and said, ‘Was the music just wrong?’ Because we sometimes have data errors,” he recounts. “He said, ‘Well, no, it was the right sort of thing — but it was Celine Dion.’ I said, ‘Well, was it the set, did it not flow in the set?’ He said, ‘No, it kind of worked — but it’s Celine Dion.’ We had a couple more back-and-forths, and finally his last e-mail to me was: ‘Oh, my God, I like Celine Dion.’ ”

So if you have not tried Pandora yet it may be worth a spin, especially since a growing number of TVs and Blu-ray players are now built to stream it. (See "Internet TVs get more streaming options" and our post on new features for Blu-ray players.) Pandora's innovative approach to decoding songs may have applications in other data decoding areas in the future. And don't worry, no one will tell your friends if—against all odds—you wind up actually liking Britney Spears. —Dirk Klingner

Extra Extra: Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide is on sale

(Click to enlarge.)

It may be a tad early to start your holiday shopping, but there’s a good chance you’ve at least been thinking about it. Maybe you’ve had a big-ticket gift—like a new TV or home theater—in mind for a while now, but are putting off the purchase till November or December. If it’s sales you’re waiting for, you probably know what you want and how much you’re willing to pay. On the other hand, you might just a teeny bit leery of throwing so much cash at something you know very little about. Which is better: a plasma or LCD TV? Should you upgrade to a Blu-ray player or stick with standard-def DVDs?

If you find yourself in need of expert advice, consider the newest edition of the Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide. Inside you’ll find a wealth of information on everything from televisions and computers to smart phones, GPS units, and much more. For each product, the Consumer Reports editors walk you through the basics, explaining what’s available, which features matter, brand profiles, and offering tried-and-true shopping tips.

In addition to product information, the guide offers advice on how to shop smarter, including:

• Netting the best deals online, and protecting yourself when you shop on the Web


• When to repair and when to replace a broken item


• How to haggle effectively


• Finding the best electronics retailer based on our comprehensive annual survey


• How to save—and what to be wary of—with refurbished or open-box products on store shelves


• Where to get free office software, free computer security programs, and more useful freeware

New Ratings: Home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems

This 2.1-channel Samsung Blu-ray HTIB package targets those without room for a full multichannel system. (Click to enlarge.)
[PHOTO: Courtesy of Samsung]

We’ve just posted Home Theater Ratings (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers) for 15 new home-theater-in-a box systems, which include models without a built-in player, those with an integrated Blu-ray player, and models that have a DVD player. Most are 5.1- or 7.1-channel systems equipped with either five or seven acoustically matched speakers, plus a powered subwoofer. One model, a Samsung, is a 2.1-channel system designed for those who don’t have the room or desire for a full multichannel set-up.

Prices for these systems vary widely—the least expensive system we tested, a 5.1-channel system from RCA, costs $160, and Blu-ray models from both LG and Samsung are priced at $700. And price isn’t the best indicator of performance, we found.

You’ll have to choose carefully when buying a system to get the best combination of sound and video quality. For Blu-ray models, high-definition 1080p picture quality was uniformly excellent when playing Blu-ray discs, and most also did a good job upconverting standard DVDs; upconverted 1080p picture quality, however varied among systems with DVD players. But the biggest differentiator among systems was sound quality, which ranged from very good to disappointing.

More models have features such as an option for adding wireless rear speakers, iPod docks that let you play songs or videos through your entertainment system, and auto-calibration feature that can automatically set appropriate speaker volume levels. Some Blu-ray models are able to stream movies instantly from online services, such as Amazon Video On Demand and Netflix.

You’ll find more detailed information on the systems we rated than in previous tests. We’re already getting some new models in for testing, so check back here soon for information about when those results will be posted. —James K. Willcox

New iPod Nano: Video, radio, and features galore

Here's a First Look at Apple’s new, fifth-generation iPod Nano, the first iPod with an FM radio and the ability to take videos. It’s the same size and weight as the old Nano, though the display has been enlarged slightly, to 2.2 inches. Claimed playback time is five hours for video, 24 hours for music. The 8GB Nano costs only $149; the 16GB version costs $179.

"Smile, you're on Nanocam." Taking videos on the Nano is fun and fairly easy, as the video first look (at right) shows. The wide-angle lens gets in lots of background, convenient if you're in a tight space with lots of people. After synching with iTunes on your computer, you can easily e-mail your videos to friends, post them on Facebook and Youtube, or edit them in iPhoto.

You don't need to have iTunes running to see your videos. The Nano shows up as an additional drive on your computer, so you can just drag them off the Nano. However you manage content, you’ll need to ensure you leave sufficient capacity for shooting video after loading music and other content; as with other iPods, when you’re away from the computer, you can’t delete songs from the Nano to free up space for more video recordings.

In terms of quality, we found the Nano cam comparable to standard-definition pocket camcorders such as the Flip Ultra. That is, they’re fine for casual viewing and posting online but fall short of the quality you’ll get from a full-sized standard-def camcorder. Also like pocket camcorders, the Nano records only in mono. At normal sound levels, such as conversations, the sound quality was decent. But as our subject got louder, as in laughing and screaming, the audio became noticeably distorted.

Smart radio. The Nano is a latecomer to FM on MP3 players, but its Live Pause feature, also shown in the video, records the station you're listening to slightly ahead of the live broadcast, so when you hit the pause button, the program pauses. Hit play and it picks up from where you left off, or you can rewind up to 15 minutes, or fast-forward to catch up to the live broadcast. Another plus—you can see the name of the current song and artist on the display. On the downside, when in Live Pause mode, it’s nearly impossible to switch to another channel.

Tag, you're it. Another convenient feature is iTunes tagging, which allows you to tag a song that’s playing on the radio so you can order it later from iTunes. Great idea, but the station has to support iTunes tagging for the feature to work. And in our tests, we were only able to find one station that did—a local "lite FM” station.

Not-so-smart DJ. Music player updates include Genius Mixes, which scours your collection according to genre and makes up play lists that . Nice idea, but some mixes we ordered up weren’t that smart, as we also cover in the video. —Mike Gikas

The big day for Beatles fans: A primer

The Beatles Rock Band hits store shelves today. (Click to enlarge)
[PHOTO: Courtesy of Harmonix Music Systems]

Today’s the day the Beatles Rock Band music game, along with remastered versions of their albums, becomes available. Curious about these launches, but haven’t had time to get up to speed on them?

Here’s a quick guide:

Beatles Rock Band. Among the more successful video games of recent years, Rock Band, like rival Guitar Hero, offers music fans the chance to play and sing along—using instrument controllers and special microphones—with classic rock songs. As for the game itself, you’re scored on how accurately you hit colored buttons on the instrument controllers in response to on-screen prompts or how well you hold pitch when you sing.

Where other editions of Rock Band come with 58 classic-rock and alternative songs from various artists, the Beatles game comes with 40 songs, all Beatles titles. The software itself costs $59 and is available for the Wii, X-Box 360, or Play Station 3. If you need to buy a console, they cost $200 and up, despite some recent price drops.

If you don’t already own controllers for Rock Band (or for Guitar Hero, most of which work with Rock Band), the best deal is probably to spend $70 or so on a bundle comprising drums, guitar, and microphone. But since the Beatles game is the first “music game to offer harmonies," you may want to buy an extra mic or two, at $20 and up apiece. You can also buy controllers that are replicas of the Beatles own guitars, like Paul McCartney’s violin-shaped Hofner bass.

The Beatles reissues. As Beatles fans are aware, tomorrow also marks the availability of the first remasterings of the full Beatles catalog in more than 20 years—an eternity in digital time. Most reviewers raved about the improved sound of “Love,” the 2006 Beatles’ Las Vegas show (and CD), which includes remastered versions 20 Beatles songs from the team responsible for this week’s reissues.

But there are also reasons to grumble about this week’s re-releases, even before hearing them. The extras are confined to making-of video documentary on each album. Also, though the albums have been remastered in both stereo and mono (the latter being the preferred format by some Beatles fanatics), the reissues do not combine both versions on one disc—as recent reissues for many other 1960s bands have done. Rather, when bought singly, the reissues only carry the stereo version of the album. To get the mono, you must buy the entire catalog, in a box set that lists at $300—if you can even get it (it sold out in advance at many retailers, though a second run is promised). And the titles aren’t being issued in Blu-ray or DVD formats, and hence there are no 5.1-channel surround versions as of yet.

To many observers, including me, the formatting decisions look like an attempt to sell diehard fans those thirty-something-minute-long Beatles albums not just once more, but several times more over the coming years. That’s a little unseemly from a band that’s traditionally been classier than most. —Paul Reynolds.

New iPods expected from Apple's conference

[PHOTO: Courtesy of marco.ziero]

September is the time of year when Apple refreshes its iPod line, so it's fairly safe to assume the press conference Apple is holding Wednesday, starting at 10 am Pacific time, will include news on the company’s media players.

We'll report on the event later in the day. Meantime, here are my predictions on what those announcements will be:

Higher-capacity iPods. Probably double the capacity of what's available now, for about the same price. That means a 64-gigabyte (GB) Touch, 32GB Nano, and 8GB Shuffle.

A camera and GPS capability for the iPod Touch. Speculators have been disappointed before on this topic, but this time the stars are properly aligned for adding a camera to at least one iPod. The company’s iPod Touch, essentially an iPhone without the cell-phone carrier connection or camera, is the natural first candidate, especially given that the latest iPhone boasts a 3.0-megapixel camera with editing capability. Also, the multiple GPS apps now available for the iPhone, including one from TomTom, could work on the Touch, were it to add a GPS chip, which reads position via satellite without need for a cell network connection.

Goodbye hard-drive models. Except for some niche portable video players made by Archos and iRiver, hard-drive MP3 players have all but disappeared from the marketplace. (Microsoft is dropping hard-drive models from the refresh of its Zune line, scheduled for mid-September.) The demise of Apple’s 120-GB Classic iPod seems likely.

An update to iTunes. Apple often combines iPod announcements with updates to its music-management software. Back in July, the Financial Times reported that Apple was working with major record labels, whose CD sales have steadily slipped, to spice up album downloads with more compelling extras that include "interactive" album material. Look for an announcement of iTunes album downloads that will insert a digital booklet of photos, lyric sheets and liner notes.

There’s also been speculation that the Apple event, being the same day as the Beatles catalog is re-released in remastered form (more on that in another post), will include a long-awaited announcement that the Fab Four’s music is being added to the iTunes Store.

Anything’s possible tomorrow from Apple (including announcements unrelated to iPods or iTunes), but it’s worth noting that the invitations for the event include the line “It’s Only Rock and Roll But We Like It.” Borrowing from a Rolling Stones song to help in announcing a Beatles deal seems odd, to say the least. —Mike Gikas

New headphone Ratings: New brands, wider price ranges

Whether you’re attempting to listen to music or movies at home without disturbing others, or trying to hear the beat in noisier environments, a good set of headphones can come in handy. We’ve just completed our testing of several new headphone models, which range from portable insert-style earphones to over-the-ear headsets designed to be used at home. When you combine our evaluations of home and portable models with those that use active noise-canceling technology, there are now almost three-dozen tested models in our headphone Ratings (available to subscribers).

While you can easily spend more than $200 for a highly rated model, you don’t have to—we found several models with excellent or very good sound for less than $100, and a few for considerably less. The two least expensive recommended models in our Ratings cost only $20 each.

Our latest tests include not only new models from established brands, such as Bose, Grado, Koss, Sennheiser and Sony, but also some headphones from newer brands, such as Skullcandy, Ultimate Ears, and Monster. We also tested a new model from Auvio, RadioShack’s new headphone/cable brand.

Also, you might also notice that our headphone Ratings now include not just sound-quality scores, but descriptions of the overall sound. We hope this additional information is helpful when choosing between models that might have similar sound-quality scores, but different sound attributes (such as better bass response or a boosted midrange). Keep checking with our blog for other headphone news, including Ratings updates. —James K. Willcox

Sony, Best Buy team up for new Altus wireless audio line

Sony Altus ALT-SA32PC wireless multiroom speaker system (Click to enlarge)
[ Photo: Sony ]

Hoping to take the complexity out of buying wireless audio products, Sony has teamed up with Best Buy to launch a new Altus line of music systems, speakers and home theater gear based on Sony’s proprietary S-AIR wireless technology.

At a press conference yesterday, executives from both companies also showed a new interactive tabletop kiosk-style in-store display designed to make shopping for wireless audio products easier. Among the Altus products:

• Two iPod docking systems. The multi-room ALT-SA31 ($700) iPod package includes an iPod/iPhone docking station with an AM/FM tuner, two wireless speakers, plus an S-AIR remote control with an LCD that displays music metadata, such as artist and track info. TAIR-SW10i ($400) is a compact iPod docking station with an FM tuner, plus two built-in speakers and a wireless subwoofer.


• Two multi-room PC audio packages. The ALT-SA32PC ($500) system includes a USB PC transmitter, plus two wireless speakers, while the ALT-A33PC ($500) has the same USB transmitter, plus a universal receiver with RCA outputs, so you can wirelessly stream music from your computer to most existing music systems. Both items come with music management software that can access iTunes or Windows Media playlists.

In the CR test labs: New HTIB systems

Panasonic’s SC-BT300 7.1-channel HTIB has an integrated Blu-ray drive, an iPod dock, and access to its Viera Cast online service. (Click to enlarge.) [Photo courtesy of Panasonic]

With their relatively simple set-up and all-inclusive designs, home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems have a lot to recommend them. Many now include integrated Blu-ray drives, although systems with standard DVD players remain popular. Most HTIBs are now either 5.1- or 7.1-channel systems that come with either five or seven sonically matched speakers, plus a powered subwoofer. As an added convenience, some models include—or have an option for adding—wireless rear speakers, and many have iPod docks that let you play songs or videos through your entertainment system.

Prices for these systems can vary wildly, from very basic DVD units that start under $100, to powerful 7.1-channel Blu-ray models with lots of bells and whistles and prices that can hit $800 or more. Another option: systems that don’t include a disc drive, but which have all the connections needed for you to use a current DVD player now, then add a Blu-ray player at a later date. All DVD models in our tests play DVDs and CDs, and all models with Blu-ray players can play Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and CDs.

We’re now in the midst of testing more than a dozen new models, including some with Blu-ray drives, some with DVD drives, and several that don’t have any disc player at all. Here’s a list of the HTIB systems currently being tested in our labs:

Blu-ray models

LG LHB953: A 5.1-channel BD-Live Blu-ray system with LG’s NetCast Internet service for access to streaming Netflix instant movies and Pandora’s Internet radio service. It can decode Dolby TrueHD lossless audio, and has an iPod dock.