PS3's standby and off modes, (virtually) separated at birth

As useful as information found on the Internet can be, at times, it's also frustratingly myopic, resulting in moments when you have to take matters into your own hands.

Recently, my fiancee pleaded with me to start turning my PlayStation 3 off when it's not in use. Since the red standby light was on, she contended, the unit must be drawing significantly more power than if the unit was simply switched off via the power switch on the back.

Having just tested a couple dozen monitors as part of a CNET power consumption project, I felt I knew a bit about this and explained to her that the difference between standby and off was minuscule at best and that the savings for a whole year would be less than five bucks at the most.
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KEF's uber-cool concept speakers

The KEF Concept Blade is a set of one-off speakers engineered to demonstrate the British hi-fi specialist's technical know-how. Developed over a three year span, these life-sized boomboxes are a work of art in both aesthetics and performance. Clad top to bottom in woven carbon fiber, these KEFs are capable of supporting the full audio spectrum out-of-the-box. To achieve this feat, they employ four side-firing woofers to boost bass extensively and the company's Uni-Q driver for more natural-sounding vocals. Click here to read more about these sexy concept speakers.

Via Audiojunkies

Harman Kardon's first Blu-ray player debuts

Harman Kardon has long been a respected brand for A/V receivers, but the company hasn't stepped into Blu-ray until now. The BDP 1 is Harman Kardon's first Blu-ray player, and it has a basic feature set, eschewing the streaming media services that are becoming common on other players.

It's Profile 2.0 compliant, so it can take advantage of BD-Live features on some Blu-ray movies, and it also has onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD. Unfortunately, from the initial spec sheet and manual it appears that the BDP 1 does not have onboard decoding for DTS-HD Master Audio, so you'll need an A/V receiver with decoding to take full advantage of that high-resolution audio format. (We've contacted Harman Kardon about DTS-HD Master Audio decoding and will update the blog when we hear back.)

Via CNET.com

Sony's 9.9mm-thin LED TV launching in Singapore soon

This puppy is known as the Bravia ZX1-series and features a mere 9.9mm-thin bezel. Slated for launch in Singapore come June, the superslim KLV-40ZX1 is Sony's answer to the latest edgelit LED TVs from Samsung. But unlike the Korean's 29.9mm-thin offerings, this Japanese concoction uses an A/V media box that communicates wirelessly with its full-HD LCD panel. In addition, the screen has a 10-bit color reproduction to render a billion discreet hues, plus Motionflow 100Hz and image blur reduction technology for smoother and sharper motion.
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Vizio delays launch of its 55-inch LED-based LCD

According to information from a lineup sheet first posted on engadgetHD, and confirmed by a Vizio spokesman, the company's highly anticipated VF551XVT, previously scheduled for release this month, will be delayed until September.

The 55-inch HDTV is also going to be US$200 more expensive. That new price is likely to provide differentiation between the VF551XVT (now US$2,199, up from US$1,999) and the current VF550XVT (still US$1,999), which we reviewed earlier this year and will remain in the company's lineup.
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