Truly Disturbing....Results From Our Ugly TV Contest.

We were pleased and horrified by the entries we received for our "Ugliest TV Contest" -- where was asked people to submit photos of the wired-up messes in back of their televisions. Wow. We knew that "wire hairballs" were a problem, but we saw some real catastrophes! We've seen razor wire on prison fences that was less scary than the back of some of these TVs. The winning photo was awe-inspiring. It was like looking into the Grand Canyon of Wire.

We also loved the one where the owner had wedged in a small fan to cool his DLP TV. It was interesting to note that some of the ugliest messes used high-end interconnects and speaker wire. Those tangled jumbles of glowing blue cables were hypnotic, big, hot expensive messes (many of those cable sell for more than the price of a complete ZVOX system).

 Thanks to all our participants. It was great fun. We will do it again. Click here to see all of our entries.

3D TV, 3D Sound And 3D Marketing.

Several years ago goofy demonstrations of 3D television started showing up at the Consumer Electronics Show. They were goofy because all they did was highlight the (limited) capability of a technology that had no good content. We would walk by these silly displays without giving them a serious thought. But really decent 3D TVs from Samsung, Panasonic and others, as well as movies like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland -- and the floodburst of 3D titles that will soon hit us -- have changed all that.  3D TV is here, and it's probably here to stay.

Right now a good 3D TV is going to cost you more than $2,000, maybe a lot more. And then there are...the 3D glasses. Because the first generation of 3D TVs requires special electronic glasses that synch up with the TV via a Bluetooth connection. And the glasses cost about $150 a pair.

So let's do a "value equation." Let's say you buy the "small" Samsung 3D set (46") for $2,599.  Then at least two pair of 3D glasses, $300. BluRay player with 3D capability, $200. Total: $3,099. And what are you going to watch? Right now there is ONE 3D movie available in the correct format on a BluRay DVD (the children's movie Monsters vs. Aliens).  There should be between 50 and 100 available by the end of the year, including Avatar.

So if you're like us (and most of you are, we think), you're going to wait a bit before running out to buy a 3D TV. The good news is you can buy a ZVOX system today and get three-dimensional sound with your current DVDs and the 3D discs you buy in the future. We've been promoting our "room filling three-dimensional sound" for six years -- because our systems really do create sound with a sense of depth to it.

And unlike many of the "3D compatible" sound systems that are about to flood the market, we pay a lot of attention to old-fashioned concepts like...fidelity. Accurate tonal balance. Crystal-clear vocal reproduction. Dynamic bass.  We continue to believe that the number one criterion for choosing a sound system should be good sound -- not "3D compatibility,"

True confession time...

Until a couple weeks ago, I didn’t use a ZVOX as my main TV system. I had one downstairs in the den on the “kid’s TV”, and I had a Mini under my computer monitor. But upstairs on the big Toshiba in our living room we had a full-blown 5.1 surround sound system. Denon receiver, Cambridge SoundWorks tower speakers, center and rears, and a Velodyne powered subwoofer. We don’t watch a lot of movie these days but when we do, we really like to experience the “home theater” effect.

Anyway, we were recently rearranging our living room furniture and I started thinking how nice it would be to get those huge speakers out of there, not to mention the receiver with all the buttons and lights that was like a homing beacon to our newly mobile 8 month old. I thought my husband would resist but he surprised me by agreeing to give it a go. So, we packed up the speakers and receiver, took the rear speakers off the wall (yay!) and put a IncrediBase 575 under the Toshiba. I already knew the system sounded good but I had no idea how much nicer my room would look without all that extra equipment and speakers in it. It’s clean and neat and sounds great and there is nothing for the baby to mess with. Unless of course he gets his hands on the remote….

Bottom line? The 575 has successfully replaced our 5.1 surround sound system, without causing causing home theater withdrawal…even for my husband.

-Kate, ZVOX Audio Internet Marketing Manager