Whether you’re a hockey fan or a basketball fan – or even both – the luxuries that every sports aficionado desires to have in their living room are all the same. You want comfortable furniture, a large, high-definition television, good friends, and great snacks – including a refreshing beverage or two!
If you’re like most sports fans that appreciate the luxury of owning a fancy home theatre system so you and your friends can watch every game in style – not to mention the accuracy of high-definition picture and sound – then you’ve probably already invested a significant amount into your electronics. All too often, the living room setup boasts phenomenal devices on which to enjoy the game with very little else left in the room that is even remotely appealing.
Coffee Table
One of the most important parts of your living room is the place where you’re going to set all of your snacks. During play-off season, it isn’t uncommon that the coffee table becomes overflowing with delicious items. When this is the case, you no longer have room for your laptop or your feet. If you’re a sports fan that’s looking for a new coffee table, why not buy an item that can equal the impressive size of your television?
If you’re interested in getting a coffee table upgrade but aren’t sure where to look, you can check out these gorgeous natural wood coffee tables for a few impressive options.
Entertainment Unit
A quality built entertainment cabinet made of solid wood can really separate the men from the boys. A thrilling sporting event may cause you and your crew to occasionally act as rowdy as you did in college, but that doesn’t mean that you should furnish your home like you’re living on student loans. Watch the game like a gentleman and bring some class to your living room with a handcrafted solid wood entertainment unit.
Buffet Table
Even the most impressive coffee table will occasionally overflow. If you want to build the ultimate game-viewing experience, include a piece of furniture that is wholly devoted to presenting your feast. This way, your coffee table won’t be cluttered and can be used as it was meant to be used.
Custom Made Furniture
If you’re really interested in getting stylish, one of the best options you can invest in is to order your living room furniture to be custom made. With a custom made piece of furniture, you get an item that is absolutely unique. You’ll also be able to choose specific design choices, such as:
Type of Stain
Variety of Wood
Live Edge Features
Texturing
The end result will provide you with an option that is perfectly suited to your personality and perfectly suited to your home.
Play-off season may be just around the corner but after that it will be time to start watching a whole other league. You make good use of your living room, so why not invest in one you can be proud of – upgrade your furniture to handcrafted solid wood before the end of the season.
Featured image- Dundas Coffee Table by woodcraft.ca
San Marcos, CA–Audience is now shipping its Hidden Treasure SATA Data Cable. The new SATA (Serial AT Attachment) cable is designed as an upgrade for internal connections of music server/computer storage devices, solid-state and disk drives and other hardware.
The new Hidden Treasure SATA cable provides better data transfer by reducing jitter and RF contamination, resulting in a lower noise floor and notably improved sound quality in audio components such as computer-based music systems. It can be easily installed as a DIY upgrade.
“More audiophiles are turning to music servers and other data storage, drive-based devices for their music listening, and these devices require a SATA cable for connecting the drive to the rest of the internal electronics,” noted John McDonald, president of Audience. “As a cable manufacturer it was a logical area for us to look into. We’ve discovered that upgrading the stock SATA cable with our Hidden Treasure cable can significantly improve the sound.”
Transmission of data including digital audio signals through a SATA cable happens at a much higher speed than via a USB connection and as a result, is more susceptible to jitter and internal system noise. The Audience Hidden Treasure SATA cable employs newly developed proprietary design techniques intended to block noise and ensure optimum signal condition and data integrity. By removing layers of sonic “grunge,” the audible result is greater low-level detail and a smoother, more inviting sonic presentation.
Although the retrofit of a component’s stock SATA cable with a Hidden Treasure SATA cable is a simple un-plug and re-plug function, Audience recommends that the upgrade be performed by a qualified technician. Audience also recommends consideration of the manufacturer’s warranty that could potentially be voided when modifying a particular music player. Audience accepts no liability for damage caused by improper installation.
The Audience Hidden Treasure SATA data cable is currently available. Suggested retail pricing in USD is as follows: 12-inch cable, $180; 18-inch cable, $200; 24-inch cable, $220.
About Audience
Audience was formed in November 1997 by John McDonald and the late Richard Smith, as a design and production company focused on building the best possible audio and video equipment. To pass the Audience test, each product must truly make a significant contribution to the reproduction of audio and/or video. Audience offers loudspeakers, electronics, cables, power conditioners, high-resolution capacitors and the Auric Illuminator optical disk resolution enhancement.
Audience’s commitment is to develop the very best products possible, and the company is committed to unexcelled customer service and product support. All Audience cables have an unconditional lifetime warranty and power conditioners have a ten-year warranty.
COSTA MESA, Calif. — May, 2016 — BenQ America Corp., a globally renowned LED and gaming monitor expert, recently announced that ZOWIE, the company’s eSports brand, would be the official monitor sponsor of DreamHack Austin 2016. Making its first-ever stop in North America as part of the DreamHack ZOWIE Open World Tour, the event took place May 6-8 at the Austin Convention Center. Pro gamers competed using the XL Series eSports monitors for all PC gaming tournaments. Additionally, ZOWIE extended its partnership to supply its RL eSports console monitors for the Capcom Pro Tour’s Street Fighter V and Pokkén Tournament matches.
The North American eSports market has seen phenomenal growth, attracting millions of gamers and online viewers. Committed to eSports, ZOWIE is pleased to partner with DreamHack to deliver the ultimate pro gaming experience with its XL and RL monitor lines.
“BenQ ZOWIE is created for eSports and only eSports. We believe that gaming is all about the experience, whether it’s PC or console eSports. Our relentless pursuit to provide the most professional experience drives us to craft eSports products, including the XL and RL monitors, that are based on a deep understanding of the sport and fine-tuned to meet the pros’ specific usage scenarios,” said Lars Yoder, president of BenQ America. “With our XL and RL monitors, professional players will have the high performance they expect for competition.”
ZOWIE EC2-eVo Gaming Mouse
DreamHack Austin 2016 attendees were able to test-drive the full range of ZOWIE products at booth 135. The complete ZOWIE lineup includes the XL and RL series monitors, SR and TF mousepads, as well as the EC, ZA, FK, and newly released FK1+ mice series. ZOWIE mice fit every particular gaming style with options for right- and left-handed players in addition to ambidextrous ones. As a sneak peek, visitors also had an opportunity to experience the soon-to-be-released ZOWIE VITAL audio system, an intuitive, driverless device that provides convenient adjustments to improve both sound and audio communication for games.
ZOWIE also conducted its own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive death match tournament at its booth three times per day each day — noon, 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. — to give players a chance to win a custom ZOWIE G-SR mousepad.
Follow @DreamHackOpen and @DreamHack on Twitter and stay tuned to @ZOWIEbyBenQ for other deals.
About ZOWIE
Introduced in late 2008, ZOWIE is a brand dedicated to the development of the best competitive gaming products to improve eSports athletes’ combat performance. In 2015, the ZOWIE brand was acquired by BenQ Corp. to aggressively lead the company’s eSports product line with products that deliver true competitive advantages. More information is available at ZOWIE.BenQ.com/.
About BenQ America Corp.
The BenQ digital lifestyle brand stands for “Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to Life,” fusing lifestyle with technology, enjoyment with productivity and aesthetic design with purpose-built engineering. It is this mantra that has made BenQ the No. 1-selling projector brand powered by TI DLP® technology in The Americas(1). BenQ America Corp. offers an extensive line of visual display and presentation solutions that incorporate the very latest technologies. The company delivers a broad range of Colorific™ projectors, ZOWIE eSports gear and monitors, interactive large-format displays, mobile audio products, cloud consumer products and lifestyle lighting for any application and market — education, home, gaming, enterprise, government, house of worship, digital signage, A/V and IT — with cutting-edge models that lead the industry in performance, reliability, environmental sustainability and aesthetics. Whether it’s interactive digital whiteboards for classrooms, full HD 3D projectors for home theaters, short-throw projectors for boardrooms, interactive flat-panel displays for digital signage or LED backlight monitors for professional gaming, BenQ continues to defy the limits of digital displays. The company’s products are available across North America through leading value-added distributors, resellers and retailers.
(1) Based upon Q1’15 – Q3’15 data from the Quarterly Projector Shipment and Forecast Report from PMA Research
About BenQ Corporation
Founded on the corporate vision of “Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to Life,” BenQ Corporation is a world-leading human technology and solutions provider aiming to elevate and enrich every aspect of consumers’ lives. To realize this vision, the company focuses on the aspects that matter most to people today — lifestyle, business, healthcare and education — with the hope of providing people with the means to live better, increase efficiency, feel healthier and enhance learning. Such means include a delightful broad portfolio of people-driven products and embedded technologies spanning digital projectors, monitors, interactive large-format displays, audio products, cloud consumer products, mobile communications and lifestyle lighting. Because it matters.
COSTA MESA, Calif. — BenQ America Corp., an internationally renowned digital lifestyle solutions provider and professional gaming monitor pioneer, today introduced the company’s all-new XR3501 curved gaming display. Designed to provide a more immersive gaming experience, the 35-inch panel brings gamers a dramatic 2,000R curvature — the highest of any LCD monitor — as well as a lightning-fast 144-Hz refresh rate, ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio, and BenQ’s RevolutionEyes™ technology — allowing gamers to experience enhanced visual comfort, a larger viewing area, and seamless peripheral views for a more authentic sense of engagement with today’s dynamic content.
35-Inch PC Display Featuring 2,000R Curvature and 144-Hz Refresh Rate Adds a New Level of Entertainment.
“BenQ’s new XR3501 monitor is set to transform gaming into a faster, wider, and more engaging all-around experience,” said J.Y. Hu, Vice President, Business Line Management at BenQ America Corp. “Featuring a 2-meter curvature, a fast-action refresh rate, and a 2560×1080 resolution, the panel provides breathtaking visuals that surround users with edge-to-edge excitement. Players will experience their favorite games in an entirely new way while features such as Black eQualizer, RevolutionEyes technology, and PIP will definitely put them ahead of the pack.”
BenQ’s XR3501 monitor has been designed for casual gamers looking for a more enveloping gaming experience. With over 20 options for color vibrance, the VA panel provides higher color reproduction with better viewing angles, which proves vital when using such a large curved screen by adding an extra layer of color optimization. Users can also adjust color levels directly via OSD or DisplayPilot for complete color control. Using Black eQualizer, the panel brightens darker scenes within games without over-exposing white levels — giving gamers the advantage of seeing details more clearly than their competitors, while picture in picture allows multiple sources to be connected and viewed on the monitor. With a focus on “Eye-Care” and visual comfort, the XR3501 is equipped with BenQ’s RevolutionEyes technology. Featuring ZeroFlicker™, the monitor eliminates flickering at all brightness levels, reducing visual strain to provide a more comfortable viewing experience. When combined with the device’s built-in Low Blue Light modes, the monitor also successfully filters the exposure of emitted blue spectrum light — effectively reducing eye fatigue and elevating gaming performance to provide exceptional visual comfort, even during long hours of gaming or dynamic content viewing.
BenQ’s curved XR3501 monitor is now shipping across North America at an MSRP of USD$999. Details on BenQ’s full line of gaming monitors can be found at http://gaming.benq.com.
About BenQ America Corp.
The BenQ digital lifestyle brand stands for “Bringing Enjoyment ‘N’ Quality to Life,” fusing lifestyle with technology, enjoyment with productivity, and aesthetic design with purpose-built engineering. It is this mantra that has made BenQ the No. 1-selling projector brand powered by TI DLP® technology in The Americas(1). BenQ America Corp. offers an extensive line of visual display and presentation solutions that incorporate the very latest technologies. The company delivers a broad range of Colorific™ projectors, RevolutionEyes™ monitors, interactive large-format displays, mobile audio products, cloud consumer products, and lifestyle lighting for any application and market — education, home, gaming, enterprise, government, house of worship, digital signage, A/V, and IT — with cutting-edge models that lead the industry in performance, reliability, environmental sustainability, and aesthetics. Whether it’s interactive digital whiteboards for classrooms, full HD 3D projectors for home theaters, short-throw projectors for boardrooms, interactive flat-panel displays for digital signage, or LED-backlight monitors for professional gaming, BenQ continues to defy the limits of digital displays. The company’s products are available across North America through leading value-added distributors, resellers, and retailers.
(1) Based upon Q1’15 Quarterly Projector Shipment and Forecast Report from PMA Research
About BenQ Corporation
Founded on the corporate vision of “Bringing Enjoyment ‘N’ Quality to Life”, BenQ Corporation is a world-leading human technology and solutions provider aiming to elevate and enrich every aspect of consumers’ lives. To realize this vision, the company focuses on the aspects that matter most to people today — lifestyle, business, healthcare, and education — with the hope of providing people with the means to live better, increase efficiency, feel healthier, and enhance learning.
Click to view on I-tunes
Such means include a delightful broad portfolio of people-driven products and embedded technologies spanning digital projectors, monitors, interactive large-format displays, audio products, cloud consumer products, mobile communications, and lifestyle lighting. Because it matters.
About BenQ Group
The BenQ Group is a $22+ billion powerhouse comprised of nearly 20 independent companies operating in over 30 countries across numerous industries with a combined workforce of over 100,000 employees. Each Group member is a recognized leader in its own field, contributing to the BenQ Group’s vast resources, broad R&D, and distinct strategic strengths. By leveraging each company’s vertical specialization to create true scale across horizontal markets, the BenQ Group controls a highly efficient value chain with the unrivaled ability to deliver critical components and world-class solutions in the following industries: TFT-LCD, green energy, fine chemicals and advanced materials, lighting, IC design, precision components, system integration, branded business, and service. The Group is committed to profitable and sustainable businesses that share its long-standing vision of Bringing Enjoyment ‘N’ Quality to Life. The BenQ Group companies are: BenQ Corporation, AU Optronics Corporation (world’s top manufacturer of large-size TFT-LCD panels), Qisda Corporation, Darfon Electronics Corporation, BenQ ESCO Corp., BenQ Materials Corp., BenQ Guru Corp., BenQ Medical Center, BenQ Medical Technology Corp., BenQ AB DentCare Corp., Daxin Materials Corp., Dazzo Technology Corp., Forhouse Corp., Lextar Electronics Corp., LILY Medical Corp., and Raydium Semiconductor Corp.
All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
The Benq 1075- a full 1080p HD image, with the promise of over 1 billion colors and options for 3D. We want! CP
COSTA MESA, Calif. — BenQ America Corp., an internationally renowned provider of visual display solutions and the No. 1-selling DLP® projector brand in The Americas(1), today introduced its next-generation Colorific™ home entertainment projectors: the HT1075 and HT1085ST. Building on the incredible success of the company’s top-selling W1070 and the short-throw W1080ST, the new home theater devices have been designed to take content to an entirely new level — combining the magic of over 1 billion colors, 3D-readiness, and the realism of full HD 1080p picture quality. What’s more, the new projectors add streaming and mirroring capabilities for devices equipped with Mobile High-definition Link (MHL) to allow the transfer of small-screen content from any portable device. When such an astounding feature set meets such a small price tag, enthusiasts can now easily bring home a full-on cinematic experience.
“BenQ has taken two enormously successful projectors and made them even better,” said Bob Wudeck, Associate Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at BenQ America Corp. “Sustaining our value promise to our customers, the all-new HT1075 and HT1085ST provide enhanced benefits such as Colorific image quality, SmartEco technology, and flexible setup options that allow users to install and easily integrate the projectors with their MHL devices. Available at an amazingly low price, the duo delivers more vibrant colors and richer contrast levels for the ultimate in big screen entertainment.”
Featuring BenQ’s Colorific image quality, the HT1075 and HT1085ST provide more vivid and accurate color reproduction, higher brightness levels, crisper contrast, and longer-lasting picture quality. Both units offer full HD 1080p and 3D support, while the short-throw HT1085ST allows users to fill screens measuring up to 100 inches by simply setting up the device at only 6 feet away — making it an ideal choice for urban environments or media room settings where installation space is limited. Adding to the projectors’ razor-sharp imaging are 2,200 ANSI lumens of brightness and a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, which turn colors from TV shows, movies, or sporting events into more natural-looking, film-like content. The projectors are also ISFccc-certified by the Imaging Science Foundation® (ISF®), enabling viewers to enjoy a professionally calibrated picture with two optimized modes — ISF Day and ISF Night.
To create a household media hub, users can easily connect Blu-ray players and gaming consoles to the projectors via HDMI® as well as view cloud content using any MHL-ready streaming device, including Roku®, Chromecast®, and Apple® TV. As a result, viewers can bring their favorite content from popular services such as Netflix® or Hulu™ onto the screen using their streaming player of choice or even directly from their smart device. Rounding off the unparalleled convenience are the units’ new 10W chamber speakers, which offer rich audio to create a complete solution whenever a dedicated sound system is not practical, or in outdoor situations such as movie nights under the stars.
Further reducing installation and setup time is a new vertical lens shift option for the HT1075, allowing users to perfectly align the projected image to the center of the screen, thus eliminating any tedious tinkering. To ensure even more placement flexibility, both models offer horizontal and vertical keystone correction, which delivers picture-perfect projection at the push of a button. Saving money by lowering total cost of ownership (TCO), the projectors are equipped with BenQ’s SmartEco™ lamp-saving technology to prolong lamp life up to an amazing 6,000 hours while lasting three times as long as projectors sold just a few years ago. Additional cost-saving features include a filter-free design built around a sealed DLP chip that eliminates the need to clean or change messy filters; a unique lamp door design that enables lamp replacement down the road without needing to take down the projector; and a special sleep mode that reduces power consumption to under half a watt when connected but not in use.
To further simplify installations, a new optional wireless connectivity kit will be sold separately and is planned for release in Q4 2014. The fully wireless system will allow users to send content to the projectors from up to 100 feet away, giving homeowners the freedom to move the projectors throughout the house or even take them outdoors without the need to run cable.
Available in September 2014, BenQ’s all-new HT1075 and HT1085ST projectors retail at $1,199 (USD)and $1,299 (USD) respectively.
More information on BenQ’s full line of products is available at www.BenQ.us.
About BenQ America Corp. The BenQ digital lifestyle brand stands for “Bringing Enjoyment ‘N’ Quality to Life,” fusing lifestyle with technology, enjoyment with productivity, and aesthetic design with purpose-built engineering. It is this mantra that has made BenQ the No. 1-selling DLP® projector brand in The Americas(1). BenQ America Corp. offers an extensive line of visual display and presentation solutions that incorporate the very latest technologies. The company delivers a broad range of Colorific projectors, RevolutionEyes™ monitors, and flat-panel displays for any application and market — education, home, gaming, enterprise, government, house of worship, digital signage, A/V, and IT — with cutting-edge models that lead the industry in performance, reliability, environmental sustainability, and aesthetics. Whether it’s interactive digital whiteboards for classrooms, full HD 3D projectors for home theaters, short-throw projectors for boardrooms, interactive flat-panel displays for digital signage, or LED backlight monitors for professional gaming, BenQ continues to defy the limits of digital displays. The company’s products are available across North America through leading value-added distributors, resellers, and retailers.
‘Star Trek Mansion,’ Featuring Acoustic Innovations’ Most Celebrated Home Theater Design, Now on Market for $35M Featuring Award-Winning Theater Modeled on Bridge of Starship Enterprise, Home is Most Expensive Ever to Hit Boca Raton Market. Photograph: Andy Frame
BOCA RATON, Fla.– May 2014 — The “Star Trek Mansion” in Boca Raton, Florida, is now on the market for a cool $35 million, featuring a much-buzzed-about home theater designed by Acoustic Innovations. Created to model the bridge of the Star Ship Enterprise, the theater is the focal point of the 27,000-square-foot home owned by Marc Bell, managing partner of Marc Bell Capital Partners LLC in Boca Raton. Last year, Acoustic Innovations designed a smaller theater in the home to resemble a military encampment, creating the mood for game enthusiasts to play “Call of Duty” and other Xbox games.
“Acoustic Innovations and Jay Miller did a fantastic job of taking our Star Trek theater vision and turning it into reality. If you can dream it, Jay can build it,” said Bell. “Acoustic Innovations’ attention to detail for every aspect of the project — from the advanced A/V technology to the quality and comfort of the chairs — meant that we were able to create a home theater experience that exceeds anything you’ll find in a commercial movie theater. We’re looking forward to working with Jay and his team on the Star Trek theater and home 2.0, wherever that may
be.”
Winner of a Gold award and Best Architecture award from the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) in 2007, the
1,400-square-foot Star Trek entertainment space includes the theater, a bar, and a “ready room” filled with Bell’s collection of props, models,
and drawings from the Star Trek television series, as well as Star Trek and Star Wars movies. Modeled to recreate the bridge from the Enterprise, circa “Star Trek: Next Generation,” the theater even includes motion-activated air-lock doors that “whoosh” when opening and closing.
When the theater was originally completed in 2007, it featured the most advanced high-definition cinema A/V system available. Since then it has undergone three major technology upgrades to keep it on the leading edge, including 3D projection capabilities. In addition to the functional and aesthetic design and d-cor, Acoustic Innovations designed the acoustics both inside and outside the theater, as well as for the “Call of Duty” video game room.
The “Call of Duty” video game room. Get some!
“It’s incredibly exciting to work with Marc on a project, because he is always open to an interesting idea,” said Jay Miller, president, Acoustic Innovations. “A collaborative effort is extremely important on every job we do, and for this project Marc and I clicked very early on how to execute the Star Trek bridge. Now that the house is up for sale, it’s amazing and gratifying to see how the theater has gone viral in the online press; in fact, I’ve not seen anything like it in my 23 years as a specialty theater designer.”
For two decades Acoustic Innovations has been the source for personal theaters, theater seating, fiberoptic ceilings, acoustical panels, and residential noise control solutions. Over this time we have pioneered many of the materials and design specifications used today. Our staff has completed thousands of personal theaters throughout the world and has developed processes to ensure delivery of the ultimate client satisfaction. At every level of cost we blend the science of acoustics with the art of aesthetics. More information is available at http://www.acousticinnovations.com.
