Sonos S5 unboxing gallery

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment

After reporting on the existence of the Sonos S5, we were immediately excited to get our hands on a unit to see how it stacked up against the rest of the lineup. If you’ve followed us for any length of time, you know that we at Gear Live are huge Sonos fans, so it makes sense that our unit arrived as soon as they were available, and we had it set up within minutes. Literally.

The S5 is the easiest way to get up and running with Sonos. We had it unboxed, plugged in, and playing music in under five minutes, controlling it with an iPhone. The price is right too, something we’ve previously criticized Sonos about. The entry level into Sonos used to be $999, but with the S5 that drops down to $399. Put this one on your Christmas list, folks. We’ve snapped a bunch of images of the S5, which you can find in our Sonos S5 unboxing gallery.

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Gallery: Sonos S5 unboxing gallery

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VIZIO VBR100 Blu-ray player gets unboxed on video

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment

My friend Tyler Pruitt from over at Format War Central got his hands on one of the new VIZIO VBR100 Blu-ray players from Wal-mart - you know, the Profile 2.0 player that sells for just $178? Check out an unboxing of the device above, along with some thoughts on the pros and cons of this player.

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Unboxing Live 041: Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited Edition PS3 bundle

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Home Entertainment, Video Games, Videocasts

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Metal Gear Solid 4 was, arguably, the biggest release in the PS3‘s life cycle thus far. To commemorate the release, Konami worked with Sony on a special Limited Edition version of the Playstation 3 console. We were lucky enough to get our hands on one of the very, very rare Metal Gear Solid 4 Gun Metal Limited Edition PS3 units, and we have it here for your unboxing pleasure. As you will see, both the PS3 console and the included DualShock 3 controller are given the gunmetal treatment. We also have a bunch of special items packed in, which we go over as well.

All in all, we think this is a fantastic collectable for fans of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, the Playstation 3, or both. Unfortunately, we aren’t seeing them on sale anymore, so you may have to hit your favorite auction site if you want to grab one of these.

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Unboxing Live 039: Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones

Posted by Nate True Categories: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Portable Audio, Videocasts

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The Beats by Dre headphones were originally announced at CES 2008, where we were able to get our first experience at listening to the headset. As we noted in our video back then, we were thoroughly impressed. The sound was killer, with fantastic bass. The headphones were well thought out, shipping with audio cables that fit into the original iPhone, and even including a cable that has a microphone on it so that you can take phone calls.

The Beats by Dr. Dre were conceived by Dr. Dre himself, and are mutually designed with Monster Cable. The headphones feature both a unique and futuristic style, as well as newly developed sonic technologies, which result in outstanding performance.

In this episode, we unbox the Beats by Dr. Dre. Included in the box are the headphones themselves, a red audio cable (which fits into the original iPhone), a customized iSoniTalk cable (which also fits into the iPhone, and has a microphone so that you can use the Beats to talk on the phone), cleaning cloth, a studio jack, and protective carrying case.

You can find them soon for $349.95, which is $50 less than they were originally announced for.

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HP TouchSmart PC gets refreshed, unboxed

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Galleries, Home Entertainment, PC

HP just announced their newly updated TouchSmart PC. We were able to get our hands on one a little early, and figured we’d do our obligatory unboxing gallery. When we first saw the original back at CES 2007, we thought it was a huge, clunky computer. This new design actually seems to almost one-up Apple in a way. After all, the computer has a similar profile to an iMac, and is touch sensitive - you know, hence the whole TouchSmart name.

The model we got also features a wireless keyboard and mouse, both of which operate over RF technology rather than Bluetooth, which means sync issues should be non-existent. Oh, don’t get us wrong, this computer does include Bluetooth, as well as a host of other technologies. It’s packed to the brim with the latest technology too. While we’re on the subject, might as well list it all out, right?

Well, we’ve got an Intel Core 2 Duo T5850 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, SuperMulti DVD burner, 802.11b/g/n support, NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS HD graphics card, and ships with Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition.

Hit up out HP TouchSmart PC unboxing gallery for the full goods.

Read More | HP TouchSmart PC unboxing

Gallery: HP TouchSmart PC gets refreshed, unboxed

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Unboxing Live 026: HP Pavilion HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook PC

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, PC, Portable Video, Videocasts

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In this episode, we open up the HP Pavilion HDX Dragon PC. This thing is a monster - a 20.1-inch notebook that specializes in home entertainment, sporting dual-lamp displays and weighing in at 15.5 pounds. Other stats of note on the HDX Dragon are the 64-bit Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB included memory (it supports up to 4GB), HP Imprint casing (looks very sleek), and fingerprint reader for security.

Since it’s a computer geared towards entertainment, the video card should also be mentioned. The HDX Dragon ships with a 512MB ATi Mobility Radeon HD2600 XT. That means that you get DirectX 10 support out of the box. Continuing on the whole entertainment meme, it also has a built-in HD DVD-ROM drive, allowing you to play back your HD DVD movies at 1080p.

Finally we have the connections, which are too many for us to go through - so we will let HP tell the story here:

The HDX comes with 4 USB 2.0 ports, an Express Card/54 slot (which also supports Express Card/34), an HDMI port, an S-Video, a VGA, an RJ-11, an RK-45, an IEEE 1394 FireWire, and a Consumer IR. A 5-in-1 digital media Card reader supports Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MultiMediaCard, and xD-Picture Cards. You get an eSATA port for high-speed data transfer to external storage devices up to six times faster than existing solutions, which is perfect for high-def video content recording. There’s an integrated 802.11a/g/b/pre-N plus Bluetooth for highest-speed wireless connections. And the adjustable webcam with integrated microphones lets you capture still photos and short videos and for live video chat.

So yeah - they packed a lot into this machine. Now hit the video to actually see how it all came together.

Let us know what you think, or what you want us to unbox next!

Read More | HP Pavilion HDX Dragon Product Page

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Unboxing Live 025: SanDisk Sansa TakeTV

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Features, Home Entertainment, Portable Video, Videocasts

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Sandisk‘s Sansa TakeTV product aims to make it super simple to view videos from your PC on your television. It comes with a 4 or 8GB flash drive, a dock, a remote control, and a power cable - that’s all you need. Drag and drop files onto the drive from your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer, take the USB stick and dock it, and you are ready to watch. We feature the TakeTV in this episode of Unboxing Live.

Let us know what you think, or what you want us to unbox next!

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Gallery: Unboxing the Apple TV

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Home Entertainment

So we’ve managed to put up an Unboxing Gallery of the Apple TV, and neglected to notify you when we did it. Oh well, still, we are sure that there are plenty out there who are curious about what comes in the box (not much), along with what the Apple TV looks like from all sides. And really, once again Apple has done a fantastic job of making a device possibly feel more special than it is simply by the way they packaged it—although, with their failure to pack in any sort of video cable, be it digital or analog, they managed to also make you feel like something is missing at the same time. In any event, click on for the Apple TV unboxing gallery.

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Unboxing Gallery: Xbox 360 HD DVD Player

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Galleries, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Video Games

The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player can be considered to be the cheapest way to add high definition movies to your entertainment center - that is, if you already own an Xbox 360 console. We picked up one of the new HD DVD Player add-ons for the Xbox 360, and grabbed a bunch of unboxing images for your enjoyment. You can find all 20 images in our Xbox 360 HD DVD Player unboxing gallery.

Read More | Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Unboxing Gallery

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Unboxing Live 004: Sumo Omni and Otto Beanbags

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Household, Videocasts

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In episode 004 of Unboxing Live, we check out the Sumo Lounge Omni and Otto bean bags. This things are huge, comfortable, and virtually indestructable - all qualities we admire in a good woman bean bag. The variety of colors available is wide, so you should be able to find something that fits your style over at the SumoLounge website.

Let us know what you think, or what you want us to unbox next!

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