2016 Home Entertainment Gift Guide

We have two couches in our living room, and the best seat on each couch is the one next to the end table where you can grab the remote. Make the other ends desirable too with this armrest caddy that has pockets for magazine and remotes.

We mostly stream media these days, and that is partially because we never see our Blu-ray collection on the bookshelf. This organizer is designed to hold each Blu-ray case in your collection so they are easy to see and access.

I bought my first Harmony remote a few years ago, and I wasn't really sure if it would be useful. Since then, I have purchased one for every TV in the house. Even though I set up the entertainment systems myself, it is confusing to remember that the picture comes out of one box, the sound comes out of another box, and the display comes out of the TV. It's even more confusing when we need to switch between sources. This remote is designed to keep all of your devices and the complex series of button presses needed to switch between them in a single remote. These remotes are more expensive than the old-fashioned universal remote, but that is because the old universal remotes still required you to remember all the button sequences. These remotes simply know all of the button presses automatically to change you from the Xbox to watching TV.

I have tried a few home theater systems, but this one has been my favorite. I don't own many Sony products, but I will admit that their combination receiver, Blu-ray player, and home theater speakers are very reliable and sound good. While there are certainly higher end speakers and receivers out there, I'm not convinced that there are many better performing systems at this price point. If you don't already own a streaming device like a Roku, this system has Wi-Fi built in and apps that let you watch your favorite streaming services.

We first put a TV in our bedroom a few years ago, and I realized that one of us often wanted to go to bed before the other. When I looked into getting wireless headphones, nearly all of them had terrible reviews that complained about the audio quality and buzzing. These headphones use a different technology that transmits the sound digitally so they are not influenced by the interference that plagued previous systems. In my experience with these headphones, the sound quality is consistently great, and the battery life is good.

My wife is not a big fan of all of the wires around our home entertainment systems, so I try to put as many of them behind cabinet doors as possible. This little remote extender will allow you to inexpensively transmit the signal from your remote to the appliances inside the cabinet.

Even the most expensive televisions have small speakers that face the wrong direction. This is because most television manufacturers only include speakers on the sets because no one would be able to sell a television that didn't have speakers. The companies know that anyone who cares about sound quality will attach external speakers or a home theater system. If you are disappointed with the sound quality from the built-in speakers on your television yet aren't interested in spending a lot of money running wires, this affordable sound bar is the perfect compromise.

One little-known fact about Blu-rays, Blu-ray players, and modern cables is that they really don't make any difference. As the data is encoded and transmitted digitally, the cheapest Blu-ray player and HDMI cable will look exactly the same on your screen as ones that cost thousands of dollars. Back in the days of analog, things like players and wires could make a big difference, but digital transmission means that you either have the best possible picture or no picture at all. There are some caveats such as audio decoding, but the only thing that matters to me in a Blu-ray player is that I can get video from a Blu-ray to an HDMI cable. For this reason, I am recommending the least expensive Blu-ray player from a reputable manufacturer, and it should meet your needs and save you hundreds of dollars.

If you purchase a 4K Ultra HD television in the past few years, you will need an upgraded Blu-ray player that is capable of playing the new, higher definition Blu-rays and streaming content. This Blu-ray player is the best balance of capabilities for the best price.

Contrary to popular belief, the size of the screen your living room is completely relative. Sitting close to a small screen is just as good as sitting further away from a large screen. Similarly, you won't be able to tell the difference between a HD and Ultra HD television if you are sitting far enough away. This means that you must match the size of your television to the room. For large rooms, even the largest flat screen television won't be large enough for everyone to enjoy. In these cases, I highly recommend that you purchase a home theater projector and screen. This projector will give you a crisp, bright picture for movies and sports.

When our family got our first projector, we used it to watch movies on a sheet at the campground. What I didn't realize at the time is that projection screens are made of an engineered surface designed to reflect the light in all directions to improve picture quality. When you project onto a matte surface such as a painted wall, you dramatically reduce the brightness and picture quality. This screen drops down from the ceiling with a remote control so you can hide it when not in use. If you mount the projector properly, you will be able to take advantage of the full 110 inch screen size.

If you can't permanently mount a screen from the ceiling, then I recommend getting one of these portable, freestanding screens. This screen will not be as crisp or bright as the one above, but it will be much easier to transport and clean.

It is amazing how affordable good quality TVs have gotten in the last few years. This TV won't win any awards, but it is a great little set for the bedroom or a dorm room. If you're thinking about buying a couple of TVs for the kids' rooms, it is hard to beat the price on this model.

If you want a big TV for the cheapest possible price, this is the perfect choice. It has good picture quality from a reliable brand, and it has smart TV features for streaming. At 60 inches, it will look huge in all but the largest of rooms.

Over the past year, 4K Ultra HD resolution has made it into more and more affordable televisions. This is because the handful of factories that make displays have updated their fabrication process to produce these higher resolution screens. This is good news for you because better picture quality is now more affordable. The downside is that you also need more expensive devices to feed into the display. This TV has smart features to bring your favorite streaming apps to the screen on a single device.

The main feature that you will notice on this next TV is that it is curved. This feature is mostly a gimmick, and it is not worth the upgrade to get a very slight curve in your television. What is worth the upgrade, however, is the improved dynamic range that this set can display and the 240 Hz update rate. What they don't tell you about most televisions is how many times the picture updates per second. Less-expensive televisions like the ones above update the picture sixty times per second. Because of the way that LED screens work, this is not sufficient for smooth performance while watching sports. For great performance while watching sports and action, you will need to have 240 Hz which is four times as many frames per second. That's what this model offers. This TV also offers high dynamic range which means that it can display darker darks and brighter brights that are now available in the 4K Ultra HD formats like Ultra HD Blu-ray. While I'm not a huge advocate for upgrading just to get 4K Ultra HD if you already have a good HD television, I am a big fan of these other improvements. If you are buying a television in the next few years, you will want to get one that has the ability to display HDR video at 240 Hz.

It is easy to walk into the store and find new televisions that cost many thousands of dollars. While these TVs do have a few marginal improvements, they're only going to get you a few percentage points of improvement for a much higher price. This television is the last reasonably priced unit that still shows noticeable improvements and functionality for the price. If you're looking for an excellent TV that will last you a long time, buy this one and save yourself the money.

I'm including this TV for an opportunity to encourage you to steer away from gimmicks like curved screens. Despite the marketing hype, you are unlikely to experience any benefits from this if you sit further away from your television at home than how far you stand from the televisions in the electronics store. Gimmicks like this are designed to sell TVs at the store and not for long-term use at home. Only buy a curved screen if it just happens to be one of the features of an otherwise excellent TV. If you care about great picture quality, go with one of the sets I recommended above.

I'm personally not a big fan of the “smart” functionality built into televisions. I'm yet to find one where the streaming capabilities and usability were as good as one of the inexpensive streaming sticks like this one here. More importantly, this functionality is only bundled to sell TVs in the store, and the manufacturers have a terrible track record for updating the software down the road. If you're a fan of Netflix, then you will probably want the streaming device that supports all of their newest innovations in the future. What I love about Roku is that their entire business is centered around giving you the best streaming capabilities, not selling televisions. This means that they are very focused on making the device as easy to use as possible and bringing you quality updates. They also work closely with the streaming companies long-term. If you're interested in getting a streaming device, this is an excellent option.

This upgraded device includes all the benefits of the streaming stick above plus two major improvements. First, this unit supports streaming 4K Ultra HD content which you will need if you have one of the new Ultra HD televisions. Second, this device can send all of the audio to the handheld remote for you to plug in headphones. This is a great way for someone to silently watch television in bed without disturbing their partner.

If you have an Amazon prime subscription, then you should look at getting a Fire TV streaming stick. In addition to streaming apps from other companies like Netflix and Pandora, the stick perfectly integrates with the streaming video and music included in your Prime subscription. If you don't want to pay for a cable subscription, you can sign up for a subscription to Sling TV which can stream live TV to this device.

Like with the Roku, will need to buy the upgraded version of the Fire TV in order to play 4K Ultra HD content. To support the higher resolution content, this version has much beefier components (such as the processor).

I'm a big fan of connecting a computer directly to your television. All of my streaming and music is available in the living room on the computer connected to our big screen TV. If you have ever tried to use the web browser built into a “smart” TV, then that was probably the last time you ever bothered to use that functionality. Having a full computer attached to your TV has lots of other benefits as well such as streaming from Hulu without a Hulu Plus subscription (not possible using the streaming apps in “smart” TV's and streaming devices). The computer I have connected to our home theater system is a full desktop tower that I custom-built a few years. Fortunately for you, you can now get the entire capability of my computer in a $150 stick that plugs into the back of your TV. You will need to buy wireless keyboard and mouse to go with this, but for less than $200, you can turn your TV set into a home theater computer.

This device is almost exactly the same as the Intel version above, but it tends to be a little less expensive. If these are in stock, pick one of these up instead to save a few dollars.

If you like the idea of a home theater PC but would like something a little higher performance than the low-powered HDMI stick PC's above, than this mini PC is a brilliant balance. You might not have heard of Zotac before, but they have been making excellent home theater PC's for a long time. This machine is very quiet and packs a lot more punch. If you are thinking about streaming media from your home theater PC to other computers in the house, than you will want to use this computer instead of the HDMI sticks.

I bought one of these little sound bars earlier this year to connect to the TV in my office and to play music. I have been consistently impressed with its audio quality and presence in the room. I find the audio quality in this unit to compare favorably with speakers that are much more expensive. One feature that I particularly like is that it can automatically sense when you have started playing something from a different input. For example, it will automatically switch from the TV input to the headphone jack input when I start playing music.

We have been using one of these keywords in our living room for the past two years with our home theater PC. We chose this keyboard for its range and illuminated keyboard. It has consistently exceeded our expectations. Its greatest feature is that it can light up when it senses your hand getting close before you even touch it. In a dark room while playing a movie, this is ideal. Amazingly, I've only had to charge it once in the past two years.

You will want an above-average mouse in the living room since you won't always be using it on a desk-like surface. The best Logitech mice come with a new technology they call “Darkfield” that allows them to be used on any surface – even glass. I have found that this really makes a difference when using the mouse in front of the TV on the couch.

Having a keyboard and a mouse to balance in your lap can get somewhat cumbersome at times. This combination thumb keyboard and mouse trackball isn't as easy to use as a full-sized keyboard, but it makes up for this in convenience.

There are two types of people who buy turntables these days, and I love both of their reasons. First are the people who have old vinyl collections lying around who want to listen to their favorite tracks the way they used to sound. The other, and decidedly less expected, group are modern day audiophiles who love the rich sound quality that can only come from records. These young music lovers have put dying record production companies at full capacity again for the first time in decades. Whether your guy loves his old records or is rediscovering the sweet sound of vinyl, you'll want to buy a quality and easy to use turntable.

If you want to connect your turntable to the computer, pick up a turntable that directly converts via USB. This will allow you to directly record high quality audio files to digital rather than losing quality with an analog to digital converter. There is a small but strong group of audiophiles who transfer records to their computer using lossless compression formats to get the greatest sound quality from every album, and this turntable with USB support is an excellent choice.

If you're ready to take your vinyl habit from the enthusiast level to an obsession, you'll need a little more control over your playback. This turntable is like the ones above, but it includes higher quality components and additional controls to dial in the speed and pitch. If you think that a higher end turntable might be in the future, it will be more affordable to buy this unit now rather than buy one now and one later.