Online reviews are a necessary evil for anyone with an interest in electronics or technology, it is where everyone goes to get information. The internet is a powerful tool for anyone doing research, it is also their worst enemy. Knowing where to look and who to trust is important when making purchasing decisions and thankfully, there is a lot of good information, from knowledgeable people out there, you just have to know which rocks to look under.

An important thing to understand about even the best made, most loved products is that there will always be a unit with a problem. Not every electronic device does everything well and it is important to understand the strength and weakness of any piece of equipment. Owners who have a negative experience are much more likely to jump online and voice their problem while happy owners sit quietly, enjoying their equipment.

The next thing to know is that people are, well, people and the internet allows them to show a side of themselves that isn’t always nice or even truthful. It is human nature to love what you have and more importantly, to poo-poo the competition.

 Shortly after the birth of the internet and the refinement of search engines such as Google, webmasters, retailers and marketers began to understand what a powerful tool the internet is. In addition they needed to devise ways to drive users into their websites where they can sell and market their products. One way to improve your ratings on a search engine is to allow comments and reviews for the product you offer, and this is the root of all review evil.

Online reviews can be very valuable but I have a few rules when I do research. Disregard 90% of the comments on any sales website. Good or bad you are dealing with a high percentage of fan boys and naysayers who may or may not have used the product. Anything written on these sites should be suspect at best. I do pay attention when I see the same comment made over and over however and do additional research on a site with more experienced users, preferably a forum of enthusiasts.

Be it headphones, receivers, turntables, MP3 players or a car, there is a forum of enthusiasts who are more than happy to help you understand any purchasing decision. They will help you understand the real world factors of owning a, b or c product and how one may be better for your system specifically.

When I find a new forum I read through a number of threads to determine the legitimacy of the site. There are good and bad forums. Good forums contain civil, helpful and knowledgeable users. It is fairly easy to pick out the good from the bad based on the intelligence level of the posts. If it appears that every other post is filled with text speak, U R sumwere occupied by teens, which can be helpful but extra care must be taken as a considerable amount of misinformation is likely.

Reviews are not the end all of making purchasing decisions, especially if you are looking at a big dollar purchase or adding equipment that could affect the rest of your system. Any respectable dealer will let you test drive equipment, in your home long enough to decide what is right for you. Take advantage of this to ensure you make the best possible decision for your system. Online reviews are helpful to pinpoint the number of products you need to look at when making a decision but you should never buy blind based on the random information scattered across the internet universe.

Receiver power ratings are a tricky business that baffles even the most knowledgeable enthusiast. Many electronics companies spin their power ratings until they are unrecognizable from the truth and the public rarely has a clue. In testing many popular receivers from the likes of Onkyo, Pioneer, Kenwood, Denon and other major brands, it becomes clear… 100 watts is very rarely 100 watts except in the fairytale land of electronics marketing.

To fully understand how watts work in a home theater we need to delve into some engineering, scientific, brainiac stuff. Since I am not an engineer, a scientist or a brainiac, I will do my best here and keep it simple.

One important thing to understand is that watts are important, to a point. The differences between a 50-watt system and a 100-watt system is small, 3 decibels to be precise. Every 3 decibel increase in volume requires that the power output from the receiver doubles. In other words, every time you bump the volume up one notch, say from 30 to 29, the receiver doubles its output watts.

If a watt is a watt, why do equally rated receivers sound so different, why spend $1,000 when you can get the same watts from a $200 receiver. To illustrate how the power ratings game is played I am going to pretend we are selling cyclists, high end brand A is selling the Lance Armstrong model and low end brand B is selling me.

Both brands use a meter on the back wheel of the bike to compile peak output. Brand A does their test while Lance is climbing the steepest mountain in France and find his back wheel is putting out 100 watts and he is moving at 7 MPH. Brand B puts me at the top of a very steep mountain that has no curves and finds that despite my appearance I am capable of hitting 70 MPH and put out 130 watts. Of course if you put Lance and myself anywhere on earth and have us race, I will lose sight of Lance in less than a minute, followed shortly by a heart attack and quite possibly my death.

If Lance was a receiver, Brand A would put his rating down in a very accurate and meaningful way like this:  "100W/ ch. @ 8 ohms, with no more than 0.1% THD, from 20-20,000 Hz, all channels driven." This tells us that the receiver was tested over the full frequency range, just like we use it, all speakers driven and using the full frequency recorded.

Company B however gives us a specification like this: "130W/ch @ 8 ohms, at 1 kHz, one channel driven." Unless you enjoy listening to test tones through one speaker at 1kHz, this is not a meaningful specification and doesn’t give us any idea of what the system is capable of.

There is no standard for stating power ratings, which allows electronics manufacturers to legally lie to us. Knowing this fact helps and the sad fact is many of us can’t afford a super high end system so your own judgment has to come into play, you have to listen to the receiver, in your home, on your speakers and decide if it works for you.

Many moons ago the marketing teams discovered that 100 watts was the trigger for the general public and they found a way to get that rating without building a better receiver. The fact is however that unless you have an enormous room or very power hungry speakers, these receivers are more than enough for you. There is a very good reason to consider higher watt amps however.

Higher power gives an amp more headroom, which equates to better detail, truer bass and more pleasant sound even at low volumes. Home theater enthusiast often find they have to turn their receiver up, beyond reference volume to get the detail they seek. This is a sign of a straining system. Doing this also makes the bass muddy and the highs shrill, it is the sound of a struggling amplifier.

One affordable electronics manufacture consistently under rates the power of their receivers and they lose business because of it. Harman Kardon makes high power amps with flagship models showing ratings of 75 and 80 watts, these receivers however easily outperform many models that state 120, 130 or even 150 watts.

The moral of this story is that every purchasing decision requires research, by doing your homework your hard-earned money will buy more receiver. Most stores have a 30 day return policy so you can listen to the receiver in your environment, where it counts, take advantage of this and make a decision based on your ears, just make sure they are located in your favorite chair at the time.

Getting Ethernet to your Blu-Ray player, satellite receiver or any other device is difficult if your house isn’t already wired in the room and on the wall you need. In my house, built in the early 70s, I have firebreaks in every wall, which makes running Ethernet an extreme gymnastic sport because of the flexibility involved.

 I could hire someone to come out and do it or I could even do it myself but the effort and cost are just not worth it. I did find a solution however and it is both budget friendly and works like a dream. A wireless Ethernet bridge, also known as wireless print servers, work very well and I am surprised that nobody has picked up the ball and started marketing these as a home theater solution.

Yes, these do require a wireless network to connect to but most people have one, if not they need to get one, besides they are not terribly expensive. Most models have a USB port, it is important that the model you select also have an Ethernet port. My final solution is the Netgear WGR614 Wireless-G Router which has an amazing 4 port Ethernet hub built in which means I don’t have to also add a hub.

The Netgear WGR614 is the only wireless print server I have found with more than 1 Ethernet port and at under $40, it is an incredible bargain. In the rooms I have set these up in I have multiple devices that need to be connected. In my primary theater, I connect my DirecTV HD-DVR, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and I am sure I will need one for the next receiver I buy. Having extra ports is great but many new products make use of Ethernet now so I am sure I will be forced to add a hub within the next year or two.

Connecting the Netgear WRG614 to a PC network is as easy as connecting the Ethernet, identifying your network and entering your security code. It connects and you are off and running. I have found streaming HD material from my DirecTV DVR to my computer is flawless from across the house and I have never had to touch it in more than a year. It connects, stays connected and I don’t even have to think about it.

For my friends who only have a Mac, well, you need to borrow a PC laptop to do the initial settings but once connected you are all set and have no reason to touch it ever again.

Any wireless Ethernet bridge will work and most network hardware companies have at least one model available. I have found the Netgear WRG614 on sale for as low as $20 if you are willing to do a little hunting, which makes it a serious home theater bargain that lets you take advantage of all the Ethernet features your system provides.