TV Stands: More than Just a Piece of Furniture

Television consoles have traditionally been designed based on appearances, with only a secondary focus on functionality. As a result, you would some stands that were great to look at and could support a television but wouldn’t include a wire management system or would lack room for speaker components. In some cases, the central shelving would even be too small to fit a standard cable box or DVD Player.

Fortunately, over the past few years a lot of tv stand manufacturers have become more attuned to the needs of the consumers, so we’ve seen features like speaker cloth inserts and media storage drawers become more and more common. And lately, we’ve seen some models by Parker House that include all of the features mentioned above plus an iPod docking station on the top shelf of the stand. This is a really great feature, basically the port, which is recessed, gives you the ability to run an A/V cable from the out port to your entertainment system while a separate dock gives you the ability to connect your iPod to a power block (which comes included along with the necessary USB cables and converter).

What this basically means is that once you connect the iPod to the dock (using the universal well adapter included with the iPod) you are able to charge it while simultaneously uploading videos and music onto your home entertainment system, giving you the ability to play some tunes on your surround sound system. Or you could watch your favorite downloaded shows on a much bigger screen than what your iPod provides!

This is by far the best feature we’ve seen yet on a television stand. Obviously, docking stations have been around for some time, but its great to see a manufacturer actually incorporate it into a stand design, and do so in a way that is not obtrusive. It seems that finally the manufacturers are catching up with the times and are realizing that tv stands more than a piece of furniture, they’re now about seamlessly integrated the many components that make up a home entertainment system. And now that they have seen the light, expect to some more features down the road that will further meet the needs of a changing technologies of the home electronics industry.

HD video purchases now available on the iTunes Store

Apple has recently added high-def movie purchases to the iTunes Store. Although HD TV shows were previously available to buy, HD movies were rental-only until now. HD flicks will cost you $19.99, and we're guessing they're the same H.264 compressed 720p quality as usual, so videophiles will probably want to stick to Blu-ray. Purchases will come with both an HD file and an iPod / iPhone-ready SD file, which is a nice touch, and Apple's also promising that HD rentals will now be on the store within 30 days of retail release -- better, but not perfect. It's all going live today with exclusive pre-orders of Quantum of Solace and Twilight, but honestly, we're still wondering when Apple will implement subscription video and really take it to Netflix.