Let your projector strut its stuff with one of these visually stunning Show-Offs selections

Spec sheets and reviews can tell you a lot about a projector, but let’s face it: Without good content, even the most highly lauded, feature-packed projector in the world is little more than a bulky, expensive light source.

If you’re looking to impress your guests with your new projector, don’t bore them with stats, figures and features. Just stick one of these luscious-looking Blu-ray discs in and let the images do the talking.

Digital hi-fi never really went away, but it’s back and better than ever after taking a bit of a beating.

If your golden ears have shied away from the digital domain before, though, it’s time for another listen. Not only are old formats like SACD finally reaching their full potential thanks to pure digital interconnectivity, the new high-resolution audio formats found on Blu-ray are making access to eerily  high-fidelity music playback easier than ever.

These spectacularly spooky Show-Offs will ensure your sub isn't the only thing going bump in the night.

Ah, Halloween: the weirdest of all holidays. The night when all the world turns into a Key West street parade and yard decorations run the gamut from tacky carved vegetables to toilet paper. Who could blame you if you decided to stay inside with the door shut tight and wait for the craziness to pass?

Holing up for the night doesn’t preclude you from celebrating All Hallows’ Eve entirely, though.

Progressive Scan
Take your home theater to new heights with these phenomenal prog rock concerts on Blu-ray and DVD

It’s snooty. It’s often dissonant. And if you try to tap your foot to it, you run the risk of dislocating your shoulder blades.

But there’s just something about progressive rock that makes for the perfect home theater demo, whether you’re into this often obtuse genus of music or not (and for the record, I very much am).

Connecting even more dots between today’s hottest movies and games

Longtime readers of Home Entertainment may remember a handful of old columns in which I riffed on the popular six degrees of separation meme: the notion that every person in the world can be connected to every other by no more than six connections—in other words, you know someone who knows someone who’s related to someone who... you get the picture.

Put your system (and your foundation) to the test with these spectacular subwoofer Show-Offs

Sure we all enjoy a carefully crafted surround sound mix that oozes ambience and paints a pretty phonic picture in the air, but what we all really love is head-slamming, rump-shaking, rafter-rattling bass.

With that in mind, this installment of Show-Off is all about giving you the lowdown on the lowest of the low—Blu-ray subwoofer demos certain to pin you to your seat, part your hair (assuming you have any) and rattle anything that isn’t nailed, bolted or Gorilla-glued to the walls or floor.

Show Off your system without having to shuffle the kids out of the room with this fantastic collection of family-friendly flicks

Most of the time, the land of Show-Offs can be a rather unfriendly place for the little ones, what with all the sex and language and adult situations (whatever those may be) that so often go hand-in-hand with the car crashes, action scenes, and great big earth-shattering kabooms that look and sound so good in a well-tuned home theater.

But that doesn’t mean the rug rats, or the faint of heart, have to be left out of the fun altogether.

Our 10 Best Software Award winners.

Nothing less than our picks for the best demo material of the past year.

Who needs the movies? Some of the hottest sights and sounds on Blu-ray have their origins in the airwaves.

I hate to admit it, but I’m becoming a bit of a TV junky again, after swearing off all but a few essential shows a few years back.

I had been managing fairly well, actually. Honestly, I had.

Then Blu-ray came along.

Push your home theater to infinity and beyond with these out-of-this-world sci-fi flicks on Blu-ray

In the annals of motion picture history, perhaps no genre has stoked the imagination and stimulated the senses quite so well as science fiction. There's something about gleaming metal entities and blinding bursts of projectile plasma that gets the juices flowing—and sets subwoofers in motion—in a way that mere earthly action never will.

So suit up, strap in, and get your home theater ready for five Blu-ray discs sure to bring the geek out in even your most reticent reality-based guests.