Panasonic DMR-EX77: Record and upscale Freeview
Home CinemaBecause Crave leads such an active social life (read: we can't stop playing World of Warcraft), we're very rarely around to watch TV. This means Freeview hard-drive recorders are absolutely invaluable. One of our faves was the excellent Panasonic DMR-EX75, so we're overjoyed to see an upgrade: the EX77, which allows digital recording to either DVD or its built-in 160GB hard drive.
The EX77 also has a built-in Freeview receiver, so there's no messing around with those pesky Scart leads to plug in your Freeview receiver and suffering a loss in quality as everything is converted from digital to analogue and back again. Continue reading...
LG BH100: Super Multi Blue gets official UK price
Home CinemaWhen the LG Super Multi Blue player was announced at CES this year there was much excitement from the gathered technological masses. A high-definition player that can cope with both HD DVD and Blu-ray -- "W00t," we thought, and even said it out loud (when no-one was in earshot). And now, after much waiting, the BH100 has arrived and LG has announced a price too.
And that's where the good news ends. Because the BH100 will go on sale at the end of May and will cost a staggering 1,000.
To see what you can get for 1,000, Crave did a little Internet window shopping. We discovered that you can buy an Xbox 360 with the optional HD DVD drive, a PlayStation 3 and a Wii and still have enough change for a bottle of overpriced lager from a tediously trendy London bar. All for the same price as this player, with the same media playback abilities and a metric tonne more fun. Continue reading...
Mustek MP80D: Portable, you say?
Home CinemaWe looked at the MP80D's little brother, the MP70D, a few months back, and this beast is similar -- but with a larger screen (8 inches to the MP70D's measly 7). It's a decent little DVD player -- it does that job really quite well. Sharp picture, actually in sync with the sound, all the options you'd expect, and it's all very easy to use.
The problems arise when you try to use the integrated Freeview TV. Standing on the top floor of our new office, waving the flimsy aerial around like a glow-stick in a nightclub had Crave reminiscing about the Sega Game Gear's TV tuner. Back then, reception was dodgy, choice was limited, and we remember the sense of achievement on finding a clear picture -- this was a games console, and you were watching TV. Way better than a Game Boy, Nintendo dorks! Continue reading...
Samsung BD-UP5000: Sit on the high-definition fence
Home CinemaIf you're an AV pacifist then the whole next-generation DVD format war will no doubt be as distasteful to you as kicking kittens. Luckily Samsung wants you to preserve your moral code by finding a peaceful compromise. Its new BS-UP5000 will play both HD DVD and Blu-ray without so much as a cross word or angry gesture.
Even more exciting is the news that it will have full interactive support for both formats. This is one better than LG's Super Multi Blue player, which has full support for the Blu-ray Java platform, but isn't capable of the HD DVD interactive system, called HDi.
So, what does this mean for the formats? Well, the bad news for peace lovers is that one of the formats is going to have to die sooner or later. Which one kicks the bucket will depend on a number of complex factors. Dual-format players are good for HD DVD, because movie studios will be more likely to press their discs in the format that's cheapest to produce. At this point, it only costs around 50,000 to convert a DVD plant to an HD DVD-capable one, whereas Blu-ray facilities cost as much as ten times that. Continue reading...
How Sky Anytime can take over your life
I've got my all-time favourite film, Lawrence of Arabia, waiting for me in glorious high definition this weekend, thanks to the techie bods at Sky. When Sky isn't being taken to the high court for daring to pull Lost from Virgin Media's cable channels, it's been busy adding new functions to its HD service. Continue reading...
Virgin Free TV: It'll cost you
Home CinemaIf you can't get, or don't want, full cable TV, Virgin Media would still like to get some money off you. Surely that's the dream of every company, isn't it? So how does Virgin persuade people to hand over money without getting anything in return? Offer them something 'free' that actually turns out to cost quite a lot of money, of course. Enter Virgin Free TV.
The service consists of a pretty standard Freeview receiver, which you get for 'free' when you sign up for the 20-a-month Virgin broadband service. On the plus side, the box is pretty small, with Virgin claiming it's about the same size as a VHS cassette. A what, granddad? Continue reading...
I haven't stolen anything, leave me alone
I'm getting really annoyed by that advert that appears at the beginning of every DVD I buy. You almost certainly know the one I mean, it goes something like this:
Shady looking bloke steals a car
Message appears 'You wouldn't steal a car'
Shady looking bloke steals a handbag
Message appears 'You wouldn't steal a handbag'
Shady looking bloke steals mobile phone
Message appears 'You wouldn't steal a mobile phone' Continue reading...
Toshiba defends HD DVD: Major price cut ahoy
Home CinemaLet's start with some wallet-pleasing news. Toshiba's entry-level HD DVD player, the HD-E1, is dropping in price from 450 to 350. This leaves room for the new HD-EP10 to jump in at the 450 price point. The top-of-the-range HD-XE1 remains unchanged at 550, with no drop in price planned.
The reduction on the E1 comes at an interesting time. Until now, in the UK there has been easier access to HD DVD hardware at a sensible price than there has Blu-ray gear. That's all changed with the launch of the PlayStation 3, which at 425 would have been cheaper than the E1 prior to this price snip. Clearly, without a significant discount the E1 would look very poor value in comparison to the PS3. Continue reading...
Photos: Hands on with Sony's new gear
TelevisionsCrave has just spent a rather pleasant couple of days playing with the very best products Sony is planning on releasing in the next few months. As you can see from the picture, it took place in the idyllic Brit-fest location of Rhodes, with hundreds of attendees from all over the world.
Click through our photos for the highlights of what we saw, from TVs with built in high-def tuners to the new UK Blu-ray player, via a spot of wireless and a touch of sat-nav. Continue reading...
BT Vision signs up new talent
BT's Vision product -- a cheap Freeview PVR with access to video-on-demand services over the Internet -- struck me as an excellent idea when it was launched last year, but I haven't seen much of it since. The company has just announced some new deals, though, which should jazz up the hitherto anaemic line-up. Continue reading...
Sony Bravia VPL-AW15 projector: Watch with the lights on
Home CinemaSony's first projector to sport the high-end Bravia TV brand is a marvel. Normally you need a very dark room to get a decent picture from a projector, but, providing you buy the screen Sony is selling to accompany its new AW-series, you can watch a movie with the lights on. It really works -- Crave was treated to a demo yesterday at Sony's press event in Rhodes.
The engineers that created the Bravia tellies we love so much were enlisted to work on the design of the VPL-AW15, helping to tweak the picture so it can knock its rivals into a cocked hat, despite it being relatively cheap. Continue reading...
Sony Bravia Theatre RHT-G800: Surround sound TV stand
Home CinemaIf the thought of wires snaking around your room has put you off buying a set of surround-sound speakers, Sony has the answer. We've just been treated to a demo of the Bravia Theatre RHT-G800, a TV stand with built-in speakers that create the illusion of surround sound.
There are seven speakers inside the stand -- three at the front, two at the sides and two subwoofers underneath. The subs are in a special enclosure to stop them vibrating too much and annoying your neighbours. So you'll hear the rumble of an explosion, but you shouldn't be able to feel it.
Unlike some fake surround-sound products out there, the RHT-G800 doesn't need a wall to bounce the sound off, so there's no need to set the thing up with a microphone the first time you use it -- just turn on and go. Continue reading...
Sony BDP-S1E Blu-ray player: Sony stops ignoring Europe
Home CinemaThe Blu-ray camp has long been claiming victory over HD DVD in the next-generation disc format war. Sony has been particularly noisy about how it has trounced the other format. The problem is, Sony hasn't launched a Blu-ray player for us Europeans -- with the exception of the PS3, and we've only just got that. Until now, that is: Sony has finally agreed to let us join the high-definition disc revolution by launching the BDP-S1E -- a Blu-ray disc player for us to enjoy.
The BDP-S1E is well matched to the also newly announced Sony Bravia D3000 range. It supports the 24p True Cinema mode that allows films to be watched as they were intended by the director. Basically, until now we've all been suffering with movies that play back 'faster' than they do in the cinema. When a film is shown on TV or sold on DVD it has to be adjusted to be compatible with the PAL format. This means a speed up of 4 per cent -- the difference is that films are shot at a rate of 24 frames per second, where TV uses 25 frames per second. Continue reading...
Philips DCD778: An iPod dock to blight your kitchen
MP3 PlayersIf you spend more time standing in your kitchen than you do sitting in your front room, maybe an under-cabinet iPod media station is something you'll find a use for. Certainly targeted at a niche group of users, the new Philips DCD778 Docking Entertainment System is a frighteningly unattractive piece of kit.
This precocious attempt to bring even more media to your culinary workstation incorporates an iPod dock, a DVD player, a 216mm (8.5-inch) widescreen display, a pair of 50mm speakers and -- wait for it -- an egg timer. Continue reading...
Digital Theatre media centre: Home cinema hunk
DesktopsWhile Crave was pounding the floors at CeBIT last week we were collared by a man from a company called Digital Theatre, who was very keen indeed to show us a home cinema PC. Normally we would run away from such a person, but this one pointed us at something made out of brushed metal. How could we resist?
We were stunned by the aesthetics of the machine. It's built around a case made by a company called OrigenAE and features an enormous 12.1-inch motorised, touchscreen LCD that controls what you're watching. This enormous silver box has a pretty impressive visual impact. No more will people come to your house to watch a movie and have nothing to say during the boring bits -- talk will be all about this beast. Continue reading...
iLuv i1055: 7-inch screen for DVDs and iPods
MP3 PlayersAs the tech-loving public becomes ever more attached to watching their Hollywood blockbusters and downloaded Simpsons episodes on the train, manufacturers are devising ever more innovative devices to meet the demand. We've seen some great examples recently, and hope to get our hands on more still. Today, Crave is intrigued by the stylish and ingenious i1055 from iLuv -- it's a portable DVD player, complete with an iPod dock, and it will play back content from both formats on its large 7-inch screen.
One of the most exciting characteristics of the i1055 is its most obvious: it'll blow up all video content stored on your iPod on to a large screen. It's an interesting idea, but this ability in a way negates the device's other primary function: DVD playback -- if all your movies are on an iPod, why bother carrying around DVDs? An 80GB iPod will hold every James Bond film, every Rocky classic and every episode of Lost. Surely there's no need for a DVD player? Well, the DVD drive seems so well integrated that it doesn't add to the bulkiness too much, so why not stick one in anyway? It's the belt-and-braces approach to portable media. Continue reading...
Toshiba HD-EP10: Cheapest 1080p high-definition player yet
Home CinemaCrave hopes you haven't just rushed out and bought Toshiba's top-end HD DVD player -- there's a new one that's basically the same, but cheaper.
The HD-EP10, unveiled at CeBIT, has a similar look to its bigger brother but is made of standard DVD player plastic rather than the HD-XE1's bullet-proof, shiny metal. Crucially, it can output video at 1080p for the very best HD DVD picture quality.
Its release follows recent price drops for rival Blu-ray players.
The HD-EP10 has a network point so that, in the future, the player will be able to download extra content related to the disc, such as up-to-date movie trailers. Continue reading...
Linksys KiSS 1600: It's a bit like Apple TV
Home CinemaThe Linksys KiSS 1600 is described as a wireless high-definition media player. Which reminds us very much of another product we've heard about called Apple TV. Amusingly, KiSS is owned by Cisco Systems, who you might remember had a scuffle recently with Apple about the name of a phone...
The KiSS 1600 aims to be an all-in-one media solution. It can connect to your home network either wirelessly via the built-in 802.11g or via cabled Ethernet. Once it's happily chatting away to your network it can play a plethora of media, including Windows Media 9 HD, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX and H.264 AVC -- high-definition MPEG-4. Continue reading...
Vosonic VP8360: A PVP to kill for
MP3 PlayersToday we're going dive into a golden portable video player pool; a pool that any PVP fan is going to want to plunge into. The Vosonic VP8360 is the most enjoyable portable media device Crave has ever seen, and we'll need to receive professional counselling when we finally send it back to the supplier. It will give your video iPod an inferiority complex, your Archos 604 a run for its money, and your loved ones a strange feeling of neglect.
The VP8360 is feature-packed: it's an 80GB video recorder, a card reader, a backup drive, a movie player, an audio player, an MPEG-4 capture device, a radio, a dictation machine -- take a breath -- a portable hard drive and a photo viewer. It's pretty, too: the grey/black finish and silver details are so attractive you'll be proud to have it on your arm in public.
It'll play back your DivX movies, XviD movies and MPEG-4 videos. It'll let the travelling photographer backup and view his gigabytes of RAW-format digital photographs via the 7-in-1 card reader. It'll store your legions of backup files from your laptop. It'll also rip your favourite home movies right from your camcorder -- without a computer -- and encode it in real time into glorious MPEG-4 quality. Basically it'll have your cake, your neighbour's cake, and bake you four more in return. Continue reading...
Sony BDP-S300: Blu-ray's been to Weight Watchers
Home CinemaAs we perch on the edge of our seats waiting for the Blu-ray vs HD DVD scuffle to end, we have plenty of time to predict which format will be triumphant. The latest salvo is Sony's announcement of a seriously cut-price Blu-ray player, the BDP-S300.
It's a step up from the enormous BDP-S1 -- it's cheaper, smaller and amazingly will now play audio CDs (an amazing technological leap forward). The BDP-S300 also features built-in decoding of Dolby Digital Plus and support for Sony's wide colour gamut, which should produce better high-definition pictures. The player will also control other Sony kit via the HDMI port. Continue reading...
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