Style for audiophiles: KEF’s KHT 6000 ACE speakers
Speaker specialist KEF has announced a high-end audiophile
speaker set that puts the emphasis on style. 
The KHT 6000 ACE speakers are designed to fit right in with your skinny plasma or LCD and work as well on the wall, as on the ground. These ultra-slim speakers use KEF’s ACE technology to
allow them to generate the kind of bass associated with much bigger speakers. 
The Uni-Q
driver technology employed in the centre speaker and satellites is designed to
give a wider dispersion of sound beyond the 'sweet spot' and produce crisper dialogue. They look good
and come with price to match. A set of
five will set you back around £1,400-£1,500. See here for full details.
2-inch projector from Sony
Projectors are destined to get smaller and lighter as Sony
seems keen to point out with the new VPL-CX20 LCD projector. 
Aimed at the home
and mobile presentation market it will sport a £1,000 price tag. It measures an
anorexic 2ins high and weighs in at 1.9Kg. It has a brightness of 2000 Lumens
which is more than enough for home cinema use and a good XGA resolution of 1024x768, making it capable of throwing up
high-definition (HD) video images without any scaling. Full specs here.
Samsung's IT-friendly home cinema kit
Samsung is claiming a world’s first with the launch of two
all-in-one home cinema systems that will allow you to play DVDs, MPEG and DivX video, digital music and photo files directly from portable hard drives. 
A very handy
feature indeed considering the wide range of storage devices in use by people
today. Just hook up your device to the USB 2.0 port and off you go. It also saves you the cost and clutter of investing in really long
cables to connect your TV to your PC. 
The HT-UP30 boasts a progressive scan DVD
player, four 75W satellite speakers, an 80W centre speaker and 120W subwoofer.
The HT-TP33 is essentially the same but with floor-standing speakers. The
HT-UP30 costs £158 here while the HT-TP33 costs £215 here.
3-D movies back from the dead
3-D glasses and movies are largely rubbish. They always were
and mostly, still are – last year’s Spy Kids 3-D anyone? However, Disney and Dolby
think there’s life in the dead horse yet. 
Chicken Little will be the first
movie from Disney to boast it’s new computer-generated technology and in order
to make sure the movie (and the technology) doesn’t bomb, it has teamed up with
Dolby and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Disney will put Dolby’s Digital
Cinema sound system in 100 cinemas and ILM will render the movie in 3D so it
can be played on the Dolby servers. As expected, everyone is very excited about
the this new, generation of 3-D movie experience. 
Apparently, the glasses will
be more comfortable than the bits of cardboard with plastic film we have come
to love so well over the years. Great, but it would be nice if they actually
worked.
Record 24hrs of TV on a single disc
Throw away those video tapes. Pioneer has launched three new
hard disk drive DVD recorders, claiming they are the first to let you record up to 24hrs of TV on a Dual Layer (DL) DVD-R disc. 
Blank DL
DVD-R discs can hold up to 8.5Gb of content, compared to the more common,
single-sided 4.7Gb DVD-R discs. Pioneer’s own MPEG encoder technology promises
3hrs 30mins of full resolution video on single-sided DVD-R and 6hrs on a
dual-layer disc. The three slimline DVD recorders are the DVR-433H, DVR-530H
and DVR-630H with 80Gb, 160Gb, and
250Gb hard drives, respectively. In real terms, that’s up to 227, 445 and 711hrs of video recording – at the lowest resolution though. Prices not yet out
but expect them to range from £350 to £600.
Sagem's 56in DLP TV stunner
Sagem has taken the wraps off it’s biggest DLP TV yet. The
56in Axium HD-D56B uses DLP technology – more common in projectors – to display
images on the screen. DLP TVs are like lightweight (c. 45kgs) and slimmed down
(16ins deep) versions of older rear-projection TVs but with much better quality.
They also tend
to be significantly cheaper than plasma and LCDs. From a technical standpoint the advantages over plasma and LCD TVs include almost no blurring of moving images,
no screen burn from channel logos or gaming, or loss of brightness. It also boasts
a lamp lifetime of 100,000 hours – significantly more than plasma and LCD. Even then, you can replace the lamp, just like in projectors. Contrast
levels are 3000:1, it has a DVI connection and a resolution of 1280x720, which
makes it capable of reproducing high-definition DVD or TV signals. Available
now it costs £2,650 (without stand) here.
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Logitech offers wireless music freedom
PC peripheral
specialist Logitech is targeting the lifestyle set with its Wireless Headphones
for iPod. Just plug the wireless adapter into your iPod and the headphones
promise you a range of around 10 metres.
At 3.5oz they are reasonably lightweight and sport integrated iPod
controls on the side for volume, play/pause and track jumping. The headphones
use Bluetooth 1.2 technology and Logitech claims its adaptive frequency hopping helps
eliminate radio interference. Wireless headsets are not known for their supreme
audio reproduction, though. Keep a lookout for first reviews or test them for quality –
if possible – before handing over a somewhat steep £80-£90. Full details here
and they are due in the UK next month.
Sneak peek at Denon's latest AV kit
There’s only one thing more desirable than home
entertainment technology just launched and that’s stuff just around the corner.
Audio-separates specialist Denon, is flashing previews of its next foray into
the AV market on its website. These follow on from the successful and highly rated DHT-M330DV entry-level all-in-one home cinema offering (pictured).
The S-101 is also an all-in-one home cinema
offering and from what we can see it looks very sleek indeed. As well as the new-look slim speakers, the
S-101 is a departure from the typical boxy/straight line approach. As usual with
Denon though the look is clean and clinical. It's also surprisingly uncluttered. Due this summer there are
no prices or actual availability dates but when we know, so will you.
Midget MP3 players target iPod Shuffle
How small does an Mp3 player need to be? Very, if you are
NHJ with it’s colourful v@mp c@ndi series. 
They measure in at a minuscule 4.2 x
2.7 x 1.5cm and weigh 17g. That makes them smaller and lighter than the iPod
Shuffle. Without a screen they also work in the same way, where you choose the
playback track order when downloading your songs or let it do it for you. This
rainbow selection of Flash-based
MP3 players, which unfortunately look like Bic
lighters, come in 128Mb, 256Mb, 512Mb and 1Gb sizes. The iPod Shuffle has
a claimed battery life of 12 hours. So, if the v@mp c@ndis have no screens and are
lighter and smaller than the iPod Shuffle, why is the battery life a miserable
5 hours? Prices from £30.
Radical TVs from Hannspree
When it comes to novelty TVs, few make them as odd as
Hannspree. 
The company that brought us the sheep TV and the baseball TV is now
set to release it’s ‘Lifestyle’ range. Echoing interior design and contemporary
styling the company promises TVs with personality. 
There are three ranges
entitled Style, Fantasy and Sports. This covers TVs built around everything from
cellos, teddy bears and Cinderella to the curved shape of sailing masts,
footballs and racing cars. Whether you find it quirky, or the TV-equivalent of personalised number plates, tune in here for more details. Available online from October with prices ranging from $499 to $1,399. See just how odd your TV can be.
Bruce Lee in your living room
Ever fancied combining your inner Shaolin monk with your
love for the latest in digital lifestyle technology? If so, then the
aptly-named Kickass Kung Fu is for you. 
Think of those electronic dance pads
your kids hop around on to music and then multiply that a thousand-fold. Using
a 5-metre padded base, cameras and electronics your moves are translated to
the character on screen and exaggerated to the point of Matrix-like
proportions. 
Little hops become gravity-defying leaps and even your amateur chop-socky
can demolish your digital foe in devastating style. For anyone that has ever pulled Bruce
Lee poses in front of a mirror and squealed like a mewling cat, your time has
come.
Pioneer’s bargain universal DVD player
We just got finished covering the launch of the world’s most
expensive universal DVD player from Teac and now we have one of the most affordable.
The DV-585A sits at the top of a trio of new slim DVD
players from Pioneer. It’s a
progressive scan DVD player that also supports DivX, and DVD Audio and SACD
playback for just £130. That’s a great price for a big brand and a great way to check out what these new high-definition audio formats can bring to your home entertainment paradise. The DVD-585A is
also joined by the DV-2850 and DV-380 progressive scan DVD players, coming in
at around £80.
Power up the Active Home
Although wireless connectivity may be very liberating, allowing the user to surf the web on the sofa, in bed or in the garden it does zap the power of your laptop.
Very soon that exhilarating feeling of having broadband next to the barbie is lost as you either have to: a) plug in your laptop or b) wear a bandoleer of spare batteries and look like a poor imitation of Vin Diesel.
Well help is at hand in the form of the Universal Notebook Battery launched today in the UK by vendor APC.
Weighing a paltry 2lb, the battery is ideal for travellers as it will last eight hours and allow you to comfortably watch your favourite DVDs on the plane. Similarly it will allow you to catch the rays as you catch up on your emails in the garden.
"Your laptop sees the battery as mains power," according to APC's director of consumer business Paul Tyrer. " As we see more and more technology in the home, we will increasingly need more and more mobility products to support the digital lifestyle," Tyrer added.
For early adopters, the price could be a bit steep for some at an estimated price of £200 notes but it will pay for itself every time you end up in economy on the plane and the only film on offer is The Pacifier with, you guessed it: Vin Diesel.
APC has also launched today a new line of surge protection for the home to protect your precious plasmas and PS2s from power surges, spikes and lightening.
Ranging from £8 to £30 notes its one of those purchases that reminds us of insurance. Don't buy one and you could be hurting later.
Teac’s £10,000 DVD player
We can safely say that the UX-1 universal DVD player from AV
specialist Teac sits at the luxury end of the home entertainment spectrum. 
This pricey addition
to the Esoteric series is capable of playing back DVD Video, DVD Audio and
SACD, and a lot more besides. As well as supporting all of the major sound formats,
it boasts a lip-syncing feature to correct dodgy audio transfers on DVD movies
and a speaker configuration tool that computes and adjusts your surround sound
set-up. There’s a lot more on offer, and for £10,000, you’d hope so. More
technical details here. Available in the UK from Symmetry Systems.
iRiver’s tiny U10 video player
iRiver has made a name for itself in the MP3 arena and with
the launch of the tiny, U10 it’s hoping to take a slice of the Flash-based
video market. 
In terms of design, the U10 is faultless, with the cradle
designed to hold it looking like a mini-TV. It sports a 2.2in screen and comes in
512Mb and 1GB versions. The drawback with Flash though is that it will limit the amount of video you can watch. 
It can deal with MPEG 4 and Macromedia Flash format
video, photos, text, mini-Flash games, MP3s and WMA files among others. It has
a voice recorder and FM tuner and comes with a slinky little white remote that more than
dips its hat towards Apple. No prices or UK availability yet but watch this space. More details and pics here.
Sky to offer movie downloads
Sky is feeling the pressure from its cable rivals by
announcing that it will soon let customers download movies directly to their
PCs, for replay on their TVs or displays. 
This is the first Sky service that
will not use it’s satellite service because big fat movies need big fat
broadband connections to receive them. You will need your own broadband and PC
to download them. Customers that have Sky’s Premier package
will get it for free. A Sports
version is also planned offering highlights, interviews, archive and news
footage. However, with just 200 movies on offer, made up of new and ‘classic’ (aka 'old') movies, Sky is hardly diving into the video-on-demand sector. Rival HomeChoice
already offers 1,000. More detail here.
The world’s coolest speakers?
Speakers come in many shapes in sizes but these ones are
quite special. 
Apart from their egg-shape the U-Speakers from Italian
vendor U-Vola, are designed to be suspended from special stands or from your
ceiling using steel wire. They literally float in your living room like some
leftover pods from a Diarmuid Gavin garden. 
U-Vola claims that the rigid material
used in the construction of the speakers, coupled with the curved design,
minimises problems common to many box-shaped speakers, such as internal resonance,
vibrations and wall-to-speaker interference. Suspending them from wires also cancels
out any contact vibration. They come in many colours and now there is even an Art
Edition series. They cost around £2,500 a pair – and that’s just for the plain ones. Find a UK dealer here.
AverMedia tunes into digital set-top box market
AverMedia is pushing into the digital set-top box arena with
its DVB-T STB7 product. It follows hot on the heels of it’s launch of the
world’s first hybrid analogue/digital TV tuner for PCs. 
The snappily-named
DVB-T STB7 hooks up to your TV or LCD display and lets you receive free-to-air
terrestrial TV channels and radio signals, via a UHF aerial. There is high
resolution support of 1280 x 1024 and it boasts a picture-in-picture mode
for when you need to work, but not miss the cricket. It features a seven-day programme guide and a nine-channel
preview function. Additional kit includes audio and VGA cables and a remote control. It costs £100.
Philips' stylish GoGear MP3 player
Philips is targeting the designer end of the Flash-based MP3
market with the GoGear SA178. 
It’s small and good looking, thanks to a very
sleek mirrored surface and two-colour OLED screen. The battery life is claimed
to be 12 hours for playback of MP3 and WMA files. It also comes with an FM
tuner and voice recorder. Download songs via USB 2.0. It’s expected to come in
at around £70, which is a little expensive for a 512Mb player, but it does look
significantly better than some of the no-name brands knocking about.
Revolver aims for AV market
UK speaker manufacturer Revolver Audio continues to expand into home
entertainment with the release of a new range of speakers and a 300 Watt subwoofer. 
The
AudioVue range is made up of the AVS subwoofer, AVC centre speaker, AVR
bookshelf and AVF floor-stander. All speakers are fully shielded and feature 26mm
metal dome tweeters and twin 75mm midrange drive units. The cost, per pair, is:
AVF £999 and AVR £499. The AVC centre speaker comes in at £249 while the 300W
subwoofer is £499. There is also a home cinema package comprising two AVFs, two
AVRs and one AVC for £1,600 – a saving of £250.
Futuristic headset with extreme close-up
How would you like to be just 1in from a 30in LCD TV? It doesn’t
sound like the best viewing position but then again we are talking about the
CNGTek MPEC portable video player with video headset.
The player can hook up to
your laptop, console or DVD player as well as access MP3s, video, or photos
stored on SD Cards. 
The player can record voice and 30 minutes of high quality video. The image, when the MPEC Glasses are on, is allegedly the
equivalent of viewing a 30in TV from 6ft away. The headset also comes with virtual surround
sound support. Video headsets have a chequered past in terms of performance so
the smart shopper would find one to test before spending $650.
KEF gets clever with iQ speakers
KEF is set to overhaul its midrange speaker offerings with
the launch of the iQ series. 
There are eight new models that will replace the
audio specialist’s Q series, ranging from the entry-level iQ1 bookshelf speaker
to the iQ9 floor-stander. Prices will start at £229 and run to £799. All models will
feature the latest upgrades to KEF’s Uni-Q driver technology. The result is a
Uni-Q driver array that KEF claims gives the speakers better bass response,
sweeter top-end sound and lower distortion. The speakers will be decked out in black
ash, dark apple, maple, silver and walnut finishes. In the design department,
expect them to look a little like the high-end, KEF Reference series. Read the full release here.
Mustek PL510: DVDs on the move
Portable DVD players are growing in popularity and quality.
Early products offered poor battery life and small screens with dodgy
image quality. Things have moved on somewhat in the past six months.
Mustek’s
PL510 comes in at the larger-end of this market with a 10in widescreen TFT
screen, progressive scan output and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound for hooking up to a surround speaker set-up. It
supports DVD, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW and can display
JPEG photos. There are two headphone jacks and a rechargeable battery –
although with a somewhat disappointing two and a half hours worth of juice. Just as well it comes
with a car adapter. It has an official price tag of £280 but you can find it cheaper
here. There is also a PL510T version with integrated TV tuner.
JVC promises Hollywood at home
The latest offering from JVC in the home cinema stakes is
it’s £5,500 DLA-HX2E projector, aimed squarely at the high-end of the market.
Most projectors today are based on either LCD or the increasingly popular DLP
technology. 
The DLA-HX2E is based on JVC’s own Direct Drive Image Light
Amplifier technology (D-ILA) which, like DLP, uses reflection. Unlike DLP
technology, JVC is the only one using it. That generally makes it more expensive than rival offerings. The DLA-HX2E is a three–chip
widescreen projector – one for each primary colour – and offers an image
resolution of 1400x788 pixels. It has a contrast of 1500:1, brightness of 500 lumens and a decent selection of
connectivity options. It also boasts an in-built HDCP decoder for displaying high definition content in the
form of digital broadcasts and high definition DVDs.
ntl expands On Demand TV rollout
If you like being in control of your TV viewing then take it
one step further and choose exactly what you want and when. TV and video on
demand is big in the US but is just starting to take off in the UK. Cable
operator ntl, has just rolled out its On Demand service to Nottingham and
Belfast.
Other areas covered include Glasgow, Mansfield, Newark, Melton,
Chesterfield and Lincoln. It’s now available to 250,000 ntl users, which ntl
claims makes it the biggest service outside the US. Obviously, it costs to view
each programme so telly addicts beware. Advertising-free
kids programmes cost 20-50p, movies range from 50p ‘classics’ to £2 for
recent releases, and music videos start at 30p. Telewest is set to launch a rival offering soon and HomeChoice is already up and running.
Xbox 360 sales to top 10 million units in first year
Console madness is almost upon us again and Microsoft is talking
up a storm at the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) summit in London today.
Microsoft, which is desperate to close the gap with Sony’s PlayStation, is
bragging that it will ship roughly 10 million of its upcoming Xbox 360 consoles
in just 12-16 months.
Despite taking over three and a half years to shift around 20 million Xbox consoles, Microsoft is
very bullish - or desperate – to
use it’s six-month lead over the arrival of the Sony PlayStation 3 to claw
back some ground. Shipments of the PS2 recently topped 90 million. The Xbox 360 is due before Christmas and will cost between £180-£200. For the best Xbox 360 gallery go here while those confused about which console will win what and when, can see what the experts think.
HP's iPaq phone due on July 1
Handheld devices might be old hat but handheld/phones - or smartphones - are very desirable for organising your digital lifestyle. You can
have handhelds with phone functionality or phones with handheld functionality. 
They
come in all shapes and sizes, prices and levels of functionality. HP’s iPaq 6515 Mobile Messenger is the latest high-end
challenger and will launch officially on July 1. The device,
which looks uncannily like its rival
the Treo 650 from palmOne and the Blackberry 7100v, offers
GSM/GPRS/EDGE technologies, built-in camera, keyboard and GPS. It runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 software and has pocket editions of Word, Excel, Outlook and Internet Explorer. It will
weigh in at 160g and, like it’s Treo rival, is expected to cost around
£400-£450. Click to see Dave's first impressions.
Turn your table into a speaker
How would you like to be able to transform any flat surface
into a speaker? The latest offering in this sector is called the Freedom
Speaker and is designed to project a virtual surround across any flat
surface, like your table. 
This small USB device hooks up to a laptop and when
placed in the centre of the table it’s meant to emit a clear sound to all
listeners. At the recent Computex 2005 Show, Sinbon Electronics showed off a similar
product called the Qvoix speaker system for playing phone-based MP3s.
What’s
more, this one comes with an in-built microphone. This lets you hook up to your mobile phone and turn any call into a hands-free conference call. See a quick preview here.
Optoma’s budget DLP projector keeps you healthy
Getting
the big picture at home need not break the bank. Optoma, makers of the
highly-acclaimed entry-level Themescene H30A DLP projector, are coming on
strong again with the H27. 
At around £700, if you hunt around on the Web, this
budget projector offers a lot for your money. It uses the DarkChip2 DLP
technology from Texas Instruments and has a brightness of 850 Lumens – which is
fine as long as you can control the ambient light in the room. It has a
six-segment colour wheel, 2,500:1 contrast ratio and a native 16:9 widescreen
image with a resolution of 854 x 480. While the resolution is not as high as
you would need for straight playback of high definition DVDs or broadcasts, it
is more than enough for reproducing DVD quality. Most unusually, it features an
air
purifier that reduces “odours, bacteria and harmful hydrocarbon compounds in
the air”. A projector that makes sitting down healthier? Sign us up.
Turn off the world with ER-6i earphones
If external noise really disrupts your listening pleasure,
then you might want to take a look at the ER-6i earphones from Etymotic
Research. 
They will set you back around £100 but these odd, in-ear earphones
have been designed with a flanged, foam head that creates a soundproof seal
once inserted. With external sounds eliminated, you won’t have to compete with
the engines of the Boeing 747 on your next trip abroad. Sound quality, by most
accounts, is very good but you better be sure you insert them properly. Here is a guide on how to do it correctly.
Innovative listening technology or world’s most expensive Q-Tip? For a user’s
review go here.
Cinemateq readies 50in plasma
Cinemateq, better known for its video-scaling products, is
set to launch a high-end 50in plasma screen which is high definition TV (HDTV)
ready. 
The HDTV market is the next big thing so every manufacturer is pushing
HDTV-ready products. The CT-50 HD though is paired with the company’s Picture
Optimizer Plus II SDI video scaler to boost images received from video and DVD
sources. This means that you connect all your video sources to the scaler, not the
plasma, so that whatever image is transferred to the screen is tweaked to
improve what you actually see. Read more about scaling here. It is shipping now
but there are no prices yet – it will not be cheap though as the scaler alone
costs around £900.
Control your digital home from abroad
Just as the plane leaves the ground for your hols in Barbados, you remember that you’ve forgotten to turn off the heat and the
lights. Isn’t it always the way? 
What you need is a little black box called the
Remote Life Home
Controller. This hooks up to your lighting, security cameras, heating and
electrical appliances, allowing you to control them from an Internet-enabled
mobile phone, PDA or PC. In fact, you can actually dial-up your security
cameras from the sun-lounger and have a look to see if your digital home is still safe and sound.
That said, it costs around £900 so only the truly absent-minded, or paranoid,
need apply. For other home automation goodies, go here.
Hauppauge joins 'hybrid' TV card race
Just like buses: nothing for an eternity and then suddenly
there’s a convoy. Just days after AverMedia launched it’s ‘hybrid’ AverTV
Hybrid+FM PCI card (scroll down) comes the WinTV HVR-1100 ‘hybrid’ from rival Hauppauge. 
It
supports Microsoft’s Windows Media Centre Edition (MCE) 2005 operating system,
and allows PCs to receive both analogue and digital TV broadcasts. This area of
the market is set to grow rapidly as the availability of digital broadcasts
like Freeview, becomes more widespread in the UK. Even if digital broadcasts
are not yet available in your area, the card will still receive regular
analogue TV and is ready for digital when it appears. Due in mid-July, it will
cost £79.99.
JVC's matchbox MP3 players
JVC is going the cute route when it comes to its latest MP3
players. These matchbox-shaped players measure 2in square and weigh just 1.5oz.
Capable of playing both MP3 and WMA files, the JVC XA-MP101 (1GB) and XA-MP51
(512MB) models connect directly – thankfully - to the USB port on your laptop or PC without the need for any annoying
software. There is a nice-sized LCD for navigation as well as a handy FM tuner
and voice recorder. Colours will be limited to black, white and blue but as you
can see from the photo, those lucky Japanese are getting the whole rainbow.
Shipping next month, prices are expected to be around £80 and £110.
B&O wants your kitchens too
Bang & Olufsen (B&O), the high-end home
entertainment company with breathtaking products and prices to match, is now out to
control your kitchen too. 
It has teamed up with leading, contemporary kitchen
designers Bulthaup to create a series of cutting edge multi-room environments
complete with audio and video.
We are a long way from B&Q here. It will not
come cheap as Bulthaup kitchens can set you back a cool £35,000. And that’s
before you add pricey B&O kit. Still, what’s £50,000 for the ability not to
miss a single shot of the Open while you make a cuppa?
Digital TV and radio on the cheap
Not everyone needs, wants, is allowed or can afford a Media Center PC.
If you already have a PC and want to receive and record regular analogue TV you
just get a TV card. But what about digital TV signals? AverMedia thinks it has the
answer with the AverTV Hybrid+FM PCI card. 
This is one of the first cards out
to offer support for analogue TV,
digital terrestrial TV, FM radio and digital Radio. You can capture and record what you watch in
MPEG1, 2 and 4 formats on your hard disk and then burn them to DVD. It also
boasts a ‘Silent Record’ mode which AverMedia cheekily promotes as a way of
recording TV at work without the boss finding out. Not something we would ever
recommend, obviously. It costs £75.
Marantz pushes virtual surround envelope
Home
audio specialist, Marantz, is in cahoots with some boffins at the Institute of Sound Vibration Research, University
of Southampton, to create surround sound from just front speakers. The idea of
virtual surround from front speakers, or even a single speaker, is not new but
it is seen as a growing market opportunity. 
Current examples include KEF’s Instant
Theatre – see review - and the ground-breaking Yamaha YSP1 single
speaker system. 
Whereas some virtual surround systems bounce the
sound off walls or use filtering, Optimal Source Distribution Technology, or
OPSODIS, is promising true 3D sound with no bouncing or filtering - and therefore no degradation of the original source material. Hard to
believe but Marantz optimistically claims the breakthrough will rival the switch from mono to stereo sound. Early preview reports are less grand. Speakers boasting the new technology could be out within six months.
Invisible sound for audiophiles
When small, unobtrusive speakers are still ruining the look
of your home, it’s time to go invisible. In-wall speakers are becoming
increasingly popular with those that want their audio and home cinema without
the clutter. 
At the top end of the in-wall crowd is Canadian speaker specialist, PSB
Speakers. The company has just launched it’s CW800E which weigh in at £1,850 a pair. Fully enclosed in a highly-braced wooden enclosure for easy installation,
they are just 4in deep but promise the same performance as the
company’s top-of-the-line Platinum floorstanding speakers, reviewed here. However, if you would like
an in-wall set-up, but don’t plan on remortgaging your house to get it, check
out some other options and prices here.
Big screen TVs drink like a fish
Has your electricity bill suddenly and
inexplicably shot up? Bought a very big TV lately? US research is claiming that
big TVs 
are gulping up to 50 per cent more electricity than good old CRT TVs.
The Natural Resources
Defense Council across the pond
found that even similar-sized TVs could consume
‘drastically different amounts of power’. Using a two-minute clip of everyone’s
friendly ogre, Shrek, the results were startling. One 50in plasma was estimated
to use 679 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year. This compares with 387kWh per
year for a 32in LCD with HDTV and 209kWh for a 34in analogue TV. So,
once you’ve forked out £3,000 be prepared for your skinny TV to guzzle juice
like a Bentley for the next five years.
Creative's wireless headphones offer comfort at a cost
If you have no ability to stream music from your MP3 player
to your hi-fi, then what you need at home is a decent, comfortable pair of
headphones.
If they are wireless, even better. Creative thinks its CB2530
Digital Wireless Headphones, using Bluetooth technology, will do the job. At
over £100 though, giving your ears a rest from the hard plastic earplugs that
accompany most MP3 players doesn’t come cheap. As long as your player has a
3.5mm headphone jack you can use them and two AAA batteries will give you 8-hours streaming. The set includes a Bluetooth audio transmitter
and can be used up to 8.5 metres away from the source. Are they worth £105? Check one of the
first reviews here.
LCDs for PCs and TV
LCDs that bridge the PC and TV markets with any success are
rare. Planar Systems is hoping to do just that with its latest, high-end PX
Line of LCD displays. Five new models have just been announced, ranging in size from from
17in to 23in. 
All models have fast response times of 8-10 milliseconds
They also feature Planar’s RapidVideo accelerator to further reduce image lag
or blurring when watching full-motion video - a problem common with certain LCD displays. The widescreen 23in model is well
set-up for both PC and AV use, sporting digital video (DVI), s-video and composite
video inputs alongside two USB sockets. Shipping from July prices will range
from roughly £220 to £880.
'Free' portable DVD players from Hitachi
Hitachi is hoping to invade your living rooms this summer by
offering a 'free' portable DVD player.
Obviously, you'll have to buy something first. As part of
its global promotional tie-up with Steven Spielberg’s alien invasion blockbuster,
War of the Worlds, Hitachi is giving away its PDV302 portable DVD player if you
buy certain products. 
Those include certain models of LCD/plasma TVs,
projectors, camcorders and DVD recorders. The PDV302 has an in-built 7in LCD screen and stereo speakers and is worth around £180. There’s no detail yet on Hitachi’s
various Web sites but the offer, like the Martians, does exist. You can find out what you need to do here.
DLP projectors get BrilliantColor
Texas Instruments, the creator of DLP projector technology,
is set to dramatically increase the colour performance of future home projectors.
Right now, most DLP projectors provide 3-colour processing – red, green and
blue. Even on certain entry-level models in the £900-£1,000 range, colour
reproduction can be excellent. 
But now Texas has announced BrilliantColor, a
6-colour processing technology that will add yellow, magenta and cyan to the
mix, allowing for much brighter mid-level colour reproduction. The result will
be even more realistic and vibrant colours. Expect to see most DLP
projector brands announce models supporting BrilliantColor in the coming
months. Mitsubishi has been the first to announce models but the shipping date is a disappointing six months out. The race is on and hopefully others will be faster to market.
Wall-mounted projectors on the way
LG looks set to take projector technology for the home in a
whole new direction. Most projectors sit on a coffee table or get bolted into
the ceiling. The company’s proposed AN110 will offer the novel, third option of
hanging it on your wall. This anorexic, shiny rectangle looks more like
an LCD panel but is actually an innovative new projector and it got it’s first
preview at big US AV event, Infocomm 2005.
It’s a 16:9 widescreen DLP projector,
has a brightness of 1,100 lumens, a high contrast ratio of 3000:1 and numerous
interconnect options including HDMI. It’s estimated lamp life of 4000-6000 is
also good. LG expects to start production of this in September with a very competitive
price tag of $2,000. We might see some
here for Christmas. That said, having to wall-mount a projector will limit its appeal as many rooms will not be suitable. It’s also hard to say how it will actually perform technically since there is no detail yet on potential throw distances, projection angle, image size or
zoom controls. Some more detail here.
Marantz kicks-off summer AV blitz
Home entertainment
specialist Marantz, has just unveiled it’s new summer line-up, promising
something for everyone’s budget. It consists of new AV receivers, DVD players,
tuner, SACD player and integrated amplifiers and should hit the stores in the coming
month. 
Top of the heap is the SR9600 THX Ultra2 AV receiver, with a claimed
140 Watts into 7 channels and support for all of the latest DTS and Dolby
sound formats. It’s shipping now, apparently, but all we can find is a US price of $4,199. Expect to pay roughly £2,000 here. Two entry level models – the 80 Watt SR4600
and the 90 Watt SR5600 – will land for around £350 and £450. Full details of what’s on
the way can be had by clicking here.
Bad robot! Bad, bad, bad robot
Waldo, the pill-dispensing robot from the UCSF Medical
Center in San Francisco, became pill-popping Waldo the Beserker yesterday. 
No
one knows whether mild-mannered Waldo over-juiced on a nearby socket but when
he shot past his stop at the pharmacy and into a nearby examination room,
people started running.
A startled doctor, with patient, asked Waldo to leave
but got the silent HAL 9000 treatment. Rather than wait to be rammed through a window, they legged it. Waldo is
now being examined. This is why robots in the digital home is such a good idea. Here for more.
Latest LG gadget sucks. No, really
Your digital paradise getting a little dusty? LG, makers of
the Internet fridge, have now come up with the latest in digital home gimmickry:
the talking vacuum. Puh-leese.
Looking like a cross between hand luggage, the
front of my washing machine and a motorcycle’s petrol tank, it has adjustable
power levels and tells you when it’s full. Wow, and all for just £200. Mine
cost a third of that and I know it’s full when it stops sucking. So, if you’re
a sucker looking for a designer sucker, you’ll have to contain your excitement
until July. Full details here.
Shocking! Stream music via the plug socket
It’s a plug. But not as we know it. Welcome to the wacky
world of Homeplug, a global alliance of major brands devoted to making plugs
smart and using the electrical wiring in your home as a network. Devolo has
been making a name for itself in the UK since last year with its popular MicroLink dLAN
Ethernet Kit, reviewed here, which helps take the pain out of home
networking. Data transport is not as fast as a regular Ethernet or wireless
network but, allegedly, speed is not important to some people. 
Devolo is now
hoping to pull of the same trick with your music. The MicroLink
dLAN Audio adapter – see an illustration of it working here – will let you
stream audio around the home in the same way. It promises CD-quality sound and
you will need two of them, or a dLAN Ethernet adapter connected to your PC,
to make it all work. Anything that makes home networking/streaming easy is good
in my book.
Sharp’s DVD wall hanger
I’ve lived in bedsits and whatever about swinging a cat in
there, any kind of AV system was definitely out. Being broke helped too. So for those in
a tight space, or those that don’t like stacks of home entertainment appliances
under, over or around the TV, Sharp wants you to hang it on the wall.
Stylishly, of course. The new SD-HX500 and SD-HX600 are being hailed as the
‘world’s first vertical 1-Bit audio home theatre systems’. The now ubiquitous
brushed silver chassis hides the DVD/CD/SACD/DVD Audio player while the
separate wall-hanging amp promises 100W
per channel. From that anorexic little amp? Methinks casting around for some reviews here and here might be in order, especially since they will set you back around $850 and $1,100, respectively.
The PocketProjector: teeny weeny marvel
I’ve seen portable projectors and even ultra-portable
projectors but this is getting ridiculous. Mitsubishi has taken the wraps of
what is being touted as 'possibly' the world’s smallest projector.
The PocketProjector weighs in at a featherweight 14oz, has a resolution of 800X600 and can create an
image of 20in from 1ft foot away and 40in from 3ft. 
Even better, you can run it
off an optional battery for up to 2.5 hours - no Lord of the Rings then. It has
an RRP of $799 and for $899 you can get one with an in-built SD Card reader for
showing off your holiday snaps. This should fit nicely in my smelly Christmas sock, literally.
Trendy Sonos comes to Europe: Digital tunes around the house
Sonos is generally
seen as the Aston Martin/caviar/crown jewels of digital music streaming. That’s
expensive, to you and me. 
But it does look very good and it’s a snap to set-up.
Recently US-only, now Sonos is here – well, the Netherlands – but that’s close
enough to buy its very well-received Digital Music System. It’s introductory
bundle, at £899, comprises two ZonePlayers and a wireless, full-colour LCD
remote. 
The ZonePlayers are essentially networked (and wireless) amplifiers that you connect a couple of speakers to in each room you want sound in. Boot the PC, load the CD, pick the music folders you want the hub to access and that's it. The rest is done via the wireless remote. I like it. I'd like it even more though if it was a few hundred quid - maybe £400 - cheaper. Or free.
7.1 sound for less pounds
Surround sound is starting to come in more flavours than Ben
& Jerry’s. Still, support for the latest and greatest surround sound modes
doesn’t have to cost the earth. Well-known home audio specialist Onkyo, has
just unveiled its TX-SR503E AV receiver for £249.95.
AV receivers are now the workhorse of many home cinema setups and it's good to see quality
manufacturers catering for the mass market. Supporting 7.1 surround and host of DTS and Dolby surround
modes, it also supports high definition audio like DVD-Audio and SACD, even if
their futures seem somewhat uncertain.
Get smarter: use iPod for reading
I tend to read fat books - not high-brow - just fat. And heavy. When I travel they tend to take up the space and weight allowance I need for all the cheap DVDs I want to bring home. But, it seems you can use the iPod to burst your eardrums and
expand your mind at the same time. A little-used iPod facility called 'Notes' will
allow you to read ebooks on those journeys where 5,000 songs is just not
enough. ebooks have so far failed to capture the public's imagination or cash but
although it’s a very small market, it
is growing. No surprise either that paid-for ebooks is also ruled by Dan
Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
To find out how to get ebooks on your iPod, just
follow this step-by-step guide at Make:Blog. For a decent selection of free
ebooks, head to Project Gutenberg.
Kenwood to enter 20GB MP3 arena
The whole “Wow, store 5,000 songs” argument for
flogging MP3 players is getting a bit stale. So what if your MP3 player has a
mini-20/30/40GB hard disk drive. Does it do anything
different to the others out there? If not, then all it can compete on is price
and looks. The first 20GB effort from Kenwood (not the toasters) - of car and home audio fame - certainly looks the job. It also boasts the highest resolution display of any such device – even
higher than the iPod Photo.
Excellent, something to view my photos or videos on then? Ah,
no. In fact, it seems the highest resolution screen in the MP3 world has no
other function than to display track listings. Beautifully, apparently. No FM tuner either. Does
anyone actually talk to the public anymore and gauge what features might
actually be desirable and useful? Because I’m guessing that a battery-hogging,
high-res screen that only displays text is not one of them. More details here
War of the Worlds goes surround
And the one with the hungry birds at the
end but that’s a bit bloody. So, with Tom Cruise about to don his shoe lifts again
for this summer’s blockbuster remake of the War of the Worlds movie, I’m glad
to say that Wayne’s version has just been re-released by Sony BMG in 5:1
surround sound. It’s coming on 7 discs, including a ‘Making of’ DVD and sneak
peek of the upcoming animated version due in 2008. To see what it 'may' finally look like, point your Martian death ray here. Remember, a radio broadcast of War of the Worlds in 1938 America had people arming themselves and running for the hills. Just think what the surround sound version can do for your neighbour's pets?
Separated at birth: Philips Shoqbox and Trust SP-2900p
If imitation is the
greatest form of flattery then Trust must be lying prostrate before Philips. In
the white corner we have the recently launched Philips Shoqbox,
a wee
(6in long) portable 256Mb MP3/FM radio player with in-built speakers. 
You can hook up your
MP3 player to it, or just transfer your songs via USB. In the um, er, other
white corner we have the Portable Speaker Set SP-2900p from Trust, which has no radio or the
ability to hold MP3s but you can connect it to your MP3 player. Right now, some designer at Philips is chuffed that his creation has spawned a clone. Either that or he's reaching for the phone and calling legal. The biggest difference though is that one costs £100
and the other £20. I’ll let you figure out which.
Human-looking kung fu robots. Great, just great.
What’s the deal with lifelike robots? If I ever have a robot
in my digital home, then I want one that looks like, well, a robot. I want
it to look like the huge amount of money it will cost - all chrome and shiny and
marvellous and able to transform itself from a butler/bodyguard into a 70in LCD
screen. So far, human-looking bots are few and most of the ones I’ve seen
looked like they had plastic surgery performed by a drunk, chisel-wielding
chimp. Not anymore.
Check this out – which one is the robot? Way too lifelike.
Apparently, the Repliee Q1 can block a slap. Great, an android that knows Kung Fu. Me and author Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, Imposter, etc.) are one on the issue of human-looking androids and my
digital home is going to remain populated with immobile hardware that can’t
kick back. Break down - yes - flying-spinning back kick - no.
Burning Vinyl: The Couch Potato Way
Saving your vinyl collection to CD (must finally
get around to that) usually requires hooking up your rusty old turntable to the
PC’s soundcard, loading up some audio conversion software and generally
fiddling around. Those that want to fiddle, follow this simple guide. The upside is that it’s cheap. And cheaper than forking out twice for
the CDs of your fave albums, which is what some morons actually do. Ahem. 
Still,
if it all seems too complex and you have $499 burning a hole in your pocket, I recommend the couch-potato
approach to burning your albums. It’s not winning any points on the style front but
it wins hands-down on simplicity. Full specs here.
The big LCD TV for less
LCD TVs aren't cheap yet but, like LCD displays for the
desktop, they are getting there. It's all a matter of volume and that volume
is growing fast. According to market watcher Meko, the LCD TV sector in Europe
is set for rapid growth this year. Viewsonic, unlike
many of the big TV brands, is coming at the LCD TV arena from the desktop side
of the fence. What it lacks in technological TV finesse, it makes up for with
keen pricing. Its latest offering, just out in the US, is the N3250w.
It’s a
32in widescreen TV that is high-definition TV (HDTV) ready, has a resolution of
1366 x 768 and a good – if not great – response time of 12 milliseconds. However,
the $1,299 (£716) price tag is the real winning feature. That said, the US
market for LCD TVs is more mature and competitive than ours. If we manage to get it
for around £900, it could still be one of the best deals around. Full details here.
Protect your iPod!!
It can take days and weeks to get your music collection
transferred onto an iPod.
For many it’s the hub of their digital life at home
and on the move. And then it’s gone – nicked, swiped, lifted, spirited away -
leaving a trail of distraught and traumatised iPod junkies without a fix. Not a
pretty sight. iPod theft has now reached epidemic proportions, not just in the
US, but here in the UK. So much so that
the NYPD has issued a brochure to help reduce the crime wave. To get some tips
on how not to be a smug iPod owner in public, go see what it says here. Still,
Apple must hurt most of all since the Lex Luthor of iPod thieves managed to walk into a freight forwarding
depot in Los Angeles last week and drive off with 12,000 iPods valued at $2.6 million. Where's Superman when you need him?
We're a long way from VHS
If you thought that 160GB hard disk drive recorders for telly taping were top of the line, then think again. Seagate has announced
its new DB35 Series of hard disk drives for the consumer recorder market
topping out at 500GB.
That’s 500 hours of standard TV recording. Let’s
see, the average UK viewer watches 3-4
hours of TV each day – a scary one day a week in front of the tube. In theory,
you could tape all your fave programmes, everyday, for 20 weeks without having
to delete anything. Do you really need a 500GB recorder? Probably not but then, when did need have anything to do with desire? Seagate
introduced the DB35 series in a product blitz this week just two days after - and this must hurt - rival Maxtor announced its own 500GB monster.
Oh dear. Blu-Ray/HD-DVD gulf widens
Just one day after Toshiba took a stab at the Blu-Ray camp,
a senior Sony figure has claimed there’s very little chance of making a
single standard for the next generation of recordable DVDs. Yesterday, Toshiba
claimed it could make 15GB HD-DVDs cheaply using the production lines that
already make blank DVD-R discs. Today, Sony’s Ken Kutaragi, father of the
PlayStation and head of Sony Computer Entertainment, said that overcoming the technical hurdles
would be 'unlikely'. Sounds to me like there's too much testosterone in this spat.
Movies may well decide which format wins out and many - like me - feel that
Hollyweird should step up to the plate and demand a standard format. This could
be a job for Arnie and Bruce. 
Gather up some CEOs, strap them to some chairs in
a darkened room and let our two Hollywood hard men sing show tunes until they
crack. Five minutes tops. See the full story here.
Sony shuffles out iPod rival
When you want to beat a market leader your offering has to
be either cheaper or better. Neither Sony or Apple are known for their good
deals so let’s see. At first glance, Sony’s rival to Apple’s iPod Shuffle is
certainly not cheaper. In fact, at around £150 the NW-E507 MP3 player is over
£50 more expensive. That’s a lot for a 1GB USB Flash drive player. It’s a little
smaller than the already tiny Shuffle but has a bigger screen. Both look cute but nothing worth that extra £50 so far. 
OK, how about a battery life of 50 hours?
Even allowing for marketing hype that leaves you with 40 hours, which is both
astounding and almost three and half times longer than the iPod Shuffle’s 12
hours. Also, a quick three-minute recharge will give you enough juice for three
hours. And, it also comes with an integrated FM radio tuner. That extra £50 is
looking less like a problem every passing second.
TiVo goes handheld
Now this is handy. TiVo, 
which revolutionised ‘taping TV’
and helped kick-start the personal video recorder (PVR) market, has taken
things to the next level. The TiVoToGo service, which already lets you transfer
video to your PC/laptop will now let you transfer that content to your Windows
Mobile handhelds and Smartphones. At least in the US - for now. You can use the TivoToGo for PC/laptop transfer in the UK as long as you have a TiVo Series 2 device and use the
TiVo service. Those subscribing to TiVo but using non-TiVo recorders will
have to wait until the end of the year for both the PC/laptop and portable
handheld functionality. Now there’s a surprise. Still, if TiVo are planning
handheld access/transfers so are the others. For an excellent guide to all things TiVo, clickety-click here.
Next-gen DVD war heats up
If anyone else is falling asleep with boredom about the war
over which high-capacity DVD recording format will win – HD-DVD or Blu-Ray -
put your hand up now. Or leave a comment at the bottom. In recent weeks there
were rumours that the Toshiba-led HD-DVD camp and Sony’s Blu-Ray gang were
close to kissing and making up. 
Or, at least, figuring out a way for their
technologies to be compatible. Not so. Toshiba’s gang has just announced that
it has discovered how to mass produce recordable 15GB HD-DVD disks on the cheap
via existing DVD-R production lines. OK, so it’s not going to decide which
camp will win the war but it just puts another obstacle in the way of a truce.
If they don’t grow-up and sort this out it’s me and you, the saps on the
street, that will lose out. We’ve been here before. Anyone remember VHS vs.
Betamax? It was a consumer disaster then and will be again. Like the optimistic
cynic that I am though, I’m hoping/praying/sacrificing small animals that common sense outweighs greed on this one.
Sony PSP gives new life to bad movies
The impending launch of Sony Playstation Portable, or PSP, on September 1st, is
expected to add a few more million gadgets to UK homes.
Those supporting its
ability to play DVD movies – albeit in the controversial Universal Media Disk (UMD)
format – include most of the big movie studios. So you’d assume they’d be
rolling out their best stuff, right, to generate sales for themselves and Sony?
So what the hell is 20th Century Fox doing by announcing that it’s
UMD movie disk line-up will include – wait for it – Super Troopers and National
Lampoon’s Van Wilder. These things stank on the big screen and failed to
levitate off the shelves when put on DVD. On the ever-fresh movie review site, RottenTomatoes, they managed 17% and 35% out of 100% after reviews from the leading US print and Web sites were collated. So why would anyone want to pay for
these duds as a UMD disk – which will only play in a PSP, by the way? Oh look,
they’re also releasing The Punisher (28%). Better start saving now…
LG marries plasma with recording
LG Electronics is the latest supplier to
jump on the HDTV (High Definition TV) bandwagon but it’s doing it with a little
twist. The company has taken the wraps off two new plasma whoppers, the PY2DR
50in and 60in models with integrated 160GB hard disk drive recorders.
That’s
the good news. The bad news is that they have just arrived in the US and will
not hit here until the end of the year. Prices across the pond are $7,999 (50in) and $14,999 (60in).
Ouch. Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That’s an extra $700 per inch.
Portable DAB Radio gets cheaper-ish
It’s about time that portable Digital Audio Broadcasting
(DAB) radios got cheaper. Essentially DAB radios offer you a massive choice of
stations, no interference and high quality digital sound. I know some DAB companies
think that because you can actually lift their handbag-sized models off the
ground qualifies them as portable, but not me. I’m talking little, dinky MP3-sized devices that don't put your back out. Up until recently you were looking at well over £100 for one.
Now, the ND-01 from Nevada has popped up on the radar for £79.95. This makes it
£10 cheaper than the popular Ministry of Sound DR011.
OK, hardly cheap, but getting there. All we need now is cheap
DAB portables with MP3. Anyone?
Own your own Tardis
I like a bit of solitude, just like the rest of us. Now Yamaha has taken the concept and transformed it into a box.
This cross between a confessional and the Tardis would not look out of place in your local church but Yamaha thinks it could work in your home. It’s a soundproof booth that takes up 2.5sq metres of floor space, can be rigged with surround sound, TV and a PC. Most importantly it has a lock. The idea is that if you need some ‘space’ from the kids, just hop in your Tardis of calm. Personally, I’d put the lock on the outside and throw the kids inside. That way I get silence throughout the whole house. For other uses go here
Acer targets digital home
Acer, the company which has stormed it’s
way up the notebook and LCD charts in the blink of an eye, has set its sights
on the digital home. The company has announced its first Media PC – the Aspire
L200. 
Looking like a DVD player, it’s powered by an AMD Athlon 64 3200+
processor and runs the usual Windows Media Center 2005
operating system. It also sports a 160GB hard disk drive and 512Mb of memory.
Even better is the aggressive £800 price tag which is really going to spark a summer price war in this sector - all good for you and me. Watch this space over the coming weeks as Acer is planning
to reveal details of a digital media server for streaming music and video
around the home.
Sky Digital gets charitable
Just because you’ve now got a squillion digital TV
channels doesn’t mean you can sit around all day watching them. The Community
Channel on Sky Digital has launched an interactive service that will list
charities and groups in your local area that need volunteers.
It is Year of the
Volunteer after all. Just hit the infamous red button and the database from do-it.org.uk will do the rest.
JVC trots out skinny TVs for summer
It’s nearly summer and LCD TV and plasma displays are in
bloom. JVC’s latest line-up boasts six models – five LCDs and one plasma. They
range in size from the dinky 15in, LT-15B60, which looks oddly like an
upturned handbag
, to the 42in PD-42DX6 plasma idTV (love the stand).
You can expect a lot of the
big players to be launching new ranges now, in preparation for the sporting
summer. Apparently the more sport on TV the more men want a big, flat panel
display. Go figure. Me, I’ve always wanted a big flat panel display. Do you
hear me JVC, Samsung, Sharp, Philips, Hitachi - anyone??? And I’ll watch
anything you like on it. Even your adverts. More juicy JVC details can be found here.
Samsung readies Wi-Fi MP3 player
With Samsung’s Yepp) range of MP3 players barely out
of the stalls,
news is circulating that the company is planning an MP3 player
with in-built Wi-Fi for later this year. Does anyone else feel that one day
soon - and I’m begging here - there
will be a device that will just do it all and do it well? I’m an optimist, I
know. Anyway, Wi-Fi in an MP3 player? Sounds good to me. However, it remains to
be seen how it will work? Will it be used mainly with a music download service,
will you be able to wirelessly swap songs with your mates? I smell copyright Hell in the wind. Or, like Wi-Fi
enabled notebooks, will you be able to scan and find other Wi-Fi–enabled
devices and just steal whatever they have? Could be dodgy but that’s enough
questions for now. More details here
My LCD is sooo much bigger than yours
At least it would be if I got hold the new 65in LCD from
Sharp. 
The world’s largest LCD is expected to launch in Japan (typical) in August
and we won’t get a chance to waste our money until the end of the year, at the
earliest. With a resolution of 1920 x 1080 it is ready for high
definition TV (HDTV) broadcasts and playback of the next generation of high definition DVDs. It will
cost 1.68 million Yen (£8,600) - about a million more than my best budget. You can also expect it to cost more by the
time it has been lugged over here. What it might do though, if we are lucky, is start a price war in the plasma camp and in the 45in LCD arena. Fight, fight, fight...
Lord of the Ring-a-ding-ding
We’re not in the Shire anymore, Frodo. Pete Jackson,
director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Bad Taste, was this week spotted
putting his own taste on display. For the paltry sum of almost $100,000 he
splashed out on a robot band for his wife at Christmas. Beats an iron I
suppose, but not by much. 
The system from Ragtime Automated Music is a
MIDI-controlled 47-instrument band featuring guitars, flute pipes, accordion,
bells and banjo to name but a few. Not your average digital home fare, to be sure. To see a movie of Pete giving his very
strange band a whirl go here but you have been warned. Because he made Lord of the Rings I’ll let him
off…but only by a single, elven hair.
PCs get all posh
PCs and notebooks, unlike personalised licence plates
(I LVU TRC), can be done with style. And few PC builders are doing it with more
style than SavRow. This well-named bunch have elevated the PC from the bedsit
to the stately home, where leather trim and chrome house the latest in PC
technology and there are over 30 paints, and combinations, to choose from. 
Who else is going to
hand-wax each notebook and create a personal Web page for you so that you can
track it’s progress? There are others that offer designer PCs such as Alienware
and Voodoo PC, but nothing with the same 'upper class' twist. However, you will
pay for the pleasure of joining the Polo set. The prices are usually a couple of hundred quid more than
bigger brands and extensive customisation will stretch your wallet. Still, this is style we're talking about.
Eradicate smelly friends
Here’s the scenario: you’ve just spent a lot of money
on your new digital home, complete with sexy Media PC this, and AV that, and now
it’s time to show it off to your mates. The only problem is that they are a
smelly and scruffy bunch of buggers at the best of times. Throw in liberal
amounts of alcohol, sour cream Pringles and a Chile con Carne from Hell and
things could get ugly. Solution: The Sanitary Chair from Welldesign. 
Basic in
design, this wooden chair covered with soft absorbent crepe paper has been
designed to ensure that any errant friend smells and unexpected seepages can be
quickly taken care off. So, once you have dragged your comatose friends outside
to your happy, London cabbie you can erase all evidence of their visit with a
quick rip. A quick roll and you’re ready for the weekend invasion of the Incontinent Relatives. Protect your digital paradise!
Now I’ve heard it all
AOpen was showing off the world’s first negative ion
mouse at last week's Computex. 
Since I had no idea what the hell negative ions were outside of Star
Trek, I just had to read on. The short version is that the more negative ions there are in
the air the better for you. The medical world is divided into those that believe
‘ionizer’ devices are miraculous and those that feel it’s all a load of crap. AOpen is
obviously in the miracle camp. The mouse - announced back in March - will generate 400,000 to 500,000
negative ions per cubic centimeter in 30 seconds – which is apparently good.
AOpen evangeliser Tony Yang is so sure that - short of actual resurrection after death - he says: “It will repress the growth of germs, viruses; clean up the blood of human beings;
revitalise the mouse user’s body cells; strengthen human body’s immune system;
reduce disorders of human body’s respiratory system; ease anxiety and stress;
and improve productivity.” Hallelujah brother. So, does that mean that that 7 straight
hours of Doom 3 could finally be good for me? 
Sign me up. Who says games are bad for
you?
No availability or price yet.
Tosh tempts with big and cheap HDD recorder
Now that the VCR is dead and all but consigned to the
technology rubbish heap, it’s time for a new generation recorder. I’m not a fan
of DVD-only recorders, all that swapping discs, checking capacity, labelling
and re-editing sounds like too much hard work. DVD-recorders with internal hard
disc drives, now that’s a different story. The only snag has been that the
drives were measly 40-80GBs, the prices were too high or, a combination of
both. The latest offering from Toshiba may just be enough to appease the
skinflint within. The RD-XS34 is a 160GB model and the big brother of the RD-XS32,
reviewed in the first issue of Active Home magazine. 
For normal folk, that
160GB translates into 206hrs of recording. It’s a progressive scan DVD player
and supports DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM blank discs and boasts ‘time-slip’,
letting you pause live TV while recording and start watching a
programme that is still recording from the start. And, the 'Instant Skip' let's you avoid all ads - priceless. At around £265 it’s a steal. RIP VCR.
One-speaker surround sound? Yeah right
I've heard it all before. 'True surround sound from two speakers'. Invariably, you get a wider soundfield with less definition, especially in the dialogue stakes. Newer offerings are doing a better job though. Just take a look at the Kef Kit100 Instant Theatre. 
For a review, see Active Home's one here. Having recently spent the best part of a day crawling around my office floor on hands and knees, rewiring it to become a home cinema, I'm just so chirpy to hear that Yamaha can now do it with one speaker. That's right, apparently 5.1 sound into one does fit. Now they tell me. The Yamaha digital sound Projector (YSP-1) is not your average speaker though. 
It's sleek, designer shell houses 42 amps powering 40 speakers - all firing sound in multiple directions to create a 5.1 surround soundfield. It's already racking up the AV awards but if you want the world's most mind-bogglingly detailed review then pop over to those barking boffins at Audioholics. The MRSP is a lofty £1,200 but I've seen it online for under £800, inc. delivery.
Denon's latest AV monster: drool
My old AV amplifier’s looking very tired these days,
especially when compared to the likes of the new Denon monster, the snappily
named AVC-A11XV. It's the baby brother of the AVC-A1XV, which among many other things, weighs in at a back-breaking 44KG. Don't bother trying to find it on the Denon web site - they're a little slow on the online front. Thankfully the boys and girls at etailer, AV Land, are not. This is the kind of high-end amp that comes with a feature
list that takes longer to read than a Pizza Hut menu but is twice as mouth-watering – at least to an unreconstructed
geek like me. At around £2,500 it’s also one hell of a mouthful. Then again we
are looking at a lot of features and grunt under the hood. A full 140Watts x 7 channels will
ensure your neighbours love while the HDMI interface guarantees the best
digital picture when connected to your slinky LCD, plasma screen, projector, etc.
The full specs are too long to re-type and too depressing to re-read. It’s due
out in a couple of weeks so start saving, or stealing, now. “Honey, where’s my balaclava?”
Mini PC - Mac clone or Mac clone?
In a move that should have stunned absolutely no one, another Apple innovation - the Mac Mini - has been nicked and cloned. Some say that imitation is the highest form of praise while I tend to think it's theft and will fast-track you to court and copyright Hell. Then again, if the resulting clone is cheaper than the Apple original, I'll have one, please.
AOpen's Mini PC on show at Computex 2005 in Taiwan clearly looks nothing like the Mac Mini. Just look at the pics below - see. Apart from the name, size, shape, front-loading DVD drive and connections on the back, they're nothing alike.
Official specs put it at 15X15X5cm - making it the smallest Intel PC. Nothing says it will make it into final production but the odds are that a few of these babies will be on sale over here by the end of the summer. Expect a price tag of around £400, but this is a guess. Worth it? You tell me.
Forget flat, round is the future
Taking goldfish bowls to a whole new level we have Perspecta from Actuality Systems. Just when the whole world has gone flat-screen barmy, this bunch want you to think round in the living room. Essentially a circular white polymer screen almost 1ft wide, it sits on top of a black box like some mystic's crystal ball. Just hook up your PC or notebook and it's party trick is displaying 3D content, floating in the middle and visible from all angles.
Apparently it's good for projecting hearts and sugar molecules. For happy slackers like me though it can render Cheesy Poofs in all their 3D glory too. It might sit well in your living room, but at $40,000 it might not sit well with your missus. I think I'll stick to my £30 lava lamp and maybe walk around it a couple of times.
