It's a briefcase, it's a TV, it's a briefcase. No, it's a radical new concept TV from Sony which was showcased this month in Japan. Dubbed the Esprit TAV-L1, this TV Transformer is designed for those people that want speaker cabinets that turn into TVs at the flick of a switch. It is quite clever though, behind all that gimmickry. The front grille slides down to reveal a 32in Bravia LCD high-defintion TV (HDTV) with in-built DVD player. There’s a 100W subwoofer built into the unit that will significantly beef up the sound from the 2.1 stereo speakers, each of which is capable of firing out 50W. Sony’s S4 processing is used to provide virtual surround. A 40in unit is expected next even though this one won’t ship until May. It will cost about £4,000. More here. 

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 28, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (1)

CEDIA, the industry group, that certifies professional installers of home cinema and digital home equipment has announced its first set of awards. CEDIA stands the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association and if you are looking to put together a professional home cinema or wire your house for digital entertainment, then it's advisable to opt for those installers that have the CEDIA seal of approval. The organisation has now announced its own version of the “Oscars” for UK installers. The awards categories are:

Best CEDIA Installation under £20,000

Best CEDIA Installation over £20,000 and below £100,000

Best CEDIA Installation over £100,000

Best Multi-Dwelling Installation

Best Stand at CEDIA Expo 2006

CEDIA Award for Best Supplier

The last award will be judged by online vote and the results for all awards will be announced at this year’s CEDIA exhibition at ExCel London June 20-22. To see the kinds of stunning home cinema installations that have already won awards in the US show, go here.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 27, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

 There are some wacky household/electronics combinations out there (Internet Fridges) but few top the Fireplace TV which will be on display at the Smart Home Show at the NEC Birmingham from next week. This is the "Napoli" (patent pending) marble plasma fireplace from Picture House. It’s a fully-working fireplace that also houses an LCD TV, which appears and disappears from behind the fireplace at the push of a button. The company won an award at the British Invention Show for this but it’s only now that the company is hoping to make it commercial. The cost? About £5,000.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 24, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (4)

Denon is set to take the warps off its award-winning AVR-2807 home cinema receiver for the midrange market at this weekend’s Sound & Vision Show in Bristol. The AVR-2807, which will cost around £700 when it ships in the UK next month, has already won some leading awards at US shows, including January’s CES 2006 in Las Vegas. The AVR-2807 boasts many features found on Denon’s higher end, and far more expensive models, including HDMI digital video source switching. It can also up-converts incoming analog video signals (composite, component and S-Video) to HDMI - which allows for a simple one-cable link between the receiver and display. It sports room correction and calibration technology called MultEQXT from Audyssey Laboratories. This maximises room acoustics for multiple listeners by creating a 6-point sound field that promises an audio “sweet spot” for every listener in the room. Visitors to the show, which runs from tomorrow until Sunday, can get to hear the receiver in action in the Berlin Suite.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 23, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now that square TVs are on the way out, the leading camcorder suppliers are finally making moves to bring out widescreen models that won’t break the bank. Canon’s offering is the DC100 DVD which records straight onto blank, mini DVD discs. It records in 16:9 widescreen that will playback properly on your widescreen TV without any of the weird stretching seen when playing back current 4:3 recordings in widescreen. Even better, you can switch between 16:9 and 4:3 format recording. It also features a 25x optical zoom with image stabilisation and variable zoom speeds. There’s a 2.7in LCD – also widescreen - and the DC100 uses 3in DVD-R/-RW discs, which can store up to 60 minutes of video or 120 minutes on a double sided disc. Due out in May, pricing has yet to be announced but Canon is aiming this at the entry-level market so it shouldn’t hurt too much. More details here.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 22, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

Set-top box maker, Humax, has launched its first high definition (HD) digital satellite set-top box for the UK market.

The HDCI2000 is designed specifically for people like us that cannot wait until mainstream HD services start later in the year, as it will let you receive free-to-air HDTV satellite broadcasts. As long as your TV set is HD Ready, you are good to go.

Humax says that the HDCI2000 can receive and decrypt the latest MPEG4 HD transmissions, as well as display both MPEG HD and standard definition, free-to-air satellite signals. Additional features include optical output for Dolby Digital sound, two Scarts to connect additional home cinema devices, a data port for software updates, HDMI video output and two common interface slots, to let you add more channels via Pay TV services. It will ship next month and retail for about £299.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 21, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sky, which will lead the charge for UK high-definition TV (HDTV) services this summer, has launched a dedicated web site to showcase what high definition (HD) can offer. Essentially, high definition will mean picture quality that is double that of DVD and up to four times that which you currently get on your TV screen. To showcase what you can expect, the new Sky site lets you download some HD clips to your PC and, as long as your display can handle the high resolutions (ideally 1920 x 1080), you’ll get some idea of what all the fuss is about. The clips include plenty of rugby coverage, the All Blacks Haka and the now standard, National Geographic clips. There’s also plenty of additional information on what you will need to receive and display HD signals. No prices forthe proposed service yet though.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 20, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (0)

Onkyo has launched its latest high-end CD-player for people still willing to pay for audiophile separates. At £400, the DX-7555 is not cheap but it promises the discerning listening a lot for their money. It features a high-precision digital clocking circuit that uses a crystal oscillator with a very low frequency deviation rating – about 1/33rd of what you’d get in normal CD players. This greatly boosts high frequency reproduction, soundstage width and overall fidelity. It uses a Wolfson Microelectronics 192 kHz/24-bit DAC (digital-to-analogue converter), which you can fine-tune to your own preferences. Onkyo also does away with the common PCB copper traces used in many players to deal with digital audio and replaces them with a high-purity, heavy-gauge, shielded cable to directly output the digital bitstream from the CD. Due to ship this month, the DX-7555 is available in silver and black.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 17, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (1)

The long awaited arrival of high definition (HD) movies is facing further delays as reports emerge that Hollywood cannot decide on the best way to protect their precious copyright. Both Blu-Ray and HD DVD movies are set to use the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption system but members of the licensing authority cannot agree on a final specification. Until they do, there will be no hi-def magic hitting our screens this Spring. The problem lies with an additional dynamic measure from the Blu-Ray camp called BD+ which allows the Blu-Ray techies to quickly update encryption across all discs if hackers manage to crack it on some discs. With a stand-off on this issue in place, Blu-Ray supporters must be delighted since the key HD DVD advantage was that it was going to ship first. Not anymore. More here.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 16, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

We’ve had hard drives pop up in DVD recorders and now it’s the turn of hi-fi systems. The Onkyo BR-NX80 is a luxury, mini component system that also houses an 80GB hard disk drive capable of storing up to 20,000 songs or 3,565 hours-worth of tunes. Wireless support allows you to stream music from your PC or rip/record music from your CDs, radio and mini-discs. You can also hook this system up to the Net without the PC and download album information using the Gracenote CDDB software. There is a large 4.3in LCD screen, USB port for hooking up to MP3 players and a memory stick slot. It is not out here yet but you can expect it to cost – without speakers – £400. More here.

Hi-Fi audio Music

Posted by Martin Lynch on February 15, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've seen some small versions of the TVs that look like mirrors, but now Philips is getting ready to release some big versions. The MiraVision TVs will arrive later this year in 32in and 42in versions, cleverly disguised as mirrors in fancy frames. It's all part of Philips' lifestyle drive to make technology fit seamlessly into our homes without sticking out like a sore thumb. Allegedly, not everyone wants a 42in LCD flat panel TV on display. With MiraVision, all the controls and wires are hidden behind the mirror surface until you touch a button and the mirror becomes a fully-active LCD screen. No prices yet, but you can be sure it will cost a little more than a separate flat TV and gilded mirror.

TV home home enter tainment technology

Posted by Martin Lynch on February 14, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (1)

 TV abroad just ain’t the same. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to tune into to your favourite TV programmes no matter where you are in the world? That’s the promise of Slingbox, a device launched in the US last year and now, thankfully, due for launch in the UK in early summer. There is now a PAL version of the device, the company said this week, and following trials a UK version of the device could be here in Q2. The Slingbox introduces the concept of ‘place-shifting’. Hook it up to your cable box or satellite receiver, as well as your broadband connection, and the Slingbox will redirect the signal via the Internet to whatever PC or laptop you happen to be using. How useful is that? Price is expected to be about £200.

TV internet broadband slingbox

Posted by Martin Lynch on February 13, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (1)

Meet the new Denon DVD player, the DVD-A1XVA. This new flagship is very big as DVD players go but according to Denon, you are getting a lot for your money. Not least of which is the ability to upscale current DVD image quality to 1080p – the highest level of high-definition quality. Denon claims that the A1XVA is the world's only player to fully enhance standard DVD content with Hollywood studio quality HQV Picture Improvement circuitry, before applying 1080p upscaling. HQV technology is commonly used in the professional arena to generate broadcast HD images from standard material and to clean up and re-master Hollywood movies. The player is also positioned as an audiophile-standard sound system, supporting CD, Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio. Not due until November so start saving now.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 10, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

 Talk about setting the cat amongst the pigeons. Hollywood studios got a wake-up call yesterday when, in a surprise move, Sony announced pricing guidelines for the next generation of high-definition (HD) movies using its Blu-Ray disc technology. According to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, new movies on Blu-Ray discs will sell to resellers for around £15 and older, classic movies for about £12. If you add-in the usual retail mark-up of 20-25 per cent, new HD movies should cost around £20 while classics/older movies will come in at around £15. This is quite competitive, putting them at around 20 per cent more expensive than current new DVD releases. Of course, none of the big Hollywood studios have yet announced what they intend to charge for those high-def versions of movies you have probably already bought on VHS and DVD but, it will be hard to push prices much higher than what Blu-Ray creator Sony has now promised. All things considered, £20 is not too much to pay for the high-def version of your fave movies, especially if the extensive new extras we’ve been hearing about are as good as the promises. Fingers crossed.

technology movies blu-ray Sony

Posted by Martin Lynch on February 9, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

 Can ambient lighting enhance the movie experience? Absolutely. Can a TV with ambient lighting built-in enhance the movie experience? Philips certainly thinks so. The company has announced a series of TVs with its Full Surround Ambilight technology. A new range of flat TVs ranging in size from 37 to 50ins are on the way with lighting built into the four sides surrounding the screen. The purpose of the light is to enhance the image on the screen while also reducing eye stain. The idea of it might sound distracting but Philips has gotten the seal of approval from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). Using Philips' colour analysis software, the ambient light is blended to correspond with the dominant colours on screen to extend the viewing field. According to Philips, the other effect of the lighting is to give the impression that the screen is floating. It also doesn’t hurt that the lighting ensures that your new TV will match the colour on any wall you decide to hang it on. No prices yet.

TV Movies Philips

Posted by Martin Lynch on February 8, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (1)

It may not be the official party line but what else can you blame when a company like Dell decides to axe it's hard-disk series of MP3 players? According to a Dell spokesman, the company has decided to withdraw from the high-end of the MP3 player marketplace, axing the 5Gb Pocket DJ, 20Gb Dell DJ20 and 30Gb Dell DJ30 music players. The only player that Dell will continue to sell is the 512Mb Flash-based DJ Ditty. Liem Nguyen at Dell said: “We are streamlining our product portfolio”.

He denied it had anything to do with Apple's dominance of the MP3 player market and said it was more to do with customer demand. Considering most customers are demanding iPods, we'd have to conclude that it has a lot to do with Apple after all. Still, losing a big player like Dell is bad news for us consumers since less iPod rivals means less competition in the market and ineveitably, higher prices. More details here.

Posted by Martin Lynch on February 7, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (1)

JVC has joined other manufacturers in getting its 2006 TV line-up on the catwalk with the introduction of three widescreen LCD TVs, ranging in size from 20in to 32ins. The design is clean and simple with the type of stand that most people would expect to find on a PC monitor. What is most encouraging though is that even the smallest model, the 20in LT-20DA6 (pictured) can display high definition content with a resolution of 1366 x 768. It comes with an integrated digital TV tuner - making it an HDTV - two Scarts, a PC input, a seven day electronic programme guide, component input and  picture-in-picture facility. Sadly, there’s no HDMI input but then, we are talking a 20in TV here which most people will be using as a second TV. Prices start at around £459 – check them here. Also on offer is the 26in LT-26A61 and 32in LT-32A61 which are classed as entry-level HD Ready TVs, sporting DVI and component inputs.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 6, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

Samsung is hoping to recreate the natural colours of CRT TVs on a very big scale with the launch of it’s new high-end DLP projector. The H710 DLP Home Theatre front projector. boasts the latest HD2+ DMD panel from Texas Instruments and according to Samsung “it’s the first projector that can display the same natural colours and true-to-life images provided by CRT, achieving a resolution of 1280x720”. There are many projector makers that would dispute this claim so let’s just stick to the facts and look at the specs. The H710 has a 250W bulb capable of throwing up a 10-foot wide image with two brightness and contrast settings. In Bright mode, brightness is 700 ANSI Lumens and contrast is 2500:1 while Theatre Mode (usually used in darkened rooms) has a brightness of 550 ANSI Lumens and a contrast ratio of 2800:1. There is a six-segment colour wheel and a range of connectivity options including DVD-D, which is HDCP-compliant. Unlike HDMI, DVD-D will carry uncompressed digital video but not digital audio, or analog signals from regular DVD TV players or TVs. Why Samsung has opted for this over HDMI is a mystery. There are two sets component connections for analog signals though as well as S-Video, composite and PC input. Lamp life is rated at 2,000 hours which is average. Expect to pay £2,399 when it launches here next month.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 3, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (4)

People love their MP3 players but sometimes it's nice to be able to take the headphones off and listen to your tunes in the comfort of your home. It's even better when you can pop the portable speaker system in your pocket and take wherever you like - inside or outside the house. Meet the TravelDock 900 portable speaker system from Creative. Unsurprisingly, it's white, but apart from that it's actually quite cleverly put together. The clamshell design means it opens and closes like a glasses case and it has a single 3.5mm jack for attaching to iPods and other MP3 players. It houses NeoTitanium micro drivers and a digital amplifier that can pump a small 2W RMS per speaker, which is not a lot but better than a notebook. Powered by 4 standard AAA batteries, it can offer up to 30 hours of playback. There is even a Wide Stereo Effect for a broader sound stage and Auto-Power Off that turns the speaker system off when you close the lid. It is priced at a shade under £70.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 2, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

Targeting the high-end of the home cinema market, Onkyo has taken the wraps off two 7.1 surround sound systems. The TX-SR803E or the TX-SR703E are both THX Select 2-certified, meaning they have been put through the wringer by the creators of THX surround sound to ensure that they have stable power reserves that can produce accurate sound quality under all conditions, with minimal noise and distortion. The TX- SR803E is all set for the arrival of high-definition (HD) movies and HDTV signals thanks to a pair of HDMI inputs. Each input can carry HD video and up to 8-channels of 192kHz/24-bit audio/uncompressed DVD-Audio. It also boasts three sets of component video inputs, which are as much as you will ever need. In terms of output, it promises 7 x 140W per channel. Onkyo claims that set-up “is a cinch” with a fast automatic speaker set-up system that uses a plug-in microphone to gather test signals from the room, before adjusting the sound for the best performance. In audio decoding terms, this receiver covers them all: DTS, DTS 96/24, DTS-ES Discrete/Matrix 6.1, DTS NEO:6, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIx and THX Surround EX.

If you’re not ready for HD yet, then opt for the TX-SR703E, which is £150 cheaper, pumps out 7 x 130W per channel but has no HDMI connections. The TX-SR803E or the TX-SR703E are due later this month and will cost £850 and £700.  

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Posted by Martin Lynch on February 1, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (4)