We've written in earlier posts about Sony's LocationFree device that lets you control and watch your home TV from anywhere in the world over the Internet.

Sister title Personal Computer World today put up a review of the device, although overall they weren't massively impressed. Sure the device is good, and it is pretty amazing that you can control your home TV from anywhere, but it didnot stack up when compared to the rival Slingbox (see review)

The Slingbox was generally considered to be better, and certainly easier to control. It has several advantages over LocationFree, which you can read about in the review.

Sony LocationFree review
Sling Media Slingbox review

Posted by Rob Jones on June 30, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (0)

Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) technology has breathed new life into the old radio but portable DAB radios have been less impressive. PURE Technology, the company behind the market-leading Evoke series, has decided that portable DAB radios can be lighter, perform better and look good at the same time. The PocketDAB 1500 is skinnier than its predecessor, the PocketDAB 2000, measuring 65 x 110 x 21mm and weighing a portable 123g. Along with the DAB functionality, the 1500 adds FM with RDS, textSCAN, a new colour scheme and a ChargePAK rechargeable battery pack which promises up to 24 hours operation between charges.

It also boasts a decent set of earphones in the bundled Sennheiser MX300s. It costs £89.99.

music radio DAB audio tech technology

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 30, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

The HDMI (High Definition Media Interface) standard has been overhauled to greatly enhance future high-definition performance. HDMI is the industry-supported digital interface for carrying high-definition video and uncompressed surround sound between two pieces of high-def equipment i.e set-top box or HD-DVD player and a HDTV. It’s important to you because the future of HDTV and HDMI are joined at the hip so make sure whatever flat-screen you are buying has at least one of these – two would be better though.

It was created by Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson and Toshiba. In 2006, market researcher Instat predicts that 60 million devices featuring HDMI will ship.

HDMI 1.3 promises double the bandwidth of existing HDMI interfaces and will support billions of colours for HDTVs. It's also going to be incorporated in the forthcoming PlayStation 3 console. Some of the key improvements – but not all - include:

- Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth from 165MHz (4.95 gigabits per second) to 340 MHz (10.2Gbps) to support the demands of future high definition display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.

- Deep color: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous (current) versions of the HDMI specification.

- Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colour to billions of colours

- Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors

- New lossless audio formats: In addition to HDMI’s current ability to support high-bandwidth uncompressed digital audio and currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby Digital and DTS), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new, lossless compressed digital audio formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

- Enables increased contrast ratio

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Posted by Martin Lynch on June 29, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wireless networking is great but it’s not really up to the task of of handling movie streaming, never mind high-definition movies or games. Enter Netgear with its 200MBps Powerline HD Ethernet Adaptor which turns any electrical socket into a HD-streaming, high-speed Ethernet connection for streaming high-def audio or video around the home. Netgear’s Powerline HD Ethernet Adapter Kit (HDXB101) is comprised of two Powerline HD Ethernet Adapters (HDX101), an Ethernet cable, and set-up CD. All you have to do is plug one of adapters into a router and the other to any Ethernet-ready device, like a PC, laptop, games console, or DVR and you’ll streaming of up top 200MBps withoutthe usual home networking hassles.

Nicole Klein, an analyst with technology consultancy Yankee Group, said: “The goal for next-generation home networking technology is two-fold: to offer speeds to support high-definition devices, and to ensure uninterrupted connectivity in wireless problem areas. With Powerline devices operating at 200 Mbps, consumers can stream voice, data, video and gaming throughout their homes at speeds to support their bandwidth-needy lifestyles.”

Sounds good, but let’s hope it’s not too good to be true. Due in the UK this summer but no prices yet. The US price for the kit is around £140 with additional adaptors costing £75.

technology tech wireless networking home

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 28, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (2)

Your digital home might have a wireless network, Media Center PC-driven living room, streaming tunes and a kick-ass home cinema set-up but does it have a Floating Magnetic Display Unit?

The IFO 3000 is an ingenious stand that allows you to float special picture frames (pictured), globes and even a Mini Cooper in mid-air. A gap of 3.5cm allows a photo of your loved one, or a replica of the highly desirable Mini, levitate happily all day, twisting in the magnetic field. The company says:

“Set the object moving and then watch as it slowly rotates forever - the light in the base of the stand indicates when the built-in sensoring technology detects the object has begun to slow and applies a powerful magnetic force to keep the object spinning."

The IFO 3000 costs £70 and comes with a globe as standard. But, you can also get the Photo Frame, Mini, Alarm Clock and Mood Light accessories for prices ranging from £10 to £15.

technology tech gadget Geek gifts

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 27, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (2)

Media Center PCs might promise to bridge the PC-TV gap in our living rooms but in sales terms they have failed to take-off as expected, according to the latest results from a survey by GfK.

In the past 12 months, only 150,000 Media Center PCs were sold – representing just four per cent of all PCs shipped. Compared to shipments of two million DVD recorders in the same period, the manufacturers of Media Center PCs have a lot to do to educate customers. Despite the number of different models available doubling to 150 this year, there was only a modest increase in sales, GfK found.

The one piece of good news though is that while the overall desktop market is shrinking by 30 per cent year-on-year, sales of Media Center PCs are rising by 56 per cent. Even that result is tempered by the fact that retailers have slashed prices with Media Center PCs now starting from around £600.

GfK's IT Business Group Director, Jean Littolff, said:

“With some clever marketing, Media Centers could become as familiar to consumers as iPods. If the industry acts quickly, it may stave off the threat to Media Centers, the next generation of media gateways, which allow streaming from existing PCs to existing home entertainment systems. Media gateways currently available have sufficient bandwidth for the streaming of music, but once the new European standard is ratified, now expected for early 2007, streaming of video content will be feasible, and if Media Centers are not entrenched in the market by then, they may never be.” 

technology PC media center home tech

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 26, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Games, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (4)

It’s becoming the norm now but Sony has now delayed the launch of its dedicated Blu-Ray player by another two months, according to the latest industry reports. The company was originally supposed to launch the BDP-S1 player at the end of May but this was pushed out to June 20, which was then extended to August 15. Now, the company has announced that the first players will not arrive until October 25, just weeks before the supposed launch of the PS3.

It’s a very strange move since the dedicated player, the BDP-S1 has been priced at around £600 while the PS3 with its Blu-Ray drive is priced at £425. So why would anyone want the BDP-S1? Anyone would think that Sony doesn’t want the BDP-S1 to succeed. It’s more likely though that Sony will:

(a) announce a big price cut on the BDP-S1 before launch to bring it into line with the PS3, or

(b) is not worried about BDP-S1 sales right now and doesn’t want it hogging any valuable PS3 limelight.

technology Blu-Ray Sony HD-DVD HDTV

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 23, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

If a 42in HDTV doesn’t do it for you then maybe it’s time to check out the marvels of projectors for that true home cinema experience. In this case, we’re talking about the new 1080p projector from JVC, based on it’s own D-ILA (Digital Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier) technology. With a stunning native pixel resolution of 2048x1536 pixels, the DLA-HD10K offers far more than you will need for even the highest high definition format, which is 1080p at 1920x1080 pixels.

Although the contrast ratio of 2500:1 and brightness of 600 Lumens seem low in comparison to some other projection technologies, D-ILA works differently and still manages to crank out stunningly clear and vivid images. The technology also helps eliminate the ‘chicken-wire’ effect noticeable on some DLP and LCD projectors. That said, D-ILA technology is fighting an uphill battle against the growing dominance of DLP projection solutions which are both excellent in terms of quality and price.

Speaking of price, JVC will also have to do something about the £6,500 price tag of this model and others in the D-ILA range if it hope to make D-ILA more than a specialist, niche offering. After all, you can now get good high-def projectors for under £1,500.

 home theater projector DLP LCoS movies

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

Desperate to stave off the growing competition from mobile phone firms offering ‘free’ broadband, BT has launched its most competitive home broadband services yet.

Called Total Broadband, the services kick off with Total Option 1 which costs £10 a month for a router, 8Mb broadband connection, 2GB download limit, free evening and weekend calls, security software, 250 free BT OpenZone wireless minutes and helpdesk support. Sadly, the £10 per month only applies to the first six months with the price leaping to £18 per month for the next 12 months of your obligatory 18-month contract.

Option 2 and 3 users get bigger download limits (6GB and 40GB) and the BT Open Hub, a wireless router/hub for connecting PCs and other devices. Option 2 costs £15 per month for 3 months rising to £23, while Option 3 costs £23 per month for 3 months, rising to £27. Contract duration for these two options are a more reasonable 12 months.

While staying in the BT comfort-zone might suit certain people, this is not the cheapest broadband out there. You can get a lot more for a lot less if you look around.
 

technology broadband Internet home BT

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 21, 2006 in Active Home, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple is playing hardball with the US movie industry with reports that CEO Steve Jobs is demanding that a proposed iTunes movie service be allowed to sell all movies at $9.99 (£5).

After resuscitating some key Hollywood studio execs, the audacious request was rejected - allegedly. Apple sees the pricing plan as a way to extend its current, flat pricing approach – 99c for songs and $1.99 for TV shows – but only if you are in the US. Expect some weird inflated currency exchanges here.

Studio execs see no margin, literally, in allowing new content to be priced the same as old content and have suggested a tiered pricing strategy ranging from $9.99 to $19.99. Remember, Hollywood studios are also hammering out pricing with lots of other big download consortiums and giving Apple a bargain basement deal will, no doubt, freak the rest out. More here.

Movies internet downloads News iTunes Apple

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 20, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Portable media players are maturing and with the arrival of more big-name brands the space is beginning to get some much needed publicity.

Philips has stepped into the arena now with its cute looking PMC7320 Portable Media Center (PMC). This little device not only allows you to watch downloaded video but you can record quite a bit of TV straight onto its generous 30GB hard disk drive to take with you. It can store up to 15,000 audio tracks and 8,400 images.

The 3.5in screen is a little on the small side but then it’s a lot better than mobile phone displays and it helps keep the device very portable. It even has a handy kickstand for propping it up for easy viewing. It is compatible with Microsoft’s PlayForSure and should cost a shade under £200 when it ships in September.

movies Music mobile portable technology

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 19, 2006 in Film, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

 The problem with living in an old house is that new technology sometimes stands out like a sore thumb and will never make it past the discerning taste of your partner. If you are having trouble convincing the love of your life that your shiny chrome 5.1 surround sound system will fit in just fine with your high-ceiled, corniced Edwardian living room, then here's something that could help.

The Audiovox, or Acoustic Research, Home Décor line of covers have been designed to take some of the pain out getting those essential toys through the door. What you have is a line of fake books, planters, chests, planters etc. all designed to hide your technology in plain site but not mess with the audio quality. The covers cost anything between £20-35, with the subwoofer chests coming in at around £55.

Voila! Your manly speaker setup has been transformed into a wife-friendly pair of wall sconces, a book, two candle-holders and a pirate chest. Marvellous.

audio technology gadgets home entertainment

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 16, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is not the first ‘world’s smallest projector’ story we have covered but this little Sony prototype is a good indication of how small LED technology will allow projectors to go. Smaller than a small postcard and shorter than a pen, this LED projector boasts three backlit LCDs and 14 LEDs, divided into four red, four blue and six green. Between them they can manage a bright picture with a DVD-quality resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. If it’s used with a new screen from Sony that reflects ambient light, image brightness is boosted by up to five times. Even with a normal screen though, the brightness should be good enough in a darkened room.

We have neither model number, availability nor price details yet but will pass them on when we do. This category of projector is possibly best suited to the mobile professional but the market for ‘fun’ projectors for games' parties and movies will be big, if manufacturers get the pricing right.

technology home entertainment projector Home cinema gadgets

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 15, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

The PSP may be cute and funky but an audiophile’s delight it isn’t. In fact, you really need some headphones to get the best out of watching movies, playing games or music on it. Blaze has come at the problem sideways and launched one of the better PSP peripherals out there with its Pro Audio Sound System and Protector Case.

Since we don’t have all day to type that long-winded name we’ll just shorten that to speaker case, which is just what it is. The twin speakers built inside the lid come with BassBoost to pump up that tinny sound while it also features the Xploder Music Studio for PSP software. This allows you to import tracks from CDs, create playlists and and drag and drop tunes from iTunes to your PSP. It also sports a CD Database Internet query tool for getting artist, CD and track details.

It supports MP3, WAV and AAC formats and costs a not unreasonable £40. Go here.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on June 14, 2006 in Active Home, Games, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft might be crowing about massive Xbox 360 console sales before the Playstation 3 ever gets out of the blocks but, it obviously didn’t reckon on the humble old PS2. According to US sales figures from NPD Group, the Xbox 360 has averaged sales of 246,000 units per month since its launch seven months ago but the PS2 is still racking up monthly sales of more 470,000.

Even leaving out the 1.5m PS2s shipped over Christmas, the average is still over 300,000 units – a healthy distance ahead of Xbox 360. Only in April did the Xbox 360 manage to beat the PS2 for the first time. While it’s not fair to slag off the Xbox 360, it’s important to note just how strong the PS2 still is. It costs less than half the price of the 360 these days and it’s obvious that there is still a strong market for it. After all, it has managed to sell over 100 million.

It also help explains why Sony is not exactly worried about PS3 delays or letting the 360 take the lead for the best part of a year. Check those stats.

Xbox ps2 games Gaming

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 13, 2006 in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)

Projector screens are moving with the times with Screen Research launching one of the first curved screens for the home cinema market. Screen Research has already cranked out some decent innovations in recent years, most notably its acoustically transparent screens, which allow sound from speakers located behind the screen to pass through unimpeded by the screen fabric.

This time around, it has come up with TheaterCurve, a curved screen designed to reduce picture distortion. Available in aspect ratios of 1.78 to 2.35 and sizes ranging from 50in to 250in, these screens are also acoustically transparent. According to the company, the screen curve matches the curve of the anamorphic lenses used in many projectors, and should to eliminate any pin-cushioning or other distortion effects.

“The slightly curved screen corresponds exactly to the curve of the anamorphic lens,” explains Yves Trelohan, CEO for Screen Research. “The image in 2.35 ratio is perfectly balanced. TheaterCurve screens are a hand-in-glove fit with the growing movement of constant height 2.35 projection technologies like CineWide by Runco and Vidikron and TheaterScope by DPI.”

Expect to pay through the nose for this bendy screen technology though, with fixed frame prices starting at around £1,400.

entertainment home cinema projector

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 12, 2006 in Active Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

TV tuners are in abundance at Computex, but Gigabyte is developing a wireless VGA box to connect a TV and PC.

Still in research and development, the idea behind the white, bland looking box is that if you have a flat screen TV (or TFT) in for instance another room, it can stream a signal from the PC.

In the case of an entertainment PC, that will mean you can watch your TV in a different room to where the PC sits. The downside though, is that you can’t change channels – unless you walk into the other room.

But it will also play games on a TV, although obviously in this case the PC needs to be in the same room. You can also hook games consoles to it, such as a Playstation or Xbox 360, allowing you to use a spare monitor for gaming rather than the TV.

At this stage there’s no indication of price, or when it is likely to come out, but Gigabyte hopes it will make an appearance by the back end of the year.

As a concept, we like the idea. It’s a niche product, but if launched, will interest buyers, although it will need to make it a little more attractive and offer a good range of connections.

Posted by Rob Jones on June 10, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (0)

TV advertisers have been up in arms as DVD recorders (DVRs) or personal video recorders (PVRS) hit the mainstream, claiming it was unfair that people were suddenly able to quickly skim or skip adverts. Now, however, new research claims that despite this marvelous facility, DVRs/PVRs are not impacting TV ads like they first feared. US research by Millward Brown for four major TV networks found that despite owning a DVR/PVR, there was no major impact on viewers ability to recall adverts.

“This is great news for marketers and the advertising industry," claimed Michelle de Montigny, senior vice president, Millward Brown Media Practice. "Counter to recent industry concerns, TV advertising is not dead, and DVR owners are not less engaged with TV ad viewing.”

Obviously, there needs to be more education for DVR/PVR users on just how to skip ads and save some valuable brain cells.

TV ads Advertising DVR PVR

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 8, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (1)

Gecube is pushing more into the digital home sector with a range of products coming out aimed at recording, streaming and watching TV.

The Medialink box wirelessly streams video from a PC or network hard disk to a TV. It will also stream IPTV to a television, although there is little point in this unless it is to watch a TV channel not available through the usual terrestrial, digital or satellite stations, because picture quality suffers. It will be in the UK in August, costing around $189.

Also on show at Computex in Taiwan is the DVRbox, a portable standalone video recorder coming out in August. It will be sold either as a case (for $99) or with a hard disk drive, supports Mpeg4 and has an SD and MMC slot.

A spokesman for Gecube said the tiny DVRbox is more flexible than a recordable DVD player that sits underneath a TV. “With our device you can take it to your PC. It’s very portable and can replace a PC video capture card or DVD recorder.”

Finally, the DVB100 Portable DVB-T TV looks very much like an Archos media player, but as well as recording TV, it also has an in-built digital tuner.

It can be used only to watch live TV, or there are options to include 20GB or 30GB hard disks to store recordings. Without a hard disk it will cost about $200 and come be available from late August.

Posted by Rob Jones on June 8, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (1)

You heard it, high definition (HD) is already old news as the next step in picture development is underway. While most of us are still waiting to actually see a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player in action, moves are afoot to come up with a successor. Ultra High Definition Video (Ultra HD) is under development by NHK in Japan which will greatly boost both picture and sound quality.

For instance, Ultra HD will offer 16 times the resolution of todays HDTV, split into four times the vertical and four times the horizontal quality. That’s an eye-popping resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels. On the sound front, Ultra HD will support 22:2 multi-channel sound – current surround sound stands at 7:1. Breaking it down by speaker layout, that’s 9 above ear level, 10 at ear level, 3 below ear level and 2 subwoofers. Still, there’s no reason to throw out your brand new HDTV just yet – it will be 20 years before it’s commercially ready. That said, they already have two Ultra HD cameras.  

TV HDTV News home entertainment

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 7, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

The digital home moved another step closer this week with a new music distribution system from Marantz that pipes tunes around the home using your mains electricity cables. It’s not the first vendor to use this system but it makes a change from Wi-Fi-based music distribution systems which, despite what vendors tell you, can be a real pain in the neck to set-up.

The Marantz approach is called WEAVE (Wired Entertainment Accessible via Electricity), using Power Line Communication technology. You will of course need to fork out a handsome sum for the first Marantz product to support the new technology. Meet the £700 ZC6001 AV receiver which will act as your home entertainment hub while connected to your existing hi-Fi system. To receive what it pumps out, you’ll need a £200 ZC4001 ‘client’, housing two decent speakers and an amp in its portable frame. Multiple clients can be plugged into different rooms around the home.   

music mp3 audio streaming

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 6, 2006 in Active Home, Music, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evesham continues to be the HD vendor of choice for budget high-definition (HD) kit with the introduction of the 20.1in Widescreen LCD. It has a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 making it suitable for both 720p and 1080i HD video. Response time is quoted at 8ms which should be fast enough to rule out a fair amount of the motion blur seen on LCD panels when viewing sports or action-based movies.

At £350 it is certainly a good looking deal and it’s not bad looking either but there is no HDMI input, which is needed for HDCP protected video. While it looks likely that it won’t matter for HD movies on Blu Ray and HD DVD formats, since they might not use the HDCP copyright protection system until at least 2010, it will hinder hooking this up to a set-top box for HDTV broadcasts since many programs will contain the HDCP technology. HDCP downgrades video quality to DVD quality unless it detects a HDMI input.

Still, if you plan to use it for mainly playing new HD games or watching HD movies, this looks like an affordable second HDTV.

HDTV TV LCD

Posted by Martin Lynch on June 2, 2006 in Active Home, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you thought making a TV flat, large and high definition was all you could do to TVs then think again. Philips likes to think outside the box when it comes to certain technologies and its Ambilight TVs are the latest to add something truly different. Meet the badly named 42PF9831D which has just hit UK shores. It’s the first TV with Ambilight Full Surround, which projects light independently from four sides of the screen to create a surround lighting effect that changes with whatever is on the screen. The idea is to create a wider peripheral image that draws you in, creating a ‘mood’ while allowing you to perceive more image detail and contrast.

Admittedly it does look pretty good although there is an argument that all this lovely lighting could distract you from what you are trying to watch. The TV has a resolution of 1366x768 pixels so it’s ready for high-definition. It comes with a very handy two, HDMI inputs, Ethernet and USB ports for hooking up to a PC as well as a 7-in-1 card reader. Other technologies included is Philips’ Clear LCD technology which claims to reduce motion blur while new Pixel Plus 3HD (PDF file) processing promises crystal clear HD pictures. Still, at £3,500, this mood lighting TV is not exactly cheap.

TV HDTV movies Entertainment technology

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