In an unprecedented move, key makers of plasma TVs have banded together to fight the rising tide of LCD TVs.

Pioneer, Hitachi and Panasonic have launched a new survey and Web site promoting the virtues of plasma TV technology over LCD TVs, which have taken over the sub-40in TV sector. The trouble is that LCD TVs are now starting to encroach on the traditional 40in-100in TV territory of plasma TVs.

 This report was carried out among 603 people in the UK, Germany and France who were asked to sit through some demonstrations of both TV technologies showing the same content. And the results were (drum roll):

* 61% of people said that plasma provided the sharper picture, compared to 21% per cent for LCD

* 65% said plasma offered better colour reproduction compared to 24% for LCD

* 62% thought plasma handled motion better versus 15% going for LCD

* 61% of people thought plasma's contrast range was better than LCD. 26% opted for LCD.

With Christmas being a hugely important time for TV manufacturers, expect the war of words to get worse and the rival surveys to come thick and fast.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 30, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (14)

Everyone might be flogging portable media players for handling digital video formats but there is still some life in portable DVD players. Philips has just released some details of its forthcoming PET 830 device, which trades the normal flip-up screen for a very stylish and sleek tablet design.

The glossy black finish and uncluttered fascia really highlight the 8.5in LCD display, which boasts Zero Bright Dot technology for better image quality. As well as DVD format material it will also playback DivX and MPEG4 movies alongside MP3/WMA music files and CDs. It will be on show at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007 Show in Las Vegas in January and we’ll be reporting from there. We should have some concrete UK-related launch and pricing details then.

I’ll be reporting Immerse in DVD, DivX and MPEG4 movies plus MP3/WMA-CD music the Philips Portable DVD Player PET830. Features include a 8.5″ color LCD display with Zero Bright Dot(tm) for optimal screen quality.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 29, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

BT has finally gotten around to launching its TV-via-broadband contender to Sky, NTL and others. BT Vision, which we have covered here and here, will go live next Monday, December 4. That said, it will be lacking some key components at launch, including ‘catch-up’ TV which allows punters to retrieve episodes of some of their favourite TV shows from the past week.

There have been delays on the BBC-end getting clearance for the service. Ironically, rival service NTL offers the BBC ‘catch-up’ facility.

Users will need a set-top box f rom Philips with an in-built 80GB hard disk drive for recording TV and a BT broadband package. What they get is all the Freeview channels, children and family programmes, some US dramas, music, entertainment and documentary programming. There will also be ‘near-live’ football coverage, but there are few details on just how near to live that footie will be.

Adult entertainment is also on the menu as are on-demand services like live football, movies and music downloads. It’s all a bit bitty at the moment but the key selling point is that once you have your set-top box and BT broadband, there is no monthly subscription charge to BT Vision.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 28, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Games, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

The boom in watching videos online, especially through sites like YouTube, is now reducing the amount of time that people spend watching regular TV.

Around 43 percent of UK telly watchers claim that watching videos online has resulted in them watching less TV. Around 13 per cent said they watched online video occasionally while 10 per cent said they intend to do some in the coming year.

The survey, carried out by ICM for the BBC, found that the trend for online and mobile video is also on the rise. Despite this, the Beeb can take some hope, albeit fleeting, that regular online viewers account for just 9 per cent of the population.

Unsurprisingly, online and mobile video watching is most popular with the 16-24 year old set at 28 per cent they watch some more than once a week. This falls to around 10 per cent with 25-44 year olds and to 4 per cent of over-45s.

While not very alarming yet, online video is something at that all TV makers have to get to grips with fast. Sadly, most online TV offerings are pilots or fledgling with a restricted range of programming.

Read more here.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 27, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

KEF has been pushing high-end virtual surround sound systems for some time now and the fivetwo series models are no different. The name fivetwo is a reference to the concept of getting full 5.1 surround from just two speakers. There’s a seven driver stand/wall-mount (Model 7) or an eleven driver floor-stander (Model 11) and are designed for people that want a home cinema set-up without the clutter of wires or extra speakers. According to KEF:

“The vertical flat panels behind the main speaker drivers act as rear effects speakers, while the front facing Uni-Q drivers create perfect left, centre, and right speakers Ð ideal for home cinema applications. The effect is certainly impressive, with pin-sharp dialogue and extraordinary surround effects. KEF's fivetwo Uni-Q technology disperses sound around the room so well that the user can sit anywhere to enjoy the optimum surround experience.”

KEF joins Yamaha and Philips with this approach but frankly, it’s still virtual surround and will never top proper 5.1 surround sound set-ups. Also, did you think that you’d save some money because there’s just two speakers? Think again.

The KEF Model 7 and Model 11 speakers come armed with price tags of £600 and £1,100 per pair, respectively. Ouch!

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 26, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Games, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Headphones or earphones boasting noise cancelling features are all the rage these days and Bose has launched the third generation of its QuietComfort headphones in time for the Silly Season.

The QuietComfort 3 headphones are lighter and smaller than their predecessors and boast rechargeable batteries. The noise-cancelling features allow you to block out much of the external noise that interrupts your listening pleasure in everyday life – pretty much all forms of commuting then. The rechargeable batteries are also good for around 20 hours of use.

The only real downside is the price. At £275, these would want to be spectacular since you can get others for a lot less. Find out more here.

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

HANNspree likes to be a little different when it comes to designing TVs and its new Sports Line is a perfect example. Why have a boring old flat screen TV for watching football when you can watch it on a football? Literally.

Football fanatics can now get their kicks with the HANNSdribbling 9.6in LCD TV. Not only is it shaped like a football, the outside is made from genuine football leather.

If the beautiful game is not your cup of tea, you can take a peek at the HANNSgolf 15in high defintion LCD TV, complete with ball dimples, a base comprised of two iron club and a an oversized green golf tee for the stand.

Basketball lovers can check out the table-top or wall-mountable HANNSball.champions 15in LCD TV. It can be swivelled through 360 degrees and, like the football, is made from basketball leather.

The football, golf and basketball TVs should cost £299, £389 and £459, respectively. That said, the prices Amazon UK are charging are a lot higher.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 22, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Sports, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the Wii just around the corner, Nintendo has released some very impressive European sales figures for its predecessor, the Nintendo DS. According to the company, the DS has sold over 7 million units in Europe since it launched a year and half ago, in March 2005. OK, it's not in the same league as the PS2's 40 million sales, but is still respectable.

Six of its games have also entered the millionaire’s club, each cracking the 1 million sales mark. They include Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: How old is your brain?, Animal Crossing: Wild World, New Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart DS and Nintendogs - the latter chalking up a whopping 4 million sales alone.

Interestingly, it seems girls are the key to the success of the DS, making up 44 per cent of owners, thanks a more varied selection of games – many of which don’t involve driving, fighting, shooting people, blowing things up, hacking, slashing, skewering, stabbing, garotting and any variety of ball-related sports titles.

Sheesh, where’s the fun in that?

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

The future home will have many new gadgets, from wall-hanging fireplaces to surround sound beds, but even the humble washing machine is being reinvested. Electrolux has designed this concept washing/drying machine which might need a new name since it doesn’t use water.

The beautifully designed KaionWAVE uses ultraviolet-C to clean nano-coated fabrics – a prototype fabric that is stain-resistant, durable and expected to go into major use in the coming years. According to Electrolux:

“The ultraviolet-C light can penetrate through every article of fabric to kill bacteria and viruses, while the free radical oxygen acts as a powerful oxidizing agent that can break down dirt into carbon dioxide and water, thus sanitizing the fabric. Functioning as both a washer and a dryer, the KaionWAVE washing system is ideal for houses where space is limited. No water or chemicals are necessary to run this washing system, and it uses wireless technology with electromagnetic induction technology which enables it to easily reside in the house of the future.”

Of course, there are no prices or launch dates and, to be fair, no clothes yet that the thing will work on. Still, it does look cool and think of all that free space you will have without a dedicated washer machine and dryer. See more photos here.

Via Appliancist

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 20, 2006 in Active Home, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (3)

The AA has finally joined in the sat-nav game with the launch of its first portable device, the Navigator Vive!

Priced at £150, the Vive (nothing to do with Intel’s Viiv PC technology) is a compact device that allows for 'full' or 'easy' navigation via an icon-driven user interface.

'Easy' allows users to find their destination by a number of methods, ranging from postcodes and town names to points of interest. You can choose to have a male or female voice to present the 2D or 3D directions.

You get 6-months worth of speed camera alerts but can subscribe to have this extended to 3-years. It also supports photo viewing and MP3 playback. Battery life is estimated at around 3 hours. Find out the full details here.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 17, 2006 in Travel, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now that you are bringing your home into the digital age with giant LCD HDTVs, Media Center PCs, streaming audio devices, home cinema bed and TV-enabled baths, maybe it’s time to rethink that fireplace.

It’s time to replace that decorated hole in the wall with something sleek for the 21^st century. This is the Vertigo 600 fireplace, looking more like the HDTV you just purchased and sitting in about the same place.

As you can see from the photo, it’s a beautifully crafted, wall-mountable gas-fire. The system boasts a “patented catalytic system” which allows the fire to burn off any “odorous and stale air in the room and efficiently return warm and neutral air back into your airspace.”

West Country Fires claims that the fireplace is simple to install with its own wall-mounting bracket and, most importantly, doesn’t need any cleaning. All you need is £1,300.

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

LG Electronics has a launched three new PC drives, including a Blu-ray drive that will allow users to watch high-definition (HD) movies as well as record data to very large blank Blu-ray discs.

The GBW H10N Blu-ray drive arrives with the fastest write speed of any first generation Blu-ray drive, at 4x. It will also write to all of the other blank DVD formats - DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD-RAM - at up to 12x. Blank Blu-ray discs come in two capacities, single-layer 25GB and dual-layer 50GB varieties – 10 times more than a typical blank DVD. That said, they also cost quite a lot more too.

The Blu-ray drive will come with 4MB of buffer memory but has yet to be priced. Expect it to ship in the coming month

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 15, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Games, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Warner Home Video is expanding its mediocre holiday line-up of high-definition (HD) movies with a launch of new titles on Dec 4^th. These will include the festive 'A Christmas Story' and 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation', as well as more mainstream fare, such as Syriana, House of Wax, Space Cowboys and The Searchers on both Blu-ray and HD DVD. Here’s what’s coming for the separate formats:

Blu-ray Disc

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Swordfish
Full Metal Jacket
Space Cowboys
House of Wax
Syriana
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The Searchers

HD DVD

The Fugitive
Goodfellas
The Searchers
Space Cowboys
House of Wax
Syriana
The Polar Express
Superman: Special Edition
Superman II: The Donner Cut

Sadly, there’s little in this list that makes me want to waste even more money re-buying some of these movies in HD. I already did that with the DVD versions of Goodfellas and Full Metal Jacket. And where are the blockbusters from this year?

Studios really need to get their act together if they want to convince people to re-buy movies in HD that they already own on the perfectly good DVD format.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 14, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evesham continues its living room drive with the launch of a do-it-all set-top box. There’s a lot of competition in the set-top market but Evesham is hoping to set itself apart with the iplayer by cramming everything but the kitchen sink into its curvy aluminium frame.

It’s described as a hybrid set-top TV box and what you get up front is a set-top box with digital TV tuner, 80GB hard disk drive (HDD), iPTV and onboard high definition (HD) upscaler which purports to be able to upscale you standard TV image to HD – or at least better quality than what you currently view. It sports a HDMI input for the best method of getting HD material to your HDTV, but which is also important because you need it to watch protected HD content like HD movies and downloads. .

It has an EPG for seven-day programming and an Internet browser. It can be hooked up to the Internet or a networked media PC for viewing downloaded HD material. The system has also been designed to work with any ISP service offering Internet-based, HDTV content and will cost £300 when it officially launches next week.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 13, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Games, Music, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

The PS3 might be taking a kicking in the media and from potential disgruntled customers but there is no denying the success of the PS2, which has just passed the 40 million sales mark in Europe.

That’s 1 million ahead of the PSOne and takes the global tally for PS2s to a whopping 110 million. David Reeves, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, commented:

“We are extremely proud of the continuing success of PlayStation 2. In the last month or so sales of PlayStation 2 throughout Europe and PAL territories has exceeded 100,000 units per week, which is extremely pleasing and proves the format is as popular now as it ever was.”

Considering the deserved flak Sony is taking for screwing up the launch of the PS3 in Europe, and the global notebook battery recall fiasco, it’s a refreshing change to see Sony having some good news to talk about.

Now get back to work and make more PS3s.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 10, 2006 in Active Home, Games, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Luxor is taking bath time to a new level with the introduction of a luxury massage bath for two with in-built LCD TV. The Luxor Hydro Massage Bathtub boasts a 14in waterproof LCD TV built into the end, which can be hooked up to a DVD player, set-top TV box or console. And all for just £3,995.

As well as a remote for the TV, the bath boasts adjustable air massage jets, adjustable air water jets rimming the side of the bath, underwater light, connection out to boost the bass sound from the TV, dual-padded head-rests, moulded seating, three-way shower hand shower, shampoo and shower gel dispensers.

Hell, for another £50, they’ll even through in a pack of six aromatherapy oils. Go on, it’s Christmas. Nearly. Thanks to Bornrich.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 9, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Microsoft is hoping to steal some of Sony’s PS3 thunder by announcing that it will offer TV and movie downloads via its Xbox Live service in two weeks. Last week we highlighted some rumours of its plans but now they are official.

From November 22^nd Xbox 360 users in the US, to start, will be able to download up to video content, comprising hit TV shows, high definition (HD) TV and movies. The TV downloads (around £2.50 a show) will belong to the users for good while the rented HD movies will cost around £3 each and can be played for up to 24-hours, before being becoming invalid after 14 days.

Standard movies will require 1-2GB of hard disk drive space while HD movies will need a hefty 4-5GB. Movies can be watched while being downloaded - a slow process - once you see the ‘ready-to-play’ sign. Microsoft is promising 1,000 hours of content by the end of the year. More here.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 8, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Games, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Zune might be waiting in the wings for its imminent arrival but the accessories are already building up.

Respected audio house VAF has launched the first quality add-on for the Zune player in the shape of the Octavio 1, the first high-end hi-fi dock. Unsurprisingly it looks a lot a like many of the iPod docks out there but at around £280, this is aimed at serious music lovers only.

It’s a 100Watt system so despite it’s diminutive sound, it will likely blow your socks off. It also comes with a video out connection to allow for music and videos on the Zune to be played directly on your TV. To make sure it fits in with your décor, it also comes with three skins in different colours and textures. Due out in the coming month. More details here.

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

A fitness machine that allows children to stay fit while gaming on their consoles has been launched in the UK.

The Step2Play device from Gymkids costs £120 and is designed to hook up to consoles like the PS2. Once up and running, children can only play the game as long as they maintain a pre-set rate of activity. If it drops below a certain rate or the child stops stepping, so does the game.

It’s aimed at children under 12 and is being marketed as a way of stopping lazy pre-teens hooked on consoles, from becoming lazy, fat teens hooked on consoles. In an interview with the BBC, Dr Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, commented:

“Physical inactivity is one of the major causes of the rise in obesity so anything that means children will be more active is to be welcomed. Sport doesn't appeal to everybody and we have got to think beyond the playing field. This machine is a novel way of getting children to be more active. I don't think it's a bribe, it's just an incentive.”

Personally, and sadly, I think it will only appeal to parents that have already lost control of their kids gaming habits. If you have to buy a console accessory to get your kids to exercise, it’s time to confiscate the console.   

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 6, 2006 in Active Home, Games, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

As we come within weeks of the arrival of both the PS3 (just not in the UK) and the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360 rumour mill is in overdrive. The latest, and most interesting, is that Microsoft is planning to offer high-definition (HD) movie downloads through the Xbox Live service.

The speculation holds that Microsoft will be offering over 1,000 hours of HD content for download at around £2 per download. That said, there’s a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ here. First off, HD movies are very big and will swamp most broadband connections. There has been no indication of any deal being inked between Microsoft and the major movie studios - yet. The pricing seems too cheap. HD movies would require a much bigger hard disk drive than the 20GB one in the 360 – but, Microsoft did show off a 100GB version at a recent show in the Far East.

However, no plans to introduce one were confirmed.

Anyone with more info on this, feel free to send it in.

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Posted by Martin Lynch on November 3, 2006 in Active Home, Film, Games, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Although wireless streaming of regular video and audio is just starting to appear in some homes, it’s good to see that the industry has decided it’s time to create a wireless standard for streaming high definition (HD) content.

A group of leading players, including LG Electronics, Matsushita (Panasonic), NEC, Samsung, SiBeam, Sony and Toshiba have proposed WirelessHD. The new standard hopes to use the “unlicensed, globally available 60GHz frequency band, and will enable wireless uncompressed high-definition, high-quality video and data transmission". The technology will first be built into HDTVs, and a wide range of other technology and consumer devices, from set-top boxes and DVD players to projectors and handheld devices.

“Emerging as the first consumer electronics industry initiative for wireless uncompressed digital video transmission, WirelessHD will provide consumers wireless flexibility and ease of use while preserving the benefits traditionally associated with popular wired alternatives for point-to-point display, such as HDMI and DVI,” said Brian O’Rourke, a senior analyst with In-Stat/MDR. “The data rates (or bandwidth) that WirelessHD will support are truly impressive.” 

According to InStat/MDR, global sales of devices with a high-speed digital A/V interface is expected to grow from 60m units in 2006 to 495m units in 2009.

The final specifications for WirelessHD will be released next Spring. Visit the WirelessHD site here. 

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