Tag Archive for 'home-entertainment'

Having hopped resolutely onto the HD-DVD bandwagon - and then promptly jumped back off again when the format started to slide - Onkyo is stepping back into the high-definition home entertainment market with their first Blu-ray player.  Details are scant (including an absence of pictures - don’t Onkyo know that nobody reads any more?) but [...]

Given how well all-in-one speaker bars can work - they basically bounce sound around your room from one point under the screen, rather than requiring you to fill your lounge with separate speakers - it’s a surprise that we don’t see them integrated with TVs more often.  Thankfully Mitsubishi have seen the error of such [...]

ZeeVee’s ZvBox media streamer surprised many with the outpouring of excitement about being able to distribute computer-based (or streamed) media, together with 5.1-channel surround sound, over standard home coax wiring.  Set to release on June 31st, the system hooks up to your PC via USB and then squirts whatever is capable of being displayed on the monitor to [...]

Custom distributed audio specialists ADA (Audio Design Associates) are promising marital bliss with their latest multi-room receiver, the Suite 8200. Supporting eight stereo sources and eight separate output zones, it’s a single chassis pre-amp and class-A/B amplifier, all in a 2U rack-mount box.

Sony continues its hat-box obsession, with another pair of circular Media Center PCs.  The white VGX-TP1D and the black VGX-TP1DQ/B both feature Intel’s 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo T8100 CPU, 2GB RAM and GeForce 8400M GT graphics.  Where they differ is in storage and optical drive: the TP1D has a 320GB hard-drive and a dual-layer DVD writer, while the TP1DQ/B [...]

Rocking the budget-Bose look, iLuv’s latest surround sound home theatre setup, the i1255, gives you the choice between DVD and iPod audio and video playback.  Your $149.99 obviously doesn’t get you a high-def powerhouse - outputs, for instance, are S-Video or standard AV - but there’s flexibility a-plenty if you’re not bothered with the 1080p revolution. 

Sony Europe has announced availability of three new home cinema AV receivers, each supporting 1080p 24fps True Cinema high-definition.  The range flagship, the SRT-DG820, also includes full HD audio decoding, including Dolby True HD, dts Master Audio and eight-channel Linear PCM.  All three have HDMI v1.3 inputs together with digital audio and standard A/V inputs, support BRAVIA [...]

There’ve been a few 3D TVs and displays in the press recently, some requiring special glasses and some not, and today Mitsubishi, NVIDIA and Aspen Media Products have announced their collaboration on a home theatre system offering straightforward access to both 3D hardware and content.  Based on the Aspen Media Server, basically an HTPC with [...]

Let’s get the first hurdle out of the way: SE2 Labs‘ ITC One home entertainment system costs $25,000.  Assuming you’ve got that to spend, though, what do you get for your money?  How about an XBox 360, Wii, Apple TV, iPod dock and DVR, together with “audiophile grade” mods and power conditioning, all in a [...]

First spotted back in January at CES, HP networked media player - then known as the MediaSmart Receiver - is finally available for pre-order. Now called the MediaSmart Connect, it still has WiFi a/b/g and dual-band draft 802.11n, two USB ports for plugging in removeable storage and a bay for HP’s Pocket Media Drives. [...]