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Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
One-stop media shop fits the bill Martin Pipe finds plenty of reasons to recommend this multimedia player

Take the optical disk drive out of a recent Blu-ray player and replace it with an HDD compartment. Squeeze the result into a glossy black box with roughly the same dimensions as a Mac Mini (complete with the external power supply) and you have the Eminent EM7080. The Realtek-based device is a flexible multimedia workhorse that sports two front-panel USB ports for Flash drives or HDDs, plus an eSATA terminal.

Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Dream streaming all the way Martin Pipe rates a powerline adaptor with near 1Gbps claims

We’ve come a long way since the late 1980s, when British company Curran, sold pairs of innovative adaptors interconnecting RS232 serial devices via the mains. The speed? A whopping 9,600 bits per second! Today we have speedier (and cheaper) devices like this product from Solwise, which - if your mains wiring and connected electrical-appliances are up to scratch - boasts speeds of up to 882Mbps. ’.

Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Freeview+ HD scrubs up well This PVR marries style with substance says Grant Rennell

There’s no shortage of little black boxes on the market these days, Freeview+ HD PVRs included. Kudos to TVonics then for being bold with the HD500. But has it gone far enough with its features?

Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
No strings attached HD beaming Martin Pipe bridges the gap between PC and TV with this HD transmitter

Unusually, the Veebeam HD wirelessly sends whatever is on your PC (or Mac) desktop to a distinctively sculpted black box, which is, in turn, connected to your TV. The device sports a composite AV output for your set and an HDMI socket. There’s also an optical digital audio output, which will give better quality PC audio (especially from music) if fed into your AVR. Your computer must run Windows 7, the Vista turkey that preceded it, or Mac OS 10.5/6.

Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Return of the War Machine Onkyo has updated its flagship AV receiver for the 3D generation. Steve May looks for refinement amid the metal mayhem

When Europe’s biggest AVR brand unveils a new flagship, it’s time to take your head out of the popcorn bucket and pay attention. Not only has it outsold pretty much every other brand in the UK (and Germany) since 2009, but the Japanese marque has also consistently been first to market new AV receiver technology.

Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Plasma is alive and kicking With a raft of features, including 3D capability, this is yet another superior screen from Samsung. And it's not LED, either. Adrian Justins reports

 

Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Tosh injects some Jensen good looks The brand pulled out all the stops to make this 55-incher a great HD TV, says Steve May. And then it added 3D...

Toshiba desperately wants a slice of the high-end flatscreen TV market. It’s been trying for years to secure a beachhead, first with its ill-fated SED project and more recently with the first generation Cell TV.

Ed Selley  |  Mar 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Same old, but better Sanyo's breadbin-style projector update squeezes more quality from its 3LCD chipset for less cash. Jim Hill rates it

Sanyo’s Z Series LCD projectors have given us some cracking 1080p models at aggressive price points – and now there’s a new flagship. The Z4000 keeps to the formula and packs in high-end features like optical lens shift, while the price hits a new low.

Anton van Beek  |  Mar 06, 2011  |  0 comments

Unstoppable finds director Tony Scott teaming up with his regular leading man Denzel Washington for yet another bout of chaos involving public transportation. Thankfully, while no cinematic classic, it’s a vast improvement on their meandering remake of The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 – delivering a straight-forward rush of undemanding action movie fun that partners Washington with Chris Pine in a tale of a runaway freight train packed with deadly chemicals, inspired by a true event that occurred back in 2001. As always, while the actors do their best with fairly limited parts, it’s Scott’s wild direction that amps up the action to breaking point and delivers the film’s real excitement.

Anton van Beek  |  Mar 06, 2011  |  0 comments

Saw: The Final Chapter brings the curtain down on the popular horror franchise, desperately trying to tie-up all of the loose ends left over from the previous six films while also providing yet more outlandish traps that end up spraying the screen with blood and gore. This time out the focus is on a Jigsaw survivor, who finds himself playing the game all over again, while a witness comes forward with information that could finally bring the killer to justice.

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