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iXtreamer review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Xtreamly appealing This do-it-all device will certainly find fans amongst the technorati

From one extreme to another; no fewer than thirty-six PicoHD5.1s could fit into the glossily-finished slab that is the Linux-powered iXtreamer.

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Accessories
Netgear NEO TV review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Black box of tricks Netgear's NeoTV player offers plenty of features, but some niggles, too

It may not boast all of the ‘gadgets’ of the iXtreamer, but the NeoTV 550 will still give media moguls plenty to sink their teeth into. It’s made by Netgear, a company with a good track record in network equipment (I used its ReadyNAS Ultra 4 as one of our servers during this test).

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Accessories
Popbox review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Looking to the future MKV3D support and BBC iPlayer access are two of this device’s key talents

he Popbox network player shares has come from the same school of design as the the Netgear NeoTV 550. It’s black, it’s rectangular, and kinda ugly. But don’t let that put you off.

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Accessories
Triton AX Pro Dolby 5.1 Headphones review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Real-deal multichannel cans Genuine 5.1 from any Dolby Digital source? Steve May plugs in

These surround sound headphones ship with their own Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder module and employ a quartet of dedicated channel drivers in each ear cup. Peel away one of the felt pads and you’ll uncover a pair of 30mm drivers, one for the front left/right and the other for a surround channel, plus a 23mm driver for the centre and a large 40mm driver to handle the .1 LFE.

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AV Receivers
Yamaha RXV-471 review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
A breath of fresh AVR hits the spot Richard Stevenson is bowled over by the entry-level model of Yamaha’s 25th anniversary amp line-up. How far does it punch beyond its price point?

There has been something of a dry spell for new AVRs of late. Months have passed without seeing one then, like buses, Yamaha launches the five-model strong RXV-x71 lineup all at once. To celebrate the 25 years since the launch of its Cinema DSP technology, Yamaha’s fledglings get some cutting edge features and obligatory eco-friendly credentials, too. While the flagship RX-V771 looks stunning on paper, I suspect this was a ruse by Yamaha just to tease us, because the RX-V471 turns out to be an absolute corker.

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Blu-ray Players
Cambridge Audio 751BD review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Return of the King The first universal 3D Blu-ray player from Cambridge Audio is something very precious indeed, says Steve May

If I were building a Blu-ray player, I suspect it would look a lot like Cambridge Audio’s Azur 751BD. It would be 3D compatible (just in case), offer network media streaming for sound and vision (because frankly that’s essential) and it would be compatible with my treasured, but sadly not growing, collection of DVD-Audio and SACDs.

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Blu-ray Players
LG BD670S review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
3D is just the start For a Smart Blu-ray player the LG BD670 is decidedly scruffy, but, says Steve May, beneath its lacklustre facade lies a feast of functionality

JG is currently embroiled in a Smart TV war with rival Samsung for dominance of the net-connected landscape. In both TV and Blu-ray, the pair are going head to head with similarly monikered portals (Smart TV and Smart Hub) stuffed with comparable apps and streaming video content.

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Blu-ray Players
Sony BDP-S380
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
A Sony for the boracic lint Danny Phillips advises potential buyers to find another £20

Sony’s bottom-of-the-range Blu-ray spinner offers a lot in performance and specifications for its meagre £130 ticket, but misses out on a couple of the key features that its BDP-S480 sibling brings to the party for only £20 more. With that in mind, it’s only worth considering if you’re really hard up, or are looking to upgrade your bedroom setup.

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Loudspeakers
Acoustic Energy Neo Max review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
AE takes it to the Max Danny Phillips checks out an affordable 7.1 speaker array

Slapping the word ‘Max’ onto the end of your product name doesn’t automatically make it great, as anyone who’s tasted Pepsi Max can attest. But in the case of Acoustic Energy’s Neo Max system it seems entirely appropriate.

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Soundbars/Soundbases
Panasonic SC-HTB520 review
Adrian Justins  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments

The majority of TV screens are sold on the basis of their picture quality and how thin they are, so until somebody manages to make slim speakers with as much sonic clout as the traditionally lumpy woofers and tweeters, there’s a need for devices such as this one.

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