LATEST ADDITIONS

Anton van Beek  |  Jul 04, 2012  |  0 comments

The reputation of Hugh Hudson's award-winning film about real life athletes Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, who competed for Great Britain in the 1924 Olympics, has come under fire over the past decade. The film has become an easy target for those who wish to condemn the kind of 'heritage cinema' that the UK film industry has struggled to escape from in recent times.

Anton van Beek  |  Jul 03, 2012  |  0 comments

With Charlie’s Angels and Terminator Salvation on his resume, McG certainly knows hand to handle action movies – and his latest flick, This Means War, has just hit Blu-ray in the UK promising more of the same. Starring Tom Hardy and Chris Pine as rival CIA operatives fighting over the same woman, it’s perfect popcorn fodder. Just how we like it...

Danny Phillips  |  Jul 03, 2012  |  0 comments

If you’re serious about home cinema, then buying an AVR and speakers separately is usually the way to go. But sometimes the idea of getting everything in one fell swoop is too convenient to resist.

Mark Craven  |  Jul 02, 2012  |  0 comments

If your attic is currently used to store Christmas decorations, old Scalextric sets and musty suitcases, it’s fair to say you aren’t putting it to its best use. Maybe the sight of this alluring loft-based home cinema will spur you on to build your own top-floor movie den.

Steve May  |  Jul 02, 2012  |  0 comments

The Aventage range represents the current high-end in AVR design from Yamaha. Combining bomb-proof build quality with brilliant DSP, they are arguably the most exciting new home theatre arrivals from the brand since the launch of the outrageously over-specified RX-Z11 THX battle-cruiser back in 2008.

John Archer  |  Jul 01, 2012  |  0 comments

Kogan is a brand you’ve probably never heard of. Until this 55in LED screen arrived at HCC, we certainly hadn’t. Hailing from Australia, Kogan promises bigscreen pics at bargain prices. This set can be yours for just £750, saving a few hundred quid on the mainstream competitors. However, I’m worried that it proves to be a false economy.

Adam Rayner  |  Jun 28, 2012  |  0 comments

I don’t know if it makes me even more OCD than normal reviewers but I do tend to identify corporate personality amongst speaker makers, just like one does for car manufacturers. For instance, Lamborghini designs nutty and flamboyant exhibitionists’ rides and Bentley makes a different sort of posh to Mercedes. Likewise, the sweet-natured Canadian brand Paradigm tends – or tended – to manufacture speakers like Rolls Royce made engines.

Richard Stevenson  |  Jun 26, 2012  |  0 comments

I was propping up a bar after a conference earlier this month and found myself speaking to a man who referred to himself as ‘a banker’. We live a public space that makes bankers about as popular as Die Hard’s John McClane wearing that sandwich-board sign on the streets of Harlem, so fair play to his admission. However, on enquiring about my line of work he noted that I must be worried because ‘that niche end of the electronics market is a dinosaur dying on its arse’.

Danny Phillips  |  Jun 25, 2012  |  0 comments

Smart is still the big buzzword in the AV world. Slapping it on a product guarantees instant kudos, enticing buyers with promises of extra web content and clever networking tricks. It’s an approach taken by Samsung for the BD-E8500, whose ‘Smart PVR’ not only brings you all the usual TV trappings like twin Freeview HD tuners and a 500GB HDD, but also the company’s online internet portal as well as playback of 2D and 3D Blu-ray discs.

Steve May  |  Jun 22, 2012  |  0 comments

The wind of change is blowing through the corridors of Sony’s Home Entertainment division. Rocked by earthquake and tsunami, battered by exchange rates and economic meltdown, wounded by inconsistent products, the world’s most iconic consumer electronics brand is going back to basics in an effort to re-energise its ailing TV business.

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