LATEST ADDITIONS

Ed Selley  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments
Armchair theatre Looking for an old-school disc spinner built for high-end AV? Steve May thinks Onkyo has it nailed with this offering

This THX-certified player has purpose. Designed from the rivets up to be nothing less than a bad-ass home theatre disc spinner, it’s the designated driver for the brand’s current line up of THX AV receivers and pre/power PR-SC5508/PA-MC5500 combo.

Ed Selley  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments
Simplicity itself If 3D is a complete turn-off and you just want a competent Blu-ray player that delivers great pictures, Danny Phillips has the perfect solution

Unsurprisingly, 3D will continue to dominate the home cinema agenda in 2011, with a flood of 3D-capable TVs and Blu-ray products hitting the market as the year unfolds. Indeed, Panasonic’s new range of Blu-ray decks includes no fewer than four 3D-ready models.

Ed Selley  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments
Hybrid theory works A 3D Blu-ray player/ Freeview HD mashup that’s got Steve May’s vote

Blu-ray players are evolving. No longer is a straight HD upgrade to DVD enough to tempt cash-strapped buyers. We demand more from our kit; we want 3D, networking, rainbows and kittens.

Ed Selley  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments
Mini the Minx Adrian Justins experienced the bite of this tiny terrier 5.1 sub/sat system

At first glance, the Minx looks no more remarkable than the speakers you get with an all-in-one home cinema system made by various Korean or Japanese mass market brands. But we need to look West rather than East in seeking a comparison: think Bose rather than Sony or LG and you get the idea.

Anton van Beek  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments

Conan the Barbarian may not be particularly faithful to Robert E Howard’s original pulp writing, but this 1982 flick is a rollicking piece of fantasy filmmaking that almost single-handedly made Arnold Schwarzenegger a Hollywood superstar and heralded a renaissance in the swords n sorcery genre. Written by Oliver Stone and directed by John Milius, it’s a suitably bleak and macho piece of filmmaking where men are muscular, women are barely dressed and camels exist only to be punched in the face. In other words, it’s bloody brilliant.

Mark Craven  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments

I love my Sony PlayStation 3. So much so that a while ago, I decided that if my house was burning down, it would be the first thing I’d save (after the cat, of course). The rest of my AV gear, including flatscreen TV, receiver, speaker system, Xbox 360 and regular Blu-ray player could melt in a gloss-black pyre. As far I was concerned, my BD-deck-cum-games-console-cum-media jukebox was more precious. Yet now, with Virgin Media’s new TiVo-powered set-top box plumbed into my system, the PS3’s position as hardware numero uno is looking increasingly precarious.

Anton van Beek  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments

The Adjustment Bureau is the latest in a long line of middling Hollywood films to by inspired by the writings of Philip K Dick – in this case a loose adaptation of his 1954 short story The Adjustment Team. Essentially a discussion of the play between free will and destiny masquerading as a sci-fi-infused romantic thriller, the film stars Matt Damon as a promising congressman who falls for Emily Blunt’s carefree dancer. Trouble is, destiny has other plans for the duo, and before long the mysterious agents of the Adjustment Bureau are hot on their tale and trying to keep the pair apart to ensure that everything runs like it should.

Ed Selley  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments
Big is always best Bigscreen addict John Archer gives over his entire office to spend quality time with Panasonic’s 85in 3D plasma

So here’s my dilemma. Do I get that brand new, fully loaded Audi Q7 I’ve had my eye on for so long, do I book the family into a luxury villa at the Maldives Hilton for, ooh, a couple of months or so, or do I buy Panasonic’s TH-85VX200 plasma screen?

Ed Selley  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments
If you still aren't convinced about 3D, John Archer has no doubt at all that JVC’s latest projector will change your mind

Not everyone ‘gets’ 3D. Indeed, there are days when I’m not sure I totally need it myself. But not so today.

Anton van Beek  |  Jul 11, 2011  |  0 comments

Battle: Los Angeles desperately wants to be the Hurt Locker of alien invasion movies. Unsurprisingly, it isn’t. Despite all of the attempts at cinema vérité-style naturalism on show here (shaky-cams and crash zooms abound) there’s none of the intelligence of Kathryn Bigelow’s film at work here. Instead what we have is a traditional gung-ho action flick that feels more like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - The Movie, only replacing fictional Middle Eastern-types with equally fictional extra-terrestrial invaders. That’s not to say the film isn’t fun. Behind all of the lazy characterisation and obvious plotting lies 116-minutes of enjoyable action and spectacle – just the thing then for those of you who have got bored of spinning ID4 on Blu-ray over and over again.

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