Review: Panasonic's DMR-BWT700 Records 3D Blu-Rays & Can Skype From Your Comfy Couch Panasonic is the only company with Blu-ray recorders on the market, making it the go-to brand for people who want to record HD TV content onto high-capacity Blu-ray platters. But, does the DMR-BWT700's 3D recording capability make it a good investment over a PVR?
Review: Is This Discontinuing Onkyo TX-SR508 Receiver A Relic Or Bargain? Onkyo's TX-SR508 is an entry level receiver that lacks a few network and Internet radio capabilities and will soon be replaced by a new model, the NR509, and has been priced to take this into account. So will it prove to be a bargain?
Toshiba's Unfussy Blu-Ray Makes The Grade On Price If you're not hung up about getting a Blu-ray player that plays in 3D, but simply want a second player around the home without the networking frills, Toshiba's BDX1200 could well be up your street. But does it have any redeeming features in terms of cutting edge tech?
Review: KEF Slim Speakers The Ultimate Flat Panel Partner? It's hard to believe that as technology slims down its packaging, the internal mechanisms can retain or even improve on quality. Kef's T Series of speakers promises to do just that, and provide the ultimate partner to todays ultra slim flat panel LED TVs.
Review: Acer Unleashes Full Blooded Home Theatre PC Powerhouse Ever got that feeling that you don't need it but you want it? The sentiment may be one that applies to this slim, stylish and well built Home Theatre PC from Acer. It plays back Full HD video and has Blu-ray, which is on everyone's 'must have' list. But is it enough to blow others out of the water?
Review: Sharp HT-SB400 Sound Bar A Sleek & Solid Build Getting the best sound from your TV is just a matter of investing in a home cinema system. Soundbars provide a discreet method of boosting sound quality without all the clutter of a full surround sound speaker system and receiver. We take a look at Sharp's HT SB400 soundbar.
Review: Big Screen Panasonic TV Turns To LCD Panasonic's entry level Viera LCD TVs now use edge lit LED to offer richer colours and improve on brightness levels and energy efficiency. And with connectivity including Viera Cast and Skype, is it a compelling enough reason to take on the L42E3B for a big screen experience?
Review: BenQ W1200 A Surprise DLP Package There's no match for a blockbuster movie on a big screen, and startlingly high performance can now be had even with entry level models. BenQ's DLP-based W1200 steps up to the plate with a stack of decent features, which makes it an aggressive contender despite its slightly lacklustre appearance.
Review: New Arcam High End Blu Ray Player & Receiver There is nothing like quality sound and no one does it better than the Brits. So how about a combined high end Blu ray player and receiver from Arcam? We take a look at the all new BD100 and the AVR400.
Samsung 3D Blu-ray Brings Movies To Life If you are planning to buy a Samsung 3D TV, then it is logical to purchase the BD-C6900 as it is the first Blu-ray player in the market that can play 3D discs.
Small BenQ Projector Brings Enjoyment The BenQ Joybee GP1 is a small and portable projector that makes movie viewing fun. It can liven up any room with its versatility and offers anyone a big screen experience anytime.
Cheap Samsung Blu-ray Delivers Stellar Image Quality The Samsung BD-P1600 won’t blow you away with innovation or offer anything above and beyond its competitors. What it does offer is exceptional image quality at a good price. As Blu-ray players come down in price it’s good to see that the cheaper models aren’t skimping on quality.
Denon AV Receiver Does Everything This may just be one of the most versatile AV receivers we have looked at to date. It not only has a wide range of connection options but it is also catered for the basic and professional user at the same time.
Great Value Samsung Blu-ray Home Theatre The Samsung HT-BD1255 is an all in one Home Theatre package that comes with the option of wireless rear speakers. It also has a rather swanky Blu-ray player included in the sales package making it perfect for those wanting to get into the 1080p scene without having to spend and arm and a leg to do it.
Speedy NAD Blu-ray Player Delivers The new Blu-ray player from NAD sports the latest technology, can play a variety of files from various sources, and is a solid performer. This spinner puts other dedicated decks to shame, but is the price tag worth it?
Panasonic Delivers Versatile DVD Recorder With the market saturated with DVD recorders, companies must step up and offer something good to catch the eye of the consumer. Panasonic’s latest DVD recorder, the XW-300, allows a user to record two programmes at the same time (thanks to its twin HD tuners) and comes with a 250GB hard drive. But just how good is it?
Small WD Box Big In Features The WD HD Media Player is a little black box that can play digital files stored on flash or hard drives straight to any television set. It is a simple solution for users who don’t have the time to turn on their computer, connect it to their TV, log-in, and search for the audio, video, or photo to be played.
Crest Power Board Cuts Electricity Bills Besides protecting your audio/video equipment from power surges and spikes, the Crest Earth Smart is energy-efficient with its power saving feature.
First Review: Toshiba Puts The Blue Into Blu-ray With New Upscaler If there is one product that will help push down the cost of Blu-ray players, it’s the new Toshiba upscaler that coverts traditional DVDs to 1080p HD. And at only $199 this little beast is set to be a real irritant up against Blu-ray devices that in some cases cost three times as much as this Toshiba box.
Topfield PVR Box Simplifies TV Recording Personal Video Recorders, or PVRs, take the stress out of watching TV by recording programs with a single touch of a button. Topfield wants you to ‘Break free from the way you watch TV’ with its new PVR, and we would have to agree.
Review: Surround Sound Minus The Extra Speakers If you live in a flat and don’t have space for a 5.1 speaker system in your living room, then perhaps its time to take a look at what Philips has to offer. The Philips HTS6100 is a soundbar home theatre system that only takes up a small space and can deliver a unique home cinema feel to any room.
REVIEW: World First Blu-ray Player Recorder An Expensive Beast Following the victory by Blu-ray in the high definition content war we have seen a slew of new Blu ray products to hit the market during the past 6 months. One of them is the Panasonic DMR-BW500 which is the first 500GB dual tuner Blu-ray recorder in the world outside of Japan.
A Cinema-Feel Samsung HD Kit The Samsung Blu-ray Home Cinema System not only plays your movies in Full HD, it also provides you with 7.1-channel speakers for the ultimate cinema feel. We pull out our favourite couch, sit down, and put this home theatre in a box to the test.
Impressive Pioneer Small Speaker System After purchasing an HD television set and a player that can display videos in high definition, the next step is to invest in a home theatre system that is a stunner in terms of looks and features. Pioneer’s HTP-LX70 certainly looks the part, but does it perform up to par with other home theatre kits in the market?
New HD Format Aims To Rival HD DVD & Blu-ray While Blu-ray or HD DVD high definition players make the most out of your HD-capable TVs, they still cost a lot of money. New Medium Enterprise’s Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) format aims to provide that HD experience cheaper, but is that enough for the two big HD formats (HD DVD and Blu-ray) to take notice?
Who Has The Best Home Theatre Kit? Denon vs Bose The SmartHouse shootout between the new Bose Lifestyle V30 home theatre system and the Denon S302 home theatre system has opened up some very big issues as to the future direction of home theatre kits.
New Denon Home Theatre Makes Bose Look Like Yesterdays Technology The new Denon S302 home theatre is one of the best value for money home theatre kits that we have ever seen. It is not only packed with the best in both vision, sound and networking technology, it is compact and very easy to install.
Marantz DVD Player Scales Up The DV7001 is a great audio player that also happens to do a fine job with video. SmartHouse celebrates its duality.
Great Sound From A Small Package After reviewing the ZVOX Mini a couple of weeks back, we now take a look at its bigger counterpart, the ZVOX Loudspeaker, and see whether this speaker system can satisfy those who just can’t get enough of sound.
Toshiba HD DVD Gives 1080p Justice We reviewed Toshiba’s HD DVD HD-E1 a few months back and we were quite surprised with its video quality and affordability. Now, we take the Toshiba HD DVD HD-XE1 for a ride to see whether the extra hundred dollars that comes with the player’s price tag is well worth it.
Canon Projector Impresses Alvin Gold reviews a home cinema projector from Canon with no HDMI connectivity and a 4:3 native picture resolution. So why is he still impressed?
High Calibre HD Upscaler The Vantage HD is a high definition scaler that hails from Britain. Martin Pipe thinks it might even hold its own against the competition.
Home Cinema Speaker Systems: HEAD TO HEAD In this head to head, Adam Rayner compares two sets of excellent 5.1 speakers from Q Acoustics and Wharfedale that will deplete your wallet for around $1500.
REL Compact Subwoofer No Lightweight Subwoofer fanatic Adam Rayner gets to grips with the REL slinky, dinky 10-inch bass-box, and finds it’s still got enough power to wobble his windows.
JVC HD Projector Raises The Bar JVC may have been struggling of late, but it has certainly raised the bar with its Full HD D-ILA projector. John Archer puts it to the test, and needs a lie down afterwards.
EXCLUSIVE: Sony Vs Pioneer 24FPS Blu Ray Player Shootout In an Australian first SmartHouse has been able to conduct a shootout between two of the latest Blu-ray players from Sony and Pioneer. The Sony model comes in at $1,399 and the Pioneer model at a $500 premium at $1,900. This is some $800 cheaper than the Panasonic Blu-ray offering at $2,700.
Top Class Projector Design Norwegian AV guru ProjectionDesign delivers DLP’s next ‘full HD’ projector. The SmartHouse Team looks on in pure admiration.
Pioneer AV Receiver With Smart Room EQ The advanced RoomEQ system lurking in the updated Pioneer AX4 THX receiver is a double-edged sword. SmartHouse investigates...
