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...
Denon DVD Player Goes HD Can support for SACD, DVD-Audio and 1080p video upscaling help the Denon DVD-1930 compete with HD machines?
Logitech 5.1 Speakers: Good But Not Impressive This 5.1 speaker bundle from Logitech comes with its own digital decoder and is the first in the world with wireless rears to be THX-certified. But does wireless come with a compromise on sound?
Denon DVD Player Shows How Its Done We investigate a player from Denon that can handle DVD as well as CD surprisingly well - that's the DVD-3930.
Tannoy High-Fidelity Home Cinema Speakers Where would flat screens be without flat speakers to make them worth having? We investigate a smart set of speakers from Tannoy which aim to bring quality audio to home cinema sound.
HEAD TO HEAD: Which Is The Best Home Cinema Gear If you do not want to mess with separates, but need cutting-edge home entertainment, these high-tech ‘one-box’ solutions could be the answer. We put systems by Panasonic, Philips, Denon and Pioneer head to head to see which is best.
Toshiba HD DVD Player Offers Stunning Pictures SmartHouse takes the Toshiba HD DVD player HD-E1 for a spin, but wonders if the stunning hi-def prowess of HD DVD makes up for a lack of features.
Velodyne Sub Knows Loud Velodyne adds DSP-based room EQ to its entry-level subwoofer range. But beware – this tiny box goes LOUD!
Canton Sub Delivers Big Bass The Smarthouse Team checks to see if Teutonic precision equals accurate and low bass with this silvery subwoofer from German brand Canton.
Affordable Acer DLP Projector Acer injects more life into the budget DLP projector market with its affordable HD Ready PH730.
Best Arcam DVD Player Yet Compatibility is the name of the game with this Arcam DVD player. The Smarthouse team thinks it’s their best yet.
iPod Compatible Denon Receiver This Denon A/V receiver variant offers an attractive mix of features such as iPod compatibility, and power. But in a converging world, is that enough? SmartHouse investigates the AVR-2807.
Panasonic Blu-Ray Player: Exclusive Review The world’s most expensive Blu-ray player is still cheaper than ultra high-end DVD players. We take a closer look at Panasonic's high-end Blu-ray baby.
High-End Nordost Cable Delivers Nordost makes the fantastic top-of-the-line Valhalla range of cables. But its lower-range Heimdall cabling isn't bad for the money either.
Budget Speakers Group Test You don't have to spend a fortune to own a pair of superb hi-fi stereo speakers - these babies start at just $485 a pair.
Lumagen Video Processor: Better Than It Looks We investigate the Lumagen Vision DVI – an affordable video processor that could postpone that expensive display upgrade. Turns out, it's not as bland as it looks.
Arcam Receiver Is A DiVA The Smarthouse Team falls for the classic charms of Arcam’s DiVA receiver AVR 350A. But does it compete with feature-laden über J-amps?
Living With The Movie Junkie Denon aims to offer the biggest sound for the smallest outlay. The Smarthouse Team predicts an Oscar for best budget movie-shaker.
PixelMagic Slick New Media Storage Looking for an innovative and flexible way to store and play your DVDs, images and music? PixelMagic holds the answer.
SIM2 Projector Leads 1080 Pack SIM2’s flagship 1080p projector is here at last. We put the HD DLP beast through its paces.
Jamo Speaker System For Cinephiles The Jamo D7PEXs are a hardcore movie fan’s dream.
The surround sound system is based on Lucasfilm’s latest THX specification.
LG’s DLP Projector Is Out Of Sight Want a projector but don’t know where to put it? Then LG’s innovative wall-hanger might be just the solution you need. The LG AN110B hangs out of the way and out of sight.
Sim2 Three-Chip DLP Hero We are seduced by Sim2’s 3-chip DLP projector – the SIM2 C3X Lite. It’s 25 grand, but it’s worth every cent...
Arcam AV Processor: British Beauty For audiophiles looking for a prestige processor with a British twist, Arcam’s AV9 no-compromise hi-fi philosophy and supremely neutral sound is guaranteed to please.
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