Hinting at a future where PVRs are made obsolete by Video On Demand, Virgin Media has announced a new hi-def receiver sans hard drive for subscribers to its ultra fast fibre-optic network.
The V HD Box will be available on March 22 for £49 (plus an installation fee of £35). There will be no additional monthly HD subscription to pay. read more »
Samsung yesterday unveiled two Blu-ray-player-cum-Freeview HD PVRs that should be onsale within the near future.
The BD-C8200M features a Profile 2.0 BD-spinner, complete with Samsung's Internet@TV functionality, built-in Wi-Fi, and 1GB of local storage for BD-Live applications. Built into the same sexy-looking black/chrome chassis is a Freeview HD tuner and 250GB HDD. read more »
Toshiba will launch a second Blu-ray player this Spring, as well as a 500GB Freeview HD PVR ‘in time for the World Cup.’ The announcements were made yesterday at a 2010 product summit in Watford. read more »
Sky has expanded its Sky+HD receiver lineup with a new box featuring a massive 1TB drive. Available now, priced at £249 (installation costs £30 for newcomers and £60 for the rest of us), the new model can store up to 240 hours of hi-def, or 740 hours of standard definition TV. read more »
The BBC has released details of its hi-def Xmas schedule, and there’s some interesting viewing to be had for mince-pie munching HD fans.
These include the latest two-part Doctor Who special, screening on Christmas and New Year's Day, seasonal specials for The Royle Family, Victoria Wood, Cranford and Catherine Tate, plus children’s special The Gruffalo and the remake of the walking read more »
Humax has taken the wraps off its first Freeview HD receivers. The HD-FOX T2 has Freeview HD and SD reception and can upscale standard and high defintion pictures to 1080p50. read more »
Sky has confirmed that E4 HD, the second dedicated hi-def channel from C4, will launch on December 14. A simulcast of E4, the channel will screen HD iterations of popular shows like Misfits, Hollyoaks, Peep Show and HCC fave Glee. The arrival of E4 HD brings the total number of HD channels available through Sky+HD to 36, making it easily the most dominant UK HD broadcast platform. Currently running alongside Sky’s own output are read more »
Freeview HD was given a technical launch at the BBC's Media Centre in west London on Dec 2, but compatible TVs, set-top-boxes and PVRs are not expected to reach shops until, at the earliest, January 2010. read more »
Launched today in London, with a celebratory party featuring live performances from Paloma Faith and Taio Cruz, social networking sites Facebook and Twitter joined the Xbox Live family of applications. The features are free to Xbox Live Gold subscribers 18 and over. Also launched today was streaming 1080p video content from Microsoft’s Zune HD store and music from Last.fm radio. read more »
Several issues ago (HCC #170) my fellow columnist Richard Stevenson began his crusade for the Order of Home Cinema Existentialism. For those of you who missed his rant, the basic gist went as follows - Blu-ray is being sold incorrectly, with all of the focus on the interactive special features and nobody talking about the hi-def AV quality. He even went as far as to suggest banning Blu-ray special features altogether, and highlighted how 'less-than-chuffed' I was with his idea.
Popular Hi-Fi and AV retailer Sevenoaks Sound & Vision is running a new series of '7 Day Specials', amongst its usual special offers.
Running until November 14 at participating stores (personal callers only, no mail order) the specialist retail chain is offering newly reduced pricing on a host of selected read more »
1.6 million homes now have access to Sky HD. The satcaster has released sterling growth figures, which reveal that during the months between July and September it was recruiting Sky+ HD customers every 30 seconds. 287,000 signed up to the HD platform during the Summer promotional period – a threefold increase on the same period the previous year. read more »
The BBC has confirmed it will switch off two of its three Red Button interactive services on Freeview this month to make way for high-def content on the platform, which is due to become available in some areas as early as December.
This means that from October 27, Freeview viewers will no longer be able to see the popular BBC News Multiscreen or read more »
Despite what regular readers of this column may think, I'm really not a miserable old git. Well, not all of the time. I'm just someone who is really passionate about movies - be it watching them on the bigscreen or replicating that experience at home in the best way possible. And it's the latter that causes the problems, because every month it feels like I come face-to-face with people who are determined to make things harder for consumers to get a truly cinematic experience in their living room.
The future of television has gone on view at CEATEC, Japan’s top AV show.
Within the halls of the Makuhari Messe convention center, in Chiba City, the world’s biggest TV brands have unveiled a (surprisingly) unified vision of tomorrow’s TV tech, giving a tantalizing glimpse read more »
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