What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision - All blogs

Channel 4 in 3D: through a pair of glasses, darkly

Andrew Everard — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:13:00 GMT

The whole Channel 4 3D hoopla had kind of passed me by, until I was exchanging a faulty DVD at customer services in Sainsburys last weekend and spotted a huge dump-bin full of chequerboard-printed cardboard 3D specs.

Grabbed a fistful for self, friends and family, and settled down to watch the old Royal Festival footage on Monday and Tuesday nights, along with a less-than-convinced Mrs E, who had a pair of the cardboard specs perched over her own glasses.

Have to say I found the whole thing rather fun: the Coronation footage was almost ridiculously 3D, with a very distinct cardboard cut-out look in the long-shots, a bit like one of those children's theatres where you moved characters around on the end of pipe-cleaners or bits of wire.

Close-ups were much more effective, just as explained in their narration, and this was demonstrated both by the vintage stuff and the new stereo footage shot by the winningly jolly Arthur Wooster and Bob Angell, makers of the original 3D newsreel. Wielding an exceptionally unwieldy modern camera, they filmed Her Maj at the recent swan-upping on the Thames, and at a garden party at Buck House, and the results were truly striking.

Mind you, some of the old stuff shown in the second chunk of the two-parter was equally amusing: steam shovels looming toward the camera, kid on a swing looming toward the camera, man with a ball on a string looming – well, you get the idea.

And the 3D duo, now both in their 80s, were clearly having a whale of a time, Angell grinning broadly as they sat in a screening theatre announcing 'Please put on your 3D glasses'.

Our esteemed uber-Editor reports that the effect worked well on her projector and screen, as it did on my 50in plasma. Interesting, given that Panasonic will have you believe that plasmas, not projectors, are the way forward for its next-gen 3D system...

Only trouble is, through the Channel 4/Sainsburys glasses, the picture was pretty dark: both Clare and I found ourselves cranking the brightness on our respective displays, and I turned off all the room lights, finding the 2D world around the screen distracted from the 3D effect on it.

And I have to say that even with the relatively short bursts of 3D shown, I was getting a feeling of tension around the eyes by the end of each episode, which Clare also says was becoming noticeable.

Whether that was an inherent problem, or just the result of constant switching from 3D to 2D, and from a relatively dark picture to a very bright one, I'm not sure: it'll be interesting to see how I get on with a full-length movie using the system.

Friday the 13th Part III is being shown in 3D on Friday the 20th – I'm sure I'll be watching.

But Derren Brown and JLS in 3D? There's devotion to duty, and then there's...

Our Top 10 sci-fi films on Blu-ray

Andy Clough — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:10:00 GMT

With Star Trek out on Blu-ray this week, we thought we'd bring you our choice of Top 10 sci-fi films on Blu-ray, plus an interview with the key players on the latest outing for the Star Trek franchise.

No.1
STAR TREK (2009)
Join a fresh-faced Kirk and Spock as they lock horns for the first time on the Enterprise and then duke it out with a Romulan baddie bent on revenge. Leonard Nimoy also shows up, which you'd think might be confusing. And is. But not in a bad way. Oh, just see it...

Vision: 2.35:1
Sound: Dolby TrueHD

"It was a very profound experience for me," muses Zachary Quinto, the man chosen to don the pointy ears and play the cool, logical foil to the reckless captain James T. Kirk in the latest addition to the Star Trek franchise. "I'm glad
to be part of something I am genuinely excited about and feel really proud of."

We'll admit, when we first heard there was going to be a prequel, eyebrows were raised. Then when we heard that JJ 'Lost' Abrams was going to be at the helm, foreheads were corrugated as well. Could he pull it off? Is he a Trekker? Hell, do we even trust him at all? The man wrote Armageddon, for God's sake...

Down in our testing room, there was a collective intake of breath at the opening scene - where the USS Kelvin faces off against an impossibly huge Romulan vessel. That breath was then held for pretty much the next two hours until the very end, where... well, you'll just have to see it, won't you.

So then, there'll be no prizes for guessing what we think is going to be the bulldozing Blu-ray sales machine this Christmas.

And it's a different experience than you might think. Those of us brought up on the original series or The Next Generation will be expecting a pristine future; one where money, war (among humans, at any rate) and poverty are all anachronisms. Not so in the universe Abrams has created. This one's visceral and violent.

Set your faces to 'stun'
But Abrams was conscious of not overdoing it. As stunning as the effects are, visual set-pieces count for nothing if the story isn't there - just look at Star Trek V. "None of the visual effects would matter if you didn't care about and believe those characters," Abrams says. "That was the goal.

"We wanted to make the thing feel real and alive," he adds. "A lot's over the top, you know - it's a clear fantasy - but I really wanted to make sure you believe it, and the only way to do that is with the characters."

How to portray such iconic characters was something the cast agonised over. Chris Pine, aka Kirk, decided against a straight William Shatner impression. "That wasn't the mandate that JJ had set forth at the beginning. It was time to breathe new life into these characters. I felt I had gotten enough of the series and the spirit with which Gene Roddenberry had created it," Pine says.

But while the rest of the cast had big shoes to fill, Quinto's pair was humungous. And there in the room with him in the shape of Spock Mk.1, Leonard Nimoy. Any nerves? "I didn't feel any pressure from him. From the very beginning he was so supportive and welcoming," says Quinto.

While some involved in the production came in cold, Simon Pegg, or Scotty to his space-pals, had a slightly different experience: "To become part of it, as a nerd, which is what I am, and I'm sorry but it's true, is extraordinary. It was odd to have Leonard look at me, say lines and me not to become very excited and need to go to the toilet. I never went into this wanting to impersonate James Doohan. I wanted to pay homage to him".

We could go on. But that sense of arm's-length reverence pervades the production. The characters are freshened-up, but still recognisable - Karl Urban nails it as Bones McCoy - and the little touches still cater to the die-hard fans. The continuity is there.

We don't want to give too much of the plot away, but suffice it to say, it's a very good one. Following Kirk from before he even sets foot on the Enterprise makes for a wide-open story - and, as Abrams wanted, lets the characters evolve in new and interesting ways.

It's not without its comedy moments, either, with most of the laughs coming from the sharp back-and-forths between Kirk and McCoy: "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!".

So, that's the arty stuff. What about the disc? Awesome. Sharp, clear and with the kind of punch you'd get from an angry Klingon after you'd just chatted up his missus. The sound, in its 5.1-channel Dolby TrueHD glory, is weighty and full, with the kind of sofa-shaking bombast you'd expect from a blockbuster.

And this reboot has a twist – one that retains the integrity of all the Trek past, while letting the franchise boldly go where it hasn't gone before. It's a winner – an essential disc.

No.2
BLADE RUNNER (1982)
Harrison Ford was a superstar after Star Wars and Raiders – so Ridley Scott's grimy, dystopian tale of replicants, revenge and romance was a career risk. Which initially didn't pay off.

There are four official (and seven unofficial) versions of this now-classic future-noir masterpiece – but we think that this, the Final Cut, is the best. The picture is, to say the least, jaw-dropping – among the finest remastering jobs we've ever seen.

They've done a lot of work, including fixing lip-sync issues and even re-filming and digitally correcting the dramatic scene where replicant Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) smashes, in slow-mo, through the panes of glass. This film is a bona-fide classic, and this final version really does it proud.

Vision: 2.4:1
Sound: Dolby TrueHD

No.3
TRANSFORMERS (2007)
Check your brain at the door. Two factions of warring robots from the destroyed planet Cybertron arrive on Earth to battle it out over a gizmo that will decide the fate of the universe. Yeah, we know, it's not exactly cerebral - but who cares?

The Blu-ray transfer is amazing; it sounds truly massive through a capable system, the CG is almost photo-real, and it has Megan Fox in it. What's not to like?

Vision: 2.40:1
Sound: Dolby TrueHD

No.4
X-MEN 3/WOLVERINE (2009)
We're including the whole saga here: the original X-Men Trilogy as well as Wolverine's own spin-off outing. It's fair to say that, plot-wise, the series started off iffy and went downhill from there - but in terms of a fun high-def experience, it has few equals.

The cooling-tower scene in Wolverine is a sight to behold on a big screen with its near-flawless picture, packed with detail and vibrancy.

Vision: 2.35:1
Sound: DTS-HD MA

No.5
THE MATRIX TRILOGY (2008)
Again, a trilogy that got ropier with each instalment – but, again, don't let that put you off. It's fantasy, after all. The transfer here is excellent, with deep, inky blacks and plenty of detail.

The weird colour treatment when the characters are in the artificially created world is preserved nicely, and the sound during the frantic fight sequences is good and... well, punchy.

Vision: 2.40:1
Sound: Dolby TrueHD

No.6
I, ROBOT (2004)
Whatever you might think about the liberties director Alex Proyas took with Isaac Asimov's book, I, Robot remains a very watchable film.

Turn up your amp and skip to the tunnel chase scene and you'll be wowed with a powerful, percussive soundtrack and fast-paced action that never loses cohesion. Elsewhere you'll find a clean, detailed picture with a great colour treatment. Just pretend it has nothing to do with the book...

Vision: 2.35:1
Sound: DTS-HD MA

No.7
WATCHMEN (2009)
As faithful as director Zack Snyder has been to Alan Moore's opus, cuts had to be made to turn the epic graphic novel into a film. The Cold War backdrop has become more coincidental than it should, but the cast is spot-on and the action is suitably thrilling on the detailed transfer.

Standout moment? The nuclear-explosion kiss scene. You'll need your subwoofer up for this one – it's subterranean in its depth. And feels like an earthquake, too.

Vision: 2.40:1
Sound: DTS-HD MA

No.8
PITCH BLACK (2000)
Vin Diesel stars as the double-hard, shiny-eyed convict Riddick who ends up as the only hope of survival for the occupants of a crashed spaceship. The sun-scorched planet they're stranded on plays host to flesh-eating aliens that come out only when it gets dark every 22 years.

Guess what's about to happen? Rotten luck. But intelligent writing, a great cast and stylised, high-contrast visuals (which look stunning on BD) lift it far above the humdrum.

Vision: 2.35:1
Sound: DTS-HD MA

No.9
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (2008)
Until the classic trilogy hits Blu-ray (c'mon, George!), this animated effort will do. An intro to the brilliant Clone Wars TV series, it's clearly aimed at a youthful crowd, but grown-up fans will enjoy it too, not least because the digital Anakin is far less irritating than Hayden Christensen.

It's distilled Star Wars, full of great HD action scenes but with hardly any of the turgid talkiness. We like, then.

Vision: 2.35:1
Sound: Dolby TrueHD

No.10
CLOVERFIELD (2008)
A colossal monster destroys New York in this intense JJ Abrams-produced film. Told from the point of view of a group of people with a video camera, the footage is predictably shaky and grainy, but this only adds to the cloying, frantic atmosphere.

The picture isn't the star here, though – the sound is. Flick to the relentless street battle with the tanks and you'll be pinned to the back of your seat.

Vision: 1.85:1
Sound: Dolby TrueHD

Check out the rest of our Ultimate Blu-ray Collection in the Ultimate Guide to Blu-ray, on sale now

JARGON BUSTER: Blu-ray and high definition explained

Andy Clough — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Baffled by all the technical jargon surrounding Blu-ray and high-definition formats? Don't panic, our Jargon Buster will help you understand what it all means...

24FPS
Film's native frame rate. Film is shot at 24fps (frames per second of picture), and is played back in cinemas at the same rate. Video, on the other hand, is shot and played back at either 25fps (UK) or 30fps (USA and Japan).

That means film has to be converted to 25fps or 30fps for transfer to DVD, which can be done either by speeding up the footage (25fps), or repeating some frames (30fps).

However, on Blu-ray, video is stored at its native 24fps rate, ensuring a much more film-like experience. TVs that can't display 24fps try to convert the signal to another format (usually 30fps), which can result in motion problems.

ASPECT RATIO
The proportions of a screen or image - a ratio of width to height. The widescreen 16:9 (1.78:1) screen shape is used on most modern TVs and DVDs. Many cinema films are made in an even-wider 21:9 (2.35:1) shape, so your picture will still have black bars on a widescreen TV.

How The West Was Won was shot in the ultra-wide Cinerama format of 2.59:1. The image was so wide that it had to be projected onto a huge 146-degree curved screen from three separate projectors. However, most Blu-rays are made in either 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 shapes, which widescreen TVs will have no trouble in dealing with.

BD-LIVE
A Blu-ray feature that lets you access extra features online. Through your Blu-ray disc menu – and Ethernet connection – you can check out additional features, such as games and bonus film extras.

The older Profile 1.1 software on some Blu-ray players is a little slow-moving with this 'Java' content, but the latest version, Profile 2.0, speeds everything up nicely – so if your player is a firmware-upgradeable model, it's well worth updating.

BIT-RATE
The measure of the quality of an audio or video file, in unit of bits per second. The bit-rate (in bits or bps)
is measured with a prefix, such as kilo- (Kbits), mega- (Mbits), giga- (Gbits) or tera- (Tbits).

In terms of quality, the higher the rate the better. DVD's maximum is 5Mbit. Blu-ray's a maximum of 40 (and the now-defunct HD DVD is 29.5).

BLOCKING
A loss of definition and visible blocks of pixels during fast-moving scenes. A spin of Transformers may illustrate the point – however, the problem is less common nowadays, but it's still sometimes seen when the TV can't keep up with the source signal.

BLU-RAY
The name of this next-generation optical disc format. Blu-ray discs (BDs) can store five times more information than DVDs, offering 25GB for single-layer discs and 50GB for dual-layer discs.

It's so called because a violet-blue laser is used to read and write data. This laser is far more focused than the red laser used on CDs and DVDs, which enables BD discs to pack in far more digital data than their same-sized forebears.

BLURRING
When TV pixels aren't quick enough to respond to fast signal changes. Very similar to Smearing, blurring occurs when your TV's pixels are too slow in reacting to rapid changes in the signal they're sent. It'll sacrifice definition, detail and depth of field. Plasma sets tend to be less afflicted by this problem.

COLOUR
Every television and projector review will give an opinion of that product's ability to reproduce colours accurately, assuming it has been set up properly (see whathifi.com/video). Some sets might be described as being muted, while others can have overblown colours.

CONTRAST
The amount of variation between black and white levels. Poor contrast used to be a problem with flatscreen displays, and can still be a problem with poorer TVs, but on the whole, most modern sets are strong in this area – plasmas more than LCDs. A lack of contrast can mask detail in darker areas, such as in scenes from the sepia-tinted epic 300.

DETAIL
The subtler bits of sound in a soundtrack. Ever wondered what a soundtrack really consists of? Most of it is made up of a complex web of instruments, voices, double-tracked parts, ensemble arrangements and massed vocals.

All these sounds are rich in detail: the crunch of boots on gravel or the scrape of a pick or bow on strings. Listen out for these nuances – they should be clearly audible – and you'll know just how good your AV system is.

DLNA
The Digital Living Network Alliance is a set of open standards adopted by consumer-electronics manufacturers to enable their kit to share media such as photos, music and video.

For example, you could share a playlist on your Windows Media-enabled PC with your TV – which would show the track data, album art and so on. Alternatively, you could send the music to your DLNA-enabled AV receiver, which would then play through your hi-fi speakers. It's like Apple TV, for free (but less slick).

DLP
Digital light processing is a projector technology that's named for its ability to process light digitally with the aid of an optical semiconductor called a Digital Micromirror Device or DMD chip. DLP is usually superior to the rival LCD technology.

DYNAMICS
The relationship between loud and quiet sounds. Listen to a film soundtrack. Inevitably, some bits will be louder and others quieter. These are dynamics. The greater an AV system's dynamic ability, the more clearly you will hear the difference between loud and quiet – including the tiniest subtleties we call 'microdynamics'.

ETHERNET
Ethernet is the widely installed local area network (LAN) technology – basically, a computer network covering a small area, such as a home or office. Specified in a standard IEEE 802.3 (the IEEE stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the network typically uses coaxial cable. Ethernet is also used in a wireless LAN – commonly termed wireless fidelity, or just Wi-fi – and is specified at IEEE 802.11.

FULL HD
Full high-definition, or 1080p. In theory, the latest 1080p version of high-def video (with 'p' for 'progressive scan, where every line of picture is delivered in one signal) is better than older 1080i('i' for interlaced, as used by HDTV broadcasters), but it's not a hard-and-fast rule.

The resolution is 1920 x1080 pixels in 16:9 format (see Aspect ratio), and the picture is displayed in one picture 'pass' for each individual frame. This should mean a better image than 1080i, which interlaces the lines – rendering the screen in two passes per frame.

HD AUDIO
Audio as the director intended it to be heard. Provided you've the right kit, film soundtracks will leap out at you in all their multichannel glory.

Common formats include DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD and uncompressed PCM. A good AV receiver will be able to accept and replay all of these formats from your Blu-ray player.

HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface.The Scart cable for the digital age: a high-quality digital video/audio connection from source components to displays. The latest version, HDMI 1.3, can handle HD Audio formats.

HD READY
A TV that can show 720p and 1080i images. Even 720p pictures make a difference to what you see: images have more detail and objects stand out from their backgrounds more clearly.

If you have an HD Ready set, try not to be blinded by numbers – viewing a Blu-ray disc in 1080i might seem like the better bet, but it's still an interlaced picture. Watching it in 720p could well give you better picture-quality results.

PCM
Stands for pulse-code modulation, or, in English, uncompressed digital audio. It's the purest encoding method - there's no loss in quality, but the file sizes are well into hyper-huge territory.

For example, for a three-hour film a multichannel PCM soundtrack could require a whopping 12GB. PCM audio is found on many Blu-ray discs, either in its native form, or repackaged (digitally 'zipped'), still at high quality, using
a lossless system such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio.

PICTURE NOISE
Basically, fuzzy areas in the image. This has nothing to do with sound. Rather, it refers to faint speckling that's commonly visible on large areas of a single colour.

PUNCH
The percussive quality to a sudden sound. If done right, it'll sound sharp and weighty, almost like a push in the gut. Punch relies on a system being able to react quickly to sudden changes in dynamics, reproducing the sound without lag or flabbiness.

SMEARING
Like Blurring, smearing's caused by fast motion. When the pixels don't react quickly enough, it appears as if fast-moving objects have a vapour trail streaming out behind them.

STEERING
Moving audio around in a soundstage. When you're listening to a 5.1 system, it will 'steer' sounds around the space in between the speakers – so, for example, cars will seem to race around you from left to right, or spaceships will scream from the back to the front of your room. The more speakers, the greater the scope for steering.

THROW RATIO
The relationship between the distance of the projector from the screen and the image size produced. Throw ratio is key to getting the right location for a projector.

In the device's manual, 'throw' might be expressed either as a ratio of, for example, 1.8:1 – meaning 1.8ft of throw per foot of screen width (ie, for a 10ft screen width, the projector must be 18 feet away); or throw distance – 9ft of throw distance to get a 60inch wide image.

For a projector with a zoom lens, the image size can be changed without adjusting the throw, or the size can be the same even if the throw is changed.

THX
A quality-assurance standard developed by LucasFilm. THX is a set of rules for home cinema gear that should ensure a certain quality of cinema and home cinema sound.

Even if you don't have a cutting-edge THX set-up, the THX Optimizer test disc will calibrate colour, tint, contrast and sharpness, as well as check speaker settings, phase and crossovers on your 5.1 surround system. See our special THX Optimizer blog to discover how to use it.

UPSCALING
Converting lower-resolution content into a signal that the TV will treat as HD. This can be done in the TV itself, or in the DVD player or AV receiver.

Results vary, depending on the quality of the processing hardware. Don't be fooled, though – converting a standard DVD picture to, say, 1080i doesn't mean it's suddenly as good as an HD picture.

iPhone Wars: O2 vs Orange

Joe Cox — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:23:00 GMT

O2's exclusive contract with Apple for the iPhone is coming to an end in a little over a week, with Orange set to be the second provider available from November 10th. Vodafone will be joining the party in 'early 2010', so it's no surprise that punters are rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of an imminent price war.

However, a first look at the tariffs revealed by Orange doesn't suggest a shake-up particularly soon. In fact, were you to want an iPhone 16GB S, with 600 minutes and 500 texts a month, the total cost including the handset for a 24 month contract would see a whopping 11p difference in price between the two providers. Congratulations Orange on slashing those prices.

Elsewhere you'll find a penny here and a penny there when it comes to comparing tariffs – take a look at O2's contracts here and Orange's offerings here – but it's clear that anybody put-off by the cost of the iPhone won't now be readying their tent to join the queue outside their nearest Orange store come November 10th.

No, it seems Orange is simply counting on the growing discontent with O2's general service in order to get people signing-up for Orange iPhones. The much-maligned O2 3G coverage shows no immediate signs of improvement despite O2's promises to the contrary, while Orange claims it has a "a 3G mobile broadband network that covers more people in the UK than any other operator".

Earlier this year Ofcom released maps showing 3G coverage offered by the rival providers. There are a number of disclaimers regarding the information, and as Ofcom itself states it's not to be taken as a given – otherwise it would seem Orange users in Wales would be best served living a few miles out to sea – but they give an indication as to why people might be tempted to try Orange if they haven't yet signed-up for the O2 iPhone. Maybe we will have to wait for Vodafone for a price war to really start in earnest...

O2 3G coverage:

Orange 3G coverage:

Ofcom disclaimer: These 3G coverage maps by mobile operator were prepared in January 2009. They represent the area where we have assessed the mobile operators met a minimum coverage threshold set by Ofcom (see technical notes below). The shaded areas on the maps indicate areas where customers have the possibility of making and receiving a call outside over a 3G network (but with no guarantee of being able to do so). They do not indicate areas where customers are able to access higher data rate services.

The new Yamahas: more details and pictures

Andrew Everard — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:40:00 GMT

As reported in News, there's a whole stack of new home cinema equipment on the way from Yamaha over the next couple of months.
Above is the £1100 RX-V2065 receiver. complete with set-up microphone and its two remote control handsets, while below are first the BD-S1900 Blu-ray player and below it the more upmarket BD-S1065.

There are two new Digital Sound Projector home cinema solutions in the line-up, offering one-box surround sound and designed for mounting under your TV. Both are available in December.

This is the larger of the two, the £1499 YSP-5100: it has HD audio decoding, four HDMI inputs and one output, Intellibeam steering, Univolume level equalisation, and Yamaha's Airwired wireless technology to connect an iPod or iPhone and the optional subwoofer.

The smaller YSP-4100, selling for £1199, has similar features in a smaller housing.

This is Yamaha's £499 YHT-S400 system, combining a slimline Onebar speaker housing with a unique combined receiver and subwoofer. Selling for £500, it creates surround sound effects using AirSurround Xtreme processing, has mutlichannel LPCM audio input, and three HDMI inputs and a monitor output.

Other facilities extend to a socket accepting the £78 YDS-11 iPod dock or £98 YBA-10 Bluetooth Wireless Audio Receiver for music streaming.

Or for £949 you can buy the system with the BD-S1065 Blu-ray player, as the YHT-S1400. The systems will be available in the next month or so.

Finally there's the MCR-640 stereo micro system (below). It has a CD player, 30-preset FM/DAB tuner, integrated iPod dock and a USB port. It delivers 2x65W, and will be available in December complete with two-way speakers for £599, or £490 without the speakers.

HONG KONG: A final wrap-up of the Electronics Fair

Andrew Everard — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:56:00 GMT

Time to call time on the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, with its usual mix of the totally weird and really rather wonderful, from our first experience of the Chinese NVD video format to a sneak preview of a classy-looking Heritage model from Scottish radio specialists Revo.

The NVD format, on show on the JWL stand, is to Blu-ray what Super Video CD is to DVD – or at least that's how it was explained to us by salesman Double Chen.

Now being referred to as 'Red-ray', it offers near-BD quality while being less expensive for both players and discs, and could provide stiff competition for Blu-ray in China.

Certainly our experience here in Hong Kong is that Blu-ray is less front and centre than it appears in the UK, a fact that also struck us in Japan. BD discs are expensive – think £25 or so in HMV here in Hong Kong, and more in Japan – and not exactly prominent in the shops. We came here expecting a disc-buying bonanza, but instead we'll be buying online from the usual suspects when we get home.

No, what's big here is still Video CD, and its SVCD derivative: that's the alternative format of choice, sitting on the shelves alongside DVD – the other night, in a small music and video store having a 20%-off closing down sale, we saw Hong Kong locals buying carrier-bags full of movies on VCD.

Back to the show, and while audio was somewhat less than prominent, we saw the usual flashing-lights mini-systems, the odd valve amp and DAC, including the neat system above from Cayin, and everything from digital wine-coolers to an iPod-controlled combination lightbulb and speaker.

Oh, and the DJ Mouse system from DJ-Tech, a software package for MP3 mixing driven from a customised heavyweight scratch mouse.

The enthusiastic salesman was giving it some heavy late King of Pop action, as you can see in our video report – check the link at the end of this bloggage.

We tested out the haptics on a touchscreen display at NXT, sampled more freshly-squeezed juice and freshly-baked cakes than was seemly and finished off with a play with the latest Revo products.

The company's Colin Urie explained the links with Last.FM, a trial subscription to which will be offered with new models, and Revo's hopes to offer other streaming services to its buyers, but kept the best surprise until last.

This is the forthcoming Heritage model, complete with its 60s/70s looks, and due in the shops in time for Christmas.

It looks like another strong addition to the ever-growing Revo range, alongside the new Ikon and Domino iPod dock/radios.

Well, that's it from Hong Kong, where the hammering and banging outside signals yet another redevelopment underway.

We've learned not to trust guidebooks or even websites when it comes to finding shops – go to the supposed location and the chances are you'll find bamboo scaffolding and signs announcing another new luxury hotel/jeweller/fashion shop opening soon.

See you the other side of the weekend, jetlag permitting – for now, click here for our final video show round-up.

HONG KONG: Blu-ray players - the Chinese are coming!

Andrew Everard — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Fine sunshine for the opening of the Hong Kong Electronics Fair's 2009 Autumn Edition, and while the show feels a little more compact than this time last year, there's a clear indication that the Hong Kong and mainland China- based companies represented here are moving into the TV and Blu-ray market in a very big way.

There may have been stories of late of China opting for its own high-definition disc format – known as China Blue –, but it's clear that whether you want a Full HD LCD TV or a bargain Blu-ray player, these companies are ready to deliver.

And provided you're willing to sign on the dotted line for the odd containerload – at the Fair we're not talking how much for one, but what the minimum order quantity is – you can choose the brand name you have on the product.

Typical of the BD players on offer here at the show, where buyers meet manufacturers, is this slimline machine from Dalian-based Huala.

It's part of a range including LCD TVs from 10in to 42in, and like many of the products here it comes with a range of extra facilities, although of course the final spec will depend on what the customer wants.

You get BD Profile 2.0 capability, an Ethernet port, HDMI upscaling to 1080P, USB 2.0 playback and a choice of colours. Oh, and if you want the player half-size, the company can do that too: it comes in standard 43cm width or 28cm, and a choice of black or silver.

Then there's this machine from Dune, based just up the road from where I'm writing this in Kowloon. The Dune HD Prime 3.0 is a full Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player, complete with Ethernet port and optional wi-fi – down to the customer again – and also has three USB ports and an eSATA hard drive port, enabling content to be played from hard disk. It's suggested this one could sell in Europe for €350-400 when it becomes available very soon.

The company has a range of these players, from the HD Base 3.0, which only has a hard drive built-in, to the HD Centre. which has both BD and hard drives, can also access net radio, IPTV and streaming music services, and can act as a network storage device.

Clearly these companies are thinking beyond the current play-only machines on the market, and speaking to some industry observers here in Hong Kong it's clear we could well be about to see a revolution in Blu-ray similar to that when the first Chinese-brand DVD machines started to appear in the UK a few years back.

That should bring prices tumbling and speed the uptake of the format, but don't expect the new boom to be all about bargains and stripped-down players: the news from here in Hong Kong is that the budget players are coming, but so is greatly enhanced functionality.

More news coming up from the Hong Kong show, but for now click here for some of the sights and sounds of this major electronics showcase.

Sound & Vision, The Manchester Show 2009

Andy Clough — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:00:00 GMT

The weekend of the 17th and 18th of October will see the cream of the AV industry making its way to Manchester for the biggest consumer electronics show this year. The Renaissance Hotel, Blackfriars Street, Manchester city centre, will be the place to be...

October 2009 will see the debut of the newly relaunched Manchester Sound & Vision Show. The team that has made the Bristol Show so successful for 22 years will be working its magic in Manchester on the weekend of the 17th and 18th October. The annual Home Entertainment Show is getting a major facelift under the banner of the new expanded Audio T group, and we'll be there to join in the fun.

There's a brand new website – www.manchestershow.co.uk – packed with all the latest information. You'll also be able to buy the Awards issue before anyone else - and see the winners! What's more, there's more than £4000 worth of fabulous hi-fi and home cinema kit up for grabs in the exclusive show competition.

Why Manchester?
* The show is on the edge of Manchester's extensive shopping and entertainment district, with Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and many more shops, restaurants and bars within walking distance nearby
* Car parking is easy, with many local spaces, again within easy walking distance
* A great day out for all the family
* See the very first announcement of the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Award winners for 2009 – and pick-up the magazine
*Visit the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision stand at the Manchester Show to enjoy our unique AV demonstration and to pick the brains of the magazine's review team (below).

Awards and Advice
What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision magazine is delighted to have teamed up with the Show. As we do at the Bristol Sound & Vision Show, we will add a huge new interactive element to the event.

The What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision team will all be at the Show and will be available for advice on all things hi-fi and home cinema. We will also have a large demonstration room, featuring new and exclusive kit.

We will be announcing the results of the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Awards 2009 at the Show. That means you can be the first to see our 2009 winners – and you'll be able to buy an early copy of the Awards issue before anyone else. Subscribe on the day and you'll also get a special gift!

The Details
* Saturday 17th October: 9.30am - 5pm
* Saturday 18th October: 10am - 5pm
* Renaissance Hotel, Blackfriars Street, Manchester, M3 2EQ
* The hotel is located in city centre Manchester
* Admissions: Adults £6, students/senior citizens (over 65) £3, accompanied children (under 16) free
* Tickets are only available on the day

PLEASE NOTE: there is no dedicated trade day. Trade and press visitors can pre-register for the show by visiting the show website. We look forward to seeing you there!

Travel details
The Renaissance Hotel (above) can be contacted on 0161 831 6000

BY ROAD From the north: take the M56 motorway to the City Centre. At the first roundabout, take the St Peter's Square exit. Follow the signs for Deansgate. The hotel is located at the end of Deansgate on Blackfriars St.

From the south: take the M6 towards Manchester and exit onto the M56 to A5130 Princess Parkway at the roundabout, straight over onto Medlock Street, left onto Whitworth Street, right onto Deansgate, second left for Blackfriars Street. The hotel is on the right.

PARKING Easy local parking next to the hotel. Further car parking is available nearby.

BY TRAIN There are two stations providing easy access. Victoria Station is only a five-minute walk, while Piccadilly Station is around a five-minute taxi ride, or an easy 10-minute walk.

BY AIR Manchester has its own international airport. It is well served by both the major and budget airlines.

MEET THE TEAM AND SEE 95 BRANDS!

Alphason Designs

Anatek Acoustics

Anthem AV Solutions
Anthem AV Solutions will be showing a range of multi award-winning products from Canadian brands Anthem and Paradigm, including the acclaimed Statement D2v pre-amp/AV processor from Anthem, and a range of stunning products from Paradigm, one of the world's largest manufacturers of high-quality speakers. The full range is now available in the UK for the first time.

Anthem D2v AV preamp/AV processor

Arcam

There's a UK first for Arcam with the unveiling of the firm's new AVR500 multichannel receiver, the more affordable version of its flagship AVR600 model. It's due on sale by the end of this year for around £2500 and will pump out 100W across all seven channels, as well as decode all the latest high-definition audo formats. Full details in our news story.

And you'll be able to catch a first glimpse of Arcam's new iPod irDock with remote control at Manchester too.

Arcam AVR500 makes its UK debut

Armour Home

Star of the Armour stand will be the Q-TV2 from Q Acoustics – visitors to Manchester will be the first to see it. This slim, 2.1 speaker system for flatscreen TVs boasts 100 watts of amplification and a 38mm-deep subwoofer. You'll also be able to see Q Acoustics new 2000 Series of conventional loudspeakers in exciting new designs and finishes, including 'piano white'.

What's more, there'll be fantastic 'show deals' on QED cables, plus the launch of new speaker cables and the company's new flagship 'Signature' interconnects. And check out the latest models from NAD, Myryad, Goldring and Grado,, plus stylish new iPod docks from danish company Scandyna.

Also on the Armour Home stand will be a 'Fun technology' section with new models from Kicker, Chumby, iDapt, uPlay, mi Football, Chumby and the Outcast Junior.

Q Acoustics Q-TV2

Audio Technica
BDI

Bowers & Wilkins

Star of the B&W stand will be its CM9 loudspeakers, which will be demonstrated in both stereo and surround systems, and will be powered by components from the new Rotel 15 Series. Other products from the brand's large range of hi-fi, home theatre, and new media speakers will also be on show.

Hear the B&W CM9 in stereo and surround set-ups

Canton

Chord Company

Chord's brand-new Solstice cable range will on demonstration at the show, along with the opportunity to hear and compare the full Chord Co range, before discussing your needs with the company's expert staff.

There'll be a special offer on Chord's five-star HDMI Active & HDMI SuperShield, as well as great deals on the full range, including What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision's Product of the Year speaker cable 2008, the Carnival SilverScreen.

The Cable Doctor and team will be available for technical advice to help you get the optimum cable match and the best performance from your system, regardless of size or budget.

Conran

Curvi Hi-Fi

These distinctive looking speakers are the Curvi Model 1 Version 2 (£3995/pr), which is the product of a fresh look at loudspeaker design that aims to marry state of the art sound quality with stunning aesthetics. The speaker has been four years in development and has drawn on the combined skills of Christopher Liauw and Christien Ellis of CE Electroacoustics.

Curvi Model 1, version 2

Cyrus

The Manchester show will be the launch event for a still top-secret new model from Cyrus. More details will be released on the Cyrus website in early October, but we're assured it will be definitely be worth visiting the show to see.

The new model will be playing together with the latest XP amplifier models, and Cyrus is asking visitors to bring a favourite disc with them so they can demonstrate just how advanced the latest models have become. Intriguing stuff!

Dali

Catch a glimpse of the new Dali Fazon surround speakers at Manchester. The curved aluminium cabinets look resplendent in their gloss black lacquer finish, and the figure-hugging magnetic speaker grille peels away to reveal a two-way loudspeaker.

The satellites use 4.5in wood-fibre cone, mid-bass driver and 1.1in soft-dome tweeter. You can read our full review of them in the November issue of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, on sale now.

Dali Fazon 5.1 speaker package

Denon

Denon will be taking the opportunity to show many new products at this year's event. These will include new hi-fi stereo separates and a new two-piece mini system as well as a full line up of AV models for 2009-10.

Key among the new models this year are the £599.99 DBP-2010 Blu Ray/DVD Player and the £449.99 AVR-1910 AV receiver. Denon also invite you to experience surround sound with a new dimension using a new generation of top-line AV receivers with Audyssey DSX technology. Come and check out this new experience! We also expect other new Denon products to be unveiled at the show.

Denon AVR-1910 multichannel receiver

Dynaudio

Dynaudio's Excite loudspeakers will be on display in a High Gloss Black finish and demonstrated in a 5.1 system to show off the pure musical fun that this range is capable of.

The What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Award-winning Excite X32 floor-standing speakers will be complemented by an X22 centre, X12 rear speakers and Sub300 and all driven by the highly acclaimed Arcam AVR600 receiver.

Electrocompaniet
Epson
Fatman

Focal

The revised Electra Be line from Focal will make its debut at Manchester. The range has been evolved to benefit from the advances achieved during the development of the new Utopia series. A new Beryllium dome profile allows the tweeter improved response in the lower spectrum, and, combined with new crossovers, better blending with the midrange and greater harmonic richness.

Two new finishes – Champagne and Basalt – join the traditional Slate Grey.

Focal Electra Be has been improved

Goldring
Grado

Henley Designs

Turntable enthusiasts should check out the Henley stand, where the company will launch its Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge.

Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge

Hi End

JVC

JVC will be showcasing the new LT-32WX50 LED slim monitor, perfect for digital imaging enthusiasts using high-end digital SLR cameras. The company will also display its 'True Black' range of projectors, Blu-ray player systems and the new Everio X HD camcorder.

KEF

KEF will occupy both Bernini and El Greco suites at this year's Manchester Sound and Vision Show. The first suite will be dedicated to its iQ Series, with two-channel and multi-channel demonstrations set to impress all visitors throughout the weekend.

The second suite will feature the company's revised KHT speaker packages. And the company is promising " something completely new and exciting," but details remain under wraps for now. KEF's staff will also be on hand to answer any questions regarding KEF products, past and present.

KEF's new KHT2005.3 KI speaker package

Marantz

Marantz will unveil its 'Pearls', for their first UK showing. Designed by legendary audio designer Ken Ishiwata, to celebrate his 30th anniversary with Marantz, the PM-KI amplifier and SA-KI SACD player will accompany a pair of Mordaunt-Short's new Performance 2 loudspeakers.

Also expect exclusive showings of the SR6004 receiver, along with its matching Blu-ray player. The much anticipated slim-line receiver and Blu-ray player pair also debut, while the stunning new budget stars, the CD6003 and PM6003, will be out in force. Further Marantz products on display will include the SA8003 SACD player.

Marantz Pearl SA-KI SACD player

Monitor Audio

Want to see Monitor Audio's brand-new, super-slim Silver RX range of mid-market speakers? Then pop along to the Manchester Show where all models in the range will be on display. They feature new RX drivers, a HiVeII (High Velocity) reflex port and bolt-through driver design. There are two standmounters, two floorstanders, a centre speaker, surround speaker and subwoofer.

You'll also be able to hear the Silver RX speakers in action - in a formidable 9.2 formation! - in the Onkyo room (see Onkyo entry below for more info).

NAD

Naim Audio

This year's show will see Naim demonstrating it's one-box NaimUniti. With its impressive feature set including internet radio, UPnP streaming, CD and DAB/FM radio, music fans will be able to experience the latest in all-in-one audio.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to experience Naim's first ever stand-alone digital to analogue converter. The DAC is the world's first audiophile digital-to-analogue converter to feature Apple Authentication for digital output from iPod and iPhone devices. Moreover the DAC is a significant upgrade for high-end digital sources, such as Naim's CDX2 CD player and HDX hard disk player and Naim will be demonstrating this along with its new loudspeaker, the Ovator S-600.

Naim NaimUniti

Onkyo

Onkyo, the UK's No1 home cinema receiver brand, will be giving pride of place at Manchester to its new line of high-end AV receivers, the TX-NR5007, TX-NR3007 and TX-NR1007. Fully equipped with audio networking capabilities this trio of 9.2-channel THX Ultra2 Plus-certified receivers represent the latest state in high definition home cinema audio.

Joining them will be the exciting new PR-SC5507 9.2-channel Network Controller plus the ND-S1 Digital Media Transport, a dock with a major difference. It lets you tap off the digital audio stream from an iPod/iTouch/iPhone and send it to a better quality standalone/receiver DAC.

Speaker partners will be Monitor Audio's new Silver RX range, used in a 9.2 configuration. We expect massive movie thrills from that combo!

Optimum
Ortofon

Panasonic

Panasonic will show off its flagship 1080p Wireless Z1 series TV at Manchester, as well as displaying its 2009 V10 series, G15 and G10 series flatscreen TVs and the UK's first Blu Ray recorder. This will be Panasonic's debut at the Sound & Vision show, where it will display screens from 19 to 65in, many using next-generation Neo-PDP plasma display panels.

Panasonic TX-P46Z1 wireless plasma

Pioneer

One of the highlights on the Pioneer stand will be the UK debut of the recently announced iPod speaker system. With a 2.1-channel digital amplifier it provides precise sound reproduction and warm acoustics, while a down-firing subwoofer supplies dynamic and powerful bass, claims Pioneer.

Other exciting Pioneer products that will be shown include the new range of Blu-ray disc players, DVD and Blu-ray home cinema systems, the high-end SC-LX82 AV receiver and the company's new G-Clef line-up of audiophile stereo products.

Pioneer SC-LX82 AV receiver

Pro-Ject

ProAc

ProAc will be demonstrating selected products from its extensive ranges at October's Manchester Show. The firm has recently launched its Response D1 standmount (£1395) and Response D18 floorstander (£1995) loudspeakers, and this autumn will see the launch of a new flagship model, the ProAc Carbon Pro Eight priced at £22,500.

Pure Sound

Q Acoustics

Star of the Q Acoustics stand will be the Q-TV2 clip-on speaker system and the new 2000 Series of hi-fi and home cinema speakers. See entry under Armour Home.

QED

There'll be fantastic 'show deals' on QED cables, plus the launch of new speaker cables and the company's new flagship 'Signature' interconnects.

Quad
Roksan
Rotel

Russ Andrews Accessories

If you want to see and hear the rather splendid Meridian Sooloos system at Manchester, then head on over to Russ Andrews in room 206. The firm has just been appointed as an official retailer for the Sooloos system, and will also be demonstrating Meridian's stylish F80 system.

In room 204, you'll be able to buy selected RA products at a special show discount of 10 per cent, and enter a competition to win £350 worth of accessories. New products from Firestone Audio will also be on display.

Samsung
Sonos
Sony
Soundstyle
Stuff magazine
Sugden
van den Hul

Vita Audio

New from Vita Audio at Manchester will be its R1 MkII DAB/DAB+/FM table radio. Also on show will be the R4 music system along with the company's recently introduced R2i iPod docking system.

Vita Audio R2i iPod docking system

Wharfedale

Check out the new, highly-acclaimed Wharfedale Diamond 10 speaker range at Manchester, with improved drive units, a more rigid enclosure, polymer-finished front baffle and high-gloss finish.

WHAT HI-FI? SOUND AND VISION

The entire editorial team will be on hand throughout the wekend to help with all your hi-fi and home cinema queries. And don't forget we'll have all our 2009 Award winners on display – plus you'll be able to buy the special Awards issue early, before it's even on sale in the shops!

WireFreeHiFi

WireFreeHiFi, part of DIP International in Cambridge, will use the Manchester Sound & Vision Show as the launchpad for Digifi's iPod-compatible version of its Digital Opera wireless earbuds.

The S5 joins the existing Opera S2 model, and is fitted with an iPod adaptor, plus volume and track control buttons. Using low power Kleer wireless audio technology, transmitting on the 2.4Ghz waveband, the S5 in-ear headphones have a range of up to 10m (32 feet) and a listening time of 10 hours. They cost £85.

Digifi's Digital Opera S5 wireless earphones

Yamaha

The latest Yamaha receivers will be on show, alongside iPod peripherals including the TSX Audio System and the PDX wireless dock. Yamaha's Air-Wired technology sends a lossless signal from the iPod to the speaker system, with no transmission delay.

Soavo1 speakers will be shown in their stunning new Piano Black finish, with the matching CDS2000 CD player and AS2000 amplifier. Component systems, including the MCS1330, will also be displayed.

Yamaha MCS1330 iPod/mini hi-fi system

HONG KONG: an electric motorbike that sounds like a galloping horse? Whatever NXT?

Andrew Everard — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:37:00 GMT

Interesting discussions with the guys from NXT here at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair: it seems every time I meet with them they have some new and exciting developments of their various technologies, and this trip is no exception.

There's everything from wireless iPod speakers to a motorbike that sounds like a galloping horse!

As ever, the range of drive units using the company's Balanced Mode Radiator technology is growing, both in the choice of sizes and shapes, as evidenced by the fact we've seen it in everything from Naim's big Ovator S-600 floorstanding speakers to ultra-slim TVs such as this JVC 42in model.

In common with some other TV brands, the JVCs use NXT HARP (High Aspect Rectangular Panel) drivers, which are well suited to TVs as they are both shallow, being long and narrow in profile, and slim.

You'll also find NXT drivers in the likes of the Revo range of radios, QAcoustics' QTV2 (which even has a flat-panel subwoofer), TEAC and Hitachi systems and a whole raft of iPod docks and computer speakers.

And the company's also doing a lot of work on both turning phone and computer display panels into speakers, using its SurfaceSound technology, and also providing physical feedback using when you draw on screens with a finger or stylus, or type on virtual on-screen keyboards. This work on haptics is a major part of the company's research at the moment.

However, audio is far from on the back burner: BMR expert Matt Dore showed us a slick wireless iPod speaker system using rechargeable speakers and a tiny transmitter, soon to be no larger than a standard iPod plug.

When it's ready for sale – and that should be soon – the transmitter will be miniaturised down to look just like the usual plug, will be powered and controlled by the player to which it's connected, and will have a 'piggyback' socket so the player can be charged while it's in use.

There'll also be a USB dongle, again in Mac style, allowing computers to be used with the ultra-slim speakers.

And while the company's SurfaceSound technology has been used to turn vehicle headlining into speakers in the likes of the Toyota Tacoma pickup in the States, and the company's speakers are also in the Citroen C4 Picasso, you'd probably never think NXT speakers have a use in motorbikes.

Enter stage left the Brammo Enertia, an electric bike with a 68km range, 50+mph top speed, three-hour recharge time – and a near-silent brushless motor.

Near silent: that's the problem, in that pedestrians and other road users can't hear the bike approaching.

Now for those of us plagued by screaming bikes and two-strokes doing the old 'a-ring-ding-ding-ding-ding' thing that may be no hardship, but with the addition of NXT's sealed, weatherproofed BMR drive units, one of which you can see in the foreground of the picture above, the bike can make – well – bikey noises.

Or in the case of one user, as NXT CEO Peter Thoms told us, the sound of a galloping horse.

Champion the Wonder Bike, anyone?

CEATEC Japan 2009: high wind in Makuhari, more robots and a video wrap-up of our show coverage

Andrew Everard — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:09:00 GMT

Bit of a strange day here at CEATEC Japan 2009, and indeed a bit of a scary one in Japan as a whole: Typhoon Melor, predicted to be the biggest the country had experienced for a decade, hit Japan just before dawn, bringing torrential rain and winds pushing 200kph. That's over 120mph in real money.

And for anyone who hears the 'wrong kind of leaves' excuses in the UK and says 'in Japan the trains run whatever the weather', I have news for you: they don't.

Most of the Shinkansen lines were stopped, local trains were disrupted, road were flooded, bridges came down and power was lost as flying debris snagged in the mainly overhead electricity lines in many areas.

At the last count, two people have died as a result of falling trees, and many more have been injured by flying debris.

The weather and the stopped trains also brought CEATEC to a halt.

Unfortunately that was something we only discovered when we stumbled the couple of hundred metres across the covered walkways from our hotel to the show in the Makuhari Messe, Japan's main exhibition site, this morning – a process which left Mrs E, who has been responsible for most of the camerawork in the video reports we've been uploading this week, more than a little windswept!

On arrival we found the usually packed and buzzing press room and the entrances all but deserted, and soon discovered the 10am opening time had been put back until 1pm. Simple reason – no visitors!

By the afternoon there was little sign of a typhoon – almost cloudless blue skies, temperatures in the mid-20s – but it was clear walking around the show that many potential visitors had changed plans. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the stand staff outnumbered the visitors in some halls.

But the show went on, and we made the most of our last full day in the halls to catch up on some of the stranger and more entertaining things on offer away from the major consumer electronics names.

So we were able to catch up with the new tricks learned by Murata's unicycling robot, Seiko-chan, and discover what Nissan's EPORO robot cars have been up to since CEATEC 2008.

The little robots had last year just about mastered not bumping into each other, as befits their EPisode ZerO RObot name, which is all to do with zero emissions and zero collisions.

This year they've been to fish school, and learned how to travel as schools of fish do: they don't bump into each other, they can travel in parallel maintaining fixed spacing, and they can alter their formation to tackle obstacles.

It's all done with ultra wide-band communications, laser range-finding and the like – click the picture below to see the EPOROs in action, and our round-up of what's been happening here at CEATEC Japan 2009.

CEATEC Japan 2009: Sharp eyes the eco-future, and finds new uses for the TV

Andrew Everard — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:10:00 GMT

The Sharp focus here at CEATEC is on a greener world, and the main platform of its stand is a demonstration of a Solar DC Eco-House concept: a house with an independent power supply, virtually zero carbon dioxide emissions and of course lots of Sharp technology, from its solar panels to low-energy lighting and LED-lit LCD panels.

Even its 60in Full HD 3D TV concept is LED-lit, and this sits alongside a complete LED Aquos LX TV range, ranging from 26in right up to a good looking 60in model, an energy efficient mainstream line-up, and another series in all sizes complete with onboard Blu-ray recorders.

These models, and the company's standalone Blu-ray recorders, boast an extended full-HD recording time of up to 8.5 hours, thanks to some nifty coding.

Unfortunately for the moment those models are just for Japan, but it's good to see the company is playing close attention to sound as well as vision: it showed new compact bass modules for its TVs, and demonstrated how well they worked with glasses of water standing on them doing the old Jurassic Park footsteps thing!

Sharp's also committed to making maximum possible use of the home TV, with everything from a direct Yahoo news feed to the ability to read your daily newspaper via the TV, zooming in on or searching for stories of interest.

There's also a facility to order books to be read on-screen, or even indulge in a spot of cloud computing via your telly.

Intuitive menus make recording, or just surfing the ever-growing amount of TV available via both broadcast and internet, simpler, and it's possible to network an entire home's entertainment and information, with the 'televi' at the core of the system.

It wouldn't be Sharp without some great portable technology, the company being one of the leading phone manufacturers here, and alongside its concepts for solar-powered cities and factories, it's also showing mobiles with built-in solar panels to keep the batteries going.

But we couldn't help but be grabbed by the tiny NetWalker sub-netbook computer, a fully-featured miniature PC able to surf, email, and really do anything else you'd really want to do on the move.

Linux-based, it comes in a huge range of colours and finishes, and would be a real object of desire – if only our fingers were small enough to operate the tiny keyboard.

Click on the 3D TV picture below for our video tour of the Sharp stand, including 3D TV, newspapers on-screen and that tiny pocket PC.

CEATEC 2009: Is Sony betting the farm on bringing 3D home in 2010?

Andrew Everard — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:21:00 GMT

Like Panasonic, Sony is going big on 3D TV here at CEATEC Japan 2009, with a punchy stage presentation drawing heavily on group companies' music, movies and more.

It has a 3D theatre in the depths of the stand and the frankly rather cramped booths above showing the way 3D can enhance TV, sports and games, but there's no sign of the banks of TVs we saw last year, and Organic LED TV technology is notable by its absence after the big splash it made in 2008.

Clearly boss Sir Howard Stringer's dictum to put OLED on hold until the TV division gets back to something near profitability has been taken to heart, and Sony is making even more of a one-technology showing here than its rival from Osaka.

Beyond 3D TV, there was a marked lack of real product on display, and round the back of the stand, away from the main stage, there's more of a 'science fair' feel to the enterprise, with a whole range of prototypes and concepts on show.

There are low-energy TVs made possible by backlight improvements, TVs that sense the presence of viewers and switch off when there's no-one watching – although the hapless engineer had some problem making the demo set do so when we were there – and all manner of face-recognition and face-tracking systems for games and more.

But perhaps the most enticing bit of technology was a super-thin, ultra-flexible TFT display, just 2mm thick, and shown above adorning both a portable media player concept and a bangle-shaped MP3 player, seen above.

The product that got our vote, however, was this netbook concept, with its one-piece display and keyboard design.

Bit sad, though, that for us, Sony's must-have product of the show was only a mock-up, but click here for our video tour of the Sony stand...

CEATEC 2009: Panasonic's 3D seminar lacks depth but comes up with all the standard answers

Andrew Everard — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:22:00 GMT

(Caution: the following may cause dizziness)

Like it or not, 3D TV is coming, and soon. The CEATEC 2009 show has 3D firmly on the front-burner – a burner 30% more energy efficient than last year's, of course... – with even those companies not building their stands around it having a 3D demo somewhere to be found.

Sony's and Panasonic's 3D technologies dominate their stands, Sharp has a booth with a 60in LED-lit LCD screen showing 3D, and even Toshiba and Hitachi, majoring on other TV technologies, have 3D snaffled away somewhere.

But it's Sony and Panasonic making the running here, and while the former is presenting 3D as – well, let's be frank – just about all it has to offer, judging from its stand, Panasonic is bullish enough to have organised a 3D seminar on the opening afternoon of the show, in which a selected group of journalists were able to hear the company's latest thinking on the subject.

Of course, it helps if you supply your own journalists, and that's just what Panasonic did, bringing the great and the good of consumer electronics journalism on an all-expenses-paid trip to the show, in order to explain the deep technology of its proposed 3D format, which of course it would like to see adopted as the worldwide standard.

The world's press
The great and the good? Newspaper journalists from Europe, America, Asia and Oceana, all kinds of people writing for 'tech' websites you've probably never heard of, and few British scribblers. Unfortunately the writer for Grand Designs magazine missed the seminar – not due in until a later flight, you see.

And of course, our invitation got lost in the post again, just as it did last year, when Panasonic had some people from Which? along for the ride. Yes, I was surprised, too...

Anyway, all of the above explains how, in a scene almost worthy of John Le Carre, I was standing admiring the Nissan robots yesterday afternoon – this year they've gone beyond not bumping into each other, and can now travel around like a school of fish – when I was approached by a Panasonic UK PR person.

Contact is made
It wasn't quite "We've been expecting you, Mr Bond", more "We've been looking for you – there's a 3D seminar at 4pm and we think you should be there".

Oh well, it happened to be in the hotel in which I was staying, and thus effectively 'on the way home', so at 4pm there I was.

OK, so it may have been 4.01pm, because in the best manner of Panasonic press trips – I was once on one for five days and received a 12-page itinerary – things were running to military precision of timing, and the ride was already in motion.

And quite a ride it was, too.

Masayuki Kozuka, General Manager of the company's storage devices business strategy office, laid out the groundwork as to why Panasonic's version of the 3D standard was the way forward for 3D TV at home.

He told us how the Panasonic standard keeps Full HD quality, unlike some other 3D versions being batted around, how Panasonic's authoring operation is in Hollywood, at the heart of the movie industry, and how it produced Kill Bill among other Blu-ray releases, and is working with influential Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli on its next BD releases.

And yes, its 103in screens are use in Hollywood for checking releases, and yes, it's been working with James Cameron on his Avatar movie – just in case there was anyone left in the world who wasn't aware of the fact.

Next up to the plate, Hiroshi Miyai, director of Panasonic's High Quality AV Development Centre. No messing about for Miyai-san: he's straight out of the trap with the three advantages of the Panasonic 3D system.

One, plasma displays true 3D picture quality; two, the company offers an end to end solution, from the cameras needed to shoot the content to the systems to play it at home; and three, standardisation is good for consumers.

Reducing the afterglow
By now we were into (slightly) technical stuff about new screen phosphors with a third of the afterglow, and thus better response time, and faster extinction times on the active glasses required to view the 3D material, but I found myself writing just one thing in my notes:

'It's the beginning of another format war' is what I wrote, and I speak from experience, having been at similar Panasonic events right back to the days when it wanted us to buy VHS-C camcorders rather than the 8mm tape rivals such as Sony were promoting.

This was beginning to feel like just the same kind of exercise – the winning of hearts and minds.

Anyway, on to the questions and answers, and the people from the websites with names like Techlicious, Gadgtastic and 3D Expert were bristling to get their moment in the spotlight, putting their hands up and announcing themselves as being 'whoever, DVDGuru', and so on.

Meanwhile the journalists from the world's nationals wanted to show just how much insight they had into this entire consumer electronics market thing. Hint: not much, as it turned out, and the guys from Panasonic HQ in Osaka weren't going to give them more, staying relentlessly 'on message'.

More questions than answers
So for an hour we went through endless questions, none of which really got answered.

How big will the initial screens be? Interesting question, though they might have taken a clue from the fact the Panasonic stand was dripping with 50in 3D plasmas, but "We are looking at the volume zone for the home – we propose 50in, but will be looking at other sizes."

How much will the 3D TVs cost? "We are targeting family use, so within the range price considerations will be given – they won't be that expensive."

Can existing Blu-ray machines be modified for 3D? We didn't really get an answer to that one.

How long can one watch 3D with the special glasses without eye-strain? "The viewing time upper ceiling is the same as a movie in a theatre – around two to three hours."

At this, one of the US journalists got rather over-excited: "Are you suggesting that after two to three hours eye damage will occur?" he asked.

No, that's not really what we said, was the answer, and I think the response to his later "I feel I must clarify..." was along the lines that no, your head won't explode either.

Probably.

OK, back to the prosaic: how much will the special glasses be? "About 10% of the price of the TV for four pairs of glasses, so about 5000yen for one pair, 20,000yen for four pairs."

At current shuddersome yen rates – I know, I just paid for dinner – that's about £35 for a pair of goggs, or £140 for the family pack.

Hmmm – do the maths and that seems to mean they're talking £1400 for the TV, but maybe that's just my mind running away with me...

Anyway, at last a concrete answer, but then "But those prices are the result of market research, not a commercialisation."

Oh, right...

What we found out is that the glasses will be made by Panasonic, and that they'll be bundled with the TVs, or at least one pair and maybe more will be, and that they'll be powered by coin-type batteries good for about 100 hours' viewing, which may or not be rechargeable, but "we have just announced the technology so wouldn't want to answer that question."

And can you use other company's glasses with Panasonic's screens? In other words, will the standard be a standard? "We haven't confirmed details, so cannot comment yet. We just announced the details, so regarding commercialisation we can't confirm details."

Projectors? Maybe not...
What about projector systems? Or indeed glassless 3D? Will that be the next stage? Here we got lost in some discussion of rear-projection TVs, before getting back on track with home cinema projectors. These kind of got dismissed due to problems with focus, screen quality and viewing angles, with the statement that "plasma is self-illuminating, and a reality.

"Projection is fine for cinema, but home projector quality is reduced, so not suitable."

Anyone spotting a theme developing here?

Glassless systems apparently "require one hundred times the resolution of our system using plasma, so they're not feasible – that's our view".

That comment may not please Panasonic president Fumio Ohtsubo too much: earlier in the day, he'd told a round-table discussion with the company's guest journalists that "In the beginning you will need glasses. In the future you shouldn't need them. That is the challenge we have presented to our engineers, and we are always challenging them."

A format war in the offing?
I tried asking whether the lesson we should take from this briefing was that Panasonic was determined that its standard should become the standard, and whether the company would launch product if there were still competing standards when it was ready to start selling. The response involved the HDMI v1.4 standard, and the Extended Standard still being worked on by the Blu-ray Disc Association, but didn't really answer the question.

45 minutes in, and a Japanese journalist slips into the vacant seat beside me. "What time did it start?" she asks, and when I tell her she opens a pack of pretzel sticks, munches through them with some determination, and watches news of the impending typhoon on her mobile phone.

Will a whole movie fit onto one disc? The answer is sort of 'depends on the movie', and what extras the studio wants to include. "For short pictures, such as animation, it should be fine, but we're not sure anyone wants to watch an avatar for much longer than that."

Paging Mr Cameron, paging Mr Cameron...

Actually, it sounds like 3.5 hours of 3D will fit on a current disc, and we also learn that 3D discs will be compatible with standard TVs – the player will just send the telly the left eye image. But no comment on whether 3D discs will be playable on current BD machines, albeit only in 2D.

And then we're back on the safety aspects of watching 3D through flickering LCD shutters, and whether safety guidelines would be issued: "The International Standards Organisation is looking into it, but this may take two or three years. Some 'seasick' effects have been reported."

Clearly they talked to my wife after the demonstration at last year's CEATEC: it wasn't quite 'head between the knees and deep breaths' stuff, but a restorative Kirin or three was required...

Left, right...
And a question from New Zealand? "There have been reports that watching 3D TV stimulates both the left and right sides of the brain – has there been any research into this?"

Long pause, a request for clarification of the slightly bizarre question, and then a strangely blunt "We are not aware, so we would like to be silent on that, and refrain from making comments."

So there we have it. Time was called, and the ladies with flags ushered the Panasonic captive hordes back to their buses for the ride into Tokyo. I headed for the hotel bar to do a bit of head-shaking, and try to make some sense of my notes over a cold drink.

More than 24 hours later, reading the notes again, I'm not sure I can make any more sense of them, but I can say one thing for sure: whoever you were, late-arriving journalist from Grand Designs magazine, you didn't miss much...

CEATEC Japan 2009, Hitachi: if you want to know how much energy you're saving, look away now...

Andrew Everard — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:55:00 GMT

Spent a good chunk of the morning on the Hitachi stand here at CEATEC, looking around at a raft of new technology the company has to give us better pictures, 3D pictures and of course significant energy savings.

It's kinda familiar stuff by now: the big themes of the show here in Japan are 3D and energy reduction, the latter driven by a government policy to cut consumption by some 25 per cent in the very near future.

So like other companies, Hitachi has low-energy TVs on show, including in this case one conforming to what it calls the 'One Watt, one inch' concept: in other words, a 32in TV consuming just 32W.

It's done by a combination of a high power hot cathode fluorescent backlight, a high efficiency inverter and optimised optical design, but elsewhere the company is employing other strategies including backlight adjustment.

These include a system (above) able to turn the TV to standby when no-one is watching it, using a camera to detect the presence of the viewer. Other companies here have similar systems, but Hitachi's goes a stage further – it can even detect whether you're still sitting there, but have taken your eyes off the screen to read a magazine.

Do that, and the TV goes into standby again.

Elsewhere Hitachi was showing gesture control for TV (above), and even a flatscreen you can draw on(below) – perhaps nothing much new there for readers with toddlers! –, plus a raft of image-enhancing technologies.

Not only can the company boost the quality of standard definition TV in real-time, taking standard 480-pixel TV up to 1080p and even able to cope with a mix of SD and HD content in the same show, it can also process even ropey streamed TV to something very watchable.

There's also a slick Intelligent Auto High Picture Quality system, able to detect both the level and colour temperature of the light in your room, and adjust the TV accordingly.

And finally there's Hitachi's home networking system, designed to share TV, video and audio around the home. Taking its cue from the Japanese brand for the company's tellies, Wooo, it's called Wooonet.

Oh, and pronounced Oooonet...

Click on the picture below for a swift video tour of the Hitachi stand.

CEATEC Japan 2009: Panasonic goes big on 3D TV and green credentials

Andrew Everard — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:28:00 GMT

If Toshiba's stand here at CEATEC is all about its Cell Regza technology, Panasonic is pinning its colours on a 3D future for TV, and a greener future for consumer electronics.

But it isn't without a taste of even bigger and better things to come: it's showing a huge TV displaying images in the 4k2k standard – the Super Hi-Vision standard currently being worked on by broadcasters such as Japan's NHK.

And while the big 103in screen showing 3840x2160-pixel images is impressive enough, both with the usual 'trains chugging through snowy landcsape' stuff and some high-speed drag-racing action, Panasonic is saying even this resolution isn't the destination, but merely a stop along the way.

The target? 7680x4320-pixel TV...

And as company president Fumio Ohtsubo made clear in his keynote speech here yesterday, Panasonic is also being driven by green considerations: "Eco will be the centre of our all our activities," he said.

He compared the need for a change in thinking with the Industrial Revolution and the way information technology changed the 20th century, saying that "The 21st century needs a great revolution to realise sustainable growth and break our dependence on oil."

That thinking extends from the new developments in TVs - the company's latest NeoPDP plasma display panels offer the same brightness while offering huge energy savings - to intelligent ways of reducing energy consumption in the home, and more efficient power supply systems.

That includes the fuel-cell technology the company has shown in the past, but also uses Viera Link technology to control complete systems, thus optimising power consumption.

The 3D offering here majors on the company's tie-up with James Cameron's Avatar movie, but is also about the feasibility of the system for home entertainment, covering everything from sports to movies.

Consumers are able to view content on a number of 50in 3D plasma displays, as well as experiencing clips from Avatar in a dedicated 3D cinema.

I'll be covering 3D, and just how big it is to Panasonic, in a future blog – for now, click here to watch our video giving a brief look at the Panasonic CEATEC stand.

CEATEC Japan 2009: Yamaha finds a new use for your iPhone, makes a table a piano and gives a robot a voice

Andrew Everard — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:56:00 GMT

Just to remind you that there's more to Yamaha than just home cinema receivers and Air Wired iPod docks, the company's putting its music division to the fore here at CEATEC.

But that doesn't mean technology is taking a back seat: building on its experience of self-playing Clavinova pianos, Yamaha is taking playing an instrument into the iPhone age, with internet-connected pianos taking their cue from keystrokes recorded and available wirelessly, or even able to play along with YouTube videos.

This Play iT – Play I.T. – system is said to be good for those learning to play, those who want to leave musical notes (pardon the pun) for friends, or even people who fancy a famous pianist performing in their front room.

Whether on the classical grand being admired by a prominent politician here on opening day, or the slick piano-shaped dining table at the top of this blog – complete with a piano built-in – the Yamaha demonstration shows how pianos around the home, or even anywhere in the world, can be linked via a network of home servers and internet access.

You can even use an iPhone app to send electronic postcards complete with music, which will play on the Yamaha piano in friends homes, or play on their iPhones should they happen to visit the location you've noted – that pun again, sorry – on your phone.

Or should you want, you could even sit almost anywhere and play your piano remotely.

And just when our head was spinning with all that, a curtain drew back to reveal this.

Say hello to Lara Croft's robotic Japanese sister, otherwise known as HRP-4C. Developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science, she's equipped with an enhanced version of Yamaha's Vocaloid voice-processing software, giving her conversational ability and an improved voice. Using the same files as the Clavinovas, she sings accompanied by your player-piano. And she even takes requests.

I'll leave it up to you to click here and see how convinced you are, but sitting just a few feet from the performance was uncanny, and I'm told that when someone selected a northern Japanese song across the stand via iPhone and wi-fi, she switched into a convincing northern accent to announce it.

On Ilkla Moor Baht 'At, anyone? Or maybe Wy-aye, Robot...?

CEATEC Japan 2009: Toshiba's Cell Regza in pictures and video

Andrew Everard — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:32:00 GMT

More on the Toshiba Cell Regza technology, which we covered in news yesterday; it's the sole focus of the huge Toshiba stand here at CEATEC Japan 2009, which opened this morning.

We took a closer look at what the technology can do, saw the impressive stage presentation, and caught up with Toshiba TV technology executive Shigenori Tokumitsu, who gave us some news about plans to extend the launch beyond Japan.

Cell Regza combines Toshiba's TV technology with the power of Cell processing and a 3TB hard-disk, stored in an anonymous-looking black box. You can see a close-up of the processor itself above.

Among the facilities it offers is a simple user interface, easy recording of a mass of TV content and both internet access and streaming video.

Oh, and you also get greatly enhanced picture quality, thanks to the huge processing power being deployed.

Next step? 3D, of course – it's a major theme of the show this year, with rival systems, different screen sizes and the various manufacturers setting out their stalls to ensure that their variation on the theme is the one consumers want to buy.

More on all that in further reports from CEATEC coming up soon, but for now click on the picture below to watch our video for a taste of how Toshiba is launching Cell Regza in Japan, and when it plans to unleash it on the rest of the world...

Oppo BDP-831: all the universal player you could ever need?

Andrew Everard — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: AS OF 27.10.09, OPPO HAS ANNOUNCED THAT THE EUROPEAN LAUNCH OF THE BDP-831 HAS BEEN 'POSTPONED INDEFINITELY'

Not so long ago, buying a do-it-all disc player was simple: you picked up a ‘universal’ DVD machine, also able to play Super Audio CD, DVD-A and standard CDs, and you were happy.

Blu-ray Disc has complicated things a bit, especially if you want to move up to the latest movie format but still enjoy SA-CD, as I do. Yes, there are ‘universal’ BD/DVD-V/DVD-A/SA-CD/CD machines either available or on the way, but they tend to be a tad pricey, to say the very least.

Denon’s DVD-A1UD won’t leave you much change from £5000, and the Marantz UD9004, which broke cover at the Munich High End Show back in May, costs the same. Hmmm…

So to say that I was excited when the first news broke of Oppo’s entry into this arena is something of an understatement. Here was a player offering multiformat playback plus excellent DVD upscaling, and all for a price that looked likely to be sensibly within three figures, not well into four.

I’ve been quite an Oppo fan for a while now, having used a variety of the company’s players as SA-CD sources, transmitting DSD into my Onkyo receiver over HDMI. I’ve also explored their video capabilities in that time, and been pretty impressed with what I’ve seen, so I was obviously happy that I could look forward to some box-count reduction when I no longer needed separate players for Blu-ray and SA-CD.

It started last December...
The waiting began, from the initial announcement last December until now. I’ve lost count of the number of emails to have gone back and forth between Oppo and me asking when I could get my hands on a player, and I’ve been frustrated by the arrival in the UK of parallel import US-market players.

Several times I’ve been tempted to bite the bullet, buy one from the States and enjoy; every time I’ve realised that if I did so and mentioned it online I’d be pressured for views on it, and would have to decline to offer an opinion until proper UK-spec, UK-supported hardware appeared.

Mind you, had it been decided not to make a UK model, then I would have bought a US one like a shot, and taken a flyer on support in the future, but even then that would have been a personal decision, and not something I’d suggest others do.

I wouldn’t like to be on the end of endless forum posts saying “you told me to buy it, and now I have a dead machine and I have to send it back to the States for repair.”

BDP-831 it is, then...
So anyway, the long-awaited call from Oppo eventually came: the player was going to be launched officially in the UK, albeit with a slightly different model number to the US one. BDP-83 for the States, BDP-831 for the UK.

There would be an official UK online shop selling it, and official UK support. About time, too: I’ve been holding off buying a Blu-ray player waiting for this one to arrive...

And when the package arrived from Oppo it was clear this was exactly the same player the US gets, and not the much-rumoured ‘lite’ version. The relationship was confirmed by the lack of an instruction manual with this early sample, and an emailed note to just download the BDP-83 manual.

In fact the only difference between the US and UK versions is that whereas ‘theirs’ is Region A Blu-ray and Region 1 DVD, ‘ours’ is B/2. That’s a slight problem when it comes to providing a complete solution for this household, as we tend to buy a lot of DVDs from overseas.

And whereas Japanese movies are Region 2 DVD, same as here, they’re Region A Blu-ray. Oh well, time to look at the aftermarket firmware and hardware mods to turn the player multiregion – they’re available for the BDP-83 already, so chances are they’re going to work on this version, too – but that can wait for a while.

UPDATE TO THAT: taking a flyer, I ordered the region-free modification from Bluraychip.dk. It arrived within three working days, cost just short of £50 delivered, and took all of five minutes to install.

You unplug one ribbon cable within the player, plug that cable into a small circuitboard, and plug the circuitboard into the original socket. Power comes from another socket conveniently left unused inside the player – I wonder what for?

Anyway, while you should be aware that this modification invalidates your warranty, it does make the Oppo multiregion for DVD, and region-selectable for Blu-ray. All I need now is some truly region-coded software to make sure all is working as it should: so many discs may say Region A or Region B, but in fact carry no coding, so I’m now awaiting a known-to-be-coded disc from the States to check things out.

UPDATE AGAIN: Borrowed a couple of definitely region-coded Blu-ray discs from the office, and the multiregioned Oppo plays them with no fuss at all, once you’ve selected the right region.

All you have to do, with the player in standby, is press 1 on the remote to wake it up in Region A, 2 for Region B, and 3 for Region C.

It’s also possible to set the modded player to a specific DVD region, rather than the default Region 0 the add-on delivers. That’ll help it get round those Region 1 DVDs with RCE.

I also bought a wireless bridge to connect the player into the home network, for the princely sum of £18 delivered: it’s USB-powered, and can be run off one of the two sockets on the Oppo – one on the front, one (conveniently) on the back. Since installing this, I’ve seen the Oppo do a couple of automatic firmware updates – before the product was even launched!

Fast to start, fast to load
For now, I’ve just been getting to grips with what the BDP-831 can do, and the first thing you notice about it is that it’s exceptionally fast both to fire up from standby and to load discs. Oh, and the onscreen graphics are a long way from the functional but basic menus on the Oppo DVD players, making setting up and using the machine a pleasure; they also operate on the fly, superimposed over a dimmed-down picture.

And put simply, this is an excellent player: in the brief time I’ve had it I’ve tried it HDMI’d into my receiver, connected via the analogue multichannel outputs, and also hooked up using the dedicated stereo outs.

I’ve played Blu-ray discs from ZZ Top: Live From Texas to Korean ‘western’ The Good, The Bad and The Weird, a variety of DVD titles, more than a few SA-CDs from rock and pop to jazz and classical, some CDs and even a smattering of DVD-Audio discs.

In each case, the Oppo has delighted, delivering rock-solid, clear and beautifully sharp pictures, whether from Blu-ray or – using its Anchor Bay VRS video processing – from DVDs. There’s excellent shadow detail, bags of resolution and a smooth, natural look to pictures without any signs of obvious video nasties.

But – and this is the big but – even more impressive is the sound of the BDP-831, whether used for Blu-ray or DVD soundtracks, or as a pure audio player.

I’ve tried it both streaming soundtracks from Blu-ray in native form to the receiver and outputting them as LPCM, but this is also an exceptional machine via its multichannel analogue outputs, which is a tribute to the quality of the onboard audio conversion.

Living up to expectations
I’m not prejudging the results of the formal tests for the magazine, as the Oppo has to go in front of pairs of eyes and ears with a lot more experience of Blu-ray players at all levels of the market, but so far the player’s living up to everything I’d hoped it was going to be when first I saw the pre-release information.

Certainly to these eyes it leaves for dead the likes of the mid-market last-generation Panasonic I’ve been using recently, and it has an assured feel about it from the build – it’s a good deal heftier than the company’s DVD machines – to the way it displays video and plays music.

Which Dark Side?
I’ve been listening to some new Linn Records SA-CD releases through it of late, using it purely as a transport, and the sound is powerful, mature and totally involving.

I even dug out my Dark Side of the Moon SACD for a quick listen and then, on a whim, hunted down a DVD-R disc I have of the (allegedly) original quadraphonic mix of the same title, in DVD-A MLP Lossless format, and that proved even more attention-grabbing than the later multichannel effort.

Sunny afternoon, cricket on the TV with the sound off and DSOTM as it was (probably) originally meant to be heard – it wasn't an entirely unpleasant way to spend part of the weekend...

And after all the experimentation with the various outputs, and a bit of a play with a set-up disc or two and the Oppo’s extensive video menus, I’ve come to the realisation that at its core this isn’t just the kind of enthusiast’s tweaky machine the tweaky enthusiasts would have you believe.

It’s actually pretty amazing straight from the box, and is as likely to please those who want a ‘fit and forget’ solution for all sorts of discs as it is those who consider themselves a cut above those of us who just want to enjoy our movies and music as well-presented as possible with the minimum of fuss.

OK, you can play with all those settings as much as you want, but you don’t have to mess around with the Oppo for ages to get it performing exceptionally well. And that explains why I’m now using it just about at the factory default settings, and with a single HDMI connection between player and AV receiver, carrying video and all flavours of audio.

As I write this I’m having one of those lost weekends, hurling endless discs at the player, trying to catch it out. Or at least that’s how I’m justifying it to myself, but in fact I’m just having a ball watching and listening to familiar stuff, and exploring some new discs – Blu-ray, BD audio and SA-CDs.

Reviewing workhorse
Interestingly, I’ve just started a monthly column in Gramophone highlighting the best new releases on SA-CD and Blu-ray – if new rock and pop SA-CD releases are thin on the ground, the format is still being supported with some enthusiasm by the classical labels. So I’ve been looking for an all-in-one player for use as a reviewing workhorse, and looking with some trepidation at the prices of the ‘universal’ hardware beginning to trickle onto the market.

With the arrival of the Oppo player, that decision has just become a whole load simpler, and easy on the pocket. And that could give this remarkable player an appeal way beyond ‘those in the know’ on the web forums, as well as giving the well-known mass-market names something to live up to.

If you’ve been following the Oppo saga online on our forums, you’ll know I’ve been accused of everything from supporting the big boys in the face of the challenge from the unofficially imported BDP-83s to pouring cold water on the news of the BDP-831. And all because I decided to take my time before giving any opinion on the machine on this site, rather than rushing into HTML with half-formed views.

Truth is, I’ve been looking forward like crazy to the launch of an official UK version of this player, hoping against hope a) we actually got the machine, b) we didn’t get a watered-down specification and c) it was all it was cracked up to be.

In my opinion, the wait was all worthwhile – as far as I can see, the BDP-831 is all the universal player I’ll ever want, or need.

The Oppo BDP-831 will be available for £449 from www.OPPOstore.co.uk – the site will go live soon.
The price includes a Spears and Munsil video calibration disc, and a high-definition audio demonstration/test disc from Aix Records.

You can read the What Hi-Fi? Sound Vision verdict on the player in the Awards issue, on sale October 20th and available earlier to visitors to the Manchester Sound and Vision Show on October 17th-18th.

The tech behind Panasonic's Full HD 3D TV

Andrew Everard — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:24:00 GMT

Panasonic will use the CEATEC Japan 2009 show, opening next week, to show its prototype 50in Full HD 3D plasma TV, which sees high-definition 3D coming down in size to more domestically acceptable screens.

Used with high-precision active shutter glasses, as used for last year's demonstrations, the TV uses the company's newly-developed high-speed 3D drive technology that enables rapid illumination of pixels while maintaining brightness. This involved the development of new panel materials and LSIs to accelerate the pixel illumination of the alternate 1920x1080-pixel images, thus enabling the set to display Full HD in 3D.

The panel also incorporates a crosstalk reduction technology to minimise the ghosting that can occur when left- and right-eye images are alternately displayed, while the glasses incorporate in-house technology that for precisely control of the the active shutters with the left- and right-eye images shown on the screen.

The system uses the Full HD x 2 frame sequential method, alternately reproducing discrete 1920 x 1080 pixel images for the left and right eyes on the display frame by frame. The frame sequential method is widely used in showing Hollywood 3D movies in cinemas, leading Panasonic to suggest that its new panel "elevates home entertainment to a whole new level with theater-quality 3D images".

We'll be at CEATEC next week to see the new Panasonic in action, along with all the other new products due to be unveiled – and hopefully the odd dancing or roller-skating robot. Watch our news and blogs channels for 'as it happens' reports..

Music you can sit on

Andrew Everard — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:37:00 GMT

On show this weekend at 100% Design London has been the latest and greatest in interior furniture and fittings, with everything from the hottest fireplaces to a concept fridge designed to save time and energy by teleporting the food from the farm or store to its cool storage!

Don't believe me on the last one? Here it is – part of a design competition run by Electrolux, it's been dreamed up by Thai design student Dulyawat Wongnawa, who says his inspiration came from Star Trek:

"In the movie, the main characters often get teleported from place to place. It made me eager to explore the possibilities of how this useful technology could be integrated into our daily lives once it becomes available.

"The exterior surface of the fridge will be coated with an ultra-thin layer of smart material, which features both an LCD display and a touch-screen interface for users to interact with. Users can adjust the temperatures for each compartment and order fresh produce to be teleported into the teleport compartment drawer via the smart material display."

What's all that got to do with hi-fi and music? Not much, but also on show at the exhibition were the designs of Korean-born, Milan-based designer Michi Jung, which combine furniture and audio.

His Music Chocolate (above) is a footstool with built-in amplification and speakers, to which an iPod or MP3 player can be connected. Upholstered in leather, the piece takes its name from the surface resemblance to a bar of chocolate.

The designer says: "There is a need for a new type of social environment in which the home is central. House concerts are becoming more frequent moments of meeting in the home.

"Music Chocolate fits into this context, combining a classic taste with new hi-tech features so that the furniture itself becomes the protagonist of these moments."

Another Michi Jung design at the show is the Chaiselounge (below), a classic chaise longue design with a twist: the cushion at the head again has an integrated amplifier and speakers, and the whole thing has what the designer says is "the particularity of being able to swing a little while it was accompanied by music."

Calibrate your TV to perfection with our free THX Optimizer glasses!

Andy Clough — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:20:00 GMT

If you're a subscriber to What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, or you buy the November 2009 issue at Tesco, you'll get a free pair of THX Optimizer glasses. Alternatively, head on over to ebay where you can buy them online for just £6.

Once you've got your THX glasses, you can use them with any DVD disc containing the THX Optimizer to fine-tune your TV to get the best possible picture quality. Here's what you have to do:

OK, you’ve got your shiny new TV home, wired it up and set all your video sources to their best level of performance. So, you’ve achieved televisual nirvana, right? Nearly. The thing is, it’s a crowded market, with hundreds of big-brand TVs competing for your attention on the high street.

As a result, more-or-less every set you can buy is factory-preset to levels of brightness, contrast and colour that scream ‘look at me!’ from across the shop floor. Get your purchase home and look at it in the more natural light of your living room, and chances are it’ll appear unnaturally punchy and too bright, with little depth or nuance to its black or white shades, and an unnatural vibrancy to solid blocks of colour. It’ll also be consuming more power than it needs to.

Thankfully, sorting out your TV’s picture is easier and cheaper than you’d think: all it takes is a few minutes’ effort, a suitable THX-certified DVD disc (see below) and a pair of THX Optimizer glasses.

So what is the THX Optimizer? It’s a set of calibration patterns developed to aid consumers intent on achieving better picture quality, and it’s so effective we regularly use it in our testing process. Load it up and you’ll find a simple step-by-step series of picture test patterns.

Dig out your remote control, follow the instructions, and away you go. However, to get the very best results, you’ll also need some THX Optimizer glasses. Then simply follow the five tests below...

1) CONTRAST
The large white box in the centre is sub-divided up into eight small white boxes. Turn the contrast up until the brightest small box bleeds into the next, so you can no longer see the line dividing the two. Then very slowly turn the contrast down until you can just make out the eight distinct boxes.

2) BRIGHTNESS
Turn the brightness up slowly and you’ll see a THX logo in the middle of the screen. Turn it up even more, and you’ll also notice there is a drop shadow behind the logo. Now, very slowly, turn the brightness back down until you can’t see the drop shadow, and can only just make out the logo.

3) COLOUR AND TINT
This is the American NTSC test pattern: the British PAL version does much the same job, but uses six horizontal bars featuring alternating primary and secondary colours. With the glasses on, you should see a single shade of blue running across all the bars, with no variation in intensity.

4) DISPLAY PERFORMANCE
This test pattern is useful to check your TV’s sharpness – which is almost always set too high. See those vertical white lines near the bottom of the screen? Turn the sharpness up until these start to look fuzzy, noisy and indistinct, then slowly turn it back down until they look sharp, but are nonetheless stable.

5) ASPECT RATIO
If your Blu-ray or DVD player is set to the correct 16:9 widescreen mode, and your TV is in a similarly appropriate mode, you should see the circle
in this pattern as a proper, perfectly round ring. If it appears at all distorted (as shown here), make sure that your kit is correctly set before proceeding!

WHAT IS THX?

THX was founded in 1983 by George Lucas’ company, Lucasfilm. THX stands for Tomlinson Holman’s eXperiment – Holman being the chief developer of the standard – and the name is also a reference to Lucas’ 1971 feature film, THX 1138.

The THX system aimed to serve as a technical standard-setter, a watchdog for cinematic performance that set qualitative benchmarks for speakers, amplifiers and acoustics with the aim of ensuring a better cinematic experience for an eager generation of Star Wars-enthused cinema goers.

Over the years, the company’s remit has expanded greatly to incorporate home cinema technology, including AV receivers and speaker packages, cabling, disc players, discs and, most recently, displays.

THX-APPROVED DVDs YOU MAY ALREADY OWN:

There are 335 THX-certified DVDs on the market (for a full list, visit www.thx.com). Selected highlights include the remastered Alien box-set, Finding Nemo, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Lion King, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean, all six Star Wars titles, Titanic and Toy Story (1 and 2).

Sadly at the moment there are no UK-specification Blu-ray discs that carry the Optimizer but a couple of titles have been released in other regions.

For more help on how to get the best from your TV, watch our 'How To' video.

Incredibly, more on last week's amazing Apple launch

Andrew Everard — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:05:00 GMT

Just in case you think I went a bit OTT when I asked whether last week's Apple launch was more hype than hardware, click the pic...

More pictures: Cambridge Audio 650BD and 650R

Andy Clough — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:12:00 GMT

You can read all about Cambridge Audio's much-anticipated new universal Blu-ray player, the 650BD, and its partnering multichannel receiver, the Azur 650R, in our news story. Here are some more pictures of both models for you to enjoy:

Cambridge Audio 650BD Blu-ray player $779

Cambridge Audio 650BD – newly designed front panel

Rear panel of the Cambridge Audio 650BD

Inside the Azur 650R AV receiver

Cambridge Audio 650R – front panel

Cambridge Azur 650R – rear panel

Micromega makes its UK comeback

Andy Clough — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:10:00 GMT

Micromega owner Didier Hamdi (right) with Ricardo Franassovici

I spent a fascinating day in Paris yesterday with Didier Hamdi, the new owner of French hi-fi company Micromega.

Hamdi is an intriguing character: he was a world motorcycle champion in 1991, owns a string of successful engineering businesses in France (including the company that lights the Eiffel Tower), sells motorbikes and even has his own travel agency.

He’s also a life-long audiophile with a passion for music, which partially explains his latest acquisition – Micromega – which he bought from the receiver in March 2007 after it ran into financial difficulties.

Those with long memories will remember that Micromega dropped out of the UK market about a decade ago, leaving some customers stranded and with a string of reliability problems.

The company’s new owner does not gloss over the firm’s troubled past.

“During the last year and a half we felt obliged to clean up some of the problems suffered by previous Micromega owners who were abandoned in the UK ten years ago, and in France three years ago,” says Hamdi. “Although most products were out of warranty, we tried to help customers anyway to restore the Micromega name.”

At the same time, Hamdi and his engineers have completely redesigned and re-engineered the Micromega product range to develop the 11 products that are now being sold as part of the 2009 line-up.

“Our aim is to provide reliable, functional products that offer value for money and excellent musical performance,” he says.

There is one remaining link with the company’s past, however. Micromega’s founder, Daniel Schar, is now head of R&D and will work closely with Hamdi on all product development.

Sound and Color's Paris showroom

As we’ve already reported in our news channel, Micromega is bringing its products to the UK through distributor Absolute Sounds, run by managing director Ricardo Franassovici.

Absolute Sounds is an interesting choice of partner for the French firm. Best known in the UK for its range of high-end brands, Franassovici admits that adding a more affordable range of hi-fi components to its portfolio is something of a departure for him.

However, he has known Didier Hamdi personally for some time and is convinced he’s a man he can do business with.

“Micromega has been responsible for many audio innovations in the past, particularly in the field of CD replay,” he explains. “With new ownership reinvigorating the brand, there are exciting times ahead.”

The initial product range coming to the UK comprises 11 products, ranging from £698 to £1998. There are three CD players, three integrated stereo amps, a stereo preamp, two power amps, an FM tuner and a surround preamp/processor.

Each component is designed and manufactured in France, and the full range is as follows:

CD-10 CD player £799 (below)

CD-20 CD player £1222

CD-30 CD player £1599 (above)

FM-10 radio tuner £698 (above)

IA-60 integrated amp £888 (above)

IA-100 integrated amp £1199

IA-180 integrated amp £1698

PA-20 stereo preamp £1290

PW-250 stereo power amp £1500

PW-400 stereo power amp £1998

AVP-180 AV preamp/processor £1680

Yesterday I got to hear some of the new hi-fi range in action. We visited Sound and Colors, a specialist hi-fi dealer in the centre of Paris, who are one of the top Micromega retailers in the French capital.

They’d set up two of their demo rooms for us. The first was running a Micromega IA-180 integrated amp and CD-30 CD player, coupled to a pair of Kharma 3.2 speakers (see below). The electronics cost £3297, and the speakers will set you back about £10,000.

Micromega IA-180 amp, CD-30 CD player and Kharma 3.2 speakers

System 2 was even more upmarket, with a CD-30, plus a PA-20 stereo preamp and a pair of 400W PW-400 power amps driving the huge Magiko M5 speakers you can see in the picture. They’re made in California, and cost a cool 100,000 Euros a pair!

Micromega CD-30, PA-20 preamp, 2 x PW-400 and Magiko M5

After a short listening session to a mix of classical and jazz, we were given a sneak preview of the next Micromega product to be launched in November.

The rather unassuming silver box you can see in the picture below (sitting on top of the CD player) is a prototype of the forthcoming WM-10 AirStream WHiFI.

Didier Hamdi takes up the story: “I was sick of my kids listening to poor quality compressed music on their iPods through my home hi-fi system, so I decided four months ago to develop a unit that would connect wirelessly to iTunes on my computer and stream to the hi-fi.”

The result is AirStream, designed specifically to work with iTunes and licensed by Apple. You simply plug the unit into your hi-fi in the conventional way, and it will receive music streamed via wi-fi 802.11 from any PC or Mac computer. It’s expected to cost under 1,000 Euros when it goes on sale in November. You can read more about the AirStream in Richard Melville's blog.

Of course, such wireless transmission of music is not new, but Micromega says the AirStream acts as a wireless DAC and claims that lossless music files ripped on to a computer and played back through the AirStream will sound as a good as a CD.

We’ll have to wait until we test the finished item to make a judgement on that. But more intriguingly, Micromega plans to build AirStream into all its source components in the future. The first of those is likely to be the Micromega AirStream CD100, a CD player with wi-fi streaming capability built in.

In the meantime, we hope to get some of the 2009 hi-fi range in for review. We’ll let you know as soon as we do.

BDA Taskforce is go!

Richard Melville — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:56:00 GMT

During our trip to Europe's biggest consumer electronics show (IFA) last week, we had a chance to listen to the latest developments in the Blu-ray market with representatives from Disney, Sony and Amazon all present.

Together, they head the BDA – Blu-ray Disc Association – or 'BD Taskforce' which they sometimes called themselves. Sounds a bit Team America to us, but these are the key facts that we pulled out as they spoke about Blu-ray in 2009.

We should also point out the event was chaired by Victor Matsuda (above) global promotions committee chair of the BDA.

By the end of the year, 150 different players will be available to buy in Europe
62% of all BD movies are on 50GB discs, rather than 25GB discs. 100GB discs expected next year.
BD to account for 33% of film market in 2012, BDA research shows, but DVD stil dominant at 45%. They reckon online and mobile video will account for 9% and 4% respectively.
Europe's first £80 BD player expected at Christmas, though there's no mention of who will make it.
2011 is the date standalone players are expected to outstrip those of PlayStation 3 – though since IFA, PS3 sales have rocketed thanks the PS3 Slim and the recent price cut...
50GB is enough space to house a 3D film, though extras will need an extra disc
Amazon says the key to BD success is new content on disc, over DVD to justify price premium - though the DVD vs BD price premium is expected to fall to below 25% by Christmas. So if your DVD costs £14, a BD version should be around £18.
3D Blu-ray discs will carry 2D versions of the film, suggests Matsuda

To add to the BDA's dreams of a Blu Christmas, the British Video Association today announced plans for a £1m marketing push for the format in the run up to the festive season, based on the big movie releases due.