One trailer that’s never failed to draw a crowd round here lately has been the Iron Man preview. We saw the movie at the weekend, and weren’t disappointed. The problem with comic-book heroes is that the more powerful they are, the more powerful their opponents must be to generate any sense of threat and dramatic …

As much as we love plasma TVs, if you want a smaller, 1080p plasma for your bijou domicile, you’re out of luck. While you could very well argue there isn’t any point to 1080p on smaller sets — you’d be hard pushed to see the difference over 720p — there are always people who insist on the maximum resolution possible. …

Despite industry speculation, Foxtel says it isn’t planning to launch its HD+ service on 2 June, but has confirmed that all free-to-air HD channels will be available to HD cable subscribers at launch. Industry rumour site KnowFirst said the company was planning to make the announcement in the “next few days” and will make iQ2 boxes available for AU$10 a …

Never let it be said that I was the voice of reason or anything, but when TV channels have on-screen logos, I really feel the need to vent some serious rage in their general direction. This is common practice on satellite, cable and Freeview channels and it’s another one of those diseases we’ve caught from the Americans. In the US, …

I love my Wii, but there’s one serious downside to owning one — it doesn’t do all the fancy media-sharing things an Xbox 360 or PS3 does. Until now, that is. The news that the BBC iPlayer has come to the Wii moved me to dance a little jig, and I rushed home to try it out. Finally, my little …

If you don’t have Sky+ or a Freeview PVR, you might not know what an awesome advantage they offer. Everyone who’s ever bought one will tell you, it’ll change your life. Unless you already download all your TV from the Interwebs, in which case it will still seem frustratingly 1998. The Sony RDR-HXD range is designed to offer as many …

As TiVo edges ever closer, local EPG provider IceTV has announced its guide will now offer suggestions based on the programs you’ve recorded previously. IceTV Recommendations puts a green star next to suggested television shows “IceTV Recommendations” are marked with a green star icon within the electronic program guide (EPG), allowing IceTV users to select them for more information. This …

As we were happily enjoying a hot cup of morning coffee, a press release from Pioneer landed on our virtual desk. In it, Pioneer announced that the ink was drying on its plasma panel agreement with Matsushita, best known for Panasonic branded goods. We knew that a deal to outsource Pioneer’s plasma panels to another manufacturer was imminent. We assumed …

We mentioned some time ago that the new Toshiba TVs were being touted by the company as eco-friendly because they featured an off switch. Of course, it’s funny to us that putting an off switch on something is remotely newsworthy. There was a time when it was a given that something with electricity flowing through it would have some means …

Yesterday we got our hands on the Sony BDP-S500, the company’s step-up Blu-ray player. It boasts a host of cool features, not least a truly magnificent motorised front panel. The question is though, is the £600 S500 as good as the £300 PlayStation 3? What does the PS3 offer that the BDP-S500 doesn’t? Games aside, there’s the thorny issue of …

The TV Licensing agency is convinced my little brother is a common criminal. He’s not, but he’s been threatened with court. He studies psychology at Lincoln University. He’s a law-abiding citizen, having only been handcuffed once for carrying a lethal weapon, even though it was an umbrella. To be fair, the police did apologise for the mistake. But he woke …

For most people, the goal of consumer electronics is to keep the cost down as much as possible without compromising performance or quality. The problem with progress is that once everyone can afford a massive flat TV the footballers, hedge-fund managers and rappers have nothing left to prove they’re more worthwhile than the rest of us. Enter the great fashion …

Video Ezy has moved one step closer to its promise of in-store digital downloads. The rental giant has spent the past two years planning its in-store service that will deliver latest release movies able to be downloaded for playback on a dedicated in-home set top box. This week Video Ezy announced it has signed a crucial contract for the software …

Let’s say first of all, that from the time we spent with it so far, we really like the 42PX80B, Panasonic’s new 42-inch 720p entry-level plasma TV. It arrived on Thursday last week and like excited (and fairly dorky) children, we hooked it up straight away. For a while everything looked good, the picture was sharp, the setup was really …

A while ago we found ourselves craving the Denon AVP/POA-A1HD AV receiver, which is extremely good but costs a merry old £10,000. If you need to eat, pay a mortgage and dress your children, however, the good news is Denon has a ‘budget’ version called the AVC-A1HD, and it will only cost you a piffling £3,800. What does the AVC-A1HD …