Do you remember the TV you had in the 70s? We’re prepared to bet that if you do, you’ll also remember that it had a sort of plastic wood veneer finish. Well, HANNspree, famous for its adorable fluffy TVs, has decided to throw the LCD kicking and screaming back into the 70s. Perhaps it’s watched …

Panasonic doesn’t much care for LCD. It’s often telling us how much better plasma is than the liquid crystal displays of other manufacturers. But you have to admire Panny — even though it thinks the technology is inferior, it still produces great televisions using it. The Viera TX-32LMD70 is one such success story — it has made Crave froth with a …

When the LG Super Multi Blue player was announced at CES this year there was much excitement from the gathered technological masses. A high-definition player that can cope with both HD DVD and Blu-ray — “W00t,” we thought, and even said it out loud (when no-one was in earshot). And now, after much waiting, the BH100 has arrived and LG …

The first thing that struck us when we got the Evesham Alqemi 32SX out of its box this morning is how good looking it is, especially for a budget television. Finished in the same glossy black as televisions costing twice as much, it’s hard to fault the styling. Sadly, the elegant design doesn’t go as far as the remote control, …

The next generation high definition disc format is still being battled out in homes across the world, but are we yelling in the wrong argument? Could digital delivery steal the spotlight? News has been racing around the Web of the alleged leak of encryption keys used to secure high definition (HD) content found on the next-generation Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs. …

Change can be a scary thing. Crave still remembers its first day at gadget school. It was scary and we missed our mum. Changing televisions is just as daunting: your trusty old screen discarded like yesterday’s paper and a new upstart put in its place. The good news is Toshiba doesn’t want to scare you, it wants to help — …

I’ve got my all-time favourite film, Lawrence of Arabia, waiting for me in glorious high definition this weekend, thanks to the techie bods at Sky. When Sky isn’t being taken to the high court for daring to pull Lost from Virgin Media’s cable channels, it’s been busy adding new functions to its HD service. Called Sky Anytime, it’s a way …

We looked at the MP80D’s little brother, the MP70D, a few months back, and this beast is similar — but with a larger screen (8 inches to the MP70D’s measly 7). It’s a decent little DVD player — it does that job really quite well. Sharp picture, actually in sync with the sound, all the options you’d expect, and it’s …

If you can’t get, or don’t want, full cable TV, Virgin Media would still like to get some money off you. Surely that’s the dream of every company, isn’t it? So how does Virgin persuade people to hand over money without getting anything in return? Offer them something ‘free’ that actually turns out to cost quite a lot of money, …

We all strive to have the best home theatre we can, but Australian Runco distributor Network Audio Visual sends word of a newly-completed home theatre installation in the eastern suburbs of Sydney that blew past the AU$3 million mark. Two years in the making, the residence boasts two cinemas built around Runco VX55 projectors. The VX55 is a AU$200,000 three-chip …

I think Toshiba’s HD DVD will triumph over Blu-ray in the hi-def disc format war, but I also believe both formats are here to stay. Here’s why: Format recognition HD DVD has a fundamental advantage in the high-def market. When people think of high definition, they think of the abbreviation ‘HD’, obviously. When people think of the newest and greatest …

We’ve got an announcement to make, dear readers: James Bond looks even better in hi-def. But don’t take our word for it — enter our competition and you could win a brand-spanking new 32-inch Toshiba HD Ready LCD TV, which displays amazing high-definition pictures, so you can see for yourself. We had a chat with the kind-hearted people at Toshiba …

I’m getting really annoyed by that advert that appears at the beginning of every DVD I buy. You almost certainly know the one I mean, it goes something like this: Shady looking bloke steals a carMessage appears ‘You wouldn’t steal a car’Shady looking bloke steals a handbag Message appears ‘You wouldn’t steal a handbag’ Shady looking bloke steals mobile phone …

Major record companies are forcing Apple to curtail access to iTunes online stores across borders, leading to higher prices and less choice, the European Commission said Tuesday. The EU executive sent formal charges to Apple and the major record companies last week because consumers can only buy iTunes in their own countries and cannot shop around for cheaper prices and …

EMI Group will soon sell digital music with better sound quality and no digital rights management restrictions through Apple’s iTunes Store. EMI’s entire digital music catalog will be available in premium DRM-free form via iTunes in May, the music label said Monday at a press conference in London. Beatles tunes under EMI’s control, however, are not part of the plan. …