The first thing you’ll say when you see the LG 47LB2RF is “cripes, that’s a bit Darth Vader”. The reason you’ll say this is because it’s finished in exactly the same glossy black finish as Luke’s dad was, post volcano incident. Which is nice, because it’s a cool colour. And when your friends come over …

For those who don’t know, the Solo range is an all-in-one affair. The original Arcam Solo was a CD player, FM and digital radio, amplifier and multi-room control system. The Solo Movie 5.1 is the next step, and adds playback of a multitude of video and audio formats, including DVD audio, SACD, DVD video, DivX, MPEG-4, OGG, WMA and MP3. …

Are you addicted to Coke? 1,667 cans isn’t that many. It’s just two cans a day, for two years. Or, if you prefer, one a day for four years. Which means that if you gave up drinking Coke, after four years you could afford the Acer AT4220. Alternatively, you could give up smoking instead. After just 200 days of not smoking 20 …

It’s sleek, it’s black with a hint of silver, it has a 26-inch screen and it’s HD Ready. Say hello to the Regza 26WLT66. Or ‘Walt’ for short. That’s right, we’ve given this television a nickname, because we’re sick of unwieldy model numbers. Walt is pretty cool if you’re in the market for a smaller-screen LCD for the bedroom or …

We love massive TVs — who doesn’t? — but we hate lifting the suckers. Sadly, the only way to play with the best and biggest screens is to get them into our fifth-floor office. So when we had a call explaining that the Panasonic 50PX600B was here, a silence descended across the office. Eventually volunteers were dragged back from sudden …

You know that LCD on your wall? Let me tell you something: it’s fat. Huge in fact. And it’s ugly. What on earth have you been feeding it? Pies? That’s the wording I propose JVC uses in the advert for its ultra-thin LCD that was demoed in Athens last week. This prototype was really, really skinny. JVC wouldn’t let us …

Greek TV is weird. First of all, they show about a million adverts per break, including one that appeared to be an instructional film on how to carry two cups of espresso on a huge tray. After five hours, when the adverts had finished, a live game show came on. I know it was live, because in the bottom right-hand …

Good news: your widescreen TV is obsolete. Sure, you may well have just spent a fortune on an exciting new flat panel, thinking everything would be cushy until the next big thing comes along, say, ultra-high-definition television. Crave is here to prove you wrong, as JVC has a prototype TV that will make your current screen look positively square. Sorry …

I have a budget of around £1,000 to spend on an LCD TV. My requirements are: two HDMI inputs, two Scart terminals, a PC connection and Picture-in-Picture facility (including from a PC). My viewing distance is approximately 3m, so I’m not sure what screen size to choose — 32-inch or 37-inch? Whenever I look at TVs in high-street shops the …

I have no doubt that by this time next year the skirmish between the two hi-def disc formats will be over. Who will win? I haven’t got a clue, to be honest, but what I can comment on is what I like and what I hate. I’ve seen slightly more of HD DVD than I have of Blu-ray. The Toshiba …

At this year’s CES, Sharp unveiled 14 new screens, plus another one that’s too big and expensive for anyone to buy. At the top end, the company announced the 65-inch LC-65D93U (pictured). It’s set to retail for around $11,000, which sounds expensive but converted to sterling is a paltry £5,600. Not too bad, then, if you’ve got both a burning desire …

Last night I went to a live production of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, best known for its male swans (bear with me, the tech connection is coming). Today I’ve been watching the DVD, and I’m struck by the differences between the two experiences. It’s Swan Lake… but with male swans My theatre seat cost £48, whereas you can find the …

There are times, when I’m sat at home bored of celebrities shouting at each other, or being told I am what I eat, that I really just want to watch a movie. The problem is, while my DVD collection contains some great stuff, I’ve seen it all. What I need is a way to grab movies off the Internet so …

Today I’ve got a Top Up TV Anytime box, built by Thomson, on my desk. I’m excited about this for one main reason: I own the Thomson DHD4000 and I think it’s a brilliant PVR. The DHD4000 only cost me £99 and it’s incredibly useful. The best thing about it is that it’s a twin-tuner PVR, because watching one channel …

Let’s get this out of the way now: the name of this television is stupid. It’s a pain to write, a pain to read and a total pain to search for online. While we applaud all efforts to reduce the number of pointless model numbers in the world, we would prefer something a little easier to cope with. Once you’ve …