Elvis Presley would judge the recording quality of his songs by whether the sound “moved him or not,” says music producer Elliot Mazer. After four decades producing some of the recording industry’s biggest artists–everyone from Janis Joplin to Switchfoot–Mazer has developed his own test. He asks himself: “Can you enjoy the music when it’s playing …

review Windows Media Player 11–which debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year and features a visually appealing interface, as well as impressive features and performance–is Microsoft’s best jukebox to date. Not that it was a grand feat to improve upon a generally disappointing string of versions, including the somewhat awkward version 10. Still, if Microsoft is ever going …

We were promised music for every generation, culture and religion, but did we get any of this? Did DAB really deliver? The DAB revolution promised CD-quality sound and a dazzling choice of radio stations. It promised digital airwaves filled with indie outfits broadcasting deliciously quirky music from the underground scene. Did this happen? No. DAB slapped us in the face …

Sony is moving to make its music management software compatible with Apple Computer’s audio file format in the latest evidence of Apple’s dominance in digital music. The behemoth Japanese conglomerate, which once controlled the portable music market, announced Tuesday that the company’s data compression technology would be compatible with a number of rival formats, including Apple’s format of choice, AAC. …

As the HD DVD versus Blu-ray format debacle bumbles along, our sister reviews site in the US, CNET.com, has an initial review of Toshiba’s first HD DVD player, the Toshiba HD-A1. The bottom line? It produces stunning high-definition images, but has a series of compromises that may deter all but the most hardcore of home-cinema fanatics. According to the review, …

Last week Toshiba filled a country house hotel with more televisions, DVD players and projectors than you’d find in the AV department of John Lewis, then threw open the doors to the best and the brightest of the UK press, or at any rate those journalists most interested in all things audiovisual. We ooh’d and aah’d, we left fingerprints on …

I’ve been reading your TV reviews and I’m really interested in the Samsung LE32R41BD. I’ve been looking at different prices around the Web and I was just wondering if you could clear something up for me. Samsung has two models that look the same to me on paper, but have different product numbers. The LE32R41BD is the one you reviewed, …

You know how it is: in your heart you’re Renee Zellweger, but your life’s more Bridget Jones. You ought to be following Hugh Grant down the red carpet, but you’re stuck at the back of the crowd. You want to show movies in your living room, but you haven’t got space, and anyway your partner doesn’t want a mess of …

Sky has treated Crave like a seal at a zoo, throwing us very occasional fishy morsels of information on its upcoming HD service to keep us clapping our flippers like demented idiots. But the Internet abhors a vacuum, so rumours circulating about Sky’s biggest project since its launch in 1989 mean that there was little surprise when the company announced a £299 …

So finally the great day dawns, and we’ve got a firm date for the arrival of Sky HD to the UK and Ireleand. The great unwashed can start buying the service on Wednesday 12 April, and installations will begin in May, so mark those electronic organisers now. As previously announced, you’ll pay £299 for the Sky HD box, with a …

Liteon may have started out as a cheap alternative to the super-expensive DVD recorders of yesteryear, but the LVW-5055 sees the company making a strong statement of intent on performance. This is a genuinely first-class recorder that panders to the demands of the serious AV fanatic, and the sheer amount of features the company has packed in should make some of …

It must be hard being a projector these days. Like vinyl being faced with the onslaught of CD, projectors just aren’t as sexy as a new flat-screen TV. Samsung is still making token gestures to the home-cinema fraternity, and this SP-H710 is the only home projector that the company currently makes. Still, the £2,500 DLP projector looks good on paper, …

Red Riding Hoodie and her best mate the Big Bad Wolf were planning a big night in. They had all the ingredients for a big meal, including a big enchilada, a bigger fish to fry, a big apple and a big cheese. After dinner they were going to kick off their boots, which they were too big for anyway, and …

Most people’s home cinema consists of a DVD player and, if you’re lucky, a shiny new flat-screen TV. For others, home cinema is a hobby that knows no limits, and once you start getting into projectors and AV amps you’ll soon find yourself with a beard, talking to your slightly overweight friends about the need for dielectric insulated video cables. …

Even as recently as Christmas, we seemed to spend most of our time bemoaning the release of expensive LCD TVs that lacked HD compatibility and Freeview tuners. Now though, every TV that arrives at our door not only wears the ‘HD Ready’ badge proudly on its sleeve, but almost always features a digital tuner (some even have two tuners and …