In case you didn’t know, the BBC does more than just broadcast EastEnders — indeed, it has one of the most productive and highly respected research and development teams in the world of broadcasting. As it happens, the R&D department, now called BBC Research and Innovation, turned 60-years-old last Friday, and to celebrate received the …

In an ongoing battle to be the biggest exhibitor at IFA, Samsung no longer considers hall 20 at the Messe Berlin to be large enough, despite the fact that it’s 96m long by 39m wide. To make up for these cramped conditions, this year it erected a tent outside to contain all the microwaves and fridges that would otherwise clutter …

Given the relationship that Sony and Samsung have with LCDs, it’s not a massive surprise to see Samsung announce a 200Hz TV today, barely a day after Sony made a big deal about its own model. Luckily for Samsung, it isn’t the only TV innovation it’s got going on at the moment. The company was keen to push its new …

After Sony’s press conference at IFA trade show in Berlin, we at Crave UK took a quick look around the company’s booth and snapped some of the new Bravia TVs expected to be delivered by this holiday season. The most interesting product is the ZX1, a 9.9mm-thick LED “backlit” LCD TV, which takes a new approach to TV design, and …

Toshiba began its press conference at IFA in Berlin by denying that it would be announcing a Blu-ray player — this didn’t come as much of a surprise, as the company is still hurting from a very expensive loss in the great format war of 2007. But credit to it, instead of crying in a corner licking its wounds, the …

Home-cinema projectors: we all want one, but they’re a bit scary — especially if like us you feel that nailing expensive electronics to the ceiling is probably best left to people with certificates in nailing things to ceilings. Fortunately, Epson has unveiled a range of six new shiny-lighty-movie-boxes designed to take projectors into the living room of families, batchelors and …

One of the questions we’re asked an awful lot is, “Can I get a 32-inch 1080p TV?” Until recently the answer was no, because the economics of squeezing more pixels into such a small space just didn’t work. It seems, however, that technological advances and whatnot are making such a thing possible. The Philips Cineos 32PFL9603 proves it too. The …

Here’s a little trivia for you: THX, the cinema sound quality certification, was introduced in 1983 by Lucasfilm so every terrible line of dialogue from Return of the Jedi could be heard exactly as ol’ moneybags intended it. Later, the standard made its way to consumer electronics, designed to guarantee high-quality home cinema sound — even in films that don’t …

Yesterday a package arrived here at Crave that weighed as much as a fairly hefty puppy, which was slightly confusing. Who had sent us a puppy, and why wasn’t it barking? It transpired it was in fact an HDMI cable. But not just any HDMI cable, a 15m-long Profigold PROV1015, which went some way to explaining the prodigious weight. The …

1. Introduction 2. Fujitsu P42HHA30AS 3. Hitachi 42PD5000TA 4. LG RT-42PX10 5. Samsung PS42P4H 6. Specifications compared 7. Editor’s Choice 8. How we tested Everybody wants one, and 42 inch plasma TVs are the hottest size in flat panel sets. But before you jump on the plasma bandwagon, which model offers the best TV experience? Yes, picture and audio quality …