So Disney is releasing the old classics on Blu-ray. Hurray! Now it’s time to watch such timeless children’s films as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and The Lion King in peerlessly detailed high definition. A new generation can be enchanted by these wonderful tales… Not in my house they won’t. My future kids can ride the Catbus, …
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December, 2008
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11 December
Profigold PROS1002: For when your HDMI needs switching
It doesn’t seem to matter how many HDMI sockets manufacturers put on a TV: it’s never enough. If your TV is a couple of years old, you might only have one or two HDMI sockets, and that’s nowhere near enough. Like many manufacturers, Profigold has HDMI switchers that enable you to plug two devices into just one socket. Useful if …
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9 December
iPlayer should be an online Freeview
This Friday is iPlayer day, according to the excellent BBC Internet blog. This anniversary marks iPlayer’s soft launch this time last year, with a harder launch that began on Christmas day with a TV advertising campaign. Since then, the BBC has been accused of wrecking the Internet, as well as upsetting granddads. Today, the Guardian has reported that the BBC …
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8 December
The Dark Knight Blu
We think it’s fair to say the Batman franchise hit an all-time low with the so-bad-it’s-funny Batman and Robin — a movie so horrendous that even the collective nipples of George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell and Alicia Silverstone couldn’t save it. We’d argue that the series peaked with Batman Begins, a much-needed reboot for Gotham’s finest. Now its sequel, The Dark …
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3 December
Energy star ratings coming to a TV near you
We’ve seen energy consumption ratings on white goods since the mid-1980s, but now we’ll start seeing the familiar stars on new TVs as well as refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers and air conditioners. Announced earlier this year by the Minister for Environment, Heritage and The Arts, Peter Garrett, this joint government and industry TV labelling program is currently voluntary, but will …
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2 December
Sony BDP
We’ve never been slow to criticise stand-alone Blu-ray players, and particularly Sony hardware. We’ve always had good reason, mind — the previous generation of players were massively overpriced and very poorly specified. But by George, we think they’ve got it: the Sony BDP-S350 costs just £160 and is fully profile 2.0 compliant. The S350 is appreciably smaller than previous players from …
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1 December
Hancock Blu
Blu-ray is great for home viewing on a large screen, but when you’re on the move with a laptop it’s neither practical or necessary to watch a 1080p copy of a movie. With that in mind, on the Hancock Blu-ray Sony provides a digital copy of the movie which you can transfer to your computer. Of course, it’s not as …
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1 December
Panasonic plasmas give you Wiis
Not wanting to be left out of the game, so to speak, Panasonic is bundling free Wiis with its plasma televisions in a promotion it’s calling a Full High Definition Christmas. Insert urination joke here. We’re not going to point out the obvious fact that the Wii isn’t even proper standard definition as we recognise it in this country (it’s …
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November, 2008
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26 November
PURE Digital Avanti Flow: Slick Net and DAB radio
Back in the day, Avanti was the name of a superb map on the original Half Life mod, Team Fortress Classic. It is also the name of a Durex condom. But now the name has been recycled for the latest and greatest Internet and DAB radio from PURE Digital. Its full name is the Avanti Flow, and it’s the second …
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24 November
It’s here: Sharp brings 108
The bragging rights to having the “biggest big screen” TV have passed from Panasonic to Sharp, with the local arrival of the latter’s 108-inch (274 cm) LCD model LB-1085. Measuring a whopping 2382mm x 1340mm, which equates to a viewing area of roughly 3.2 square meters, the Sharp LCD pips Panasonic’s flagship 103-inch plasma, which has been on the Australian …
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