However one serious gripe has occured. I have an external audio/video switching unit (Pioneer receiver) and as the Samsung sound (and in deed most TV’s) do not have good speakers in them I wanted to use an external receiver and speakers. To keep quality high I choose to use the optical audio output from the Samsung. Immediately I noticed dropouts on the audio. I called Samsung and they said “it must be my receiver or optical cable”. They recommended I by a good quality cable. So £45 later I have a new optical cable and still audio dropouts. Being a bit of an engineer I decided to measure the optical audio stream with a meter on another bit of audio kit. Sure enough the audio was dropping from the TV (not the cable or reciever). I then browsed the AV forums and found that this is a common fault with Samsung Q/C 96/97 series TV’s! Called Samsung again and they ordered an engineer to contact me. To cut a long story short he said Samsung were aware of the issue but do not consider it very important! A Firmware revision “may follow at some point in the future”……not very impressive!

Ultra FilterBright In bright environments the display quality of conventional plasma TVs can be compromised by external light. Samsungs premium plasma TVs boast a combination of FilterBright, Super Black Panel and Optimal Light Filter to bring you sharp contrast, unbelievable detail and pure clarity in any lighting conditions. Natural True Colour Samsung?s advanced technology offers you truly natural onscreen colour representation. By keeping the colours balanced, even during fast moving or action scenes, your viewing enjoyment is never compromised. With Natural True Colour you can always enjoy vivid, realistic colours as nature intended.Real Detail A combination of enhanced features means that you will never have to compromise on Real Detail again. Silhouette Editor refines the face tone and shape of an image. Smart Frame Plus eliminates flickering and Movie Mode provides smoother motion during the fast moving scenes. Real Motion Studio Real Motion Studio combines three patented features including Movie Mode and Silhouette Editor so that you can make the most out of your TV. This advanced technology means that you can enjoy fast moving, action scenes without the worry of motion blur, juddering or image distortion. Why compromise when you don?t have to?

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The new SHD7001 standalone High Definition DVD player from Venturer offers 1080video output via a direct HDMI connection to your HD ready TV. It also comes with Dolby TrueHD (5.1channel) sound completes the SHD7001 HD experience.
The new SHD7001 is not only a High Definition DVD player, but it is also backward compatible with the older DVD format and boasts the ability to upscale. The manufacturer claims that the player gives old DVD films “bright and vivid detail” that “looks crisp and forceful and boosts performance to near HD sharpness giving standard DVDs a complete make over to make them look better than ever.”

The SHD7001 also features a 10/100 Ethernet connection and by connecting it to your broadband, bonus features can be accessed as well as fan communities and special recorded content put in place by movie studios on HD DVDs can be unlocked.

“We are very excited about this product launch. QVC will be able to demonstrate the features and benefits of HD-DVD and make it available to consumers at a knockout price!” says David Rouse, Venturer Sales Director. “At last an affordable solution for the many thousands of HDTV owners.”

The SHD7001 will initially be available to buy in the UK exclusively from QVC TV Home Shopping Channel from the 29^th December, when it will be the featured product of the day (Today’s Special Value).

More information regarding the SHD7001 can be found at www.venturer.eu.com. At the moment there is no word on the price of the player.

Initially, both formats were supported by all of the major studios, but as different studios have different stakes in the two formats, major studios started to drop formats. For example, Sony, owner of Columbia and TriStar Pictures, is one of the major developers of the Blu-Ray format, and has decided to drop HD DVD for its releases. Thus, Spiderman 3 is only available for Blu-Ray, something which will surely irk Spidey-loving HD DVD adopters. Releases on both formats tend to be priced similarly, a little more than their standard DVD counterparts.
When it comes to the players, a lot has happened, even in the past year. The first generation of standalone players for the two formats, released last year by Toshiba, Samsung and Panasonic, were seen as pricey and more aimed at early adopters than the general public, and have already been discontinued.
The latest generation of players have generally been seen as more value for money, but the smart money says to look elsewhere for now. Sony decided to include Blu-Ray playing capability for the Playstation 3 Console, which was undoubtedly a wise business move. It means the 5 million current PS3 owners already have a Blu-Ray player and gives those unsure which format to switch to an incentive to buy a PS3 as a low-risk option – even if Blu-Ray does go the way of the Betamax, they still have a state-of-the-art gaming console. In a similar tactic, consumers can now buy an HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, which can also connect to a high-end PC via a USB connection.
As for now, Blu-Ray has the edge in the format war. Figures by Nielsen VideoScan, Gfk and the Nikkei, show that Blu-Ray is outselling HD DVDs at a ratio of 2 to 1 in the US and Europe and a ratio of 9 to 1 in Japan. This does not mean the battle is over just yet – a lot can still happen, particularly if Nintendo should decide to throw their hat in the ring by announcing an external player for either format for the Wii (a drive for normal DVDs will be released next year).
Hopefully at the end of the format war, the ultimate benefactor will be customers and not the corporations, but until then alternatives to standalone players can provide an affordable way to enjoy the best video and audio quality available for home viewing

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Hot on the block is the new Polaroid DVD Recorder, DRA-01601A with 160GB Hard Drive and ATSC Tuner, this looks like a beast of a gadget, check the specs out below, OMG !!

Features:

• Records up to 204 hours of media on the 160GB built-in hard disc drive (No subscription needed)
• Includes YesDVD Software to create DVDs at the touch of a button
• HDMI connection for easy connection to your flat panel
• Built-in ATSC digital and NTSC analog tuners
• YesDVD enabled indexing, auto chaptering, organization, and sharing of multi-media content
• Front USB and SD card reader ports
• Simultaneous DVD playback and record movie on hard disc
• Record in different quality and length (HQ, SP, LP, EP, SLP)
• Easy one-touch recording with auto index creation
• 30-second skip lets you jump over commercials for commercial-free viewing
• 10-second replay allows you to go back 10 seconds to replay what you missed
• Easy editing on recorded video content
• Records to DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW
• Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, music CDs, CD-R/RW
• JPEG image compatible
• Progressive scan (480p) video output
• Front panel VFD display

Inputs/Outputs:

• HDMI output
• Front USB and SD card reader ports
• Front audio/video output
• Front IEEE 1394 input
• S-video output
• Coaxial digital audio output
• 2-Channel audio output

To put it short and sweet… The T-Amp line of amplifiers from Sonic Impact are revered by audiophiles everywhere for their amazing sound and incredible price. These amps have better sound than others that cost 10 times as much.

The key to the T-Amp is - amazingly enough - Class T amplification. Class T amplifiers offer both the audio fidelity of Class AB (which you’d likely find in your home stereo reciever) and the power efficiency of Class D amplifiers (often used to provide the punch for subwoofer amps).

Trust us when we say that you will be fully satisfied with the sound from the T-Amp. Don’t believe us? See what others are saying:

TNT Audio (http://tnt-audio.com)
“[Reviewing the T-Amp] has been the most thrilling and incredible experience I’ve had with a component in, say, 25 years of HiFi listening. This website has existed since 1995, I’ve reviewed hundreds of HiFi components, inexpensive and ridiculously overpriced ones. I never - repeat - NEVER came across such a stunning piece of gear in all of these years.”

6moons (http://6moons.com)
“[The T-Amp] has almost exactly the same amount of power as the superb $800 Almarro A-205A EL-84 single-ended pentode vacuum tube integrated amplifier I reviewed here at 6moons not many moons back. So what you have here — and I am abstracting things a bit of course — is a low priced and low powered single-ended digital amplifier that can be used with efficient loudspeakers of the kind favored by the direct-heated single-ended triode (SET) crowd.”

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From the standpoint of motion picture studios, the patent looks like pure genius. It would give them another source of cash in an era where DVD sales are down and traditional sources of revenue are under pressure. It could also become a way to get back-catalog, niche movies onto DVD, as embedded, unskippable commercials could shore up the business case for cracking open the vault.

Budget-minded consumers might not mind discs with ads, either. That $3.99 new release rental might be just $1.99 or even free if you’re willing to sit through a few minutes of ads (another way in which the home theater experience can be more like going to the cinema).

While it might be difficult to implement the patent in current DVD players, the HD DVD spec requires players to have an Ethernet port for online connectivity. While the connectivity is intended for things like software and firmware updates as well as interactive content, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be used to download car commercials in 1080p.

The debut of network “catch up” services like that of ABC which allow TV fans to watch full episodes of their favorite series online with embedded, unskippable commercials proves that consumers are willing to watch ads in an unfamiliar venue if it means free content. That said, I think I’ll pass on the $9.99 Lord of the Rings Presented by McDonald’s box set, should it become available.

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Why Pay Sky TV when you can watch it free ?

Satellite TV for PC 2007 Elite Edition now allows PC owners from all over the world to enjoy over 3000 satellite channels from over 30 countries and the best thing is you don’t even need any added hardware.

So if you are after free tv without the satellite read on.

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Although it won’t be available until spring at the earliest, Microsoft is continuing to take prototypes of its touch-screen Surface computer on a worldwide promotional tour. Some of the key cities already visited have included New York, Toronto, Paris, and Zurich. Graffiti artist James de la Vega shared the Surface with a couple of kids at New York’s Sheraton Hotel this summer. Next stop is Boston’s Sheraton Hotel on Saturday.

Microsoft had hoped to put its tabletop computer on the market this month but now is hoping to have a final version ready by spring.

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