Home Cinema

The advice with HDMI cables, as with all interconnects, is to keep them as short as possible for the best quality. But what happens when your DVD player and AV receiver are on one side of the room and your TV on the other? Or when you want to run a cable through the walls and ceiling to a projector?

The answer, according to Techlink, is its Wires CR HDMI cable, available in 20m, 30m and 50m lengths, and claimed to have a 'high-bandwidth v1.3-compatible construction'.

Sony has reported healthy profits for the first half of 2007, despite its much-reported problems with the Playstation3. Healthy sales of LCD televisions and camcorders have delivered the electronics giant first-quarter profits of $552 million (£269 million), despite losses in the company's gaming division.

The 'Grand Cinema' C3X-E projector from SIM2 may be aimed at those with plenty of cash to splash, but it certainly has some impressive trickery inside its sleek frame to justify the price tag.

Well, the river outside the office window remains a raging torrent, while down in the depths of WHFSV towers all the energy is being generated by discussions of the merits of various pieces of equipment as the Awards judging looms ever closer.

In the meantime, things have also been busy here on the website, This week, as well as seeing the whole DAB vs FM debate start to heat up, we've mainly been...

If incessant games of 'I Spy' with the kids on long car journeys drive you mad, then what you need is a portable DVD player to keep the little darlings entertained.

LG has a new portable DVD player, the DP271, that might be just the thing. It has twin headphone sockets so two people can listen simultaneously, and the screen swivels for easy viewing.

Sci-fi TV show Heroes registered record-breaking viewing figures on BBC2 and BBC HD last night, and soon it could be helping HD DVD to similar success.

In a further boost to the HD DVD camp in its high-definition disc battle against Blu-ray, Microsoft has announced plans to cut the cost of the HD DVD drive add-on to its Xbox 360 games console.

It's an announcement that could divide Trekkies as George Lucas's special editions of Star Wars have long split fans of The Force. The forthcoming HD DVD version of Star Trek: The Original Series is to have its 1960s visual effects replaced with 21st Century CGI.

Denon has confirmed its commitment to Blu-ray by unveiling details of its first Blu-ray player, the $2000 DVD-3800 BDCI.

It's due to go on sale in the US this autumn, and will be available in the UK around November, according to the company's spokesman. He adds that the standard finish for PAL versions will be silver, with black as an option, and that "US prices do not directly translate" - so it probably won't be £1000, then...

The wettest, dullest June for over a decade seems to have sent us all scurrying for the comfort of our home cinema set-ups. Sales and rentals of DVDs were up, and the number of movies being bought showed its fastest growth this year.

When it comes to my own system, i've remained fairly detached from the Blu-ray vs HD DVD debate so far, writes Clare Newsome, happy to stick with Sky HD and upscaled DVDs rather than add a dedicated HD disc player. But the news that the King is joining the format war may force me to make some space on my kit rack...

We've all seen the 'lifestyle' pictures the hi-fi and home cinema companies use to lure us into purchasing their products. Huge rooms, minimalist and painfully designer furniture artfully arranged, and when there's any sign of the room's owners, they tend to meet the same criteria as their furnishings.

The reality, however, is often somewhat different, writes Andrew Everard...

Yamaha RX-V461DAB 5.1

We'd been wondering what was happening at Yamaha HQ, as for the first time in ages they haven't submitted any products for our Awards this year - and then suddenly up pops a press release in our email box outlining details of its new model line-up, including three AV receivers, a subwoofer, micro DAB hi-fi system and a portable USB speaker.

Strange, but a careful read of the press release may indicate why the company has dragged its heels over giving us new samples for review.

Well, that'll teach us to talk about lulls after storms: we've just been sitting here watching a near-biblical deluge outside the office window, wondering when it would ever end, whether there'd be serious flooding and if we'd be able to get out for lunch.

We blame it on our esteemed Editor – she takes a day off, it buckets down. Mind you, looks like she's been suffering some iPod retribution.

This week, apart from at least one of us being woken up so early by start of this morning's storm that he was posting on the forum at 5.30am, we've mainly been...

You may be looking forward to your summer hols as you read this, but our minds have already turned to the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Show, taking place at the Novotel London-Hammersmith from November 2-4.

It's the UK's premier gadget and hi-fi event, and we've got a sneak preview of what you'll be able to see there.

I've spent most of this week putting together the contents list for the next issue of the Ultimate Guide to Home Cinema, and a fascinating experience it's been, writes Andy Clough. We've had lengthy discussions about what should (and shouldn't) be included.

Why so? Well, most manufacturers are phasing out their current model ranges, and introducing new ones for 2008. We've got a stockroom stashed to the ceiling with exciting new kit entered for the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Awards in October, and we'll be busy testing it all over the coming months.

New from Samsung is a trio of home all-in-one home cinema systems - and one comes complete with video upscaling to 1080P. The HT-TXQ120 claims this feature as a world's first, and backs it up with floorstanding speakers, universal DVD-A/SACD playback and '1000W power'.

This is Sony's forthcoming STR-DA5300ES receiver, expected to slot into the company's range above the existing STR-DA5200ES in September or October.

The price in the UK is subject to confirmation, but it's expected to sell for around €1700 in mainland Europe, which would suggest around £1200-£1300 here. Features include full HD sound decoding, an enhanced auto-calibration system and a modular Digital Media Port designed to connect it to personal audio devices and wi-fi networks.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of a trio of new HD DVD titles on the way from Momentum Pictures. The movie, in which Arnie lived up to his promise to be back, is released on August 13, along with Dustin Hoffman and the late Anne Bancroft in Mike Nichols's classic The Graduate, and Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas.

It's been the lull after the storm this week: following the onslaught of equipment for Awards consideration last week – yes, Dave, you did look shattered in that picture! – and finishing off the September issue, things are kind of returning to normal here at WHFSV.

Testing's underway for the October issue, editor Clare Newsome has been spending time up a mountain listening to jazz – well, almost – and we've been startling industry PR people with just how fast their press releases appear on this site.

We've seen home cinema systems with small speakers, but Sony has come up with what are probably the tiniest yet – five of them are used with the company's Bravia Theatre DAV-IS10 system, due in the shops in September at around £700.

New stands from a French furniture maker with a 50-year history – that's the Ateca Vision range, now available through BBG.

Designed to support plasma and LCD TVs, plus AV electronics, the Ateca Vision range comes in a striking line-up of colours, wood veneers and styles.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics. It's said that statistics can say whatever you want them to, but regardless the HD DVD promotional group is happily waving the latest HD player sales figures at anyone who'll listen.

GfK, an independent research group, has announced that HD DVD's share of the standalone player market averaged 71% over the first five months of 2007.

The new HDMI cable from True Colours Industries is unusual in that it doesn't claim to deliver superior picture or sound in runs that would let you put your projector down the other end of the garden.

Instead, Copperhead Lite is designed for short runs, such as those from a Sky HD box or Blu-ray/HD DVD player to an AV receiver or TV.

Kansas-based audio company Martin Logan, best known for its electrostatic speakers, had added a subwoofer to its range. But the Dynamo is far from the usual American 'oversized, overpriced and over here' exercise: it measures around a foot (30cm) on each side, and retails for £499.

Having used flat-panel loudspeakers to provide surround channels by reflection from walls in its Instant Theatre systems, KEF is now bringing the concept to a range of speakers designed for use with conventional AV amps and receivers. The FIve Two series provides five-channel surround from just two speakers, and the speakers start from £600 a pair.

We've been recovering from our trips to the annual CEDIA UK Expo, a huge show covering all aspects of custom installation - oh, and wondering if it'll ever stop raining.

Meanwhile down in the bowels of WHFSV Towers, dangerously close to the levels of the rising Thames across our car-park, the indefatigable Dave Standen has been struggling with the onslaught of products pouring in for our annual Awards judging sessions.

Dave Standen. A stockroom. Five minutes ago

We've also found time to...

Home cinema 'soundbars' are nothing new - Yamaha first introduced the concept a couple of years ago with its YSP range - but they are a neat solution for those who want better sound from a flatscreen TV without all the clutter of a full 5.1 system.

Denon's latest offering is the DHT-FS3 X-Space, yours for £700. The FS3 delivers 150W from a single speaker bar that can take an audio feed from a TV, DVD player, set-top box or PVR and generate pseudo surround sound in any room. A separate subwoofer is included in the package.

By 2010, our love affair with home entertainment systems, computers and other electronic gadgets will mean a huge increase in domestic energy consumption, needing the equivalent of 14 average-sized power stations just to keep us informed and entertained.

That's the warning from the Energy Saving Trust, one of the leading organisations tackling the UK's effect on climate change.

Arguments may still be raging over whether Blu-ray or HD DVD is winning the hi-def format war, but Pioneer is firmly in the Blu-ray camp. And to prove the point, it has just released details of its forthcoming Blu-ray player, the £1000 BDP-LX70.

You'd think Denon wouldn't need any more AV receivers in its already comprehensive product range, but this beastie will be making its way to the UK in late August.

Let's face it, juggling several different remote controls to manage your TV, DVD player, surround system and Sky box is a right old pain. Which is where universal remotes come in.

The latest Philips Pronto touch-screen remote can be programmed with a series of macros to turn everything on at the touch of a single button.

Arcam's new range of speaker packages for its Solo Music and Solo Movie 5.1 systems are now available in silver and black. We first reported on them in our Munich show roundup last month, and you can now pick up the full 5.1 surround sound package for £1200.