Home Cinema

"Now that the format war has been put aside, it's great to be able to focus on the challenge of taking Blu-ray disc to the heart of the home entertainment industry," says Victor Matsuda, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association global promotions committee.

But Matsuda is far from complacent: "Our challenge is to convert our success in this relatively small market into a mass-market phenomena," he says.

Sky is expanding the range of channels available on its high-definition TV service.

In the coming months the satellite broadcaster will add Sky Sports HD 3, Sky Movies Premiere HD and FX HD to its high-definition line-up – bringing the total number of HD channels to 17.

Virgin Media customers can only look on and weep at the amount of HD content now available on Sky, although some may question the decision to launch the Sky Movies Premiere HD channel with Titanic in HD!

Panasonic claims its DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player is the first in the world to support Final Standard profile (v1.1) that adds enhanced features and functionality to Blu-ray discs.

For example, a Picture-in-Picture feature displays a sub-screen, and an Audio Mixing function lets the user switch the playback sound between the main screen and sub-screen. Film studios can also add enhanced commentary and additional information about the film in pop-up sub-windows on the disc.

The £350 DMP-BD30 can also output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Audio in bitstream form with no degradation via HDMI 1.3a, and it supports 1080p/24fps video playback.

Sony has just launched a stack of new AV products in Las Vegas – no, it's not two months late for the annual CES show, but is holding its Open House trade show in Sin City.

And the US-market newcomers include the company's first 'Profile 2.0' full-specification Blu-ray Disc players, four new AV receivers with 1080p upscaling via HDMI, and an amazing whole-house entertainment system designed for the custom installation market, with prices starting from around $40,000.

Only one exhibition room at Toshiba's product launch last week had tables in it, where visitors could sit and relax while speculating what should have occupied the space...

That was the room holding the company's video disc players and recorders, but notwithstanding what was no longer there, a strong range of hardware was on display, including the £55 SD-480E upscaling DVD player (above).

Sony's four new home cinema in a box systems now include full 1080p upscaling to make the most of DVDs on large-screen TVs, have been styled to match the company's Bravia TV range, and have enhanced Bravia Sync connectivity to simplify system remote control.

And when you get to the top of the range, you can even have wireless rear speakers, using a new radio-based technology in place of the infrared of past Sony systems.

Today's your last chance to come and see our demo of high-definition video and audio at the Bristol Sound and Vision Show.

Our system (pictured above) is based around hard-disk storage rather than optical disc. So we've kitted out our demo room with an I.US Media Centre and Apple TV running through Classé's flagship pre/power amp combo, feeding two 50in Pioneer Kuro plasma screens and a 5.2 set of Monitor Audio's new Platinum speakers.

Yesterday we brought you news of Denon's amazing £60,000 Imperial Death Star Blu-ray Home Cinema system. Just in case you missed the original story, we can now bring you pictures of this amazing set-up.

It uses £60,000 worth of Denon electronics, including its new Blu-ray transport, and Denon's flagship AVP-A1 HDCI 12-channel preamp and POA-A1 HDCI 10-channel power amp (shown above).

Delivering 300w per channel in 5.2 mode, this set-up needs some seriously heavy duty speakers to handle the surround sound, so Denon has plumped for £20,000 worth of B&W 800 series speakers.

To see it in action here at the show, pop over to the Berlin Suite where Denon is using the Blu-ray disc of Earth: The Movie to show off the system's awesome sound and vision performance.

Star of the Pioneer stand here at Bristol is the company's new flagship multichannel amplifier, the 'Susano' SC-LX90. It's due on sale in late spring/early summer.

Delivering 200w across all seven channels, the SC-LX90 has a new, Direct Energy HD amplifier developed together with ICEpower.

It handles all the new high-definition audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD master Audio, and is THX Ultra2 Plus certified.

OK, the doors are open and we've been swamped all morning with visitors to the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision stand here at the Bristol Show.

Our demo of high-definition audio and video is underway, with performances every 30mins, and the Helpdesk is up and running if you want to pick the brains of the technical team about your hi-fi or home cinema set-up. Alternatively, log on to the Forums at whathifi.com.

Meanwhile, the website team has been rushing around the show to bring you news of all the latest product launches.

It made for a slightly uneasy atmosphere at the event, but the company took the bull by the horns - well, sort of - with a question and answer session before the main product announcements, after which, we were told, no more questions were to be asked of Toshiba staff about the subject. Just like it never happened...

On the day that HD DVD's world imploded, with manufacturers and studios declaring their allegiance to Blu-ray, major HD DVD supporter Paramount made its big announcement that...

...it'll be releasing Sweeney Todd on HD DVD on April 1st.

Following Toshiba's decision to pull the plug on HD DVD, we're likely to see a rash of new Blu-ray players coming to market.

First up is the Denon DVD-2500BT transport which made its debut at the Bristol Sound and Vision Show last weekend.

Denon used a production-ready US version at Bristol, which uses the company's own Blu-ray transport, developed for this model and the forthcoming DVD-3800BD.

And that just leaves Paramount yet to show its hand on the day that saw the end of the Blu-ray/HD DVD 'format war'.

Play.com fired the first shot - reducing the price of the entry-level Toshiba HD-EP30 (originally £299; more recently £120) to £79.99. Amazon has since followed by offering the player for £77.99. It's also selling the HD-EP35 (originally £350) for £149.99.

So says Olivier van Wynendaele, Toshiba's deputy general manager of HD DVD Europe, in an interview with whathifi.com.

"We are obviously very sad about the announcement we have had to make today, both for the consumer and the HD DVD format, but we will continue to support existing owners by honouring warranties and offering upgrades if required," says van Wynendaele.

Sony has responded to Toshiba's earlier announcement regarding its withdrawal from HD DVD, and the basic message from the company's UK HQ is clear – the consumer has spoken.

A company spokesperson told whathifi.com that "Overwhelming support from all the relevant industries, including Hollywood studios, consumer electronics and IT companies, retailers and video rental stores is clear proof that consumers have chosen Blu-ray as the next generation optical disc format."

We'll be asking him how Toshiba plans to look after the one million people who've already bought HD DVD players, what Universal and Paramount – the last two Hollywood studios supporting the format – will do, and whether Toshiba will now start making Blu-ray players.

If you've got any other questions you'd like us to ask him, post them as a reply to this story. We'll post an update on the site as soon as we've finished the interview.

Here is the statement in full:

News services including broadcaster NHK and Reuters reported that sources inside the company had revealed the shutdown, but the company has so far not given any official confirmation.

A spokeswoman for the company's London PR agency, Nelson Bostock, told us: "We are aware of the speculation, but have no comment – there is no information I can give you at the moment."

Speculation is mounting of a final decision on the format's future after a report by The Hollywood Reporter that Toshiba is close to dropping HD DVD.

This Valentine's Day, surprise and delight the one you love with the gift that keeps on giving; the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Ultimate Guide to Systems.

I missed out on getting a 60GB PS3, writes Andrew Everard. It wasn't that I wanted to play games – yes, it's playing games, not gaming, in my book – or Blu-rays, and I certainly had no need for any of those 60 gigglybytes. No, I wanted it for Super Audio CDs.

But now I think I've found an even more affordable substitute, in the form of the DV-980H (above) from California-based company Oppo Digital. It plays DVDs, DVD-As, SACDs, HDCDs and all manner of DivXs, WMAs and JPEGs, has a USB input for portable music devices, does 1080p upscaling, stands a smidge less than 5cm tall, and costs just under £160 delivered.

Oh, and it plays Super Audio CDs in their DSD native form over HDMI.

The claims were made at Panasonic's 2008 HD Networking Convention in Valencia, but other than a company spokesperson adding "the archiving spec isn't finalised, but we'd love to have a product to market as soon as possible," the manufacturer stopped short of naming product or release specifics.

Instead, Panasonic revealed six new DVD recorders, including hard-disk models that double-up as music jukeboxes.

It's midnight here in Munich, and I've just spent several hours at BMW Welt, the car company's extraordinary new architect-designed HQ in the city centre, writes Andy Clough.

But just in case you think you've accidentally logged on to whatcar.com, fear not, as the futuristic venue is the location for Harman Kardon's 2008 product launch.

So among the gleaming BMWs and hi-tech architecture, I've been given a brief preview of the Harman Kardon hi-fi and home cinema products heading our way later this year.

Two major US companies have increased their support for Blu-ray, in moves which seem likely to further threaten the rival HD DVD format.

Retailing giant Best Buy say that its stores will be "prominently showcasing" Blu-ray from next month, while online movie rental company Netflix will be ditching HD DVD by the end of this year.

BBC Director General Mark Thompson has confirmed the Corporation will develop its iPlayer online video service for Apple Mac users by the end of 2008.

At the moment Mac users can stream content from the iPlayer, but can't download it to watch later, and this led to controversy when the service was launched last year.

"I hope this good news is evidence of the hard work that the BBC is committing to support other platforms," says Thompson.

KEF's Kube-1 subwoofer, previously only available as part of the KHT1005.2 5.1-channel system, is now available to buy separately for £250.

KEF says the sub will bring "powerful and precise bass performance to any space-saving system, be it multi-channel surround sound DVD, HDTV, twin-speaker DAB receiver, CD or iPod."

Move over Apple TV, there's a new kid on the block – in the shape of the brand-new Archos TV+.

Looking somewhat similar to its Apple rival, the Archos TV+ is a home entertainment hub that can record programmes from your TV or set-top box, surf the web, download movies, play music and stream digital content from your PC.

It's available in two versions, the £180 80GB model and a larger 250GB version for £250. The latter can store up to 310 films, 2.5 million photos or 145,000 songs.

The IN83 is armed with the latest DLP DarkChip4 technology from Texas Instruments, Pixelworks' DNX 10-bit video processing and two HDMI 1.3 inputs (one via M1-DA) with DeepColor support.

If you want just one device to store, play and stream all your digital music and movies, US company Escient may have the solution.

It's adding to its range of digital music servers with the new Vision Series, designed to store all your CDs and DVDs on a single hard drive.

The flagship VX-600 (£5499) has a whopping four Terabytes of storage capacity – equivalent to 50 MacBook Airs – so there should be plenty of room for even the biggest of disc collections.

We're primed for a whole new range of interconnects from van den Hul, and first in line is this flat HDMI, called The HDMI Flat.

Fully compliant with the latest 1.3b standard, the cable will be available in lengths from 1m to 15 metres, with prices between 86 and 225 euros.

Yes, we know it can be hard to get too excited about cables, even if they are HDMI, but let us all remember the effect they can have when you entrust them with sending your precious video signals.

More projector news, this time from Planar. It has a brace of new 1080p Full HD models, housed in curved, glossy piano black enclosures.

The £4400 PD8150 (pictured) and £3400 PD8130 incorporate 1080p DLP architecture, Gennum VPX video processing, and Dynamic Black and BrilliantColour image enhancement. Both will be available from March.

As part of the deal, Amazon will promote LoveFilm's services on its UK and German websites. The merger of the two DVD rental businesses will result in a combined subscriber base of 900,000 customers, claims LoveFilm.

We're used to the prices of flatscreen TVs tumbling by the day, but now projector prices seem to be following a similar pattern.

InFocus is the latest projector manufacturer to make its prices more competitive, with a £500 reduction on the IN81, down from £2499 to £1999 with immediate effect.

It's less than three weeks until the annual Bristol Sound and Vision Show, and lots more brands have signed up since our last preview, bringing the total to almost 190.

It all takes place from Friday 22nd until Sunday 24th February at the Marriot City Centre Hotel in Bristol - get there early, because there'll be lots to see and hear.