Issue 23 by The Gadget Group

PORTABLE PLAYERS FOR PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

A U S T R A L I A’ S C O M P L E T E D I G I TA L L I F E S T Y L E C O M PA N I O N

ISSUE 23

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DISCOVEREXCLUSIVE DIGITALREVIEWS RADIO 12 IT’S F

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THE 2009 TV BUYING CHECKLIST HIGH-DEF VIDEO

The options explained, plus our top 10

TESTED THIS MONTH

• DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY • YAMAHA RX-Z7 MYTHOS SPEAKERS • SHARP BD-HP50X • EPSON • KOGAN KGNBRVA • SENNHEISER HD 800 EH-TW5000

FAST FOREWORD

The Tangled Web DIGITAL RADIO TEST BROADCASTS BEGAN IN 2003, AND SIX YEARS LATER THIS May, Australians living in metropolitan areas will be able to tune in to the country’s ﬁrst full-time digital radio transmissions. These will be provided by the commercial networks, with the national broadcasters to come onboard in August. Regional Australia, again, gets a bad deal, with no time line yet for switch-on. The slow birth of digital radio will be ameliorated by the higher quality audio and greater programming choice it promises, the population coverage it will provide, and the ready availability and affordability of hardware with which to receive it. These elements haven’t come together for a digital radio switch-on in any other market in the world, and the joint effort of broadcasters, retailers and hardware suppliers will give the technology a kick along it hasn’t enjoyed in international markets. It will certainly give the technology a better leg up than digital TV ever had – it’s still gaining traction eight years after switch-on. As with all new technology, content is key, and without compelling, unique programming there will be little to coax consumers across. The commercial networks are keeping their plans close to their chest in the lead-up to launch, but it’s what the ABC and SBS will offer that interests us most. With rich mines of website content already complementing their current broadcast programming, the national broadcasts can really create some excitement when they come online later in the year. We’ll keep you up to date with programming developments from all the broadcasters in Home Entertainment and on the GadgetGuy.com.au website over the coming months.

INTERNET RADIO, OF COURSE, CAN DELIVER EQUIVALENT SOUND QUALITY TO DIGITAL RADIO, AS WELL AS PROVIDE MUCH GREATER VARIETY OF programming. Unlike terrestrial radio broadcasting, internet radio allows you to listen to your favourite stations from wherever you can get online, be it Mumbai, London or Belize City. Internet radio devices have become easier to use in the last couple of years too, and in ﬁve years or so, just about every electronics device – TV, mobile phone, Blu-ray player, fridge – will be able to connect with the internet and, potentially, perform as an internet radio. As a challenger to digital radio, then, it has legs, but the convenience of digital radio devices will see them as the preferred option for many, especially when it comes to incar use. Mobile internet is very much an imperfect technology – especially when the receiving device is hurtling along rather than sitting still – and offered by a limited number of telcos that don’t provide an allyou-can-eat data plan. Until the streaming of radio stations (and other data) to your car, mobile phone or every room of the house

becomes a known monthly cost, internet radio will be prohibitively expensive compared to free-to-air digital radio.

THE INTERNET IS POSING AN INTERESTING CHALLENGE TO TRADITIONAL TELEVISION BROADCASTERS TOO, with the 2009 range of products from the big name manufacturers sporting some facility for directly accessing the content riches of the web. Forthcoming Blu-ray players and televisions from Panasonic and LG will connect via cable to the Net to bring YouTube straight to your TV, with navigation provided from the remote control. Panasonic’s Viera Cast products add access to Google’s Picasa web gallery, allowing you to view photos on the big screen, and there are plans to further expand its web offerings in this area. In the US and Europe, for example, Viera Cast allows on-demand movie downloads from Amazon, and video streams from Eurosport and Bloomberg. This trend is mirrored by Samsung, some of whose forthcoming range of web-connected tellies come preloaded with widgets that provide access to popular Yahoo sites such as Twitter and Flickr. More widgets are being made available for download via Yahoo’s Widget Gallery, which is a bit like Apple’s App store, and these are able to be accessed free by any device supporting the Yahoo Widget Engine, not just Samsung TVs. While a virtual keyboard makes for slow and clunky navigation around the site once its up on the big screen, the Yahoo widget system wins points for working simultaneously with the TV’s programming. This means you don’t have to turn off the live broadcast to check the weather, browse Facebook or catch some video on breaking news. More and more, our notebooks and 3G phones are sharing couch space in the living room with the universal learning remote. Televisions with new networking smarts are an acknowledgment that we are multi-tasking when we should be vegging out in front of the idiot box. And as the IQ of the humble TV continues to rise, it might be time for that kind of inappropriate name-calling to disappear. Cheers

Managing Director Valens Quinn valens@gadgetgroup.com.au Publisher Peter Blasina peter@gadgetguy.com.au Editorial Director Anika Hillery anika@gadgetgroup.com.au Art Director Bill Chan bill@gadgetgroup.com.au Advertising Director Daniel Russell daniel@gadgetgroup.com.au Advertising Manager Nathan Yerbury nathan@gadgetgroup.com.au Australian Home Entertainment is published quarterly by The Gadget Group Pty Ltd, 120 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia 2011. Australian Home Entertainment is available for licensing overseas. Director Tony Read tony@gadgetgroup.com.au For further information, please contact The Gadget Group on +61 2 9356 7400 or email info@gadgetgroup.com.au Editorial Contributors Anthony Fordham, Nic Tatham, All care is taken in the compiling of this magazine,the editors and proprietors assume no responsibility for the effects arising therein. Thomas Bartlett, Max Everingham, Nathan Taylor, Colin Hinton Correspondence,manuscripts and photographs are welcome,and books, equipment and materials may be submitted for review.Although care is taken,the Printing The Quality Group editors and publisher will not accept responsibility for loss or damage to material submitted.The magazine is not aligned with any company or group within the Australian electronics industry.Its editorial policy is completely independent.Views expressed are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. Distributed by Gordon & Gotch www.gordongotch.com.au All rights reserved and reproduction without permission is strictly forbidden. Price on cover is recommended retail price only. ISSN 1327-0338 Copyright 2009

CONTENTS APRIL /MAY 2009

22 84 FEATURES

30 39 REGULARS

Model Must-haves

Play 22 Random Home entertainment news and product highlights.

The current must-haves for your TV shopping checklist, plus emerging technologies and Max Everingham’s wish list for the tellies of tomorrow.

Radio Daze

In May 2009, radio is going to sound better and offer greater programming choice. Anthony Fordham outlines why the airwaves are going digital, and the beneﬁts to you.

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In Motion

Ultimate AV

Gear Log

Ear & Eyes & Thumbs

Time Warp

Bang & Olufsen delivers a new music system based on ‘More of the Same’, but it’s like nothing they’ve done before.

A round-up of portable players, with speakers and headphones for entertainment on the move.

The world’s biggest LED screens ﬁnd a home in Australia.

A showcase of standout electronica.

Watch, listen, play. Max Everingham’s roundup of the best movies, music and games.

A retrospective of milestone entertainment products and technologies. This issue: Atari 2600 games console

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36 67

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Reviews, articles and news from Home Entertainment magazine online

Exciting digital page-turning format!

BOX FRESH REVIEWED THIS ISSUE

COLUMNS Guy Talk

Tech Corner

Channel Seven’s GadgetGuy, Peter Blasina, reports today’s technology trends.

LED backlighting has seen LCD catch plasma in the contrast stakes; Anthony Fordham explains how it works.

HOW TO BUY

HD Video Players

Digital Radios

With the number and type of high deﬁnition video players increasing, Thomas Bartlett examines what each does, and how to get the best value and performance from your choice. A month before the ofﬁcial launch of digital radio, Nathan Taylor presents digital radios – from basic portables to high-end internet radio stations, and everything in between.

Reﬂex Action: Buying a Digital SLR Camera

You can’t beat the sheer picture-making talent of a digital-SLR, and with HDMI connections and high-def video shooting features, they’re ready-made for use with HD entertainment setups

Arcam FMJ T32 Grundig GDR710DABIP Pure Chronos iDock Pure Evoke Flow Pure One Elite Pure Siesta Revo Pico Revo Uno Roberts Ecologic 4 Roberts MP-Sound 43 Sangean DPR-69 Plus Tivoli Audio NetWorks Deﬁnitive Technology Mythos Yamaha RX-Z7 Epson EH-TW5000 Sennheiser HD 800 Kogan KGNBRVA Sharp Aquos BD-HP50X

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 62 64 66 68 72 72

RANDOM PLAY

Thin as a sheet The ﬁrst wireless high deﬁnition televisions will debut in April when Sony introduces its ZX1 and EX1 Bravia LCDs. At 9.9mm, the ZX1 integrates Edge LED lighting – where LEDs are located along the sides of the screen rather than behind it – to achieve its status as the world’s thinnest LCD television, while the EX1 sports Sony’s new picture frame styling and comes with six preloaded images to give the appearance of being a work or art. Both sets employ ‘Bravia 1080 Wireless’ technology for sending 1080p video and sound from a media box to the TV, located up to 20 metres away. The media box contains the HDTV tuner and most of the video processing circuitry – a factor that allows the televisions to be manufactured so thin – and provides connections for Blu-ray players and other video devices. All signals

DISTRIBUTOR are transmitted, without cables, Sony Corporation PHONE 1300 720 071 to the remotely WEB www.sony.com.au located TV, via radio frequency, meaning the media box and sources can be placed behind walls or in another room entirely to the television. The transmission is not buffered, either, but displayed in realtime, with no lag detectable during Home Entertainment’s preview of the products. All sets incorporate Sony’s Motionﬂow 100Hz technology, Bravia Engine2, Bravia Sync technology for operating other Sony products, TrueCinema 24, and USB ports for photo viewing. The 40 inch ZX1 will cost $7399, with 52, 42 and 40 inch Bravia EX1 models costing $7099, $6099 and $5399 respectively.

Blu-ray, with YouTube Connected to high-speed broadband, LG’S BD370 player can stream videos from YouTube, with the site’s vast video library searchable via the Blu-ray player’s remote control. BD Live-enabled, the player also connects to the internet to download movie trailers, subtitles and other information related to a BD movie (where provided by the disc) as well related movie

DISTRIBUTOR

quizzes and multi-player LG Electronics interactive games. WEB www.lge.com.au The latest HDMI speciﬁcation is supported, 1080p upscaling improves the appearance of ordinary DVDs, and built-in decoding for Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master decoder means the BD370 can be mated to older-model AV receivers to provide the highest-resolution surround sound. Boot-up is a claimed 15 seconds; support for a wide range of formats – DivX, MPEG4, video, JPEG, MP3, HD Divx and WMA – is provided and, in a nice touch, the centre panel light glows blue for BD Live titles, changing to orange for DVDs and violet for CDs. It costs $449.

RANDOM PLAY

Growing family In expanding its family of CM Series loudspeakers, the Bowers & Wilkins CM1 Mini Monitor is joined by two new three-way floorstanders, a larger standmount model, two centre channels and a dedicated subwoofer. Positioned between B&W’s 600 Series and high-end 800 Series, each CM model is finished in either a polished gloss black, rosenut or wenge realwood veneer, with the good looks further enhanced by aluminium-trimmed drivers and magnetic grilles. The drive units in the CM Series provide an inherently smooth response, DISTRIBUTOR according to B&W, and Convoy International with longer voice coils and WEB www.e-hifi.com.au

stronger magnets than used in the 600 Series, the bass drivers deliver more “punch and attack” while reducing distortion. Prices start at $1199 for the two-way CM Centre; the CM5 standmount bookshelf model costs $1499/pair; the ASW active subwoofer costs $2499, and the topline CM9 threeway ﬂoorstander cost $4499/pair.

Money for nothing Direct marketer, Kogan Technologies, has an idea on how to spend the cashlings coming to you as part of the prime minister’s stimulus package. It’s ‘Kevin 37’ LCD television costs a neat $900, the maximum

amount anyone will receive as a tax bonus when the government starts sending out the cheques in April. “While big name technology vendors are raising prices, we’re introducing new products at prices that undercut the market significantly, says founder and director of Kogan Technologies” Ruslan Kogan. “The government bonus is intended for local spending, which will in turn stimulate economic growth. The Kevin 37 is designed specifically for this stimulus package.” The Kevin 37 LCD TV has resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, a built-in high definition tuner, 6 millisecond response time, a rated contrast radio of 1200:1, a digital coaxial output for sending surround soundtracks to an outboard DISTRIBUTOR receiver, plus a single HDMI Kogan Technologies input. Order online at WEB www.kogan.com.au www.kogan.com.au

GRANDE UTOPIA III

Everything you’ve heard up until this moment is a murmur. Audio realism, precision and dimension like nothing else on Earth. Hand made in France by the world’s most passionate audio engineers, the FOCAL Grand Utopia III stands 2m tall and weighs 260kg. Utopia is enriched with technological milestones including Electro-Magnet woofer, “W” cone, Focus Time, Multiferrite, Beryllium, Power Flower, OPC and Gamma Structure. And the sound? It’s like hearing for the very first time. RRP $269,000 a pair and worth every cent. Experience the sound of Utopia and meet the rest of the FOCAL family at Len Wallis Audio. Visit our showroom for a full demonstration or call 02 9427 6755 for more information.

RANDOM PLAY

Grand designs In the last ten years French company Focal has progressed from making specialist drivers for other companies to designing and manufacturing its own line-up of speakers. These range from the Dome sub/ sat system to the ﬂagship Grand Utopia EM. These weigh 260 kilos each, stand two metres tall, cost $269,000 and are packed with the latest advances in driver design. Adjustable Focus Time, for instance, allows you to tilt the section of the cabinet holding the top speakers towards the listener via a small crank, depending on your listening position. More innovative, however, is the replacement of the conventional magnet on the 15 inch bass driver with an electro-magnetic (EM) motor. This allows the magnet force to become endless – or ﬂexible

Get game The next two months sees most nameplates turning over their current line-up of televisions, but Toshiba has beaten many to market with its XV550A, XV560A and RV550A ranges. All models in each series are full HD, with the XV series driven by Toshy’s Power Meta Brain video engine and incorporating ClearFrame 100Hz processing for smoother reproduction of fast motion sequences. The XV and RV Series also beneﬁt from a gaming mode that, according to the company, “delivers you faster game controller response times direct from your notebook or game console to your TV”. Respectively, the 42 and 46 inch XV550A cost $2859 and $3629; the 42, 46 and 52 inch XV560A cost $2859, $3629 and DISTRIBUTOR $4599, and the 42 and 46 Toshiba Pty Ltd inch RV550A cost $2199 WEB www.toshibaav.com.au and $2749.

DISTRIBUTOR

Len Wallis Audio PHONE 02 9427 6755 WEB www.lenwallisaudio.com.au

– according to the importer, Len Wallis Audio. The electro-magnet power supply is external of the speaker cabinet, and can be adjusted, allowing you to tailor the bass according to room conditions, and to listening preferences. “There is no disputing that this is an expensive loudspeaker,” says Len Wallis, of Len Wallis Audio, “but this is not about the money. This is a statement of what is achievable given the appropriate budget. For many, listening to this speaker is a revelation and an education. And, as with previous ﬂagship models from Focal, the technology utilised quickly seeps down into less expensive offerings.” The budget offering in the Utopia range is the Diablo bookshelf, costing $17,000 a pair.

RANDOM PLAY

Top marques The Ferrari of the projection world, SIM2 has released its most affordable 1080p projector to date. The Domino 60 is a single chip DLP design based around Texas Instruments’ 1080p DarkChip3 0.95 inch DMD chipset. Like more expensive SIM2 projectors, the Domino 60 shares a few similar features such as a variable dual iris in the lens which adjusts to produce the right amount of light output for each of three operational modes; Cinema, Dynamic and Standard. The advantage of the dual iris, according to SIM2, is to enhance contrast and shadow detail. Further use of Texas Instruments’ DynamicBlack technology digitally examines the video source material and adjusts the iris aperture based on the level of light shown on screen. Aimed at the serious, but not OTT, home theatre enthusiast, the Domino 60 has the connections to ﬁt into most AV systems. There are twin HDMI inputs, plus composite, S-Video, component

DISTRIBUTOR

Audio Products Group and RGBHV. Third-party PHONE 1300 134 400 system integration such WEB www.audioproducts.com.au as Crestron or AMX is provided for with an RS-232 port and 12 volt trigger output. Priced at $5999, the Domino 60 comes with a nationwide two year parts and labour warranty.

Head cases Sing the blues DISTRIBUTOR Sony says the tightly sealed acoustic design of its MDR-XB Sony Australia PHONE 1300 720 071 eXtra Bass headphones helps WEB www.sony.com.au produce a high level of sound isolation, while the newly designed direct vibe structure of the headphones assists in providing a full bass sound without sacriﬁcing the mids and highs. The MDRXB20EX in-ear model provides an angled ear-bud, 9mm high sensitivity dome driver and a 5–23,000Hz frequency response, while the MDRXB40EX offer a vertical in-ear bud, 13.5mm dome driver and 4–24,000Hz frequency response. For extra comfort, the overhead MDRXB300, MDRXB500 and MDRXB700 headphones provide king-sized cushioning for extended use, and an even higher level of sound isolation.

DISTRIBUTOR

Cy-Fi WEB www.cyﬁ.com.au

Developed by a Los Angeles entrepreneur who wanted a safe way to cycle, listen to music and make phones calls at the same time (now that’s sooo LA), CyFi is a compact speaker and speakerphone that attaches to a bike stem and connects over Bluetooth to just about any MP3 player or phone you might be carrying in your pocket. The player or phone needs to support A2DP, the latest stereo wireless standard, and for maximum safety when making calls, connected phones should support voice recognition. An iPod adaptor also lets you listen to and share your favourite tunes wirelessly when your get off the bike. With six hours of battery life, track, volume and playlist settings, plus a remote control, the compact and water resistant CyFi will, according to its distributors, appeal to bushwalkers, boaties and campers as well as cyclists. It costs $350.

RANDOM PLAY

Wrapped up in Blu Denon’s ﬁrst Blu-ray player has all you’d expect from a current-model high deﬁnition disc spinner, including 1080p/24fps video output, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master Audio support, Bonus View compatibility for accessing the video Picture-in-Picture features provided on some discs, plus HDMI 1.3 for Deep Colour and x.v Colour. The DVD-1800BD, however, sports a price of $1699, with the premium covering what Denon describes as its “advanced DISTRIBUTOR on-board interlaced-toAudio Products Group progressive conversion and PHONE 1300 134 400 WEB www.denon.com.au 1080p upscaling technology

Sling shift Australian distributor of the Beyonwiz PVR, Digital Products Group has announced it will introduce the Slingbox to Australia. Launched in the US in 2005, the device allows you to stream content from a home television source – such as a digital TV settop box, PVR, or PayTV receiver – to a laptop or desktop computer (PC or Mac) in and around the house. And with a broadband connection with upload speeds of 256kbps per second or higher (such as ADSL 2+), Slingbox will even stream TV signals to locations outside the home with a high-speed network

that produces some of the ﬁnest images currently available from this format”. The DVD-1800BD also provides a suite of picture adjustment controls that include brightness and contrast, along with colour and sharpness adjustments and a gamma control for superior deep black and dark grey performance. Playback of most common disc types, including DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD, CD-R/ RW, is provided, and MP3, WMA, JPG and Divx (version 6) formats are supported. The player provides an SD slot for accessing multimedia, and a Pure Direct mode disables all video circuitry within the player to allow optimum audio ﬁdelity from CD.

DISTRIBUTOR

Digital Products Group PHONE 1300 889 803 WEB www.digitalpg.com.au

connection. You could watch, for instance, your favourite Foxtel or digital TV show – or a program recorded to your PVR – in a hotel room on the other side of the world with Slingbox. And with SlingPlayer Movie you will be able to do the same using a compatible 3G or WiFi-capable mobile phone. Current compatible handsets include BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile, with iPhone soon to join the list, according to Digital Products Group. The Slingbox Solo ($349) provides you with access to one AV source, while the Pro provides access to three AV sources ($499).

Tune in to the digital radio revolution.

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The next evolution in radio broadcasting has arrived with Digital Radio. Digital Radio offers clearer reception, live text displaying song titles, artists, sports results, trafﬁc information, talkback announcer names and the convenience of never having to ‘tune’ the radio again. Imagine AM and FM on a level playing ﬁeld, both with virtually CD quality sound.

This innovative, exciting technology will enable you to choose from a greater range of radio stations with an interference free experience. Sangean, the world’s largest specialist radio manufacturer, is at the forefront of Digital Radio technology with an exciting range of high-quality Digital Radios designed to suit your lifestyle.

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GUY TALK

A Matter of Choice

arlier this year I had the opportunity to tour LG’s impressive AU$7.35 billion Paju LCD plant outside Seoul in Korea. The plant is immense. Big enough to hold eight soccer stadiums, in fact. At the time of my visit, huge trucks and cranes were moving new multi-million dollar robotic machinery into place to handle the massive glass sheets used for big-screen LCD TV and small-screen LCD computer monitor production. The impression was that the plant saw fairly regular upgrade works like this to cope with the world-wide demand for larger screen LCD TVs. The LG Display plant is based on so-called ‘8th generation’ production technology. This means it can process sheets of mother glass – the large glass panels from which several LCD screens are made – of 2.2 metres by 2.5 metres. Each generational process technology is best suited to producing a certain number of TVs of a single screen size (or combination of screen sizes) because they are able to be cut from the mother glass sheets with least waste. LG Display now uses the new plant for 32 inch, 47 inch and 55 inch LCD panels, with 60 inch panels planned for later this year. Monthly capacity of the line is 20,000 sheets of mother glass, although LG Display anticipates increasing production at the Paju plant to more than 80,000 sheets per month by the end of 2009 if demand requires it. LG Display is the number two LCD TV display maker in the world behind Korean competitor Samsung Electronics. With the new plant it hopes to profit from the expanding world LCD TV market, and is looking towards China in particular for generating sales. Here, a government stimulus package has been implemented to stoke rural consumption of consumer electronics products. With a global economy in turmoil, it is immensely uplifting to see first hand a company committed to a constant cycle of generational development. A large part of this is, of course, given impetus by the desire to stay in front of the competition. As competition declines, however, some companies may see it as an opportunity to scale back that imperative. As with that other flat panel TV technology, plasma, strong competition has resulted in prices dramatically heading south in recent months. This makes it difficult for companies to increase profits, despite higher sales volumes. It seems like everyone is complaining of unsustainable margins – manufacturers, importers and retailers all say that while sales of flat panel TVs continue to grow, the value of those sales has been in steep decline. Sure, the downward spiral of prices has been a boon for the consumer, but that same consumer now stands to lose because the profit that helped improve TV technology is

diminishing. In short, the makers of flat panel displays now find themselves having to squeeze better TV technology out of less and less dollars. Some have found the task so onerous that they’ve taken their flat panel TVs and gone home. In the last 12 months, long-established tier one manufacturers such as Philips, Fujitsu, NEC, Hitachi and, most recently, Pioneer have exited the Australian TV market. The immediate impact is less choice for the consumer and less competition. The longer-term result will be higher prices and perhaps even a reduction in research and development as manufacturers attempt to squeeze all possible profit out of traditional technologies. With the exit of Pioneer, for example, the innovation that fuelled the development its plasma TVs – consistently rated by the national and international press as providing the benchmark in quality – will now simply evaporate. This doesn’t, of course, mean that excellence disappears from the plasma area, just that another nameplate needs to step up with technologies that earn it the mantle of world’s best plasma maker. LG recently circulated a global press release stating that, “As a founding member of the Plasma Display Coalition, LG are committed to the plasma business and believe plasma TVs are an important segment in the flat panel display sector. In addition, unlike some current and former plasma TV players, LG possesses core technologies for plasma TVs and PDP modules, giving it unique advantages in the market. LG have invested heavily to strengthen the LG brand in this segment and will continue to do so.” Let’s hope, then, that the three remaining major plasma manufacturers will continue to innovate so that consumers are provided with a wealth of choice when it comes to deciding between LCD and plasma – even if it eventually means higher prices. It will always be a better bet to pay a little more for better technology. ■

The GadgetGuy™, Peter Blasina, is the technology reporter for Channel Seven’s Sunrise program, appears regularly on other network programs and is broadcast weekly on various national radio stations. Peter Blasina visited Seoul, South Korea in January 2009 as a guest of LG Display Company.

TECH CORNER

Light Work W

hen is a flat panel TV not really that flat? When it doesn’t have an LED backlight. Dart into the shops these days and you’ll see a new breed of displays. Compared to a CRT, an-old school LCD TV is pretty flat. But compared to an LED-backlit display, it’s positively chunky. These new TVs are typically less than 10cm thick – compare that to the 20 or 30cm thickness of a regular LCD. The secret to this sveltness is the Light Emitting Diode. It’s not a new technology (it was invented in 1907) but its presence in big displays is a new application. Let’s start with the electronics. A regular light globe generates light when the element in the globe resists an electrical current passing through it. A by-product of this resistance is light. The more resistance (measured in watts) the brighter the light. But last-generation flat panel TVs don’t use incandescent backlights. Instead, they use fluorescent lights. These pass electricity into a cathode that spews electrons into the lamp, which react with a low-pressure gas, creating light. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are something else entirely. They use two semi-conductors, which interact in such a way as to produce light when electricity is passed through them. The real advantage of LEDs is that they are extremely efficient at generating light, compared to how much power you pump into them.

For TV users, it’s the compact size and low power consumption that make LEDs so perfect for TVs Currently LEDs are roughly four times as efficient as an incandescent bulb. They’re not as efficient as a fluorescent tube, but they do light up much faster and they can be very small. They also solder directly onto a circuit board: they don’t need ballasts. (Ballasts are chunks of electronics, mainly capacitors, that regulate the flow of electricity to the tube. They run hot, they can fail, and they generally make the whole system more complex and bulky.) Importantly, they can be built to emit a specific colour of light, instead of needing a colour filter. A blue LED really is blue, not a white light in a blue case. They’re also almost completely shock resistant and don’t contain toxic mercury. There’s no element, so if you drop one, it won’t break or ‘blow’ like a regular light globe. You can destroy an LED by running electricity through it at a reverse polarity. As most LEDs are soldered onto circuit boards though, this would require the average user to crack open their device and get busy with a soldering iron. LEDs in the world at large are almost everywhere. In fact, wherever you need a bright point of light that needs to switch on and off regularly and last thousands or even tens of thousands of hours. Many new cars now uses LED brake lights and the snazzier models have a line of LEDs under the headlights which work as

‘running lights’ and improve the visibility of the vehicle during daylight: the bright white LEDs stand out even in direct sunlight. For TV users, it’s the compact size and low power consumption that make LEDs so perfect for TVs. The technology is already proven, as LEDs have been backlighting small electronic devices such as handheld games consoles for years. They’re also making their way into the latest generation of notebook PCs – Apple uses LED backlights in many of its Macbook computers. LCD TVs need a backlight because the LCD grid itself creates only colour; it doesn’t generate its own light. A backlight has to shine through it, so you can see the image. Like cold-cathode fluorescent lighting, LEDs are installed in the back of the TV and configured so their light passes through diffusers, creating an even spread of light. Where LEDs can start to improve the image quality is when manufacturers use a Red/Green/Blue LED system. RGB systems consist of a grid of red, green and blue LEDs that combine their light to create white. The advantage of RGB LEDs is that the temperature of white – the White Point of the display – can be set dynamically by the circuitry in the TV, or even by the user. Prefer a yellower look? Twiddle the remote, and it’s done. RGB LED backlighting essentially boosts the colourgenerating capabilities of the LCD screen. A TV with wide colour gamut support can harness its back-lighting system to further boost reds, blues and greens in scenes dominated by those colours. Said TV can also display more colours than its last-generation brethren, and by moving the red, green and blue ‘points’ can make these colours more vivid. (Colour ‘points’ have to do with the amount of light energy hitting your retina at short, medium and long wavelengths. For more detail on this, enrol in a degree in opthamology!) Unfortunately it’s not all (extremely vivid) roses when it comes to LED backlighting. Like any kind of light, LEDs do age and their colour changes over time. What’s especially irritating about LEDs is that they don’t age uniformly. So when you put a bunch of them in a grid, different parts of the grid may age at different rates. So you may find after several years that the upper right corner of your TV doesn’t produce as brilliant a red, or the bottom third doesn’t quite manage blue as well as the rest of the display. And because RGB LED systems use multiple colours to create white, the temperature of the display will almost definitely shift over time. Still, the LEDs are solid state. This means it’s extremely unlikely for any of them to fail. They also have the potential to use much less power than a fluorescent backlight, though this does require clever circuitry. In real terms though, there are very few disadvantages to LED backlighting, and plenty of reasons to look for it in your next TV purchase. And within the next few years, it won’t even be a matter of choice: all LCD TVs will use LEDs, as will your PC monitor and your notebook. Flatter flats, more colourful colours, and less power consumption. All thanks to a component invented more than Anthony Fordham 100 years ago. Thanks LED!

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MODEL MUST-HAVES

MODEL MUST-HAVES THE CHECKLIST FOR TV BUYING IN 2009 TV continues to innovate, so what are the current must-haves and what we can we look forward to in the future? Max Everingham reports.

he adventure of buying a new TV is a microcosm of the adventure of life. You know what you dream about having, you know what you actually need and you know what you can afford. And they’re never the same things. So, unless you’re hugely fortunate, you’re going to have to do some research. Sit down, have a think about what you really must have and what you can live without, make a list, get on the web, do some comparisons and only then strike out and venture into the stores. What you’ll most likely discover during that research phase is that there’s a bunch of different technologies, all hiding behind silly or unhelpful acronyms or abbreviations, and all claiming to be absolutely critical to your home entertainment happiness factor. Whatever you do, don’t ask one of the in-store ‘experts’ about any of these silly names. No, come to us. We’re comprehensively versed in the silly name department – for example, ‘GUNCE’ which we just made up right now and stands for ‘Gurus of Unhelpful Names for Consumer Electronics, but is pronounced ‘gunk’ – and will guide you through the maze of ‘features’ the manufacturers would have you believe are critical for the support of home entertainment life on earth.

Some of these are fairly obvious by now. Despite the fact that someone clever is going to have to try and think of a ‘fuller’ name than ‘Full HD’ when that term, itself, is eclipsed, full HD or 1080p resolution is a must-have these days. Not only because 1080i television broadcasts are becoming more common or the PlayStation 3 can (but rarely actually does) display games up to 1080p, and certainly not because of the 1080p format of Blu-ray, but more importantly because you instantly lose boasting points with your mates if your set is limited to the now-lowly 720p. A decent number (at least three) of HDMI inputs, DLNA compliance (basically ‘plug & play’ for your digital equipment, guaranteeing components badged DLNA can share content over a home network), and even Internet connectivity (such as Panasonic’s recently announced ‘VieraCast’ internet content service with Amazon Video on Demand) are becoming de rigueur too. Another obvious one, assuming quality is a priority for you, has to be to look out for compliance with standards like ISF, THX, xvYCC and ‘Deep Colour’, or 30-48 bit RGB, covered in the HDMI 1.3 specification. THX is, of course, the set of high-quality audio

If you’re anything like us, with home theatre space competing with children, dogs and clumsy, ape-like male friends, wireless HDMI will be worth every extra cent 24

TVs are integrating Ethernet connectivity to directly access the content riches of the Web; LG’s PS80 uses NetCast Entertainment Access functionality to access Netflix Instant Streaming, Yahoo! Widgets, YouTube movies, and media stored on a PC. It also offers THX Display Certification and THX Media Director. Panasonic’s VieraCast provides similar functionality for its P50G10

and video standards made famous by George Lucas’ Lucasfilm company, ensuring that a movie will sound and look great wherever it’s played. ISF, or ‘Imaging Science Foundation’ is a self-appointed group that tries to ensure similar standards for the visual realm. Televisions that support DLNA can share images, music, video and photos with other DLNA devices – such as mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders – over a home network THX Certified displays have a proprietary THX Movie Mode that re-creates the cinema experience of movies on DVD, Blu-ray, HD-DVD and broadcast television in the home. The mode sets the display’s gamma, luminance, color temperature and other settings to match the levels found in the studios where movies are produced TV s that support HDMI 1.3 can display the latest Deep Colour and x.v. colour standards. These expand the colors on the display from millions to billions, offering a vividness and color accuracy which has not been seen before in display technology HD displays with the Imaging Science Foundation logo feature calibrated onscreen presets for superior image performance

Previously, only high-end companies such as Pioneer and NEC bothered with these, incorporating ISF compatibility into their sets (so the picture can be calibrated to a much more detailed level), but an increasing number of companies are getting involved, with LG leading the charge both on that and the THX sound front. It’s

MODEL MUST-HAVES TVs with THX Media Director allow digital media to self-configure home entertainment devices for optimum playback settings

probably not worth breaking your budget to pick up a television with ISF calibration features if you only watch DVDs, but would make more sense if you’re going for a premium home theatre installation. Part of the latest HDMI connection standard, ‘xvYCC’ and ‘Deep Colour’ refer, respectively, to the range and depth of colour available. xvYCC is an ‘extended gamut’ colour space, allowing 1.8 times the number of colours than the more familiar sRGB specification used on DVD. So you get more possibilities for colour variation, if you like. Deep Colour allows for up to 48-bit colour – in fact, way beyond what the human eye can interpret. But more shades allow for greater colour fidelity and can help decrease artifacts such as banding, increase contrast and, within the increased xvYCC space, produces extremely clear, vivid pictures. These two colour standards are available on discs created from AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) devices, such as camcorders and some digital cameras, and advanced games, such as those for the PS3, can be created using Deep Colour. They are not yet implemented on DVD or Blu-ray

I see the light – it’s beautiful Looking at the technology that’s available right now, the buzzword is ‘LED backlighting’ – unless you’re a plasma TV manufacturer, but they’re dying out quicker than the Louisiana wetlands (look it up). LED backlighting comes in two flavours: one using regular white LEDs and one using coloured, RGB versions. LED backlighting complements the other big motion-blurcombating technology – called variously ‘TruMotion’, ‘Auto Motion Plus’, ‘ClearFrame’, ‘Motionflow’ and other decidedly unsnappy names – but which basically doubles the regular refresh rate of 50 frames per second to 100Hz (or, in the case of LG, Sony and Samsung, doubling that again, for a 200Hz refresh rate). This goes a long way to improving the appearance of fast-moving video, but is often attended by a heat haze-type artefacting

LCD televisions with 100Hz and 200Hz picture processing cost a premium but improve the appearance of fast-moving action sequences

LG’s LH90 integrates LED backlighting with local dimming technology to provide a claimed dynamic contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1

around the moving subjects, which can be more distracting than the motion blur itself. TV sets with LED backlighting use the LEDs instead of the usual, always-on fluourescent lamps. This has a number of benefits: blurring is reduced, contrast is improved, with deeper blacks and more vivid colours, power consumption is lower and the TV set itself can be made thinner. Both technologies are worth looking for if you’re considering buying an LCD TV. As you might expect, a TV using the three separately-coloured red, green and blue LED backlights is going to produce a better picture than one using just white LEDs, as they match the colours of the LCD pixels and less light needs to be filtered out to start with.

Messing with your head There’s another big buzzword, actually, exhibited to great effect earlier this year at the annual CES show in Vegas: 3-D. Heralded by all sorts of marketing double-speak gurus as ‘the next big thing’, all the big hitters had 3-D sets on their stands at the show. But there’s always a next big thing, right? So is it worth having? The answer would seem to depend on how you feel about looking really stupid. The old red and green glasses are history, you’ll be pleased to hear, but you may be less pleased to hear that you still have to wear 3-D glasses to benefit from the effect. The main reason for this right now is physical – more accurately, it’s down to a physical limitation of the human body. To achieve 3-D vision, we need to get a slightly different image for the left and right eye. We’re used to our brains overruling our eyes when it feels like it (why else

Wireless HDMI and similar standards, such as Wireless HD, allow uncompressed 1080p/24 standard video to be transmitted from a media box to a display up to 10 metres away. Sony and LG will market Wireless HD televisions in 2009

can’t you see your nose all the time?!) and the glasses help to do this, merging the result into a single whole. This time, the lenses are grey, so there’s more chance of matching them with your lounge suit outfit but, as we’ll see in the second half of this article, you’re going to have to stick with the glasses for a little while yet. Still, the effect can be fantastic. If you’re into explosive action movies or games, you’ll want to keep an eye on this technology. But, for now, save the dollars for the technology that’s next up.

Spaghetti-free zone Despite all the salesmen’s claims to the contrary, nothing’s quite wireless yet in home electronics. Audio-visual leads are the last, great bastion of resistance against a cable-free nirvana and even

Slim televisions make wall-mounting easier and enhance portability, and will go hand-in-hand with wireless HDMI media boxes

wireless speaker sets still need a power lead snaking back to plug into the electricity grid. But this is set to change in the near future – in fact it’s already changed if you can afford it. LG exhibited an LCD panel at CES – the LG71 – with wireless HDMI as standard, as well as two plasma televisions offering it as an option. Essentially a transmitter box with four HDMI 1.3 (Deep Colour) inputs that you can place up to 10 metres away from the screen and a corresponding receiver in the TV itself; the 802.11n wireless system is promising artefact-free full HD that’s indistinguishable from wired HDMI over thin air. And LG weren’t the only ones trying to make HDMI magic. Gefen has demonstrated three different options of their ‘Wireless for HDMI’ tech, with extenders that beam 1080p images and up to 5.1 digital surround sound over distances up to 30 metres. Better still, the system doesn’t require line of sight and is said to go right through walls too, given its use of 5GHz radio frequencies. There’s only a single input/output pair to use and it may double the number of HDMI cables you need, but at least they include one in the box for you. Due out later this year, if you’re anything like us, with home theatre space competing with children, dogs and clumsy, ape-like male friends, wireless HDMI will be worth every extra cent it demands.

Wireless electricity is already a reality… it’s exciting, it’s unobtrusive and there’s a host of applications for it, of course, not just with TV

Hot TV tech now • • • • •

Full HD/1080p 100Hz and 200Hz • Big and skinny LED and RGB LED backlighting HDMI 1.3 • DLNA ISF calibration • THX certification

...And tomorrow • 3-D • OLED • Internet TV

With world video production and broadcasting standards needing to quadruple in resolution, Quad HD televisions are a long way from becoming mainstream (Samsung Quad HD TV pictured)

Trumping all the admittedly impressive wireless HDMI tech, though, has to be what some wag has dubbed ‘Witricity’ (doesn’t quite work, does it?). Sounding more like a family game for your Wii console than a serious application of technology, wireless electricity is already a reality. Employing a large transference coil situated away from the TV itself and a receiving coil in the base of the TV, power is then transferred through the ether to spark up your appliances. And these large coils can be hidden. At CES 2009, a working prototype of one in a large painting and another behind a wall was in evidence at one vendor’s stand (Witricity Corp), so it’s exciting, it’s unobtrusive and there’s a host OLED is a promising display technology, allowing the development of bright, flexible, power efficient rollout/roll-up screens

• Wireless HDMI • Witricity • Quad HD

of applications for it, of course, not just with TV. We’re slightly curious whether the ‘magnetic resonance’ principle it uses to operate will addle our brains or not, however. Before we move on to future technology, it’s probably worth noting that concerns with size have moved from diagonal screen dimensions (yes dear, it’s plenty big enough, I promise) to width. ‘Super-slim’ and ‘ultra-slim’ TVs are all the rage now, with even the largest only one inch thick (that’s 2.54 cm in real money) and more efficient to boot. So, you know, don’t buy a fat TV.

Will it never end? You didn’t really think that 1080p full HD was the best it was going to get, did you? Of course not. ‘Quad HD’ is the latest resolution to be touted around by the likes of Philips, Westinghouse and Samsung. So called because at 3840 x 2160 it provides four times the pixel count of full HD (over eight million, as opposed to just over two million), it’s abbreviated as ‘2160p’ so neh-neh-ne-ne-neh to you, 1080p! However, it’s extremely costly to make just now (and there’s scant QuadHD content) and is usually just shown in ‘autostereoscopic’ form to showcase future 3-D television. One-all, then. Possibly a bit closer to affordable reality is OLED, or Organic Light Emitting Diode, technology. Emitting bright light of their own and thereby removing the need for backlighting, OLED is still small – 15 inch screens have been in evidence and in fact Sony

Watch the Oscars or Grand Final match and have your mates virtually alongside you to comment on the action and share the emotion of the on-field action

MODEL MUST-HAVES sells one – lightweight, bright, durable, power efficient and, most excitingly of all, since they’re composed of thin films (made from organic materials, hence the term ‘organic’) can be made very thin and even be printed onto flexible materials. So one day, maybe we’ll be able to take what looks like a regular pen out of a pocket as we sit down on a plane and pull a 10 inch widescreen OLED display out of it, rolling it back up when we’re finished and ready for a snooze.

Dear future Santa….. Panasonic has already brought us one step close to life in Arnie’s Total Recall, with its ‘Life Wall’. This is a connected, 150 inch video wall incorporating ‘stay with me TV’ that makes the TV screen on the wall follow your movements, growing larger and smaller, or moving along the wall as you walk – maybe while you’re pacing up and down in the kitchen eating some toast for breakfast? – as well as face recognition tech, which recognises each user’s features and adjusts personalisation settings as a result. But you have to use very controlled, deliberate movements to get it all to work, not at all like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. So looking further ahead, let’s do the research folk a favour and come up with our own wish list of features to be included in future TV design. Unnecessary but novel features you can currently find in HD TVs include electric, remote-controlled swivel stands, light sensors that measure ambient light in the room and adjust the picture accordingly, and even motion sensors that will shut the TV off if no movement is detected in the room and the TV is not in use (fear not, couch potatoes!) But how about putting such gimmicky features in the ‘can live without’ column where they belong and demanding more genuinely useful technology instead? As we fall further in love with the idea of hang-on-the-wall viewing, televisions are becoming ever thinner – some less than 1cm thick – necessitating the use of a separate media box for housing TV tuners and video processing circuitry

We’d like to see that: TVs with built-in Slingbox capabilities that use the internet to broadcast content from your home AV rack – Foxtel, PVR, etc – to a PC anywhere in the world (or to any room of the house)

Like automatic muting, for instance, for when the adverts come on – or at the very least, sound equalisation – so that the TV station marketing folks’ plans of rudely grabbing your attention through pure fright, are thwarted and your eardrums left intact? And while we’re talking automatic, how about having the TV automatically turn itself on, and switch to the correct AV input, when you first switch on one of the components, like your DVD player, HDMI-CEC compatible or not? Or simply putting more powered speakers in the TV to begin with, complete with that fancy new ‘front surround’ technology, so that it’s completely unnecessary to splash out on a separate surround sound system and clutter your room up with more boxes? Another great way to innovate is to cheat – or more precisely, to ‘gain inspiration’ from other sources. Slingbox technology – a digital box that hooks up to a broadband connection and can then ‘sling’ source material from your Foxtel, PVR or other digital device to your PC or laptop anywhere in the world - is here, and it’s superb, so why not build it into a flat screen TV? Or take the solid-state memory storage used in mobile phones and now netbooks and incorporate that, making your TV capable of recording and downloading? Use the internet connectivity we have now to display Skype-like PIP with full audio along the bottom of your TV screen during the big match. So you can watch the Oscars or Grand Final match and have your mates virtually alongside you to comment on the action and share the emotion of the on-field action. Bring sociable back!

Please sweat the big stuff Quad HD and large OLED are certainties, just a matter of economies of scale. Similarly, 3-D TV, regardless of whether it achieves mass adoption or not, will start to really take off when it ditches the glasses; an event only about 10 years into the future, say Panasonic and LG. And even if OLED doesn’t deliver, we still want roll-up screens along the lines of current projector screens, only with all the videoprocessing circuitry built in, so they simply roll out and display an incredible HD picture; no blackout and no projector required. And lastly, forget the powered swivel stand but instead how about incorporating some of that delicious ‘Witricity’ into its base so that it becomes a charging mat, in effect, and charges the batteries in your universal remote, or a game controller, say, when you put it down there? Maybe one day, we’ll just have three pipes – red, green and blue – protruding out of the wall that will then project a huge, 3-D panorama right into the middle of our living rooms. Until then, we’re pretty happy with the way that the innovations in TV technology have begun to provide more of what we want, in terms of improved picture and sound quality, convenience, power efficiency and aesthetics, rather than brutish physical size. n

After years in the planning, Australia’s radio airwaves are about to go digital. Anthony Fordham explains what’s in it for you

ow’s your digital content these days? Let’s see: HD digital TV, check. Digital photographs, check. Digital video via a super-slim hard-drive or memory-stick based camera, check. Personal music, check! Radio… Hang on, how did we miss this one? Of the wide range of media available to Australians, none commands more listener-hours than radio. There are between 50 and 70 million radios currently in use – cars, portables, clock radios, even high-end AV tuners – yet until May 2009 not one of them will accept a digital signal. It seems mad, really. We have free-to-air digital television broadcasting at 1080i with surround sound, which is no mean technical achievement. So why don’t we have simple stereo digital radio broadcasts? Well, the good news is that now we do. Thanks to a claimed $300-400 million of infrastructure investment and nearly a decade’s work on the part of groups like Commercial Radio Australia (the CRA) – which comprises around 98 percent of the country’s commercial radio broadcasters – a whole bunch of radio manufacturers and distributors, and of course retailers, digital radio is set to commence regular broadcasts in Australia, in May 2009. Product with the Digital Radio Plus logo – the official name of digital radio in Australia – supports DAB+ broadcasts

Why so long? When we ask CEO of Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner, why digital radio has taken so long to get here, she actually responds that the process has been relatively quick. “We’ve been working on this directly since 2003,” she says. “It’s not as simple as saying let’s do a new tech and then rolling it out.” Warner explains that it’s important to Australia’s radio broadcasters that every possible standard and technology be examined and rated for suitability. There are also many behindthe-scenes questions that needed to be answered: who would control the transmission system? Would existing broadcasters get exclusive access to the new tech, and for how long? And because the airwaves are public property, big decisions such as adding digital radio to the existing radio landscape have to be backed up by government legislation. It’s hardly a glamorous start for a new tech: locked in committee rooms full of overhead projectors and whiteboards. Still, all that’s behind us now, and it’s time to get the ball rolling on digital radio. But what exactly is digital radio?

Why we need digital radio Current AM and FM broadcasts are analog. Your receiver converts the electrical signal directly into audio. You might have a radio that provides some kind of audio filtering or processing, but the signal is intrinsically degraded by the transmission process.

AM and FM suffer from all sorts of disadvantages. They take up a lot of bandwidth, so the number of channels that can be carried is limited. They’re vulnerable to ‘crosstalk’ – with stations overlapping each other. And of course we’ve all experienced static and loss of signal. In fact, there are many similarities between the digital radio experience and digital television. Digital radio gives a solid signal, without any fuzz or static. You’ll also tune in to ‘named’ stations instead of esoteric numbers like 106.5 or 88.1 – just select ‘ABC Radio National’ from a list on your receiver. The standard for digital radio – in Australia it’s called DAB+ – specifies that receivers must have a two-line text display. But this isn’t just for station names. Broadcasters can also add metadata to their transmissions, including playlist information, weather reports, anything really. “Hearing is believing with digital radio,” says Warner. “Listeners are going to be really excited once they get the

Many of the first digital radio devices support alarm clock and iPod functions

With the ability to show text, and even images, digital radio has a natural ìwow factorî built in. It will dramatically refresh our oldest and perhaps most undervalued broadcast medium opportunity to actually experience digital.” She says that with the ability to show text, and even images, digital radio has a natural “wow factor” built in. It will dramatically refresh our oldest and perhaps most undervalued broadcast medium.

In the beginning The Digital Audio Broadcasting standard, DAB, was developed in 1988 and formalised in 1993. Continental Europe and the UK started broadcasting in 2000, and it’s estimated that by 2006 around 500 million people lived in coverage areas for digital radio. But the history of DAB is somewhat chequered, and that’s why we won’t be using it here in Australia. Instead, we’ll use the upgraded DAB+ standard. So what’s the difference? DAB predates most compressed audio devices such as personal players and even affordable home PCs, so it uses MPEG-1 Audio Layer II compression (called MP2). This was good enough in the early ’90s, but it had a major drawback: digital stations had poorer audio quality than FM!

Australian digital radios will display text provided by the broadcaster, such as race results, phone numbers, news alerts, song titles or shop opening times

Yes, DAB eliminates crosstalk and static, but it sounds a lot worse than a CD. Adding insult to injury, some stations broadcast their music in mono to save on bandwidth. Analog radio gets a slice of the spectrum to use, and has a KHz ‘slot’ on the band. Digital radio does too, but since it’s digital, the amount of content is actually measured in kilobits per second (kbps), just like when you encode an MP3 at different quality settings. Here in Australia, digital channels will be given a maximum of 192kbps per channel. It’s possible to split this bandwidth up, assign it to different sub-channels or use it for text, and that’s part of

what’s so great about digital radio. But in countries that use DAB, not DAB+ like Australia, any reduction in bandwidth has a massive effect on audio quality, because of the MP2 compression. DAB+, on the other hand, uses AAC+ compression, just like iPod. It’s more efficient, and it means a 64kbps audio stream sounds fantastic, much better than FM. DAB+ also has better error correction, and when it comes to a digital signal, error correction makes all the difference between uninterrupted music and constant dropouts. There’s more: in the UK for instance, initial digital broadcasts

Digital radio programming Content will drive the take-up of digital radio by consumers, but like all new technology before it, digital radio finds itself in the classic chicken and egg scenario. How can broadcasters fund the creation of compelling new content if listeners aren’t buying digital radio receivers, and why should consumers buy new hardware when there’s no compelling content to listen to? Many digital radio stakeholders, then, are taking a slowly-slowly approach to the roll-out of DAB+. Bush, Grundig, Sangeon, Pure Audio, Tivoli Audio, Arcam and Roberts, for example, will have radios for sale at launch, but the

bigger electronics names – Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sanyo and Yamaha and Onkyo – are holding off till later in the year. The public broadcasters and commercial networks aren’t being ambitious either, with none giving much away regarding their content plans, other than to say current analog stations will be simulcast in digital during the initial broadcasting period. At the very least, then, sound quality will be improved, but longer-term, digital radio promises listeners much more, and far greater programming choice. Like more stations with

programming unique to digital channels. This may include music specials, extended interviews, comedy highlights, sports events, radio plays and catch-up radio where programming highlights from a broadcaster’s primary channel is repeated. As the technology gains traction, compatible receivers may also be able to display broadcast images of music artists, radio personalities, album art, a weather map or picture of traffic conditions. Advertisers may be able to show pictures and logos, display prices, opening hours, store locations and website addresses.

radio daze DAB+ vs AM

didn’t work indoors! It was only available in the car or on portable systems. And the way that ownership of the actual transmission system – the multiplexers that create the signal – was set up, meant broadcasters had to pay huge fees to access the technology, and that naturally impacted on the quality of programming.

World’s best for Oz Australia aims to avoid all these problems, as Warner explains: “From day one we want to offer a complete system. We’ve learnt a lot from overseas. “We have in-building coverage, we have very high coverage for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, and the broadcasters hold the multiplex licenses.” Warner also points to the relationship that the CRA has with DAB+ device retailers. “Our relationship is unique in the world, we work very closely with retailers and keep them in the loop. This means on launch you can hear about digital radio and then go into a store and buy a suitable device.”

Compared to AM, DAB+ has vastly superior audio quality. It’s essentially like travelling to your favourite AM station and camping outside the studio, listening to the direct monitor feed. What’s more, since voice gets away with a lower bitrate than complex music, stations will be able to split their signal and pipe several channels at once. Three football games you really want to follow? You no longer have to rely on the station to choose when to cross to each game: the signal will split, and all three will be available for you to select. What’s more, a radio text layer will display live scores on the radio’s screen.

She sums up the whole project as offering the broadcasting industry real freedom. “It’s a freedom to implement features and services to suit listeners. It’s all about listeners.” Indeed, listeners are the whole point of digital radio, and Australia has no shortage of radio listeners. What’s more, we have an unusually high proportion of AM listeners: 48 percent. This makes us ideal candidates for a switch to digital radio, as the advantages over AM are in many ways even greater than over FM. Check the boxes in this article for the details.

The hardware So the seeds are sown: the industry believes it has the right system, and the business of digital radio is set up in the right way. But all of this will come to nought if you, the listener, can’t go out on May 1 and buy a great DAB+ capable radio.

The radio industry claims to have spent $300-400 million tooling up for digital radio broadcasting

DaB+ vs Fm The older DAB system used in Europe was actually inferior to FM in terms of pure audio quality. But DAB+ uses a better compression system, and stations can choose to dedicate most of their bitrate to a specific channel if they want to provide a very high-fidelity audio experience. Because DAB+ can change the bitrate on the fly, you might listen to a discussion on Mozart on ABC Classic Digital at 64kbps, and then the actual concerto that plays immediately afterward will be boosted to 128kbps. DAB+ also supports MPEG Surround, so it will be possible for broadcasters to create immersive live concert experiences by piping the crowd to your rear speakers. Retailers are in many ways the keystone to digital radio. Suppliers such as Pure and Bush will distribute a huge range of products that handle DAB+, and you’ll be able to find them at major electronics stores. Both Pure and Bush understand that digital radio won’t be for everyone right away, and so the first run of devices will cater for users who want to be the first on deck with the new tech, or who are looking for a style statement for their homes. Indeed, most of the first generation DAB+ devices will be standalone clock radio style units, with their own speakers. Entry-level units, from $169–199 will have a single speaker, but will have analog audio outputs so you can connect them to a bigger speaker system for stereo. More expensive units (around $499) will have compact stereo speakers, and many will also function as iPod docks. At the top end ($999), the units are still self-contained, but feature internet connectivity and digital audio outputs. Internet connectivity means they’ll also function as internet radios, connecting to a server and giving listeners access to thousands of stations worldwide.

DaB+ in tHe Car? Initially, there won’t be head-units with integrated DAB+ for car audio. Instead, you’ll use a separate module that sticks onto the windscreen like a GPS unit. These units will connect to your existing incar system via an aux plug, though if you’re pressed you can also have the DAB+ module rebroadcast to your car’s analog tuner via FM. That’s hardly ideal of course, but it will massively improve AM reception, and of course you’ll get all the other benefits, such as an increased number of channels and meta-data on the module’s display. Initial in-car units will cost around $299.

Pricing for the first digital radios will start at around $200, with high-end units starting at $1000

No matter the price-point, every system will adhere to the DAB+ standard, and will include a display that will show a minimum of two lines of text. Here, you’ll be able to scroll through stations and receive meta-data such as weather reports and playlist information. Digital radios available in other markets, namely Europe, offer the ability to pause and rewind live radio, so you can answer the phone without missing anything important, or listen again to take down a phone number. Others have USB ports so that radio can be controlled by a PC. Future innovations may include the ability for listeners to buy and download music tracks as they are listening to them on a digital radio-enabled mobile phone. Electronic coupons to redeem special offers from advertisers could be made available via digital radios, and incar digital radios might integrate with satellite navigation systems to provide real-time traffic updates.

Go digital or die Managing director of Pure Australasia, Graeme Redman, believes digital radio is key to the future of the medium.

Commercial radio stations in Sydney Melbourne Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart will commence regular digital radio transmissions in May 2009. No timetable has yet been set for regional and rural Australia

radio daze DAB+: THE BREAKDOWN What is it? Digital radio transmission, using a compressed signal that will be decoded by a receiver. Australia will use the DAB+ standard, which has superior compression, better error correction, and gives better sound quality when decoded. When will it launch? Commercial radio stations will begin broadcasting in metropolitan areas from mid-May 2009, with ABC and the SBS to follow on 6 August. While 2020 has been mooted as a possible switch-off date, no official timetable exists for shutting down the analog radio broadcast spectrum. Where can I get it? If you live in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, or Perth you should be able to receive it indoors or out. Depending on your location, you may find yourself in a black spot. How much is it? The broadcast is free-to-air. However, you will need to buy a DAB+ compliant receiver. What kind of receivers are there? This year, most DAB+ units will be standalone clock-radio style devices. Entry-level units, at about $200, will be mono. Midrange units will incorporate iPod docks and cost $500. High end units will start at $1000, have very high quality audio and digital outputs. The CRA says we can expect double the number of commercial services (with commercial owning 80 percent of the listening audience) to metropolitan areas from mid-May. To this we can add the five incumbent ABC stations plus their three new services, and SBS with its additional services

“If we don’t go digital, radio will lose its relevance,” he says. “It might take 10–15 years to complete the change, but we have the best infrastructure for digital in the world. And the support from the CRA is key; they have really championed digital. “Radio is a very taken-for-granted medium. It’s just there, but DAB+ has the potential to offer information and entertainment like nothing else. It’s the only concurrent medium – we’ve always said, you can listen to radio while doing something else.” Redman believes DAB+ will be a real boon for in-car entertainment. “Australia has this incredible AM listener base. In Melbourne the two highest rating channels are 3AW and ABC, both AM. But when you’re sitting in traffic, the interference on these channels is terrible. DAB+ will do away with all that.” Redman is especially excited about the way DAB+ can change the bitrate from program to program. He anticipates informationdense programs with talk and meta-data, then giving way to high quality music, all on the one station. The days of having to choose between high quality music (FM) and talk (AM) will be over. Even if it takes a decade and a half, the main players in the digital radio game – broadcasters, manufacturers and retailers – believe it will be more than worth it. n

What can I listen to? Your favourite commercial radio stations will simulcast in DAB+. As the system matures, secondary channels will come online, similar to ABC2 on digital TV, with additional content and programming. Austereo has announced that its Radar digital station will offer unique programming from unsigned Australian music acts. What’s the screen for? DAB+ units have a display – with a minimum of two lines of text – to show information such as the name of the song playing, a playlist of the music or shows ahead, or even traffic and weather reports. Down the track, it may also display images. How good will it sound? Broadcasters can decide this on the fly. The bitrate will be restricted when audio quality isn’t important, making room for metadata such as weather and traffic reports. Dedicated music stations will boost bitrates, giving audio quality that is equivalent to encoding music for your portable player at a ‘high’ or even ‘CD’ quality. I need more information! Follow the progress of the launch at the official website: www.digitalradioplus.com.au

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5

$8995 Bang & Olufsen www.beosound5.com www.bang-olufsen.com

BeoSound 5

he BeoSound 5 system is targeted at ‘hardcore’ B&O’ fans, bachelor execs looking to impress their mates or female visitors to their docklands pad, and particularly older music fans – that’s music fans who have seen the years grace them with maturity and wisdom, not necessarily fans of the harpsichord or Neanderthal flutes – who are tentatively making their first move towards digital music. Their reluctance to do so is well advised because, in most cases, that move to digital music comes with a huge drop-off in quality sound reproduction, given the highly compressed nature of most digital music tracks. So the iPod might have put them off for a few years, but there’s no doubting the convenience and accessibility of digitising music and sticking it all on a central media hub. This is what Danish maestros Bang & Olufsen have achieved with the BeoSound 5, but they’re aiming to do so without losing the tactile pleasures associated with handling a beloved music collection. So the BeoSound 5 exhibits trademark B&O industrial design ethics – the sleek, minimalist lines, and use of aluminium in a reassuringly solid construction that oozes class – and is controlled at the colour display panel by a trio of metal rings that respond to the lightest touch. Designed to be operated with one hand – you’ll have your glass of Chateau Lafite in your other hand, naturally – the unit also gives a respectful nod to one of the most popular and enduring products in the company’s classy lineup, the six-CD changing BeoSound 9000 that proudly displays the CD labels on its cuff as the nifty changer whizzes up and down doing its stuff. Like that product, the BeoSound 5 shows off the music stored on the hard drive, but this time displaying the CD covers digitally, as an arc of small thumbnail images that, with a flick of the wrist, magnify to take up virtually the entire 1024 x 768 LCD. Again, the intention here is that you feel like you’re actually handling your recordings.

The 25cm LCD is the centerpiece of the unit, taking up the only real estate that exists once the B&O installers have visited your house to hide the speaker wires and connecting cables away, as well as mount the BeoSound 5 on the wall or optional stand. Or, more accurately, install the BeoSound 5 coupled with the BeoMaster 5 media unit. Paired up, the duo allow proud new owners to transfer uncompressed or ‘lossless’ binary versions of their favourite sounds onto the 500GB hard drive housed inside the BeoMaster 5, which can be secreted away in your media room, linked to the outside world by an Ethernet cable. That 500GB capacity means you’ll get around 80,000 songs (or digital photos), all without that trade-off between the accessibility of having music stored digitally and the accompanying audio quality. It plays internet radio, too. But the really clever part of the BeoSound + BeoMaster equation is MOTS, or ‘More of the Same’. This charmingly prosaic acronym efficiently describes the automation of a familiar and quite desirable function; namely, to recognise what music you’ve chosen to play on the system, and then to trundle off to the rest of your collection, rifle through it and create a playlist of tracks that complement your choice. In practice, this process is lightning fast, thanks to a proprietary and award-winning algorithm developed by B&O engineering geniuses to the point of being instantaneous. Much more sophisticated than Apple’s ‘Genius’ offering, which makes its decisions based on categories, such as genre or artist, MOTS looks deeper, analysing tone, dynamics and rhythm. So stump up $8995, pair the BeoSound 5 with the powered speakers of your choice, and you can start enjoying all the benefits of having your music delivered digitally without the usual compromises.

New State-of-the-Art Additions to the

STRONG

Product Range:

SRT 4900 & SRT 4910

New High Definition Satellite and Combination Satellite + Terrestrial Receivers continue to build the STRONG range of MPEG-4 models. SRT 4900 and SRT 4910 boast outstanding features such as Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functions, various high quality connections (including HDMI), embedded CONAX CAS 7 and Common Interface Slots (for those with pay TV needs)… • High Definition MPEG-4 reception • HE-AAC audio reception (Freeview Reception Capable) • PVR functionality when used in conjunction with External Mass Data Storage Devices of up to 1TB (e.g. Hard Disk Drives) connected to either the eSATA or USB 2.0 Host port • 1920x1080i, 1280x720p and 720x576p/i Video Resolution Outputs • HDMI, High Definition Multimedia Interface Output • Component/RGB, S-Video and Composite Simultaneous Video Outputs • S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio Output • LAN Port for network connectivity • Superior Audio and Video outputs quality • MP3 Playback & JPEG Viewing via USB 2.0 Host Port • Vacuum Florescent Display (VFD)

www.strong-technologies.com

TRONG Technologies PTY. LTD. 60 Wedgewood Road, Hallam, VIC 3803, Tel: 03 8795-7990, Fax: 03 8795-7991 Helpdesk: 1800 820 030 - salesau@strong-technologies.com

HOW TO BUY

When you want to get into home entertainment but need to learn more, our How to Buy section is the perfect starting point. Our expert advice and buying tips will help put you in the know before you venture onto the shop ﬂoor.

HOW TO BUY HD video players

A guide to the multitude of high deﬁnition video players that are available, what they do, and what you should look for to get the best value and performance. By Thomas Bartlett.

40 46

Digital radios

Digital radio launches in May and there will be a wide selection of products available, suitable for every taste and use. Nathan Taylor previews 12 of the ﬁrst models to hit stores.

BOX FRESH Reviewed in this Issue

67 OUR RATINGS The Home Entertainment star rating system indicates how any given product compares to other products in the same category and price range. A $1000 product that earns a ﬁve star rating, for example, is not directly comparable to a $10 000 product from the same category – the ratings are speciﬁc only to the product category and price range of the product under review. Products are rated for feature set, performance, price and ease of use. Where stated, an ‘Overall’ rating is an average of these areas of evaluation.

Poor

Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

Fair

Good Excellent Reference

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 62 64 66 68 72 72

Reﬂex Action: Buying a Digital SLR Camera

If you watch the best moving pictures on a full HD television, then you capture the best still images on a D-SLR. It’s that simple, writes Byer Gair, as he explains the ins and outs of purchasing a Digital SLR

HOW TO BUY

High definition content is increasing, and so too is the equipment for delivering it to your TV. Thomas Bartlett examines the many HD player options on offer

ver the last couple of years, the Australian lounge room has gone high definition. You will be hard put, if you go to any of the major electronic retailers, to find an actual standard definition TV, except in the very smallest sizes (ie. 38cm!) All real TVs start with at least 1024 by 768 pixels of resolution, and these days full high definition – 1920 by 1080 pixels – is becoming commonplace. The boxouts in this article go into this stuff a bit more deeply, but essentially, what’s of interest is that these TVs deliver real benefits from the multitude of high definition players that are available. Here, we are going to guide you through what they do, and what you should look for to get the best value and performance.

Four ﬂavours To get a high definition picture you need a high definition source. This has caused enormous amounts of confusion. Not all digital TV is high definition, but some high definition material can be found on digital TV. Here we’ll talk about free-to-air-digital TV, but note that now Pay TV providers are delivering high definition programming. You won’t get much choice in players, so talk to your Pay TV provider about that. TV: For free-to-air, you will need a HDTV receiver to get high definition TV. That receiver may be built into your TV (almost certainly will be, if you’ve bought it over the last two or three years). Otherwise you may have a separate unit – the proverbial ‘set-top box’. This may be a plain ole vanilla receiver, or a receiver with a hard drive for recording HD television. Most LCD and plasma televisions are equipped with tuners for HDTV reception, with forthcoming models integrating DLNA and Ethernet connectivity for accessing SD and HD video from the Web over a home network Discs: For discs you will need a Blu-ray player. We know, we know, various equipment vendors tell you about how their upscaling 1080p DVD players produce a picture as good as Bluray. They are wrong. We have compared dozens of Blu-ray discs to their DVD equivalents, and in every single case the Blu-ray disc has been better. In almost all of them, it has been obviously better. Why wouldn’t it be? A Blu-ray has five times the amount of information in the picture as a DVD. No electronics can re-create that from nothing. Multimedia: Currently the laggard but coming up fast, there is high definition multimedia video. This may be sitting on your computer, or out there somewhere in internet-land. Increasingly, equipment is allowing this to appear on your high definition TV. For the most part, this equipment also does other stuff: primarily, receive HDTV as well. So keep your eye out for these additional multimedia functions when checking out specific products. DIY: Finally, wandering through an electronics retailer the other day we noticed that some leading-brand high definition camcorders were selling for under a thousand dollars. Yes, you can create your own high definition material. But your HD camcorder doubles as its own player, otherwise you will need to use some other device to copy your recordings to a disc or computer.

HOW TO BUY HDTV: It’s more than just high definition Before discussing high definition TV properly, we ought to note that that the TV stations are using their HDTV channels for more than just high definition. They are also using it for effective multichannelling: providing different programs to their main channel. So even if the beauty of HDTV resolution doesn’t thrill you, it could be that you will enjoy the additional TV shows made available by having access to HDTV. But let us assume that HDTV is what you want, there is one absolute essential, and then one major decision to be made. The absolute essential is that your HD set-top box be fitted with a HDMI output. We believe that all currently sold HDTV settop boxes have this, but we mention it because HDTV has actually been available in Australia for several years, and older HD set-top boxes which might be available second-hand may not have these outputs. HDMI is best because it keeps the picture in digital format all the way from the airwaves to your TV, avoiding the damage that comes from converting to analog along the way. The major decision to be made is whether you want to time shift or not. If you aren’t interested in this, your HD set-top box will be quite inexpensive. In order to view things (both SDTV and HDTV) at different times to those at which they are broadcast, you will need a HD settop box that can record. This is better known as a personal video recorder (PVR). In essence, it includes a computer-style hard disk drive inside the box. Since the TV signal (after it has been extracted from the radio waves) is digital, it is easily recorded on the hard disk. The features vary a little from unit to unit, but most include a large enough hard disk drive for about 40 hours of HDTV recording and two TV tuners so that you can record one show while watching another, or record two shows at once. Most also have a live pause feature. If you are watching a show and the phone rings, you just press the Pause key and the unit will freeze the TV picture and start recording the program to the hard disk. Some units even ‘buffer’ live TV. That means they keep up to an hour or two of the TV program that you’re watching on their

Upscaling DVD players improve picture quality from ordinary DVDs, but cannot generate all the extra detail inherent in video that is natively high definition. Website: www.toshiba.com.au

Wirelessly connected to a home network, Apple TV allows you to rent or purchase a selection of high definition TV shows and movies from the Apple TV library. Purchased content resides on the networked PC for viewing anytime, and can be copied to a portable player. Website: www.apple.com.au

AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) camcorders capture video in 1920 x 1080 resolution and, equipped with HDMI ports, can send HD footage directly to full HD television Website: www.canon.com.au

hard disk. At any time you can rewind back a little to catch that bit of dialogue you missed, or enjoy a scene again. Other conveniences on offer include Electronic Program Guides (EPG). Most TV stations broadcast along with their TV programs a listing of forthcoming shows, sometimes up to several days ahead. Your HD set-top box will list this in some kind of table format so you can plan your viewing. PVRs will generally allow you to select a program from this table to record. Highlight the program and press the Record key, and your timer recording is set up. Even more advanced innovations – such as the EPG provided with the TiVo media device and the subscription service IceTV (www.icetv.com.au) – allow automatic recording of programs that bounce all over the schedule, and recommendations for other programs based on the preferences you reveal when you set up recordings. Finally, quite a few HD PVRs include multimedia capabilities of some kind or another. In particular, the Beyonwiz and Tvix units can connect to your home network and play back multimedia material – including high definition material – from your computer. Gradually, provision is also being made for direct access to internet material.

Disc spinners giving you choice The very best high definition you will ever see – even above HDTV – comes from Blu-ray. In general, a decent home setup will produce much better picture quality than you will see in all but a very few real cinemas. The Tivo media device is a twin tuner PVR with more; owners receive a free movie each week via its internet connection, weather channels, games and, for an additional fee, networking with a computer www.tivo.com.au

HD Video Players The advanced EPG in Foxtel’s IQ2 Pay TV settop box enables automatic recording of favourite HD and SD shows up to a month in advance www.foxtel.com.au

All Blu-ray players – including the Sony Playstation 3 – give you HDMI output for the best picture quality. All current model players of which we are aware – including the PS3 – can deliver the picture in the preferred 1080p24 format provided on most Blu-ray discs. This means that the high definition picture is delivered at 24 frames per second – just the same as the original film. But not all Blu-ray players are the same. There are actually three formal levels of Blu-ray player. First, there were the Grace Period players. These are older models that were introduced prior to November 2007. You can only get one of these second-hand now. Then there are the fully capable final specification players, now called ‘BonusView’. These allow you access to some of the advanced special extras on some Blu-ray discs, such as picture-inpicture video commentaries and the like. Finally there are advanced Blu-ray players labelled ‘BD-Live’. These players feature a network port so that they can be wired into a home network (Wi-Fi models are expected to appear in the near future). Through these they can access the internet and

We can say with certainty that HD players will continue to improve, continue to become more capable – and continue to converge as well in their functions download additional features for some discs, such as trailers for other movies, or trivia tracks that can be played with a movie. If this were an extra-cost option, we’d suggest you don’t worry too much about it. But the entry-level models for the major brands are already BD-Live capable, so you might as well expect this to be included.

What’s resolution all about? Walk around a shop selling TVs and you will soon notice the word ‘resolution’ printed on the information cards attached to said TVs. In this context resolution doesn’t mean a way to resolve a problem. It refers to the concept of ‘resolving detail’. In short, the more dots of information in a video signal, the more detailed and sharper the picture will be. With digital cameras we measure resolution in ‘megapixels’ – the total number of individual dots making up the picture, divided by a million. With TVs and various video signals we talk about pixels across, by pixels down. In all cases, ‘pixel’ stands for ‘picture element’. What it actually means is a single coloured dot. Standard definition TV and DVDs have their picture held in a grid that is 720 pixels across by 576 pixels tall (720 x 576). Multiply them together and you find that the picture is a little over 400,000 pixels, 0.4 megapixels. HDTV can be either 720p (1280 pixels across by 720 tall – 0.9 megapixels) or 1080i (1920 x 1080 – 2.1 megapixels). The main content on Blu-ray is almost always 1080i or 1080p (also 1920 x 1080).

If you have a full high definition TV and are watching Blu-ray or 1080i HDTV, then all your HD player has to do is pipe the video to the TV over the HDMI cable. Easy. But what if you are watching SDTV? Or a DVD? Or you are watching Blu-ray on a 720p home theatre projector? In each of these cases the resolution of the source has to be changed – it is called ‘scaling’ – to match the display. Your DVD has be up-scaled from 720 by 576 pixels up to 1920 x 1080 pixels. Or Blu-ray may have to be down-scaled from 1920 x 1080 to the 1366 x 768 pixel resolution commonly used by 127cm plasma TVs until the last year or so. As a general rule, the best thing to do is have your source device send out the video in its original format. Your TV or other display will handle the scaling from the incoming signal’s resolution to its own resolution. However, you may wish to experiment if your source – as virtually all do these days – has its own built-in scaler which allows the output resolution to be set. Try its scaler and see if it makes a noticeable difference.

HOW TO BUY

BD Live players are able to access the internet to download extra material related to some Blu-ray discs, and with Wi-Fi capable models becoming available by mid-year, achieve it without a wireless connection www.sony.com.au

Convergence So far we’ve dealt with these sources as separate categories, but the lines between them are in fact becoming increasingly indistinct. For example, Panasonic has a disc spinner that incorporates a HDTV PVR. LG’s new Blu-ray player promises to have direct access to the near limitless resources of YouTube. It may not be HDTV, but it will be immensely rich in content. The PS3 provides both Blu-ray playback and enormous access to both online and network-based media. A number of Blu-ray players and HD set-top boxes and PVRs can play back additional material from attached memory cards and external hard disc drives. The day has not arrived yet – but we would expect to see it within a very few years – in which products will appear that support all functions. These future models will be full specification Blu-ray players with twin tuner HDTV reception and deep access to both network and Internet media.

Shifting sands of support Another marker of these devices being part of the computer age is that a new form of maintenance has become necessary: the firmware upgrade.

Some HD PVRs connect to your home network, allowing you to playback music, photos and high definition material from your computer on your home entertainment system Dvico Tvix 3330 pictured; www.lakopacific.com.au

Your Blu-ray player and your HDTV receiver are both programmable devices. They perform their functions according to computer programs that have been loaded into them. That means that for some devices, new functions can be added even after the device has assumed its position in your home. Sometimes incompatibilities appear, with new Blu-ray discs failing to work properly in existing players, or a subtle technical change in a TV signal causing instability. These can all be corrected without having to take the unit to the manufacturer’s service agent. Basically, all this is done by downloading from a website a new firmware – a computer program for the device which typically ranges from five or ten megabytes in size for most HDTV PVRs, up to 90-odd megabytes for one Blu-ray player we recently upgraded.

ten 10 hD PlaYers player, able to deliver your computer’s multimedia contents, plus live info from the Web via WizTV PRICE $999 WEBSITE www.beyonwiz.com.au

Sony Playstation 3 It may be a games machine and a network media player, but it is also a very capable Blu-ray player, including BD-Live. Excellent picture quality, fast in operation, it works best with the optional Blu-ray remote control PRICE $699 (plus $49.95 for remote) WEBSITE www.playstation.com.au

Panasonic DMR-BW500 BD recorder Want to keep your recordings from free to air HDTV for a long time? This unit can copy them from its 500GB hard disk driver to recordable and rewriteable Blu-ray discs. Or it can down-scale them to regular recordable DVDs. Has BonusView support: PRICE $2199 (but available at a much lower street price) WEBSITE www.panasonic.com.au

Samsung HT-BD2T BD home theatre system Topfield TF7100 HD PVRt PVR Topfield delivers a full-blown twin tuner HDTV receiver and recorder. With 320GB of hard disk space, there’s plenty of room for recording the high definition versions of your favourite shows PRICE $899 WEBSITE www.topfield.com.au

Beyonwiz DP-P2 HD PVR Also twin tuner, also with 320GB and, like the Topfield, with network capability, the Beyonwiz DP-P2 is also a network media

We like our specialised (or rather expensive) loudspeakers and home theatre receivers, but Samsung can deliver you 7.1 channel Blu-ray performance in this moderately priced speaker/player/receiver combo. PRICE $1599 WEBSITE www.samsung.com.au

HD ViDeo Players

Equipped with Blu-ray drives, HDMI ports, HDTV tuners and large, high resolution screens, many of today’s multimedia notebooks perform double duty as workhorse computer and multimedia HD source/display www.toshiba.com.au

Even this process is eased by some devices. A number of Bluray players, if they are connected to a computer network, check out whether or not they are up-to-date every time they switch on, and if a new firmware is available, they let you know.

The PS3 was one of the first HD players capable of receiving firmware downloads over the internet, allowing it to keep pace with technology upgrades as they became available www.playstation.com.au

Exciting times We are in the midst of a time of extraordinary creativity and development when it comes to our high definition digital video players. So we can say with certainty that HD players will continue to improve, continue to become more capable – and

continue to converge as well in their functions. But even now, there is a wide range of devices that cover HDTV or Blu-ray, delivering superb high definition video to our wonderful, full high definition displays. ■

Kogan KGNBRVA BD player

This new one promises the ability to link to YouTube to play back videos on your TV PRICE $449 WEBSITE www.lge.com.au

One of the lowest cost Blu-ray players currently available, read our review in this issue (p72) and see that we were really rather impressed. It lacks BD-Live, but does have BonusView and, best of all, can play both Region A and Region B discs. PRICE $249 WEBSITE www.kogan.com.au

TiVo TCD663160 HD Media Device

Sony BDP-S5000ES BD player At the other end of the scale, Sony has a true premium player (the company also has two much lower cost models). Built to the highest standards, and with complete support for all the features offered by Blu-ray, this is one to keep for years PRICE $2299 WEBSITE www.sony.com.au

LG BD370 BD player Just as we were about to go to press, LG announced its latest Blu-ray player. If it’s as good as its last one, it will be the fastest player available and offer full BD-Live (as well as BonusView).

At first glance, this is just another HDTV receiver and personal video recorder, albeit with just one tuner and modest 160GB hard disk drive. But what makes Tivo special is the intelligent electronic program guide that watches for and automatically records the programs you want … or ones you might like. PRICE $699 WEBSITE www.tivo.com.au

Pioneer BDP-LX71 BD player Pioneer’s current Blu-ray player doesn’t have BD-Live. But it does have BonusView, a solid build, front panel touch controls, the ability to change the output resolution with the touch of a key on the remote, and the best picture quality in the business. PRICE $1439 WEBSITE www.pioneer.com.au

HOW TO BUY

DIGITAL RADIO Digital radio makes its debut in May, promising better quality and a range of new features not available from current radio broadcasts. Nathan Taylor reviews 12 of the ďŹ rst digital radio hatchlings.

DIGITAL RADIOS

igital radio, especially Australia’s DAB+ technology (as opposed to the standard DAB used in the UK and much of Europe), is to regular AM/FM radio what digital TV is to analog TV. That is, it provides a clean signal and more space on the airwaves for extra stations, as well as a simpler method of ﬁnding and tuning stations. As with digital TV, digital radio is an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you get the signal in full quality or you don’t get it at all – it doesn’t deteriorate like FM radio does. What might happen in a poor reception area is that you receive intermittent signals, but for the most part any digital radio reception you get will be clean. Then it’s just up to the receiver to decode the signal and the speaker to pump out the audio.

DAB and DAB+ Digital radio has been broadcasting in Australia for some time on a test basis, but it’s only in May that DAB+ broadcasts will come online. Prior to this most digital radio broadcasts (with the exception of a couple of test channels and an ABC radio station) will be primarily DAB, which provides a lower quality level – low enough that FM radio would often sound better than DAB, especially in areas of high FM radio reception. This has certainly been the experience in Europe as well, where most digital radio broadcasters use the old DAB system. That’s because DAB broadcasting uses MP2 encoding on audio, which is a relatively inefficient way of compressing the audio. Even at the common 192kbps bitrate, it lost a lot of the depth of the original audio, often sounding flat in our tests, relative to FM. In effect, DAB radio was like MP3 music compressed at a fairly low bit rate. DAB+ is a whole different ball of wax. It uses the much more efficient compression system called AAC+, which delivers roughly three times the audio quality at the same bit rate. At 128kbps, it produces audio that’s nearly indistinguishable from CD-audio, and because it’s digital it doesn’t suffer from the same kind of interference as FM.

When we tested DAB/DAB+ products, which was before the ofﬁcial launch of DAB+, a number of stations were broadcasting in 192kbps DAB, including Sydney’s Nova 969, 2UE and several others. ABC radio had a DAB+ test channel and there were two other 64kbps DAB+ test channels as well. Even while we were testing, 64kbps test DAB+ channels were sounding better than the 192kbps DAB channels available.

Radiotext Along with the audio, it’s also possible for digital radio stations to broadcast textual information. In many digital radios, this appears as a scrolling text bar below the station name. Most broadcasters will use this to provide quick news updates, web addresses, call-in phone numbers and details about the song currently playing. In DAB terminology, this radiotext is called dynamic label segment (DLS). FM radio has a similar technology called radio data system (RDS), and RDS-capable radios can receive and display program-associated text. During our tests, many of the digital radio stations were already using this feature. Nova 969 in Sydney, for example, provided news ﬂashes (a little like an RSS news feed), trafﬁc updates, links to websites as well information on the song currently playing. All the digital radios we looked at supported this feature, although those with two line displays often took an age to scroll through the available information.

The hatchlings As is always the case, you will pay a premium to own new technology. The most basic DAB+ clock radio product will set you back several hundred dollars at least, and higher end products can cost several times that again. Some of the higher end products justify their price with additional networking features, others with iPod docks and CD players. Some, quite frankly, don’t justify it at all. The good news is that, thanks the mature digital radio market abroad, there is already a wide selection of products available, suitable for every taste and use. Already the range of digital radio products runs the gamut, from basic portable to high-end internet radio stations, and everything in between.

WHAT’S THIS UPnP THING? UPnP AV (universal plug and play audio/visual), alternately called DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a system that allows you to stream media across a wireless or wired home network to players situated around the home. For example, you can have your media collection stored on a PC in the study, but play music and videos and view pictures on devices in the lounge room or kitchen. To have it work, you need to install and configure UPnP media server software on the PC. Windows Media Player has this software built-in, and several third-party applications (including free programs like TVersity) are available as well. Then you need to connect the UPnP/DLNA player to the network and it and should (hopefully) find the media server and list the media it finds on it. Then you just select the video or music track you want to play or the pictures you want to view.

HOW TO BUY

If you’re looking for the very best sound from your radio, it’s hard to overlook the Arcam

ARCAM FMJ T32 DAB/FM/AM TUNER T

he component-sized Arcam FMJ T32 tuner is a product designed for the hardcore radio enthusiast. It’s expensive, heavy and doesn’t have integral speakers, but it delivers incredible audio quality, easily the best of any product reviewed here. With gold-plated connectors, a Wolfson 8740 digital-to-analog converter and high performance preamps, the Arcam FMJ T32 is designed to deliver audiophile-quality output. And that it does. On good-old FM radio it picked up details that made most other tuners sound muddy in comparison. The difference between the Arcam and less expensive devices was less evident when it came to digital radio, but it still delivered the cleanest sound of any device tested. It’s a device that could make better use of the features of digital radio, however. Setting it up initially is a process best described as arcane, with indecipherable button labels and a tuning process that was slower than most. The small display is not large enough to show off much textual information associated with DAB+ broadcasts, and storing presets can be a little ﬁddly. Indeed, DAB+ support seems

almost tacked on in the Arcam, which is disappointing. It comes with a universal CR90 remote control that’s designed to manage your entire ﬂeet of Arcam devices, not just the T32 – so it’s rather more complicated than it needs to be. It also has two pairs of stereo RCA outputs, making it suitable for multi-room use, and there’s also an RS232 control socket, which can be technically used to remote control external audio devices (such as iPods) connected to the input audio jacks. Arcam actually offers an iPod dock add-on that uses this socket, and allows you to use the T32 to play back audio from the iPod. If you’re looking for the very best sound from your radio, it’s hard to overlook the Arcam. However, its digital radio features are sadly limited, and for this reason it’s a little hard to recommend it in a roundup of digital radio tuners. We’re hoping that in the near future Arcam will develop a device that will take the unique capacities of digital radio into account – timeshifting, recording, associated text information – giving us the opportunity to listen to near-perfect audio with the full feature set that DAB+ makes possible.

ARCAM FMJ T32 Price: $1898 Warranty: 2 years (5 with registration) Contact: Absolute Audio Vision (02) 9764 5092 www.arcam.co.uk Features: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS), AM radio Speakers: none Outputs: 4 x RCA audio outputs Inputs: stereo RCA aux, external radio antennae (DAB, FM and AM), RS232 control socket Networking: none Power: mains Dimensions (WHD): 430 x 83 x 290mm

PROS Outstanding audio quality Two pairs of outputs for multiroom use AM radio support

CONS Limited use of digital radio features (associated text, timeshifting etc.)

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

DIGITAL RADIOS

GRUNDIG GDR710DABIP A

combination digital radio and iPod dock, the Grundig GDR710DABIP boasts an unusual tapering design, being thicker at the bottom than top. The control buttons are located on a thin flat shelf at the front of the radio, which can make them a little difficult to access. Thankfully, it also comes with a creditcard remote that provides fast access to the major functions of the Grundig. The remote works in all three of the Grundig’s modes: iPod dock, FM radio and DAB+ radio. Twin speakers are embedded in the radio, although the quality of the audio output was a little flat, and even tweaking with the basic EQ on the Grundig couldn’t do much to bring it to life. Volume was also quite limited and tended to distort at the higher ranges, especially in DAB+ mode (which was annoyingly much quieter than FM radio mode, necessitating volume adjustment every time we switched between them). Fortunately, it does have a line-out, so you can plug it into a receiver and

use external speakers instead. Plugging our test device into a pair of high quality speakers produced rich tones and a depth lacking in the integrated speakers. The control system for the Grundig is appealingly simple. There’s nothing remarkable about any of the functions of the radio, but changing and tuning channels is quick, as is initial tuning and setup. You can quickly hop between iPod mode, FM radio and DAB, and the same controls function for all three modes. A simple but well-illuminated two-line display shows the current station or track on the ﬁrst line, and any associated text on the second (such as the now-playing information on tracks). It’s not a product that’s rich in features or produces particularly good audio quality, but the simplicity of the Grundig will no doubt ﬁnd many fans. We never had to consult the manual to do anything on it, and setup was as simple as plugging it in and holding the ‘scan’ button down for a few seconds to perform a full scan.

You can quickly hop between iPod mode, FM radio and DAB, and the same controls function for all three modes

GRUNDIG GDR710DABIP Price: $299 Warranty: 1 year Contact: Bush Australia 1300 131 072 www.grundig.net.au Features: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS) Speakers: 2 x 7.5cm drivers Outputs: 3.5mm stereo line out, 3.5mm headphone jack Inputs: iPod dock Networking: none Power: mains Dimensions (WHD): 300 x 170 x 125mm

PROS iPod dock and DAB+ radio in one Easy to use Neat remote

CONS Audio is a little ﬂat

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

HOW TO BUY

PURE CHRONOS iDOCK

PURE CHRONOS IDOCK

ure’s Chronos iDock is an unusual combination of clock radio, DAB+ tuner and iPod dock. It’s a device that suffers from a number of little design faults, like a screen with a limited viewing angle (a no-no for a clock radio), an unresponsive credit-card remote and buttons that require too much pressure to press, meaning you often have to hold the radio in place with your other hand to prevent it from sliding away when you press them. Unfortunately, these little faults add up, and the list of annoyances on the iDock makes it hard to recommend. It was also a little hard to test. It doesn’t have an extendable antenna for DAB+ radio, and it had trouble picking up the test stations broadcasting during our review period. It was only by holding the wire aerial at a specific angle that we could get any DAB+ reception at all. It picked up FM radio just fine, however. The iDock has dual speakers, as befits an iPod dock. The sound from the oval drivers came across as a little flat in our testing, but

did provide a surprising stereo effect in spite of their closeness. The dock itself comes with a half dozen adaptors for different models of iPod, and there’s also an aux-in port if you have an MP3 player that’s not an iPod. The setup of the Chronos iDock is simple and logical, although there is a sameness to the buttons that makes controlling the radio with bleary morning eyes challenging. The prominent LCD screen, meanwhile, looks good from the front, but from an oblique angle it’s nearly impossible to read the time or see the information on the display. It does have a few nice touches to it, including large characters and the capacity to manually scroll through the RDS or DAB+ radiotext (which is great when you’re looking for the ‘currently playing’ information and don’t want to wait until its next rotation). It comes with a very advanced alarm setup, with four presets, the capacity to set the alarm for weekdays or weekends and the ability to set sleep times and to choose your wakeup noise from any source on the radio – including an attached iPod.

Price: $449 Warranty: 2 years Contact: Pure Australasia (03) 9722 2089 www.pure.com Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS), iPod Speakers: two 7.5cm x 3.8cm oval drivers Outputs: 3.5mm headphones Inputs: 3.5mm aux-in Networking: none Power: mains Dimensions (WHD): 195 x 125 x 185mm

PROS Handy alarm functions iPod dock

CONS Poor viewing angle on screen Weak DAB+ reception

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

DIGITAL RADIOS

PURE EVOKE FLOW PURE EVOKE FLOW

ith its retro-styling and simple two-knobs, ﬁve-buttons interface, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Evoke Flow was one of the least advanced digital radios on offer. In many ways the opposite is true. The Flow has hidden depths that are at least as compelling – if not more so – than its core DAB+ tuning function. With a single embedded 7.5cm speaker, the Flow is styled after an old-fashioned kitchen radio, though its touch-sensitive buttons, piano ﬁnish and yellow-on-black OLED screen give it a modern twist. It tunes DAB+ radio as well as FM radio, supporting 30 presets on the former and ten on the latter. Perhaps its most compelling feature is its Wi-Fi networking support, which allows you to access music stored on a home PC as well as listen to internet radio stations. The former requires you to set up UPnP media server on the PC – you can use Windows Media Player on Windows, or download Flow Server from thelounge.com, Pure’s internet radio portal site. We found setting up Wi-Fi easy, if a little slow (especially ‘typing’ in the password). Listening to internet radio stations is very much like tuning into regular DAB+ or FM stations. The Flow connects to thelounge.com to retrieve a list of internet radio stations, from which you can select your channel just as if you were selecting a broadcast station. Usually

there is a brief buffering period, then the radio broadcast kicks off. You don’t have to register at thelounge.com to use this service, but we’d recommend that you do so, since there are roughly 9000 radio stations to choose from, as well as 2600-odd podcasts and ambient noise channels. Browsing through them on your Flow can be fun, but it’s far easier to use thelounge.com to select your favourite channels. Thelounge.com will then upload them to your radio and they will appear in the Flow’s favourites list. The least compelling element of the Flow is the speaker. With the single driver, the Flow’s audio output is not going to impress anybody. It’s barely a tick above clock radio quality. But connecting headphones or external speakers (Pure’s cost $99) to the device delivers very clear audio performance, if a little limited in terms of it maximum volume output without ampliﬁcation. We’re also big fans of the simple interface of the Flow, and were particularly pleased at how fast it is: fast to change channels and modes, fast to tune and search for new channels. Even its internet radio performance was top notch, delivering both high quality audio and fast buffering on the dozen channels we tried. All this makes the Evoke Flow a very compelling buy indeed. It goes well beyond simple DAB+ radio tuning – it’s a networked media player and internet radio tuner as well. You will never get bored with your radio again.

Price: $699 Warranty: 2 years Contact: Pure Australasia (03) 9722 2089 www.pure.com Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS), internet radio, UPnP/DLNA media server Speakers: single 7.5cm driver; additional speakers $99 Outputs: 3.5mm stereo out, 3.5mm auxiliary speaker, 3.5mm stereo headphones Inputs: 3.5mm auxiliary input, USB (for optional external iPod/MP3 player dock) Networking: 802.11g Wi-Fi with WPA/WEP security support Power: mains or battery Dimensions (WHD): 210 x 175 x 110mm

PROS Wi-Fi support for media streaming and internet radio support Neat online service for ﬁltering and selecting Internet radio channels Fast tuning and general operation

CONS You’ll want to connect your own external speakers

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

HOW TO BUY

PURE ONE ELITE A

nother member of Pure’s extensive line of retro-styled digital radios, the One Elite is a two-speaker FM and DAB+ radio. It lacks the funky networking features of the Evoke Flow and has a control interface that can at times be counterintuitive, but does have a few very neat features, including a time-shifting capacity called ReVu that allows you to pause and skip through live broadcasts, much like a PVR does for TV. The One Elite has twin 7.5cm speakers to pump audio out, but lacks the capacity to connect to an external speaker set. While the speakers deliver decent audio for their size, they don’t really do justice to the clarity of digital radio, and their close proximity limits the stereo effect. When we connected headphones to the Elite, however, the radio delivered clean audio to the headset, rivalling the best of the other digital radios reviewed here. The Elite is controlled through a combination of ten buttons and a dial, with most buttons changing the function of the central dial. This context-based control of the radio requires a little getting used to, and can be rather painful for some functions, and at times we found ourselves wrestling with the system, especially in respect to the ReVu function. ReVu, which functions only in DAB+ mode (not FM), allows you to pause or rewind for up to 15 minutes. The ﬁrst press of the ReVu button pauses the audio, a subsequent press restarts

PURE ONE ELITE

the playback, and the dial then allows you to fast forward and rewind through the buffered audio. It takes some practice to work the fast forward and rewind effectively, but once you get the hang of it, it’s very cool, and can be used for adzapping if you’re prepared to let the live audio get a little ahead of you. In addition to ReVu, it has several other nifty features. It sports an alarm clock and kitchen timer, up to 25 channel presets and the capacity to pause the scrolling text that gets broadcast with DAB stations, to better catch web addresses and phone numbers. The text pausing is pretty much a necessity, since the Elite One only allows displays a single line of text at any one time on its rather limited LCD screen. The Elite One is powered by mains or from batteries, and Pure claims it will get 70 hours of life from six alkaline C types, which makes it a fair travelling companion or camp radio.

Price: $299 Warranty: 2 years Contact: Pure Australasia (03) 9722 2089 www.pure.com Features: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS) Speakers: 2 x 7.5cm drivers Outputs: 3.5mm headphones Inputs: 3.5mm line-in, USB (for external MP3 player dock or software update) Networking: none Power: mains or battery Dimensions (WHD): 256 x 155 x 88mm

Once you get the hang of it, it’s very cool, and can be used for ad-zapping

RATINGS

PROS Can pause and rewind live radio Alarm clock and kitchen timer Fast tuning

CONS No external speaker connections Small speakers

Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

DIGITAL RADIOS

PURE SIESTA T

he Pure Siesta is a product that looks very much like the traditional clock radio, with a single upwardﬁring driver, large buttons designed for half-awake morning users and a simple design that’s light on the frills but easy to use and control. It uses a similar screen to the Chronos iDock, and it shares the same problems. The screen looks great from the front, clean and bright, with readily readable text and time information. View it from an angle, however (as you might as you peer bleary-eyed from your bed in the morning) and it’s almost unreadable. It uses a wire aerial for tuning, which can result in weak DAB+ reception, depending on where you are. With a little ﬁddling we managed to get it to tune DAB+ radio during the testing period, and the speaker produced the kind of audio you’d expect from a small clock radio. The audio was clear, but devoid of depth or

timbre. When we connected headphones to the Siesta, however, that changed, and we listened to clear, rich stereo DAB+ audio. The Siesta supports three alarm presets, plus advanced options for each, including the capacity to choose what days the alarm goes off and its volume. It’s fast and simple to set up. Energy-conscious buyers should also be pleased with the Siesta’s power consumption. DAB+ isn’t exactly an energy-efﬁcient technology, but according to Pure the Siesta uses only about 2 watts when active, and less than 1 watt in standby, which is very impressive indeed. In all, it’s a fair clock radio, but as we’re seeing a lot with these early DAB+ radios, the price is rather steep for what’s on offer. At around $200 RRP, you’re paying a lot for the privilege of being able to tune digital radio as well as FM, and a clock radio speaker can’t really do justice to the additional clarity offered by DAB+.

Energy-conscious buyers should also be pleased with the Siesta’s power consumption

PURE SIESTA

Price: $199 Warranty: 2 years Contact: Pure Australasia (03) 9722 2089 www.pure.com Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS) Speakers: single 7cm driver Outputs: 3.5mm headphones Inputs: none Networking: none Power: mains Dimensions (WHD): 170 x 62 x 145mm

PROS Big, easy-to-press control buttons

CONS Poor viewing angle on screen Weak single speaker

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

HOW TO BUY

REVO PICO DAB+ A

s the name implies, the Pico is small. It’s not iPod-put-it-in-yourpocket small, but the case would be just large enough to hold a drink can inside, which makes it more compact than most other DAB+ radio’s we’ve seen, and very much suitable for travel. The front has a bright two-line display, a jog dial with which you select your channel, and a set of control buttons to switch modes and control the volume. It’s very neat, very simple, and we were very pleased at the speed with which we could switch between digital radio channels. We were also pleasantly surprised with the audio output of the Pico. The Pico’s integrated speaker, although small, actually delivers audio with remarkable depth and clarity. It’s mono, of course, but the back of the Revo sports RCA outputs for connecting to larger stereo speakers. When we did so on our test device, the stereo output was deep and rich with plenty of detail and virtually no gremlins.

The front of the Pico also has a 3.5mm port into which you can plug a portable MP3 player. It’s not a proper iPod dock, however, so you can’t use the Revo to control playback on that particular MP3 device. It has a non-changeable integrated lithium ion battery that Revo claims will last for 12 hours of DAB+ listening before needing a recharge. In our testing it actually lasted rather less, going for 10 hours before failing. It also comes with a slimline remote with which you can control both the FM and DAB+ radio playback. Conveniently it has buttons for all 12 channel presets, making switching between channels using the remote very fast indeed. It’s not big on the bells and whistles, but what the Revo Pico does, it does right. Quality audio, a stylish and solid design, a user interface that’s simple and logical and a useful remote make it a product worth having. It doesn’t deliver the audio quality of say, the Arcam FMJ T32 or have the features of the Pure Evoke Flow, but as a basic single-speaker DAB+ radio, it’s a winner.

It’s not big on the bells and whistles, but what the Revo Pico does, it does right 54

REVO PICO DAB+ Price: $449 Warranty: 1 year Contact: Bush Australia 1300 131 072 www.revo.net.au Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS) Speakers: single 5.7cm inch neodymium driver Outputs: 2 x RCA, 3.5mm headphones Inputs: M-Port line-in (3.5mm stereo) Networking: none Power: mains or battery Dimensions (WHD): 167 x 105 x 105mm

PROS Good audio performance from a single speaker Compact design Integrated li-ion battery

CONS Expensive for what’s on offer

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

DIGITAL RADIOS

It’s a cut above most other similar devices, delivering cleaner sound than most other singlespeaker clock radios

REVO UNO A

product that’s similar in size if not design to the Revo Pico, the Uno is designed primarily for use as clock radio. A tubular radio with a single integrated speaker, all the controls are found on the top rather than the front of the device. Those controls are very simple, but that’s not unexpected, since there is little to this radio beyond its core tuning and alarm functions. It’s DAB+ capabilities are not tremendously compelling, and its single 5cm driver cannot do justice to the extra clarity that DAB+ provides. Grading that speaker on the clock radio curve, we’d say that it’s a cut above most other similar devices, delivering cleaner sound than most other single-speaker clock radios. But that’s not saying much, and the speaker isn’t of high enough quality to demonstrate a qualitative difference between digital and FM radio (though there is a noticeable volume difference). You can’t connect it to external speakers to improve the audio quality, either – there is no line-out on the Uno, though there is a headphone port. It does have a line-in, however, that allows you to plug an external device such as an MP3 player into the Uno. It’s not an iPod dock – you can’t control the playback from the Uno – but it does allow you to pipe your portable media player through the Uno’s speaker. Perhaps its most compelling feature is its alarm clock, which allows you to set up to four

different alarms and gives you ridiculous levels of control over their sound. You can set different alarms for weekdays and weekends, have alarms set to different times, go to different stations and work at different volumes. The sleep button is a broad touch-sensitive pad at the front of the Uno that would be impossible to miss even in the most sleep-muddled haze. The Uno is mains-powered only and doesn’t come with a remote control (though one is available as an optional accessory). It’s also far from the most compelling device we’ve looked at here, and even if you like the Uno’s compactness we’d recommend the Pico in its stead, especially if alarm capabilities aren’t important to you.

It does have a line-in, however, that allows you to plug an external device such as an MP3 player into the Uno

REVO UNO Price: $299 Warranty: 1 year Contact: Bush Australia 1300 131 072 www.revo.net.au Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM Radio (with RDS) Speakers: single 5cm neodymium driver Outputs: 3.5mm headphones Inputs: 3.5mm line-in Networking: none Power: mains Dimensions (WHD): 105 x 167 x 105

PROS Excellent alarm setup Compact and stylish

CONS Weak speaker performance, with no alternative output

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

HOW TO BUY

ROBERTS ECOLOGIC 4 W

ith its somewhat retro garage-radio styling, copious dials and buttons and quality speakers, the Roberts Ecologic 4 portable radio is going to be very appealing to many radio enthusiasts. You don’t have to switch through digital menus to choose stations, control EQ settings or change the volume. There are dials for all these things, as well as 14 more buttons for fast access to preset stations and other settings. With these fast and accessible controls, as well as the very bright backlit LCD we were immediately taken with the Ecologic 4. Its telescopic aerial quickly picked up all the available digital channels in our area during testing, and we found we could quickly switch through channels using the FM tuning dial. Ten presets for DAB+ radio are also available (as well as ten more for FM). The twin integrated 7.5cm drivers

produced audio that was rich and deep, even managing to make the sometimes ﬂat MP2 DAB broadcasts sound appealing. It also has a line-out connector, so you can hook it up to a larger stereo system if you want to really blast the audio, as well as a headphone connector if you want a little private listening. The Ecologic 4 is powered either from mains or six D-cells, and Roberts claims that you can get an extraordinary 150 hours from alkalines using the radio. Admittedly, D-cells are big batteries, and the radio can become quite heavy when loaded with them (it weighs 2kg as is), but that’s a battery life that will carry you through a long camping trip or many days in the ﬁeld. Overall, it’s not a product that has a lot of cool extra frills, like internet access or timeshifting, but its quality speakers, dial controls and long battery life make this an impressive product for its price, and a recommended purchase.

Its quality speakers, dial controls and long battery life make this an impressive product for itas price, and a recommended purchase 56

ROBERTS ECOLOGIC 4 Price: $299 Warranty: 1 year Contact: Glen Dimplex 1300 556 816 www.robertsradio.com.au Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS) Speakers: stereo 7.5cm Outputs: 3.5mm line-out, 3.5mm headphones Inputs: none Networking: none Power: mains or battery Dimensions (WHD): 300 x 180 x 95mm

PROS Cool dial controls High quality speakers Long battery life

CONS Not big on extra DAB+ features

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

DIGITAL RADIOS

ROBERTS MP-SOUND43 R

oberts’ MP-Sound 43 functions as an iPod dock and CD player as well as radio tuner – and it performs all three functions very well. It also manages to look good while doing so, with its modern interface, clear two-line LCD and piano ﬁnish. Although it looks a little odd with its telescopic antenna protruding out the back, that antenna allowed it to pick up all the digital radio stations in our test area perfectly. Using the touch-sensitive buttons, we could quickly switch between them or load them into one of ten digital radio presets. The speakers managed to output high quality audio, showing off details that many of the other integrated digital radio speakers missed, even for FM and DAB (as opposed to DAB+) audio. They’re certainly a cut above most of the products we’ve reviewed here. If the sound output is not big enough for you, it also has a line-out with which you can connect the MP-Sound 43 to a larger stereo system. The Roberts also impressed when we played back music from an iPod and from a CD ﬁlled with MP3 tracks. It managed to give the compressed audio a unusual depth, rivalling some of the best iPod docks we’ve seen. The CD support also extends to WMA, but it doesn’t read embedded tags for sorting tracks on CD. It does, however, have handy buttons for folder navigation on data CDs.

The MP-Sound 43 comes with a proper, full remote (unlike the usual credit-card remote you often get with digital radios). The remote has all the buttons you need to operate the radio, including numbered buttons for quick track skipping and access to FM and DAB+ radio presets. On top of all that, the MP-Sound 43 incorporates an alarm system that can even play music from an attached iPod. It supports two presets and a conﬁgurable snooze time. This impressive multi-functionality makes the MP-Sound 43 a worthwhile purchase. While it would have been nice if it had a few more digital radio features (like timeshifting or controllable radio text), it’s still an impressive product overall.

It managed to give the compressed audio a rare depth, rivalling some of the best iPod docks we’ve seen

ROBERTS MP-SOUND 43 Price: $799 Warranty: 1 year Contact: Glen Dimplex 1300 556 816 www.robertsradio.com.au Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS), iPod, CD Speakers: 2 x 7.5cm drivers Outputs: 3.5mm line-out, 3.5mm headphones Inputs: 3.5mm aux-in Networking: none Power: mains Dimensions (WHD): 325 x 112 x 220mm

PROS Multifunction CD player, iPod dock and digital radio Good quality speakers Useful remote

CONS Could do more with digital radio

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

HOW TO BUY

SANGEAN DPR-69 PLUS T

he most compact of the digital radios we’ve looked at, the Sangean DPR-69 Plus is a portable travel radio, not quite small enough to ﬁt into a pocket, but certainly handbag-ready and only 348 grams. It’s powered by either four AA batteries or mains power, and Sangean claims that a set of alkalines can provide up to 25 hours listening on the road. It also supports rechargeables, and even includes an adaptor that allows you to recharge batteries without taking them out of the radio. It has a single 75mm loudspeaker for audio output, and it supports stereo headphone output as well, but has no connectors for external speakers. With power output of just 0.5 watts, it isn’t really going to be your best option when you want to crank up the tunes, and in any case the audio tends to be a bit muddy at the top volumes supported, especially for FM radio. The quality improved somewhat when we switched to DAB+ channels, which produced much cleaner sound. Connecting high quality headphones also helped, and although the volume was quite limited, AAC+ audio came through the headphones clearly and with plenty of detail. It supports up to ﬁve presets each for FM and DAB radio, and switching between channels is easy and fast. A logical control system is supported by a simple backlit two-line LCD showing the current channel and any radiotext

that might be associated with it (commonly news updates or currently playing information). It’s not a pretty radio, nor is it the source of the highest quality audio on the market, but it is just about the most portable digital radio you can get right now, suitable for campers and travellers or for workers who tend to move about during the day. Given its lack of extra features or external outputs, however, it feels a little pricey for what amounts to a basic portable radio, the FM equivalent of which would cost you half as much.

It’s not a pretty radio, nor is it the source of the highest quality audio on the market, but it is just about the most portable digital radio you can get right now

SANGEAN DPR-69 PLUS Price: $239 Warranty: 1 year Contact: Canohm 1800 636 026 www.sangean.com.au Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS) Speakers: single 7.5cm driver Outputs: 3.5mm headphones Inputs: none Networking: none Power: mains or battery Dimensions (WHD): 161 x 106 x 37mm

PROS Portable and light Easy to use

CONS Weak-ish speaker

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

DIGITAL RADIOS

TIVOLI AUDIO NETWORKS E

asily winning the prize for the most unusual-looking product in the roundup, Tivoli’s Networks looks like a single standard wooden speaker with a monochromatic blueon-black LCD screen embedded in it. It’s also easily the most ambitious of the digital radios reviewed here, supporting internet radio as well as DAB+ and media playback from USB storage devices and networked PCs. All these features can make the Tivoli quite complex, and the interface to access the features is not always intuitive, but once you get everything set up it’s a very cool dude indeed. Starting with DAB+ audio, it delivered clean sound through its single speaker, and a speaker port at the bottom allows you to connect a matching second speaker available from Tivoli for full stereo support. Singly, or working together with a second speaker, it produced very high quality sound when listening to both DAB+ and FM radio. It also tuned and switched channels quickly, and setting a preset was as simple as holding down a number on the remote for a few seconds.

Switching over to internet radio required only the pressing of the ‘Source’ button on the remote. The NetWorks can connect to the internet through either wired or wireless networking, and both worked seamlessly for us. Being connected allowed us to browse through hundreds of internet radio stations, sorted by genre and/or country. Not all the stations were online when we tried them, but it easy enough to go back and browse more. It’s not as slick an internet radio interface as that offered by Pure in the Evoke Flow, but it worked well enough to make it compelling. Finally, there’s the option of listening to your own music collection. A USB interface on the back allows you to plug in your MP3 player, USB hard disk or thumb drive and listen to music from it. It can also talk to networked PCs with file shares, even supporting standard Windows file sharing in addition to UPnP AV shares. It works beautifully, even though initial setup can be fiddly thanks to things like file passwords on file shares. The output quality of MP3 and WMA playback is outstanding. On the downside, the unusual design of the NetWorks is a major drawback. All the controls except for the snooze button (it has a basic alarm function) and volume dial are located on the back of the device, necessitating that most of the time you have to use the supplied creditcard remote. That remote has thin, difficult-to-press buttons and is just painful to use for extended periods. This is a definite case of allowing design to triumph over function. Yet in spite of

The verdict Of the products we looked at, it’s hard to go past the Pure Evoke Flow for features and fun, and that would be our pick of the batch. It’s a combination digital radio, internet radio and network media player. It’s slick and easy to use, had the best display of any radio and was beautifully integrated with an online music and radio service. It’s expensive, but it changes the radio experience dramatically.

this, the excellent feature set of the Tivoli makes it a very compelling product indeed, even at the steep asking price.

TIVOLI AUDIO NETWORKS Price: $999 Warranty: 1 year Contact: Audio Dynamics (03) 9882 0372 tivoliaudio.com.au Tuning: DAB/DAB+, FM radio (with RDS), Internet radio, USB audio, networked PC audio Speakers: single 3.5 inch integrated speaker (matching second speaker available; $179) Outputs: RCA speaker output, 3.5mm headphones, 3.5mm subwoofer, 3.5mm rec out Inputs: USB, 3.5mm aux in, 3.5mm mix in Networking: 802.11g Wi-Fi wireless networking, fast Ethernet wired networking Power: mains Dimensions (WHD): 140 x 222 x 130 mm

PROS Listen to internet radio, or your own music collection via USB or network Excellent audio quality Plenty of inputs and outputs

CONS Interface can be technical Controls situated around back, forcing you to use a substandard remote

RATINGS Overall Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

Tivoli Audio’s NetWorks worked in a similar way, and had even more features and better sound than the Evoke Flow, and may well have been our editor’s pick if it weren’t for the price and the control system. A word to Tivoli Audio – if you’re going to force us to use a remote, at least give us a good remote. Other highly commended products include the Pure One Elite and the Roberts MP-Sound 43. ■

BOX FRESH

Logitech Harmony 1100i S

cooping an innovation award at the recent CES show in Vegas, the successor to the 1100i programmable remote should be on shelves in Australia by the time you read this. Harmony’s VP in the States reckons the unit’s mission is “to simplify today’s complex home entertainment systems” and any regular reader

This time around, the [Foxtel IQ’s] coloured buttons, the ‘back’ button and several others are there right away, as standard 60

of this magazine will certainly identify with that objective! But does the new 1100i achieve its lofty goal and, particularly with the advent of HDMI-CEC, is it worth you investing the dollars?

Setting up Things start well – the packaging is very good quality, conveying the feeling that you’ve bought something valuable. Out of the box, the most apparent change is the new livery, now presenting itself in the near-ubiquitous ‘piano’, or gloss black, ﬁnish rather than its predecessor’s more classic silver body which, depending on your personal home entertainment setup, could be a blessing or a curse. The ‘quick setup’ guide folds open into a rather obtrusive size and, disappointingly, instruction no. 3 informs you you’re going to have to wait ﬁve hours for the battery to charge before you can use your new toy. Why Logitech can’t include a pre-charged battery with such an expensive item, goodness

LOGITECH HARMONY 1100I knows – if Duracell can do it with their rechargeable AAAs, we don’t think it’s too much to ask, is it? So you’ve got plenty of time to go off and install the Harmony Remote software on your PC. To set the thing up, you need to go through a Q&A process with an online wizard. This has improved, as have the various compatibilities with the equipment you might wish to hook up to the remote. Previously, adding a Foxtel IQ box necessitated a lot of ‘tweaking’ to get the most-used buttons up onto the remote’s screen. This time around, the coloured buttons, the ‘back’ button and several others are there right away, as standard.

Features Logitech describes the Harmony 1100i as ‘plug and play’ but that truly is wishful thinking. The default settings, particularly the choice of buttons that get displayed on the lovely colour screen, will need a lot of adjustment after your ﬁrst run-through. We encountered lots of resistance – no recognition of our PVR, a stubborn refusal to operate the Xbox 360 at all and, of course, it can’t cope with the Bluetooth-controlled PlayStation 3 (or the Wii) without buying a third-party peripheral. More like ‘plug and ﬁddle endlessly’.

Performance The situation was saved by the Harmony Support Team – or more accurately, a very helpful guy there who called us at home and addressed some of the more frustrating issues. But the fact that Logitech has established a dedicated priority support line tells you something here.

Conclusion The Harmony 1100i really can simplify your home entertainment system but to really get it working right, there’s a lot of messing about involved. Battery life is not great – about a day – but I guess that’s on par with any of the ‘smartphones’ with colour LCD

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Learning remote Price: $899.95 Warranty: two years Contact: Logitech Australia 1800 025 544 www.logitech.com Harmony Remote Priority Support Line 1800 726 063 LCD screen size: 3.5 inch Screen resolution: QVGA Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista/ Macintosh OSX 10.3-10.5 Features: manual zoom and focus; 27dB noise; digital keystone correction Supplied accessories: charging cradle Dimensions (WHD): 220 x 333 x 103mm

touchscreens, so you just need to remember to cradle the sucker when you’re not using it. Compare it with other learning remotes, though, and it’s a bargain. Max Everingham

PROS Great build quality and bright screen Very good at switching between inputs and components Cheap entry option for its category

CONS Requires patience and plenty of tweaking to set up properly Often makes a poor choice for default buttons/ controls Unit doesn’t operate while docked in charging cradle Will not operate the Wii or PS3 game consoles

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

BOX FRESH

Deﬁnitive Technology Mythos Surround System O

nce you start spending big bucks on a speaker system, it is almost taken for granted that you will have large, floorstanding front speakers and a massive subwoofer. But US firm Definitive Technology has long contested that with its compact speakers. One such is the Mythos range, combined with one of the company’s SuperCube subwoofers.

The surround imaging was magniﬁcent from the ﬁve Mythos speakers, producing an envelopment at the top of the class. 62

Features The Mythos range features extruded aluminium enclosures and, mostly, passive radiators to enhance their bass performance. For the front left and right speakers I was provided with a pair of Mythos Six models, and for centre channel work a Mythos Seven. These two models are almost identical, with minimal changes based on the Sixes being intended to stand upright and the Seven laid down ﬂat. A 25mm pure aluminium dome tweeter does the treble, while a pair of 90mm bass midrange drivers, one located on each side of the tweeter, provides the rest. Further out from the centre, one towards each end, are the two 90mm passive radiators.

DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS SURROUND SYSTEM Wall brackets are provided and probably should be used, as discussed below. For surround work a pair of Mythos Gem speakers were provided. The stated speciﬁcations were a little confusing, but it seemed that they were essentially Mythos Six models with the ends truncated, thereby losing both some size and the passive radiators. Except that their two larger drivers were canted slightly to the left and right, presumably in order to spread the sound around a little. The SuperCube III subwoofer features a forwards ﬁring 190mm driver with 650 watts of power backing it. The bass output is enhanced by the use of two 190mm passive radiators, mounted on the sides of the cabinet.

Performance Once I had put the satellites on stands and placed the SuperCube III into my preferred subwoofer corner, I used the auto-setup facility on my home theatre receiver to get things rolling. This decided, very sensibly, that all ﬁve of the speakers were ‘Small’. Interestingly, it put the crossover frequency to the subwoofer at 150 hertz for the Mythos Six and Seven speakers across the front of the room, and 200 hertz of the Mythos Gem surround speakers. I thought that was asking a bit much of the subwoofer, and in fact there did seem to be a bit of a hole in the mid-bass, so I wound the crossover down to 120 hertz for all ﬁve speakers, but still the hole remained. That’s when I moved the front three speakers from their speaker stands and placed them hard up

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Surround loudspeaker system Price: $5180 Warranty: five years (three years on electronics) Contact: Advance Audio Australia Pty Ltd (02) 9560 4855 www.advanceaudio.com.au Drivers: Mythos Six & Seven, Gem: 2 x 90mm bass/midrange drivers; 1 x 25mm pure aluminium dome tweeter SuperCube III: 1 x 190 driver Enclosure: Mythos Six & Seven: Aluminium construction with 2 x 90mm passive radiators Mythos Gem: Aluminium construction, sealed SuperCube III: 2 x 190mm passive radiators Frequency response: Mythos Six & Seven, Gem: 60-30,000 hertz SuperCube III: 16-200 hertz Nominal impedance: Mythos Six & Seven: 4-8 ohms Mythos Gem: Compatible with 8 ohms Power: Mythos Six & Seven: 10-175 watts (Recommended Amplification); Mythos Gem: 10-200 watts (Recommended Amplification); SuperCube III: 650 watts (output) Sensitivity: Mythos Six & Seven, Gem: 89dB Dimensions (WHD): Mythos Six: 104 x 497 x 102mm; Mythos Seven: 497 x 104 x 102mm; Mythos Gem: 105 x 260 x 108mm; SuperCube III: 260 x 260 x 260mm Weight: Mythos Six: 3.40kg; Mythos Seven: 3.30kg; Mythos Gem: 1.75kg; SuperCube III: 12.70kg

against the rear wall. They needed to be there to enhance their bass output. Once there, with the crossover at 120 hertz for the back and 100 hertz for the front, things tightened up nicely. In fact, they sounded great. A subwoofer/satellite speaker system depends very much on the performance of the subwoofer, for it has more work to do than in most systems as it has to carry all the bass. Incredibly, the SuperCube III was up to the task, and never lagged or lacked. That was despite the ability of the five Mythos speakers to absorb large amounts of power and deliver proportionately large volumes of sound. The surround imaging was magnificent from the five Mythos speakers, producing an envelopment at the top of the class. There was one thing I must call a ‘weakness’, although I wouldn’t normally so identify it. Definitive Technology claims that the subwoofer will deliver ‘bass performance extending effortlessly down to 16 Hz.’ Sorry. It won’t. It won’t deliver 20 hertz to any significant level either. It did stretch well below 30 hertz, which is a mighty impressive performance for such a small unit. And had they not claimed more than that, I probably wouldn’t have even mentioned it.

Conclusion Don’t let that sour note put you off, though. If this falls into your pricing range, audition this system even if you have in mind getting larger speakers. You might be surprised. Thomas Bartlett

PROS Very good sound quality Good placement options Powerful little subwoofer Sturdy and attractive design

CONS Limited really deep bass Misleading speciﬁcation for subwoofer

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

BOX FRESH

Yamaha RX-Z7 T

he ‘big boys’ of the AV receiver world like to mix it up from time to time. There’s a fair amount of oneupmanship also, as each tries to outdo one another with the latest and greatest AV mega-receiver. A long time player in this fray has been Yamaha, with the current RX-Z11 pulling the heaviest of surround sound punches for the company. Now this behemoth has spawned a son, the RX-Z7 under review here. Slimmer – a bit. Lighter – by some 14 kilos. Less expensive – almost half the price. The RX-Z7, however, is still a serious AV receiver by anyone’s standards.

Features Where to start? There’s not much the RX-Z7 hasn’t got covered. It’s rated at the same high power output as the RX-Z11, some

140 watts per channel, although this is ‘just’ a 7.1 channel design, as opposed to the 11.1 of the flagship. There are preouts for all channels, too, should you (insanely) want to add external power amps to further beef up the power output. This too is a network receiver and has a web-browser interface that allows you to control the RX-Z7 using any PC or web-enabled PDA (such as an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch) over the home network. The Ethernet connection also allows you to stream music (WAV, MP3, WMA, AAC) from your network or the internet, and to access WMA/MP3 internet radio stations. An optional dock allows it to play nice with iPods, with playlist information displayed onscreen via Yamaha’s GUI. It’ll decode just about everything, including the latest Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks, plus there are five HDMI 1.3a inputs (including one on the front panel) and two outputs, which is handy for those running both a projector and flat panel display. You can’t run different sources to two displays, however, just a single source. All high definition video formats are supported, including Deep Colour, x.v.Colour, 24Hz and 100/120Hz video. Scaling over HDMI claims to upconvert video to 1080p standard. There are more than enough connections to cater for the most involved home theatre system, with eight digital audio inputs, front and rear USB ports for attached thumb drives and portable music players, six S-Video inputs, three component video… the list goes on and on.

YAMAHA RX-Z7 Right from the get-go, it’s obvious this is an AV receiver with bags of power, control and ability to dish out the dynamics. Jumping straight into the action, it was time for some loud stuff. The scene where the Tripod emerges from under the street in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds is one of the most bass-crunching and dynamically challenging you’ll find. Rarely have I experienced this movie sequence with as much ‘slam-you-in-the chest’ impact and intensity as this Yamaha serves up. It’s got so much headroom too, and drives a 7.1 channel speaker configuration with absolute ease. With the volume cranked I did notice the Yamaha runs pretty warm, so I wouldn’t be sticking it in a cupboard or placing other gear on top – it needs room to ventilate. Far from being all brute and no brains, the RX-Z7 is also highly tactile, placing and steering effects around the room with almost unnerving accuracy. The BD of Sweeney Todd demonstrates this well, creating a suitably dark sonic mood to match the onscreen atmosphere. And when the cast often break in to song, the Yamaha makes the different vocal characters sound natural, wholesome and perfectly placed within a very broad soundstage. Hit the ‘Pure Direct’ button and the RX-Z7 transforms into a more than decent two-channel amplifier for music; there’s that same bass power and control, with a smooth and extended treble that doesn’t ever sound overly harsh or forced. And to help tidy up the sounds from your iPod or networked music library, there’s Yamaha’s Compressed Music Enhancer technology. And, as is usual with all Yamahas, there are ample (38 total, with 22 cinema modes) DSPs to keep the most avid button-pusher happy, if you fancy replicating the acoustics of a Munich church, for example. Multi-room and multi-zone use is also well catered for with audio distribution to up to four individual zones, and component video assignable to zone 2-4. I could carry on, but space doesn’t allow, so let’s find out how the RX-Z7 performs.

Performance Yamaha’s YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer) is the ﬁrst step and takes care of accurately recognising the size of my loudspeakers, then setting up levels, delays and distances, plus full bass management for the subwoofer LFE channel.

SPECIFICATIONS Category: AV receiver Warranty: two years Price: $3999 Contact: Yamaha Music Australia 1800 805 413 www.yamaha.com.au Power output: 7 x 140 watts, (8 ohms, 20 Hz–20 kHz, 0.04% THD) Audio processing: Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital EX/ Dolby Pro Logic IIx, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, DTS 96/24 / DTS Neo:6 Pure Direct, Compressed Music Enhancer, SRS (Circle Surround II), THX Processing Video connections (in/out): HDMI Version 1.3a: 5/2; component: 4/2; AV inputs (6 x S-Video) Audio connections (in/out): digital optical 5/2; digital coaxial 3/0, i.Link (IEEE 1394) 1/0; 2 x USB (front and rear); 8- analog RCA preouts, Features: iPod compatibility with optional YDS-11; Bluetooth compatibility with optional YBA-10; HDMI upconversion 480p/720p/1080i/1080p; YPAO (w/Optimiser Microphone); RS-232C Interface; 2 x 12V Trigger Output; LAN Terminal RJ-45; 4-zone audio; 2 zone video and audio; learning remote and zone remote Dimensions: (WHD): 435 x 196 x 441 mm Weight: 19.6kg

Conclusion Far from simply being a stripped-down version of the RX-Z11, this is a ﬁne top-end AV receiver in its own right. At around $4000, it’s still a reasonable amount of outlay, but with its capability as a movie and music performer, plus great system ﬂexibility and connectivity, the RX-Z7 makes an excellent all-round Nic Tatham AV solution.

PROS Superb audio and video performance Battleship build quality Excellent audio streaming and network capability

CONS Runs hot when pushed Fiddly manual setup

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

BOX FRESH

Epson EH-TW5000 T

It’s pretty obvious that Epson has been the sales leader in the home theatre projector market in recent times. The reasons are simple: it has been offering projectors with the best features at market leading prices. Things are no different with its newest top-of-the-line model, the EH-TW5000.

Features This projector is a mix of evolutionary enhancements from its previous top model – the EMP-TW2000 – with a couple of extraordinary new features. The improvements include a new case (mostly black) and reworking the light path to improve the LCD black level performance. The native contrast ratio of the previous model was 4000:1 and this one goes up to an extremely impressive 6000:1. Add in the dynamic iris and you get up to 75,000:1.

Retained from the earlier models is the massive zoom range of 2.1:1 and the horizontal and vertical lens shift. These allow exceptional flexibility in locating the projector. Because of this flexibility, you can have the projector quite off-centre from the screen, yet still display an undistorted picture. Also retained is the HQV Reon VX video processor, which offers among the best picture scaling, deinterlacing and picture noise reduction available. What is new is what Epson calls ‘FineFrame interpolation processing technology’, and reversal of 3:2 pulldown. The first generates as many as four new film frames between each pair of actual film frames. Those additional frames are interpolated (kind of averaged) from the preceding and following frames, and thereby work to smooth onscreen motion. The 3:2 pulldown reversal undoes the 24 frames per second to 60 frames per second ‘3:2 pulldown’ performed by DVD players on US-style NTSC DVDs, and by some early model Blu-ray players. That conversion makes for jerky motion. But undoing it, this projector can smooth the motion back to the original film quality. It also has a new aspect ratio suitable for use with an external anamorphic lens, preferred by some for ‘Constant Image Height’ home theatre installations. This is quite important to some people because it replicates the effects of a cinema, where the wider the aspect ratio (eg. 2.35:1 as compared to 1.85:1), the wider the masking curtains open up on the screen. We don’t recommend this because the additional scaling involved softens the picture, and the special anamorphic lenses cost several thousand dollars.

EPSON EH-TW5000

I have never seen better, inkier, velvet-like blacks from a front projector than with this one Performance The projector was easy to set up, as the wide range of adjustments would imply. The remote control has backlit keys and throws a beam powerful enough to bounce from the projection screen back to the projector, making it easy to control. One should be cautious in one’s praise of products, but to hell with that. The black levels were absolutely incredible with this projector. What was once the Achilles heel of LCD projectors is no longer. I have never seen better, inkier, velvet-like blacks from a front projector than with this one. I was initially a little disappointed with those blacks. They were pretty good, but not what ﬁgures like ‘75,000:1’ would suggest. Then I realised that the dynamic iris of the projector was switched off. That’s how good the native contrast ratio of the projector is. With the dynamic iris on – that’s where those Indian Ink blacks come in. The projector did a ﬁne job with PAL DVDs and supported the highest quality 1080p24 video from Blu-ray as well. The 3:2 pulldown reversal worked well with Blu-ray discs fed to the projector in 1080i format. Some NTSC DVDs worked as well, but the difference was barely noticeable because these tend to produce a fairly fuzzy picture in which jerkiness is less noticeable.

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Projector Price: $5299 Warranty: three years (including lamp) Contact: Epson Australia 1300 361 054 www.epson.com.au Image: 3 x LCD panels; 16:9 native aspect, 1920 x 1080 pixels; brightness 1600 ANSI Lumens; 72,000:1 contrast ratio (Dynamic); lens zoom 2.1:1, lamp 200 watts Inputs: 1 x composite video, 1 x S-Video, 1 x component video (supporting progressive scan and HD), 2 x HDMI (v1.3), 1 x D-SUB15X Others: 1 x 12 volt trigger out, 1 x RS-232C Features: full high deﬁnition, 120 Hertz FineFrame technology, anamorphic lens support, ceiling/reverse projection capable, vertical and horizontal lens shift Supplied accessories: remote control; manual (on CD ROM) Dimensions (WHD): 450 x 136 x 360mm Weight: 7.5kg

The ‘FineFrame’ process worked in a very similar manner to that provided on some high-end TVs with 100Hz video processing. It had three settings. Avoid ‘Low’, because it tended to fall out of the smooth mode far too readily, in a quite disconcerting way. ‘Normal’ was okay and ‘High’ even better. But this did tend to create a glossy artiﬁciality to much of the imagery, and there were some fuzzy halo artefacts generated as well. The one real criticism was that whenever the signal changed (eg. from 1080p24 for Blu-ray, to 1080p60 for some special extra on the disc), the projector took a long time to work out the change and start showing the picture again, up to a minute in some cases.

Conclusion So there you have it: Epson has outdone its previous effort to produce what must be one of the best home theatre projectors currently on the market at a remarkable price. And that price comes with a three-year warranty, which includes the lamp. Thomas Bartlett

PROS Full support for Blu-ray and DVD Black levels the best in the business Excellent video processing features Very good value for money

CONS Quite slow to acquire signal Some halo-like artefacting when FineFrame processing applied

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

BOX FRESH

Senheisser HD-800 A

few years ago now, as a lowly hi-fi sales assistant in London’s Covent Garden, I can lay claim to having sold a pair of Sennheiser’s most expensive headphones. The Orpheus was a gorgeous reference electrostatic headphone driven by its own high-end valve amplifier and the American customer who bought the pair from me was lightened of some £10,000. At today’s exchange rate, that’s around AU$22,000. Sennheiser recently launched its latest flagship pair of ’cans, the HD 800, which at $2399 a set have a much more palatable price tag. Let’s face it, though, it’s still a lot of cash. Top-end Sennheisers are usually something to get excited about, and owning a pair of HD 600s myself I was keen to learn just how much better, if at all, the step-up 800s were.

Features Handmade in the factory in Germany – like all Sennheiser designs – the HD 800s are an open-backed circumaural design, meaning there’s some outward sound leakage. Sennheiser says the patented 56mm transducer (the part that converts the electrical signal into sound) is the largest ever incorporated in a pair of headphones. Transducers with a large surface area are better at generating full bodied sound and solid bass levels, but typically

also generate distortion. Sennheiser claims to have overcome this by developing a ring-shaped transducer. While this actually has less surface area than a conventional circular transducer of the same dimension, it manages to vibrate the same volume of air above it, according to Sennheiser. The doughnut-shaped drivers are angled from inside the ear cups at 45 degrees to the ear canal. This emulates the way sound arrives at our ears from a pair of triangulated stereo speakers, making the listening experience more natural. Solid and mostly metallic in construction, the HD 800s are still very comfortable thanks to luxurious touches such as ear

They’re hardly a chore to listen to for long periods, with a smooth, extended treble that never bites or sounds shrill

BOX FRESH

SENHEISSER HD-800 delivered an incredibly open performance that was intoxicating in its freedom. I started out with an ‘audiophile’ recording of Patricia Barber’s album Companion and was soon lost in the atmosphere and sultriness of the vocals. The midband is smooth – but not overly so – and superbly focused. Bass is rich and warm and makes everything from classical to dance music sound big-boned and mightily impressive. This is something that helps makes the HD 800s far more suited to a wider range of musical styles than the HD 600s and other previous models, which tend to shine with classical or jazz and don’t really ‘rock out’ so much. The HD 800s also leave the 600s for dead in terms of the sense of sheer openness and space. While the 600s are good here the 800s are in a different league, providing far more ‘air’ around instruments and creating a much wider soundstage between your lugholes. Hours later, and with CDs scattered all over the listening room ﬂoor, I was still going and the HD 800s still felt comfortable. So they’re hardly a chore to listen to for long periods, with a smooth, extended treble that never bites or sounds shrill. Sure, they are highly revealing, so feed them a poorly recorded CD and the Sennheiser’s will show it up warts’n’all, but with quality recordings they shine. The Lehmann ampliﬁer proved an ear-opener too, extracting even more sonic strength from the HD 800s. If you’re looking at spending this sort of money, a quality headphone amp is a wise investment.

Conclusion pads made of a Japanese man-made ﬁbre called Alcantara, which is also used as a high-quality interior fabric in the automotive industry. The three metre cord doesn’t get in the way either, and is constructed from four-core Teﬂon insulated cable.

Performance First up, know that these cans are not intended for use for portable players such as iPods. These devices won’t drive headphones like the HD 800s because they simply can’t handle the high impedance (ie. electrical resistance) presented to them. I ran the HD 800s straight off a dedicated valve output from a Shanling Super Audio CD player as well as via a $1549 Lehmann Black Cube Linear headphone ampliﬁer, which was supplied by Sennheiser’s Aussie distributor, Syntec. Direct from the source, the HD 800s sounded sublime and

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Headphones Price: $2399 Warranty: 2 years Contact: Syntec International www.syntec.com.au Design: circumaural Frequency response: 14–44,100 Hz (-3dB) Nominal impedance: 300 ohms Weight: 260 grams (without cable) Jack plug: 6.2mm stereo jack Cable length: 3 metres

Sennheiser has done itself proud with the HD 800s, which are some of the best-sounding ’phones that you can stick on your head. Great sound is worthless, though, if headphones ‘wear’ like an anvil or vice, so the HD 800s offer the twin beneﬁt of being superbly comfortable. They are best paired with a good-quality dedicated ampliﬁer, but if you’re the type to consider a $2000plus headphone purchase this item is probably already on your musical to-do list. Nic Tatham

PROS Sublime sound quality with all music genres Sumptuous build Comfortable

CONS Pricey Needs a quality headphone ampliﬁer to perform at its best

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

HIGH DEFINITION HAS NEVER BEEN THIS BIG. THE EPSON TW3000 PROJECTOR. MASSIVE 120” IMAGE. FULL 1080p HD. 18,000:1 CONTRAST RATIO. Epson, the world’s number one in projectors, brings you a huge new home cinema experience – with an image that’s an unbelievable 3 times bigger than the average flat screen TV. It uses less power than Plasma or LCD TVs and features a wide range of connectivity options (including twin HDMI inputs). So with the TW3000, your High Definition viewing experience will now be even larger than life. For information on our 1080p HD projectors call 1300 130 194 or visit epson.com.au

TW4000

TW5000

BOX FRESH

Sharp Aquos BD-HP50X A

s Blu-ray continues to mature as a platform and more discs hit shelves, manufacturers start to roll out a second generation of BD players. The key feature of these new devices is price: they’re now no more expensive than the ﬁrst generation of quality DVD players. But every BD player that costs less than $700 faces a strong rival: Sony’s ultra-versatile PlayStation 3. Sharp’s top-end Aquos-family player, the HP50X, brings all the features you need for today’s Blu-ray movies, but can it survive in a market full of more ﬂexible devices?

Features Shop for a BD player today and you need to demand a basic set of features: HDMI output, support for 1080p24 playback, and Blu-ray

Proﬁle 1.1 (Bonus View). Fortunately, the HP50X has all of these things, and wraps them up in a piano-black box that matches the new range of Aquos TVs. Thanks to Bonus View support, the HP50X can play back secondary video and audio in a picture-in-picture mode. So now director’s commentaries are no longer given by a disembodied voice: the director is there in the corner of your display, gesticulating wildly. You may, however, need to plug a USB2.0 thumbdrive into the back to get this working, and this can be a pain if the player is installed in a big AV stack. The unit includes a component and a composite output, but you’d be mad to use anything but HDMI. Full support for version 1.3a is provided, allowing the player to be controlled by a Sharp Aquos TV, via the proprietary Aquos Link technology (Sharp’s

Kogan KGNBRVA T

his is the third Kogan product I’ve reviewed. Last year I did two of the company’s TVs. The ﬁrst impressed as excellent value for money. The second I suggested ought not be purchased by video enthusiasts. It later came to my attention that some internet forum participants interpreted the ﬁrst review as me being on the take from Kogan, and the second as me covering up. Hmmm. Well, I suspect that this review will be interpreted as me going back onto Kogan’s payroll. Because this Blu-ray player ought to be dreadful, given that it costs only $249. Instead it’s rather decent in its major functions, although with a few quirks.

Features

This Blu-ray player is a BonusView unit, offering support for both secondary video and audio. But it is not BD-Live, so there will be no downloading of additional special extras. The 256MB of persistent storage (ie. the memory is retained when the unit is switched off) required for BonusView operation is internal, so there is no need to purchase a USB memory card. The unit has full 1080p24 output capability from its HDMI port, plus the ability to deliver the original digital sound – including the new high deﬁnition formats – via HDMI. The front

SHARP AQUOS BD-HP50X & KOGAN KGNBRVA

Paired with a high-end 1080p display that supports 24Hz mode, you get all the detail and incredible colour you’ve come to expect from Blu-ray implementation of HDMI’s Consumer Electronics Control). Unfortunately, this only works with Sharp devices, so a Sony TV with CEC won’t be able to control the HP50X. Thanks to HDMI 1.3a, the player also supports the full x.v. Colour space. This is available from discs or memory cards recorded with AVCHD devices (Advanced Video Codec High Deﬁnition), such as camcorders from Panasonic and Sony, and allows the display of nearly double (actually 1.8) the number of colours as the DVD players of yesteryear. (Blu-ray discs do not yet employ x.v. Colour.) Your display will need matching support though, as will an AV receiver if you’re passing the video through it. For audio enthusiasts, there’s also support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Advanced, so the HP50X is deﬁnitely worthy of a serious cinema system.

Setup A quick note here on an extremely irritating element to the otherwise straightforward setup of this player. Sensible users will

panel has touch controls rather than push buttons and on the back is a hardwired on/off switch. The biggest feature is, apparently, unique to this unit: it is capable of playing both Region B (Oceania, Europe, Africa and the Middle East) and Region A (North and South America and parts of Asia) discs.

Performance The unit doesn’t automatically change region. You have to apply a two keystroke code using the remote control to switch between A and B. All three of my Region A discs played perfectly. For these and all regular Blu-ray movies, the picture performance was excellent, delivered at 1080p and 24 frames per second. The colour seemed to match speciﬁcation, the image was sharp and there were no decoding wobbles. The sound was just as good. The latter was expected since I just piped the bitstream straight out to my receiver. My tests revealed that the unit can decode Dolby TrueHD audio up to at least 96kHz, but it always turns 7.1 channel audio into 5.1. It does not decode DTS-HD Master Audio, but instead uses the standard DTS ‘core’ within such audio tracks. The unit was very poor with all 1080i material, though, when it came to 1080p output. The worst I’ve seen so far. The solution is to set the video output to ‘Auto’ rather than 1080p. This will deliver most Blu-ray movies over HDMI at 1080p24 – the ideal – if

of course choose HDMI, and connect the player to a display or AV receiver with a single cable. Setup done? Not quite: you need to hold down the HDMI button on the remote for ﬁve seconds to enable HDMI mode. This is nothing new: high-end DVD players used to have a switch on the back to select between composite and component output. But it was a physical switch, and both obvious and instant. If you’re one of those people who pride themselves on not having to read a manual up to page 15, the HP50X will make you change your ways.

Performance With such a complete feature set, video playback from the HP50X is naturally excellent. Paired with a high-end 1080p display that supports 24Hz mode, you get all the detail and incredible colour you’ve come to expect from Blu-ray. You can also choose to send the audio out via optical or coaxial digital, which might be the superior option for your audio setup. We say again: you’re mad to use analog outputs for Blu-ray, but if you need to save your shekels, then the component output here is just ﬁne. Maximum resolution is only 1080i of course, and there’s no 24Hz support, but if you’re using a TV without HDMI, then you’re not going to notice these shortcomings. The machine itself is fairly quick to start up: there’s a quickstart mode which marginally speeds boot times, but if you want to conserve power consumption you can turn this off and wait the few extra seconds for playback to get underway. The whole front of the unit folds down on a motorised hinge to reveal the disc tray, and this becomes irritating after a while, plus it’s one more bit to snap off! Where the HP50X starts to fall behind is when you want to use it for something other than BD. DVD playback is ﬁne: the

you have ‘Film Mode’ switched on. DVDs and 1080i material will be output at 1080i. That will leave it to your TV to deinterlace this material, and it will surely do a better job than this player. Surprisingly, this unit was at the top end of the scale for picture quality from PAL DVDs (output at 1080i or 1080p) as far as Blu-ray players go. Speed-wise, it was about middle of the pack when it came to starting up, reading discs and the like. The remote control was touchy with regard to range and angle, and even how quickly I pressed the keys, so sometimes the unit could be a little difﬁcult to use. The front panel touch controls were also a bit iffy sometimes. But there’s little point bothering with the front panel control since there is no apparent way of putting the unit into Standby mode, nor switching it back on, without using the remote control!

The biggest feature is, apparently, unique to this unit: it is capable of playing both Region B and Region A discs 73

BOX FRESH decoder chips are cheap, so this is as good as any HDMI-equipped DVD player. But there’s a distinct lack of support for other ﬁle types. Enjoy watching DivX movies or playing MP3 or WMA CDs? Forget about it. There’s no support for these formats. It’s commercial BD, DVD, CD-Audio and image CDs with JPEG ﬁles only. You can’t even play back DVD-Audio! This means you will still need a second optical player in your AV stack if you go with the HP50X, and here’s where it faces its biggest competition: Sony’s PlayStation 3.

Conclusion With a device like the PS3 on shelves, BD players such as the HP50X need to work hard to secure buyers. Consider, pay $100

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Blu-ray player Price: $599 Contact: Sharp Australia 1300 135 530 www.sharp.net.au Warranty: 12 months Video outputs: 1x HDMI 1.3, 1x component, 1x composite Audio outputs: 1x stereo RCA, 1x optical Disc types supported: BD-ROM, BD-RE dual layer, BD-R dual layer, DVD Video, DVD+RW/+R/-R/-RW dual layer, Audio CD, CD-RW/R (JPEG images only) Blu-ray proﬁle: 1.1 Bonus View HDMI output resolutions: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576/480p, 1080p @ 24Hz Component output resolutions: 1080i, 720p, 576/480p, 576/480i HD audio formats: Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Advanced Dimensions: 434 x 68 x 349mm Weight: 4.3kg

Through a dozen Blu-ray discs, the player just chugged on, doing its stuff and not once skipping a frame or a digital audio sample. It was totally solid.

Conclusion I would not hesitate to watch regular 1080p24 Blu-ray movies with this unit. It delivers good quality, does what it is supposed to do, and costs very little. And if you want to purchase Blu-ray discs from the US, you can do so conﬁdently with regard to region Thomas Bartlett codes if you have this player.

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Blu-ray player Price: $249 Warranty: one year Contact: Kogan Technologies 1300 304 292 www.kogan.com.au Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo analogue audio, 1 x 5.1 analog audio, 1 x optical digital audio, 1 x coaxial digital audio Disc types supported: BD-ROM, DVD Video, CD Audio, BD-R/RE HDMI Output resolution: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p @ 50 or 60 hertz, 1080p @ 24 hertz Component output resolution: 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p, 576i, 480i @ 50 or 60 hertz Dimensions (WHD): 430 x 60 x 305mm Weight: 2.90kg

extra for a PS3 (and that’s assuming you can’t get one on sale) and you’ll get a BD player that’s faster, supports the 2.0 Proﬁle (interactive elements on a few discs so far), plays almost every video and audio format including SACD, and has a 40GB hard drive! Oh yes, and it plays games too! To be able to ﬁrmly recommend the HP50X, it really needed to support more compressed video formats, so its slim and stylish fascia could become the centrepiece of your AV stack. Still, if compressed content is anathema to your AV sensibilities, and you don’t want to mess around with an overly complicated media server, the HP50X is a lean BD player, even if it Anthony Fordham is a little mean on the extra features.

PROS Matches your Sharp TV Moderate cost Blu-ray 1.1/Bonus View proﬁle

CONS Limited disc support No Blu-ray 2.0/BD Live

Irritating front door

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

PROS Plays both Region A and Region B Blu-ray discs Very good value for money BonusView Blu-ray support Reliable operation

CONS Not BD-Live capable Weak remote control signal Poor 1080i deinterlacing Some remote control quirks

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

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GEAR GUIDES FOR DIGTAL LIVES

REFLEX ACTION Buying a Digital SLR camera

OD THE GOOD AND LESS GO GOOD

• Top quality images • Rapid shooting rate ing • Precise, quick auto focus

LESS GOOD

Image Makers Affordable digital SLRs are making it easy for the rest of us to achieve pro-level photography results, writes Byer Gair.

n the last twelve months a seismic shift happened in the digital camera business: some compact digicams began to cost as much as a digital SLR while some DSLRs fell to compact digicam levels. Mighty strange. Keen photographers, blooded in the days of ﬁlm cameras, are licking their lips at the thought of an affordable DSLR kit — and rightly so! Now they can own and enjoy a camera that looks like an SLR, shoots like an SLR but brings with it the tech of digital imaging. They can now import digital pictures into a computer,

n • Larger and heavier tha ras me ca l ita compact dig erate • Far more complex to op ms than digica less • Low cost kit lenses are ht lig low capable in

massage the pixels with reasonably priced software, then pump out glorious prints on the home printer. Or they can take the quick’n’easy path and head for a Big W, Harvey Norman or other digital print-enabled store and DIY a batch of prints costing anywhere between 10 and 20 cents a go.

Why a DSLR? You choose a DSLR because you can enjoy finely tuned control of picture making, precise manual or accurate auto focusing, accurate exposure control in even the most challenging situations. You can also view with an optical viewfinder that shows the scene with infinite detail … or have the option of Live View on the rear LCD screen, previewing the shot exactly as it will appear on a monitor, live and in digital form. DSLRs are quicker, with almost no delay in shooting and the subsequent writing of the image to the memory card. Unlike digicams, you can now shoot the unpredictable and unrepeatable action of kids, animals and sports with little

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WHAT TO LOOK FOR • • • •

A dust removal system Internal body stabiliser RAW format capture High def video capture

FOUR THIRDS Olympus and Panasonic decided to equip their DSLRs with the Four Thirds system, using a common sensor and lens mount to assure compatibility between Four Thirds System bodies and lenses produced by different makers. Then a second format: Micro Four Thirds has the ability to dramatically reduce both body and lens sizes. This new format could be seen as an answer to criticism of current DSLR model sizes: many customers find DSLR cameras to be big, heavy, and difficult to operate. Micro Four Thirds cameras have an approximately 50 percent shorter lens mount-to-sensor distance; a smaller lens mount outer diameter, and two more electrical contacts in the lens mount to deliver new features and increased system functionality. The sensor remains the same size. In the new scheme the pentaprism optical viewfinder is removed to reduce the lens-to-CCD distance. So, added to the rear LCD screen providing a ‘Live View’ of your shooting, the top turret viewfinder will also be an LCD one. Micro Four Third cameras do not have an optical reflex viewfinder. At this point, Panasonic’s DMC-G1 is the only camera using the approach.

LIVE VIEW chance of missing the shot. With a couple of cautions: DSLRs are bigger, heavier and more complex than your average digicam. While you can set up a DSLR to work in absolute, no-brainer auto mode, do so and you miss out on the sheer picture making talent of these wonderful pieces of technology.

“You can enjoy ﬁnely tuned control of picture making, precise manual or accurate auto focusing, accurate exposure control in even the most challenging situations”

Live View is, essentially, a response to people who missed a digital view while shooting with a reﬂex camera. Now a DSLR can work just like a compact digicam. During Live View, the image on the LCD screen is the same as that received by the CCD or CMOS sensor that captures your image. By using the Live View on the LCD screen you can compose the shot as well as check on the effects of exposure compensation or white balance. While the image appears on the LCD screen during Live View, the mirror is raised and the shutter is open. At this point you can’t check the subject in the optical viewﬁnder.

Some DSLRs have HDMI outputs so you can run slide shows of your stills on high deﬁnition TV sets. Now you can also shoot high def video with a few cameras, then watch them on an HD TV.

Spots Virtually all DSLRs provide a form of sensor dust removal, an important factor in capturing clean images. The reﬂex type of camera is particularly prone to the entry of dust, due to the

action of changing lenses outdoors or in dusty environments. The dust settles on the CCD or CMOS sensor and the spotty dust particles can degrade your image.

Steady If you’ve used compact digicams for any length of time you’ll know that with most of these small cameras the risk of camera shake can be high. Digital SLRs take this problem to an even higher level: they are heavier than digicams and not as easy to

THE EXTRAS Camera in hand, some shots under your belt, what’s the next step? Accessorise your rig. Keen photographers have a desperate passion for DSLRs and it’s true that this level of gear demands great skill in its use if it is to achieve above average picture shooting. But a camera is only the beginning.

Tripods

They’re a curse to carry but a blessing in the quest for sharp pictures: tripods. Heavy tripods ensure less vibration; a crossbraced design that links the central column and the legs adds to the steadiness factor, while fewer leg sections contribute to steadiness. Rubber feet will generally make a stable connection with the ground, and they are less likely to slip on hard surfaces. Look carefully at the method used to adjust leg height — some models are a pain in the bum. A carbon ﬁbre tripod can make the weight factor less of a pain; they’re not cheap but they’re much lighter. Tripods made with titanium and/or magnesium are also light and not quite as expensive as carbon ﬁbre.

Most tripods are sold with a head attached but you may prefer to select a separate head. There are two ways to go here: pan-and-tilt or ball-and-socket heads. The former gives you camera adjustment in three planes: tilt up or down; pan left or right; tilt left or right. Ball-and-socket heads afford adjustment in all directions. Prices of tripods can run from $30 to hundreds of dollars; my advice is to go for quality and steadiness … and not the bottom dollar. Other options: Ever heard of the Wimberley Plamp? This gadget clamps to the tripod leg, at one end, and can hold an object at the other — at least 56 cm away — attached to a light clamp. About $70. Another oddity is the Joby Gorillapod. A tripod in concept, the three rubber-coated legs are ﬂexible and can bend and rotate 360 degrees to form a shape which best suits your purpose. $20 and upwards.

Flash

Almost all DSLRs have a tiny flash cell built into the top of the camera. They are low-powered and, while they can get you out of a spot when shooting, adding fill light in portrait shooting or lighting up a corner of a dim room, to get the full benefit of 21st century flash technology you should investigate the systems that can be hung off your own

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BUYING A DIGITAL SLR CAMERA

BEFORE YOU BUY Before you lay out the plastic to take possession of your new camera, double-check these points: 1. Any digital SLR will have enough pixels packed into its CCD or CMOS sensor to allow you take happy snaps and enjoy 10 x 15cm prints. 2. If you have special needs: you need to shoot high quality magazine covers or to make largescale posters from your images, head for the higher megapixel count. 3. Make sure you can cope with the user interface of your new camera. Is it too complex? Will all the family be able to use it? 4. The kit lenses supplied with the camera are made down to a price. Their maximum lens aperture will not help in dim situations. Some of them have pronounced optical distortion. 5. Do a deal with your retailer: gently persuade him or her to tip in extra memory, a camera bag and other accessories before you ﬁnalise the price. hold, so encouraging the ‘shakes’ that cause fuzzy images. Camera makers have followed two sophisticated paths to attack this problem: one approach is to build the stabilising function into the body itself, by sensing unwanted camera

A new take on the tripod, the Joby Gorillapod’s rubberclad legs allow stable shooting by attaching to just about anything

movement and moving the image sensor itself to counteract it; the other method is to attack unsteadiness by ‘shufﬂing’ a group of elements within the lens itself. Both are quite sophisticated systems. The body stabiliser path is followed by Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Sony and others. The stabilised lens approach is followed by Canon and Nikon.

particular camera. Some cameras have a hot shoe or a sync socket allowing you to fit an external flashgun. Some cameras work only with dedicated ‘original maker’ flashguns. If yours offers TTL (through the lens) flash metering you can set the camera’s aperture on the flashgun and it will produce the precise amount of light for a perfect exposure. The sensor on the front of the flashgun measures the light reflected back from the subject, cutting the output when sufficient light has been emitted. If your flashgun has a swivel head, you can bounce light off a white ceiling or wall to soften its output. Adventurous photographers keen to get into interior shooting should investigate cameras that offer multiple slave flash techniques. Auxiliary flash units can cost anywhere between $150 and $700, with original brand units priced at the

upper level and offering a complete interface with that company’s cameras.

Memory

Memory cards are cheap these days and, for the sake of a higher writing speed, head for the fast writing types: SanDisk calls its range Ultra II; Lexar usually marks its fast writing types in terms of speed … 60x, 300x etc. It’s a wise practice to buy only name brand cards. Recently, there has been a spate of fake SanDisk CompactFlash cards sold via eBay. The company advises you should “make sure any card you buy has its unique serial number either on the side or back of the card.” Buy at least two cards when you acquire your new camera. Rotate them. And never insert or remove a card while the camera is powered up!

GREAT DEALS FROM CA TM

Canon EOS 500D* • • •

• •

15.1 megapixel Canon-developed CMOS sensor captures superb image quality with low noise and natural colour New DiG!C 4 Processor means faster processing and new features such as Live Face Detection AF Mode 9-point AF and 6-point Assist AF for ultra sharp images. You can manually select any of the 9 points to ensure correct sharp focus Continuous smooth shooting speed of 3.4 fps Now with new Live Face Detection AF mode, and Live View Movies (in Full HD) Standard ISO (100-6400) and expandable to an incredible H1:12800 with incredible image detail in low light 3.0” (920,000 dots) LCD screen with anti-reﬂection and anti-smudge coating for clear photo previews Prevents and automatically removes tiny dust particles resulting in cleaner images Live View Stills (Live, Quick and Live Face Detection AF modes) Live View Movies in Full HD (with sound)

•

HDMI mini output in full High-Deﬁnition

• • • • •

Canon EOS 50D Featuring an APS-C-sized 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor and the newly developed DiG!C 4 Image Processor, the EOS 50D boasts a tough magnesium alloy body with a stylish design and a 3.0-inch VGA LCD monitor with 920,000 dots for greater flexibility and creative composition. The new image processor provides even faster signal processing and enables the EOS 50D to support continuous shooting speeds of 6.3 frames per second (fps) with continuous shooting up to 60 shots in a single burst (JPEG Large/Fine). The EOS 50D also has a baseline sensitivity range of ISO 100-3200 in 1/3-stop increments, which can be increased to ISO 6400 or ISO 12800 with ISO expansion. EOS 50D features a Live View Mode with Auto Focus capabilities and a Live Face Detection AF mode in Live View shooting,which is a first for Canon EOS cameras. In another first for Canon DSLR, the EOS 50D offers HDMI output in full High-Definition (HD), ensuring images can be viewed in Full HD when transferred to an HD monitor. The new Creative Auto mode with Quick Control screen, enables photographers to adjust settings and shoot images as they visualise them, without requiring an understanding of technical terms such as aperture and exposure. On-screen graphics allow images to be made a little brighter or darker or users can make the background more blurry in Creative Auto mode, rather than by understanding how to change the exposure or aperture.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II The EOS 5D Mark II features a huge, full-frame sensor. A 21.1-megapixel CMOS sensor delivers images of up to 5616 x 3744 pixels. And since it is full-frame, all lenses will deliver the angle of view they would on a 35mm camera without a conversion factor. This comes in handy especially when shooting with wide-angle lenses. For the ﬂexibility to shoot in even the most dimly lit situations, the EOS 5D Mark II offers Canon’s highest ISO sensitivity to date, ranging from 100-6400 (expandable to ISO L: 50, H1: 12800 and H2: 25600). Thanks to improved noise reduction technologies, images shot even at highest sensitivity will be remarkably smooth.

* Canon EOS 500D available May 2009

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Nikon D60 The Nikon D60 makes it fun and easy to take breathtaking pictures while also offering plenty of features for those who want to deepen their interest in creative shooting. With a split-second shutter response, the Nikon D60 captures pictures that cameras with longer time lags miss.

Nikon D90 The 12.3-megapixel D90 captures HD video at a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 24 frames/second with the clarity and depth-of-field control that only a DSLR can provide. Clearly, Nikon doesn’t place a high priority on this capability (and neither do we, seeing it as more of an adjunct you’d use now and then, than a primary motive for purchasing the D90). However, as it’s a ‘world first’, Photo Review will deal with it before moving on to other more important features. Video in a DSLR is a significant advance - particularly at the D90’s price point. Previously, if you wanted a video camera with interchangeable lenses, you were looking at around $7000 for a model that couldn’t even record high-definition, widescreen video. But the D90 provides a lot more for a much lower price tag by giving users with the same kind of control over focusing, exposure and depth-of-field as they get with a DSLR camera, along with the ability to shoot with virtually any Nikon lens.

Great Price Great Service! I have once again been amazed by the terrific service I receive when I purchase from Camerasdirect. Their prices are always the lowest I can find in an Australian store and products are well packed and usually arrive the following day! The low prices are great but the service is what brings me back to Camerasdirect. Thanks to all the crew! Another lens to play with! Gwen R, QLD I buy all my equipment here. I know when I call up I will get to talk to someone who really knows photography and photographic equipment. Great prices and great advice. Beats the hell out of the hard sell at your local camera store. I recommend CamerasDirect to all my friends. Anthony O, VIC PHONE

1300 727 056

“Any digital SLR will have enough pixels packed into its CCD or CMOS sensor to allow you take happy snaps and enjoy 10 x 15cm prints” In simplest terms, the body stabiliser means you can attach virtually any lens. With the stabilised lens approach you must ﬁt lenses that have this technology built into each. In cold hard dollar terms the latter lenses are more expensive.

Lenses Look at any of the catalogues popped into your letterbox at the weekend and you’ll see ads for DSLRs that offer big name brand camera bodies paired with two ‘kit lenses’ for prices well under $1000.

VIDEO OUT Nikon startled everyone when it introduced the D90. At last, you could shoot high deﬁnition video with a DSLR! While its video specs of 1280 x 720 pixels at 24 fps are not full HD they look pretty good on a big LCD or plasma screen. Then Nikon took it further by providing an HDMI output to ensure the full digital picture quality gets to the big screen. Most cameras have only a composite video output that limits quality to the level of a VCR. HDMI output is a big step forward.

This combo should handle almost any photographic assignment you could throw at it. And it will. But there’s a factor you should be aware of: the kit lenses’ f stop or lens apertures are usually f3.5, a ﬁgure that indicates they are slow lenses … ‘slow’ as in less able to take decent photos in less than bright light. Should you want to shoot in dim light or use lighthungry, fast shutter speeds you will ﬁnd yourself crying out for a ‘fast’ lens, with an aperture of at least f2.8. This capability costs!

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Sensor Size Camera retailers have shelves full of digicams boasting multi million megapixel image capture. This high pixel count means you can, in theory, shoot and print images up to A3 in size. And you can. For their part most DSLRs can offer 8, 10 and higher megapixel image counts. But there are pixels and there are pixels. The story revolves around the size of the image sensor itself: most digicams have sensors that measure around 4 x 3 mm while even budget DSLRs have sensors that measure approximately 22 x 15 mm. In short, DSLR sensors have 25 or more times the area of didicam sensor. This rather confronting fact means that each of the 10 million pixels on a digicam’s sensor will be signiﬁcantly smaller than those on a DSLR with a 10 million pixel count. Smaller pixels mean more image noise in your pictures, more colour artefacts and comparatively fuzzier images.

Next? So, you’ve bought your DSLR. What’s next? If you’re a serious and keen photographer, shoot all your digital pictures in the RAW format. If you’re a casual snapper, use JPEG as your ﬁle format of choice.

RAW delivers the image in all its natural glory: no compression, no artefacts and ready for your own custom way to twist and tweak your pictures in software at a later time. JPEG images don’t have the headroom of the RAW format. It’s a bit like comparing live sound with that of an AM radio!. ■

TOP 5 1. Count me in for a Nikon D90: with an 18-105mm VR-stabilised lens strapped on, it weighs only a kilo; it captures 12.3 megapixels; shoots 1280 x 720 pixel/16:9 ratio HD movie quality at 24 fps. Asking price: $1849 with the above lens.

4. Pentax is a respected name in photography and the company’s K20D camera is worth a look: 14.6 megapixel capture; body stabiliser; the ability to take Pentax K-/ KAF/KAF2 mount lenses. Price with 18–55m kit lens: $1999.

2. Canon’s EOS 1000D is priced at $1199 and includes two non-stabilised kit lenses. At this price you get the full DSLR experience at a bargain price. Captures 10.1 megapixels and can shoot at three fps.

5. Let me squeeze in two magniﬁcent cameras, for those with deep pockets, long arms and heaps of camera expertise: Nikon’s D3X and Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II. The Nikon has 24.5 megapixel capture to a full frame sensor and plenty of delicious features. PriceL $13,999 body only. Canon’s camera has 21.1 megapixel capture with a full frame sensor and a tonne of operating smarts. Price: $4299. Only for the wise and wealthy!

3. Using a body stabiliser, Olympus’ E-520 abides by the Four Thirds system. Weighing just over 800 grams with lens attached, the camera can take 10 megapixel pictures. Price with 14-42mm kit lens: $1099.

IN MOTION

PORTABLE M I n 1998, the MPMan introduced the world to compressed music on the move. Today’s players are now highly evolved versions of this 32MB Korean-made portable pioneer,

integrating video and photo playback, voice recording and even wireless networking in ever smaller-on-the-outside, bigger-onNic Tatham the-inside packages. Here’s our pick of the pack.

FIT FOR ACTION Sony W series Walkman Sony’s wraparound MP3 headphones have no cord and no display to get in the way of your daily workout, and the handy ‘Zappin’ function allows you to quickly search for music by playing 15-second snippets of tracks in your playlist. A three-minute quick charge feature provides 90 minutes of play, and full charge offers 12 hours playback. Loads of trendy colours on offer, too. PRICE $119/2GB Sony Australia WEB www.sony.com.au PHONE 1300 720 071

Samsung U4 Samsung’s miniature U4 is small enough not to be noticed either in your pocket or strapped to your arm, and the feature count isn’t bad for such a small player. There’s a built in FM radio and microphone, plus a host of tweakable audio settings including an adjustable graphic equaliser. PRICE $109/4GB Samsung Australia WEB www.samsung.com.au PHONE 1300 362 603

iriver T6 If looks and build without too many feature frills are important when you’re on the treadmill, this little iriver ﬁts the bill superbly. The size of a packet of chewing gum, the T6 sports an FM radio and voice recorder and is ﬁnished in brushed aluminium. PRICE $89/4GB iriver Australasia (C.R. Kennedy & Co.) WEB www.iriver.com.au PHONE (03) 9823 1555

Sennheiser MX 85 Sport II headphones Taking perspiration in their stride, these Sennheisers are waterproof and fully washable after a workout. Their ‘Twistto-ﬁt’ system means they sit securely in the outer ear canal and won’t pop out while running or lifting weights. PRICE $89.95 Syntec International WEB www.syntec.com.au PHONE (02) 9910 6700

PORTABLE MUSIC PLAYERS

USIC SCENE THE STYLE BRIGADE

Bang & Olufsen Serenata A music player ﬁrst and phone second, this is a stunning-looking bit of kit, whichever way you take in its svelte, sculptured lines. Packed with B&O’s audio know-how to enhance both music and speech quality, twin speakers are driven by B&O’s proprietary ICEpower digital ampliﬁcation and digital signal processing. Louis Vuitton has also crafted a leather holster for the B&O, making this perhaps one the swankiest MP3 players money can buy. PRICE $2275/4GB B&O Australia WEB www.bang-olufsen.com

Apple iPod Touch Lashings of chromed steel, glass and a big 3.5 inch screen make this a beautiful and tactile bit of music and video playing kit. Browse the internet or check your emails with its Wi-Fi connectivity, and keep on downloading at any Wi-Fi hotspot. PRICE $329/8GB, $419/16GB, $549/32GB Apple Pty Ltd WEB www.apple.com/au PHONE 133 622 (Apple Store)

Oakley Split Thump Oakley’s ‘High Deﬁnition Optics’ lenses provide clarity of vision and protection, while sounds are delivered courtesy of removable earphones located in the side arms. Wireless, the Split Thumps are a highly convenient option for music on the move, be it dropping into the half pipe, or simply cruising the strip. PRICE $550/2GB Oakley Inc WEB http://oakley.com.au PHONE 1800 625 539

iriver Spinn Video looks great on its 3.3 inch colour touchscreen and with inbuilt SRS Wow HD soundﬁeld technology, the Spinn sounds the business too. This player supports a decent array of music and video ﬁles plus also handles podcasting and audiobook downloads. PRICE $349/8GB iriver Australasia (C.R. Kennedy & Co.) WEB www.iriver.com.au PHONE (03) 9823 1555

IN MOTION

JUKEBOX PLAYERS Sony X series Walkman The iPod Touch may be the daddy of cool of portable music players, but it has many challengers in the touchscreen-cool stakes. The X series Walkman is equipped with a 3 inch OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen, Wi-Fi connectivity and Internet access, inbuilt digital noise cancelling, plus Sony’s quality EX earphones. PRICE $649/16GB, $799/32GB Sony Australia WEB www.sony.com.au PHONE 1300 720 071

Samsung YP-P3 Milled from die-cast aluminium with a 3 inch touchscreen and Samsung’s brand-new ‘EmoTure’ user interface, the YP-P3 is designed to make the most of portable music and video content. It also sports Bluetooth connectivity for audio streaming from a PC or phone, and even allows you to answer a mobile phone call via its headphones and built-in microphone. PRICE $TBA (4/8/16/32GB) Samsung Australia WEB www.samsung.com.au PHONE 1300 362 603

Microsoft Zune With up to 120GB of hard disk storage inside, you can cram just about everything onto the Generation 3 Microsoft Zune. Record your favourite TV shows or movies via the Internet, and sync with the Windows Media Center in Windows Vista to upload what you want to take with you to watch. Use your home wireless network to share tracks, or stream content to Microsoft’s Xbox 360. PRICE $480/120GB (4/8/16/80/120GB) Microsoft Australia WEB www.microsoft.com/australia PHONE 13 20 58

Myvu Crystal Personal Media Viewer Once the fantasy of sci-ﬁ tragics, these glasses connect to a portable media player to display your very own video show, quite literally right in front of your eyes. Screen resolution is VGA 640 x 480 pixels and decent audio quality is provided by built-in Ultimate Ears earbuds. Star Trek: The Next Generation never felt so real. PRICE $399 Myvu Corporation WEB www.myvu.com

PORTABLE MUSIC PLAYERS

COLOURFUL SORTS SanDisk Sansa Fuze The Fuze’s alloy metal case comes in a range of ﬁve bright colours, and wraps the player’s 1.9 inch colour TFT screen and central control wheel. A microSD card expansion slot allows memory to be beefed up to 24GB, and a range of colour-coordinated additions allows you to accessorise at will. PRICE $179/8GB (2/4/8GB) SanDisk Corporation WEB www.sansa.com

Apple iPod nano Available in no fewer than nine colours, the fourth generation iPod nano features an ‘accelerator’ which, by giving the nano a shake, shufﬂes to the next track in your library. Tilt the nano on its side and the 2 inch display reorientates accordingly, while the Cover Flow feature allows you to ﬂip through music album art just as you would on the iPod Touch and iPhone. PRICE $199/8GB, $279/16GB Apple Pty Ltd WEB www.apple.com/au PHONE 133 622 (Apple Store)

Creative Zen Stone Pebble-sized and shaped, the Zen Stone is offered in a livery of six different high gloss colours, with a host of accessories, from skins to speakers, to suit. For something fancier, the Zen Stone Plus incorporates a small OLED screen and FM tuner. Both versions of the Zen are available with or without a built-in speaker. PRICE $49.95/Zen Stone 1GB Creative Labs Pty Ltd (Australia & New Zealand) WEB http://au.creative.com PHONE (02) 9021 9800

AktiMate Mini There are all manner of powered speakers for portable music players, but few sound as good as the Aktimate Minis. There’s a cradle mount for an iPod or iPhone, plus connections for other players and an output for a subwoofer. A USB port is provided, as is 40 watts of power output and a connection for sending video and photos to a TV. PRICE $650/pair Epoz Australia WEB www.aktimate.com PHONE (02) 9972 2815

CEDIA CEDIA INSTALLER DIRECTORY

WANT A CUSTOM INSTALL? Make sure you use a CEDIA CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL and have peace of mind. CEDIA members specialize in the planning, design, supply, installation and concealment of automated electronic systems for the modern, intelligent home. They can install anything from multi-room audio and home cinema systems to complete home networks and sub-systems which intelligently control lighting, HVAC and even garden areas. For more information go to www.cedia.com.au

ACT Millennium Audio Visual Unit C, 66 Maryborough St. Fyshwick ACT 2609 02 6162 3330 www.mav.com.au Sound Advice Australia 21 Molonglo Mall Fyshwick ACT 2609 02 6280 8777 www.soundadvice.com.au

NSW Advanced Entertainment Systems Unit 14 12 Cecil Road Hornsby, NSW 2077 02 9477 3377 www.aesonline.com.au Advanced Living 2/29 Mitchell Road Brookvale NSW 2011 02 9939 0188 www.advancedliving.com.au Andrew Parker Custom AV Installations 5 Honeysuckle Place Kellyville, NSW 2155 02 8824 7177 www.andrewparker.com.au Audio Connection 455 - 40Parramatta Road Leichhardt, NSW 2040 02 9518 3000 www.audioconnection.com.au Audio Connection (Caringbah) 381 Port Hacking Road Caringbah NSW 2229 02 9518 3000 www.audioconnection.com.au Audio Connection (Drummoyne) 137 Victoria Road Drummoyne NSW 2047 02 9561 0788 www.audioconnection.com.au Audio Solutions 1133 Botany Road, Mascot, NSW 2020 02 9317 3330 www.audiosolutions.net.au Audio Visual & Security Unlimited 5/686 New South Head Road Rose Bay, NSW 2029 02 9371 2052 www.audiovisualunlimited.com.au Audio Visual Lifestyle 86 Merewether Street Merewether NSW 2291 02 49 635304 avlifestyle@exemail.com.au Automated Innovation Unit 2, 51 Pacific Highway Bennetts Green NSW 2290 02 49 484812 www.automatedinnovation.com.au

AVD Australia Pty Ltd 55 Atchison Street St Leonards NSW 2065 02 9906 2424 www.avd.com.au Castle Integrated Media 372 B Military Road Cremorne NSW 2090 02 9953 8037 www.castleintegrated.com.au CONNEXIONS (NSW) Pty Ltd 19C Grace Ave Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 02 9453 2766 connexions@cnxns.com.au Custom Home Electronics PO Box 564 Hamilton, NSW 2303 02 4940 0409 jefferson@customhomeelectronics.com.au David Leisk Electronics 25/1 Short Street Chatswood, NSW 2067 02 9882 3733 www.davidleisk.com.au E.C.S. Services Pty Ltd 22 Forestwood Cr West Pennant Hills, NSW 2125 02 9871 4061 www.ecss.com.au EBM Systems PO Box 1865 Hornsby Westfield, NSW 1635 02 9029 9245 www.ebmsystems.com.au Electronic Environments 1 Lansdowne Parade Oatley, NSW 2223 02 9585 1233 www.electronicenvironments.com.au Eris McCarthy Home Technology PO Box 8099 Tumbi Umbi, NSW 2261 02 4389 1990 www.erismccarthy.com.au Harvey Norman Commercial Home Automation Systems 15 - 21 Atkinson Rd Taren Point, NSW 2229 02 9710 4321 www.hncommercial.com.au Home Control & Audio PO Box 1324 Sutherland NSW 2232 02 9528 0071 www.homecontrolandaudio.com.au Infra Red Entertainment & Automated Interiors Ste. 2, 11 Albany Street St Leonards, NSW 2065 02 9439 6444 www.infrared.com.au

Insound Pty Ltd 108 West Street Crows Nest, NSW 2065 02 9954 9122 tex@insound.com.au

Paciﬁc Hi Fi 62 Macquarie Stree Liverpool NSW 2170 02 9600 6655 www.pacifichifi.com.au

Instinct Electrical PO Box 557 Dee Why, NSW 2099 02 9938 3188 www.instinctelectrical.com.au

Smart Home Solutions Unit 21 56 O’Riordan Street Alexandria, NSW 2015 02 9304 4700 www.smarthomes.com.au

Intelligent Control Systems ‘ICS’ 13/3 Apollo Street Warriewood, NSW 2102 02 9999 0766 www.icsonline.net.au

Soundys Electrical and Computers 383 Goonoo Goonoo Road Tamworth, NSW 2340 02 6765 4477 day1@bigpond.net.au

IntelliStream PO Box 4018 Kotara East,NSW 2305 02 4957 8820 www.intellistream.com.au

Sturman Electronics Pty Ltd 443 Crown Street West Wollongong, NSW 2500 02 4226 6690 www.sturmans.com.au

JFK Audio Visual L3, 18/81-91 Military Road Neutral Bay NSW 2089 0414 434 535 www.jfk.com.au

Sydney HiFi ASV PO Box 150 Mascot, NSW 2020 02 9578 0118 www.sydneyhifi.com.au

Jory Home Systems Pty Ltd 6 Morrisey Way Rouse Hill, NSW 2155 02 9836 5132 www.joryelectric.com

Sydney Home Cinema Pty Ltd PO Box 6072 Narraweena NSW 2099 0413 397 256 www.sydneyhomecinema.com.au

Len Wallis Audio 64 Burns Bay Road Lane Cove, NSW 2066 02 9427 6755 www.lenwallisaudio.com

TJA Communications PO Box 300 Seven Hills, NSW 2147 02 9838 4622 www.tjacom.com.au

Life Style Store Pty Ltd Unit 8 - The Junction, 2 Windsor Road Parramatta, NSW 2150 02 9683 7222 www.lifestylestore.com.au

The Directors Chair Sydney Tenant 6, Level 1, Rear 290 Botany Road Alexandria, NSW 2017 1300 652480 www.thedirectorschair.com.au

LovemyTV PO Box 3320 Bangor, NSW 2234 0439 888 113 www.lovemytv.com.au Mac Hi Fi Pty Ltd 17 Flinders Street Wollongong, NSW 2500 02 4227 6767 www.machifi.com.au Matrix Audio Visual Services 22 Palm Street St Ives, NSW 2075 02 9440 0282 bradley@matrixaudiovisual.com.au McLeans Smarter Home Entertainment Cnr Minto & The Entrance Roads Long Jetty, NSW 2261 02 4333 3545 www.mcleans.info Neutral Bay Hi Fi 89 Spofforth Street Mosman, NSW 2088 02 9908 1285 nbhifi@bigpond.net.au New Fidelity Pty Ltd 392 Darling Street Balmain, NSW 2041 02 9818 2333 www.newfidelity.com.au Nova Comm Pty Ltd 8 / 280 New Line Road Dural, NSW 2158 02 9651 6430 www.novacomm.com.au Onetouch PO Box 3002 Balgownie, NSW 2519 0437 649634 mick@onetouch.net.au OPOC Solutions Pty Ltd 1 Campbell Avenue Normanhurst NSW 2076 02 9489 0906 www.opoc.com.au

The Silent Butler 57 Himalaya Crescent Seven Hills NSW 2147 0416 153 433 www.thesilentbutler.com.au Tomorrows 430 New South Head Road Double Bay NSW 2028 1300 880 840 www.tomorrows.com.au Zeale Group P.O. Box 1196 Albury NSW 2640 02 6041 1484 www.zealegroup.com.au

QLD Audio Dreams Australia 17 Lillypilly Place Mooloolaba, QLD 4557 07 5444 8122 www.audiodreams.com.au Auztech Industries Pty Ltd PO Box 4368 Logenholme DC, QLD 4129 07 3806 3133 www.auztech.com.au AVTEC 12 Buckle Court Sinnamon Park QLD 4073 07 3279 6353 www.avtec.com.au Custom Install PO Box 1250, Spring Hill, QLD 4004 07 3277 9823 www.custominstall.com.au Electronic Interiors Brisbane (Formerly Toombul Music) 2 / 180 Northgate Road Northgate, QLD 4013 07 3266 2533 www.einteriors.com.au Electronic Living 14 Smallwood Place Murarrie QLD 4012 1300 764 554 www.electronicliving.com.au

Fi Audio Video 3/3 Gibson Road Noosaville, QLD 4566 07 5455 6300 www.fiaudiovideo.com.au Harvey Norman Home Automation PO Box 5935 GCMC Bundall, QLD 4217 07 5584 3128 steve.cavalier@au.harveynorman.com HomeTech Systems Pty Ltd PO Box 979 Nerang QLD 4211 07 5502 0760 info@hometechsystems.com.au Home Theatrix - Bundall 56 Ashmore Road, Bundall, QLD 4127 07 5531 7244 www.hometheatrix.com.au Home Theatrix - Murarrie Unit 11 Nautilus Business Park 210 Queensport Rd Murarrie, QLD 4172 1 300 555 270 www.hometheatrix.com.au Look & Listen 6 Ascot Street Murarrie QLD 4172 1300 765 322 www.lookandlisten.com.au In Sight & Sound Pty Ltd 125 Shamley Heath Road Kureelpa, QLD 4560 07 5445 7799 www.in-sight.com.au Power Integration 9 Senden Crescent Manly West QLD 4179 1300 797 468 www.powerintegration.com.au Skehan Antennaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pty Ltd 14 Goombungee Rd Kingstaorpe, QLD 4400 07 4630 0447 mjskehan@bigpond.com.au Star Home Theatre 17 Trenton Street Kenmore, QLD 4069 07 3701 5288 www.starhometheatre.com.au Stereo Supplies Gold Coast Mail Centre PO Box 6817, Gold Coast QLD 9726 07 5531 7955 www.stereosupplies.com.au The Directors Chair Brisbane 3 / 49 Jijaws Street Sumner Park, QLD 4074 07 3376 7065 www.thedirectorschair.com.au Todds Sound & Vision 1 308 New Cleveland Road Tingalpa, QLD 4173 07 3907 7777 www.todds.com.au Videopro Level 1 1062 Ann Street Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006 07 3250 0000 www.videopro.com.au Visiontronics PO Box 11, Landsborough, QLD 4550 0412 314 466 www.visiontronics.com.au Visual Focus 16 Clifford Street Toowoomba QLD 4350 617 4632 0402 www.visualfocus.com.au

Interior Sound and Vision PO Box 1093, Niddrie, VIC 3042 03 9336 7643 www.isvinfo.com.au

Northam Home Cinema 5 Oliver Street Northam, WA 6401 08 9622 5198 bevanautopro@westnet.com.au

Inteverge Pty Ltd PO Box 2501, Kew, VIC 3101 0409 178 076 www.inteverge.com

Surround Custom Unit 3, 83-85 Stirling Highway Nedlands, WA 6009 08 9389 7755 www.surroundsounds.com.au

TAS

Smart Systems Pty Ltd 0Church Street, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 03 9818 8006 www.smartsystems.com.au

Surround Sounds Unit 3, 83-85 Stirling Highway Nedlands, WA 6009 08 9389 6900 www.surroundsounds.com.au

Nation Technology Level 1, 2 Trotters Lane Prospect, TAS 7250 03 6343 0655 www.nationtechnology.com

Steve Bennett Hi Fi 174 Ryrie Street, Geelong, VIC 3220 03 5221 6011 www.sbhifi.com.au

Starship Industries PO Box 30 Claremont WA 6010 0428 912 099 starship@global.net.au

Soundtech Integrated Systems 262 York Street Launceston TAS 7250 03 6331 9900 www.soundsmart.biz

Tasman AV Pty Ltd 6 Hood St, Collingwood, VIC 3066 03 9416 2255 www.tasmanav.com.au

Ultimation 488 Scarborough Beach Rd Osborne Park WA 6017 1 300 880 544 www.ultimation.com.au

VIC

Advanced Lifestyle Solutions Pty Ltd PO Box 360, Niddrie, VIC 3042 03 8307 5618 www.advancedlifestylesolutions.com.au

AVARNTI 1/ 325 Harborne St Osborne Park, WA 6017 08 9443 1288 www.avarnti.com

Vince Ross Audio World 162 Stirling Highway Nedlands, WA 6009 08 9386 8144 www.vinceross.com.au

Audio Trends 10 Argent Place Ringwood Vic 3135 03 9874 8233 www.audiotrends.com.au

Digital Interiors 319 Hay Street Subiaco, WA 6008 0417 921 223 www.digitalinteriors.com.au

ALETRO Ltd PO Box 9680 Newmarket, Auckland +64 9 307 1238 www.aletro.com

Cableman Pty Ltd Level 1/1227 Glen Huntly Road Glen Huntly, VIC 3163 03 9572 8900 www.cableman.com.au

Douglas Hi Fi Enterprises Pty Ltd 401 Murray Street Perth, WA 6000 08 9322 3466 www.douglashifi.com.au

Automation Associates PO Box 109722 Newmarket - Auckland +64 9 377 3778 www.aa.net.nz

Carlton Audio Visual 164 - 172 Lygon St, Carlton, VIC 3053 03 9639 2737 www.carltonaudiovisual.com.au

ECA Systems Unit 2/13 Clark Street Dunsborough WA 6281 1300 858 897 www.ecasystems.com.au

Liquid Automation P.O. Box 300753 Albany Auckland 632 +64 9 444 2440 www.liquidautomation.co.nz

Custom Home Theatre PO Box 963 Berwick VIC 3806 03 9796 2617 www.customhometheatre.com.au

Electronic Interiors WA 125 Burswood Road Burswood, WA 6100 08 9472 4800 www.einteriors.com.au

Smartline 37 Cracroft Street, Waitara, Fitzroy New Plymouth 64 6 754 6771 www.homenet.net.nz

Encel Stereo - Richmond 84 Bridge Road, Richmond, VIC 3121 03 9428 3761 www.encelstereo com.au

Essential Cabling 1 / 6 Chullora Bend Jandakot WA 6164 08 94141961 mcairns@arach.net.au

Frankston Hi Fi 450 Nepean Highway Frankston, VIC 3199 03 9781 1111 www.frankstonhifi.com.au

Frank Prowse Hi-Fi 6-14 Glyde Street Mosman Park, WA 6012 08 9384 1362 www.frankprowsehifi.com.au

Hidden Technology 30 Dickenson Street Altona Meadows, VIC 3028 03 8685 8544 www.hiddentechnology.com.au

Hillstone Communications PO Box 599 Kalamunda, WA 6926 08 9293 3621 hillstone@westnet.com.au

howdoi.com pty ltd 6a / 4 Rocklea Drive Port Melbourne, VIC 3207 03 9646 9116 www.howdoi.com.au

Home Cinema Systems 2 / 18 Port Kembla Drive Bibra Lake WA 6163 08 9434 5556 www.homecinemasystems.com.au

IBS Audio Visual Pty Ltd 43 Dalgety Street Oakleigh VIC 3166 03 9568 2800 www.ibsav.com.au

Intelligent Home Automated Solutions 25 Wittenoom Street East Perth, WA 6004 08 9325 7775 www.intelligenthome.com.au

Impact Electrics 3 England Street Bentleigh East, VIC 3165 03 9209 8140 impactelectrics@optusnet.com.au

Light Application Pty Ltd 78 Erindale Road Balcatta WA 6021 08 9240 6644 www.lightapplication.com.au

Integrated Technologies Australia PO Box 570, Kilsyth, VIC 3137 03 9761 8700 www.integratedtechnologiesaustralia.com.au

Lynx Integrated Systems Unit 5 / 74 Kent Way Malaga WA 6090 m.hatch@lynxis.com.au

Harvey Norman Mile End PO Box 288 Torrensville, SA 5031 08 8150 8000 www.harveynorman.com.au Sound & Vision Studio 237 Greenhill Road Dulwich, SA 5065 08 8364 4000 www.sv-studio.com.au

Sound Advice First PO Box 12-145 Christchurch 8002 +64 3 379 9416 www.soundadvicefirst.com Soundline Audio Ltd Box 2650, Christchurch 8002 +64 3 379 5695 www.soundline.co.nz Soundline Audio Ltd Capital Gateway Centre, 56 Thorndon Quay Wellington +64 4 471 0542 www.soundline.co.nz The Listening Post 657 Victoria Street Hamilton +64 7 839 0135 www.listening.co.nz Strawberry Sound 90 Falsgrove Street Christchurch +64 3 379 8477 www.strawberrysound.co.nz Strawberry Sound 21 Bath Street Dunedin +64 3 477 7742 www.strawberrysound.co.nz

ULTIMATE AV

Action Stations T

here aren’t many things that are bigger than China – there’s Russia, and Canada by a nose, but no-one by population, added to the fact that their manufacturing seems to be conquering the known world. So it’s a welcome sight when our Japanese friends, Panasonic, decide to grace Australia with a product that beats the Chinese at their own (Olympic) game. Recently installed at opposite ends of the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Panasonic’s brand new ‘Astrovision’ high deﬁnition LED screens are absolute giants and the largest anywhere in the world. Measuring 10 metres high by 23 metres across, which is the same size as three cricket pitches laid side by side, each of the Astrovision panels dwarves the ones installed in the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing for last year’s Olympic Games.

Why no LCD? And ‘LED’ isn’t a spelling mistake on our part. Neither plasma nor LCD, the massive televisions use high intensity light emitting diode technology (LED) to produce a far brighter image than normal, with excellent colour ﬁdelity. They also allow for greater

contrast, which is ideal for countering all the ambient light in the outdoor environment. Panasonic launched the LED screens late last year and claims that the composition of the displays is a key selling point, allowing the company to dominate the commercial sector in providing such large displays. Comprising hundreds of individual LED units, their configuration can easily be changed to suit quite specific requirements. They’re both linked to the ANZ Stadium control centre via high bandwidth fiber optics, can be hooked into a LAN for remote operation and will accept images broadcast in resolutions up to 1080i.

Chop viewy With a 21:9 aspect ratio and a viewing angle that hits 145 degrees to accommodate the crowds, one of the most attractive features of the new Astrovision screens, aside from their sheer size, is the ability to ‘chop up’ the panel into discrete displays during sporting events. So alongside live footage of the actual on-ﬁeld proceedings, the stadium owners can show the punters instant replays, information about the players and venue and, of course, run advertisements from sponsors. Well, someone’s got to pay for them. Max Everingham

GEAR LOG

The GadgetGuy™ presents great gear and top tech for your digital life

5800 XPRESSMUSIC

Music Express

Optimised for use with Nokia’s newly hatched online music store, the 5800 XpressMusic handset – the company’s ﬁrst touchscreen – includes a graphic equaliser, 8GB memory for storing up to 6000 tracks, and support for all major digital music formats. The Australian Nokia Music Store (Comes with Music) offers more than four million tracks from local and international artists and, unlike other subscription services, they are yours to keep, according to Nokia. A virtual alphanumeric keypad, computer-style QWERTY keyboard, pen stylus and plectrum (for the die-hard musos) provide lots of input options for the widescreen interface, and you can track a digital history of recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates for up to four favourite contacts directly from the Contacts bar on the home screen. A 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens is built-in, with images and videos (recorded at 25 frames/ second) able to be shared to sites such as Flickr or Facebook at the touch of button.

PRICE $979 (with 12 months Comes With Music subscription) WEB www.nokia.com.au

In love

Dell, the heavyweight of budget no-frills computers, has gone posh with the $3699 Adamao line-up, the world’s thinnest notebooks at around two-thirds the thickness of the MacBook Air. Latin for “to fall in love with”, the 13 inch Adamo ‘Desire’ and ‘Admire’ models are machined from a single piece of aluminium, feature a scalloped backlit keyboard and high definition edge-to-edge displays and come in pearl or onyx finishes. The internal solid state memory can be augmented by a colour-matched external hard drive (250 or 500GB) or 8GB USB drive; Windows Vista Home Premium Edition is pre-loaded, and battery life is rated at five hours. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (Draft n) are standard, and the Adamos can be optioned for mobile broadband.

PRICE $3699 WEB www.AdamoByDell.com.au

Show time

3M’s ultra-portable micro projector turns any space into an instant presentation arena or mini-theatre slideshow space, it’s teeny (152 gram) form capable of throwing an image up to 1.2 metres onto any ﬂat surface in a darkened room. Connected to a notebook, video MP3 player or mobile phone, the highly pocketable MPro110 is good for up to 60 minutes of use before the lithium-ion battery needs recharging and, powered by energy efﬁcient LED technology, it lacks fans so is whisper-quiet in operation. Video resolution is VGA standard and pictures are presented in 4:3 format, with AC adaptor, video cable and VGA cable supplied in the box.

PRICE $725 WEB www.3mmmpro.com.au

EARS & EYES & THUMBS

Entertainment for wherever you are — from movie room to laptop to mobile phone, and from HDTV to podcasts, DVDs and downloads. Compiled by Max Everingham.

HIGH DEFINTION MOVIES Australia Rated M Distributor Fox The ﬁlm that hardly needs an introduction in this country, Australia’s main female star, Nicole Kidman, claims to have signed on the dotted line without even reading the script. Received well over here but not so enthusiastically over, you know, there, the self-proclaimed epic adventure is now available on a 50GB Blu-ray disc. But with the potential to pack it full of bonus content, there’s only one ‘featurette’, a paltry two deleted scenes and a bunch of ‘behind the scenes’ short pieces on such subjects as sound, visual effects and costume design. Which, with a large-scale production like this, with over two-and-a-half-million feet of ﬁlm shot, very much suggests that there are a few ‘special’ or ‘limited’ edition versions of the movie set for

milking in our future, too. Worse, good ol’ Baz Luhrmann is extremely patronising when talking about post-production – why on earth should anyone know, or care, what it is, anyhow? – and when he gets to extemporise on “the ﬁlm is being born, and starting to have its own life”, it’s time to skip the chapter. But steer clear, if you do, of his life partner’s segment on costume design, which turns out to be scary and egg-sucking in equal parts, although her use of ‘similarily’ is worth hearing for a chuckle. The DVD gets only the two deleted scenes, which seems a bit stingy, even by movie house standards. Wait for the inevitable Christmas bonza version. Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (lossless)

Quantum of Solace

Same studio, different blockbuster. The latest Bond movie, victim of a lacklustre critical reception but breaking all sorts of box ofﬁce records – including biggest Bond opening ever, smashing Brosnan’s Die Another Day - in fact sees Craig bring a convincingly grim portrayal of life as an MI6 spy to the screen. Quantum of Solace, now out on Blu-ray, tells the story of Bond out for revenge, following on directly from Craig’s Casino Royale as he morosely tracks down his lover’s killers inside the ‘Quantum’ criminal organisation.

Futurama:

Into the Wild Green Yonder

This latest Futurama ‘feature-length’ adventure, the fourth, suffers from all such animated releases, in that sitting down for its 85 minute run is really little different from watching a few episodes of the regular show back-to-back. The ﬁlm has some serious pacing issues that, in places, are genuinely sleep-inducing. But there are a few bright spots with the extras on the disc, including a ‘Matt Groening and David Cohen in Space!’ featurette which, while quite self indulgent, is amusing, if only to hear the reactions of LA locals to the pair walking around LA afterwards in their space ﬂight suits. Also, presented by the joke production company ‘DVD bonus productions that no-one bothers to watch’, the ‘How we make Futurama so good’ is entertaining too, but mostly, assuming Fry’s crassness here

Rated M Distributor Fox

The main component of the bonus content is a ‘making of’ featurette and various ‘blogs’ from the movie’s production crew. But the rest of the menu is eerily similar to Fox’s other big release this month, Australia, almost as if the studio has a template set up somewhere. Probably the best of these are the music video from Alicia Keyes and the White Stripes’ Jack White (but that’s on the DVD version too, so not exclusive to Blu-ray) and the odd couple’s later appearance in the ‘Music’ blog. Sound: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (Lossless)

Rated PG Distributor Fox a bit, due to the presenter of the piece, Lauren Tom being so cute throughout. And to cap it off, the AV commentary is hardly compelling, despite even the mighty Matt Groening’s presence. So it’s not really the best of the extra content on the Blu-ray version of this ﬁlm but the only one exclusive to the HD format. Promised the extras world when the Blu-ray format was launched, early adopters simply haven’t been sufﬁciently rewarded with the content they were told was coming. Perhaps that joke company name producing ‘How we make Futurama so good’ may not be that far from the truth, belying the makers’ conviction that it’s not worth providing many extras anyhow. Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (lossless)

SHAKEN... IN HIGH DEFINITION!

Bond Collection No.2 Rated various Distrubutor Fox

Cunningly timed for release at the same time as the Blu-ray and DVD version of the newest Bond outing, Quantum of Solace, Fox and MGM are announcing five more golden oldie 007 movies from full slate of 22, remastered for Blu-ray. Joining the six already available on the new format, the five new titles are Moonraker, Goldfinger, The World is Not Enough, The Man with the Golden Gun and License to Kill. So you get another decent spread of the various actors who’ve portrayed the maverick spy – including Connery, Moore, Brosnan and one of the only two movies to star Timothy Dalton in the title role. Maybe it’s their classic nature, but all these Blu-ray movies come with some incredibly engaging and valuable bonus content; too much to list separately here. Original interviews – proper interviews,

not the choppy, three second soundbite stuff we get now - adverts, photos, storyboards and a heap more from the BBC archives will delight 007 fans, but one of the most outstanding extra segments has to be the ‘On tour with the Aston Martin DB5’ feature. This exhibits original early-’60s coverage of the press-tour version of 007’s beautiful car from Goldfinger, wonderfully replete with fully-working gadgets, including some not shown in the film, like the wing mirror scanner! And did you know that the Aston factory made a miniature electric version in 1966 for Prince Andrew, with working gadgets and sound effects or that the original car used in the film was sold to a Boca Raton resident, but subsequently stolen and not recovered to this day? Superb stuff all round – let’s hope that the next batch includes The Spy Who Loved Me. Sound: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (Lossless)

GAMES Tomb Raider Underworld Eidos Platform PS3

With any game franchise that has seen multiple sequels, the least the gaming public should expect is that the developers ﬁx what was wrong in the last game and evolve the stuff that worked. Crystal Dynamics, the company responsible for Lara Croft’s newest foray into destroying culturally signiﬁcant architecture and stealing anything of value hidden in the ruins at least delivered some of that premise. Underworld is the eighth game in the Tomb Raider series and Lara returns looking better than ever, the environments she lopes around in are often stunning and there’s a real sense of discovery and adventure as you venture into new places. But the combat is horrible, levels are designed to exploit Lara’s scrambling, climbing and jumping rather than to be genuinely interesting or challenging, the controls are still picky, arbitrary and completely infuriating, given the precision demanded of them, and the camera is still wildly erratic.

Castle Crashers Microsoft Platform Xbox 360

A brilliant Xbox Live Arcade game that puts most full-priced releases to shame, Castle Crashers has a great pedigree, developed by the same crew, The Behemoth, that brought us the superb Alien Hominid. At ﬁrst glance, Castle Crashers is a traditional, side-scrolling hackand-slash game with innocuous, ‘cell-shaded’ cartoon graphics. But, much like Happy Tree Friends, the childish appearance belies a quite breathtaking gore quotient. Allowing up to four players to join forces on the knightly quest, Castle Crashers’ strongest appeal lies in the combination of excellent co-op multiplayer, addictive gameplay, fun customisation choices and great use of humour. A deeply nostalgic blast from the past for veteran game players and a fresh, engaging ﬁght-fest for newcomers, Castle Crashers is endlessly entertaining.

Lips Microsoft Platform Xbox 360 Lips from iNiS Corp is exclusive to the Xbox 360 and is, basically, that console’s version of the incredibly popular SingStar karaoke game on PlayStation. There are some signiﬁcant differences, though, and they’re improvements as far as we’re concerned – you can download and play your own (DRM-free) songs, the game doesn’t rate your singing (so doesn’t fail you and is far more accessible for young families as a result) and the microphones are both sexier than the PS SingStar efforts and wireless. The 30 included songs are all over the place, from the classic ‘Call me’ from Blondie to ‘Umbrella’ from Rihanna, but since the game’s release there have been more than double that number of tracks released as ‘premium downloadable content’. So if you’re keen on karaoke, Lips is now already cheaper than its $99.99 advertised price in some stores and well worth checking out.

Nerf N-Strike EA Platform Wii

One of the ﬁrst titles borne out of a new collaboration with toymaker Hasbro, Nerf N-Strike for Wii is a virtual version of those soft-missileﬁring toy guns that, depending on your parental tolerance levels are either a) hilarious, safe fun for all the family or b) teeth-clenchingly annoying crap pieces of plastic that you can’t wait to throw in the trash when the kids turn their backs. And Nerf N-Strike is not entirely virtual, as it happens, because by far the best part of EA’s new offering is the fact that you get a real Hasbro Nerf gun in the package along with the Wii game. A simple light-gun game, the fun is sadly short-lived and the only shooting mini-games with any real longevity are, paradoxically, the ones that your sprogs are least likely to be able to understand and play. But the Nerf toy itself is great, the transformation into light-gun with the Wii remote works beautifully, and there is more fun to be had in the multiplayer side of the game.

Active Apps Coming to Australia from a different country, one of the strongest first impressions the natives make on you is that they’re all outdoors crazy – eating outdoors, exercising outdoors, going for hikes, bike rides, having parties in parks. Whether it’s true, a smartly cultivated reputation by a few seriously energetic types or just a function of living in bike-crazy Melbourne, I’m not sure. Whichever it is, in this month’s update of great applications for your mobile devices, we’re going to kick off with some sweaty stuff for you active types. Starting with the iPhone, ‘iMapMyRun’ and ‘iMapMyRide’ both use the built-in GPS ability of your phone to provide ‘location-based’ information for bike riders, runners and other aficionados of the more exhibitionist past-times. You can plot great running or cycling routes, keep a training log and view all the critically important stats like distance, time, pace and calories burned directly on your iPhone. So if you live in Melbourne especially, treat your bike like one of the family and really love your lycra, this one’s a shoe-in. And for an alternative, check out ‘Runkeeper’. Next is the totally free ‘Ski Report’ - another location-based app that uses GPS to display information from the resorts closest to you, including ‘dumpage’, ski reports from other users and links to weather reports and webcams. Finally, download ‘Trips’, a data management tool that’ll keep track of all the hotel reservations, flight numbers, meetings and so forth, for all you road warriors out there, including real-time updates on flight schedules, including delays. Less sporty, but really, really useful is Sopods’ full-screen web browser, freeing up to 40 percent more of the iPhone’s screen for browsing, ‘MobileFiles 2.0’ from Quickoffice, allowing you to transfer files over Wi-Fi to a PC or Mac, and, best of all if you’re prone to forgetting where the hell you parked the car at the local mall, ‘Take me to my car’ from a humble Stanford grad student. Tap once to start the app, again to store the location of your car as you lock it up, and when you emerge again from the mall, re-open the app to be guided directly to your parking spot. Totally free and totally genius. And the game this month is ‘Fastlane Street Racing Lite’, a free taster of car racing game that employs the accelerometer to really good effect. But what if you’re not an iPhone addict? Well, there’s not enough space to do a proper rundown of Windows Mobile apps this issue but, for a controversial opener how about ‘Spyphone’, turning your handset into a spy kit that monitors the audio level picked up by a second phone (place it close to your surveillance target) and alerts you if it goes above a determined level. Good as a baby monitor, perhaps, but I’m sure you can think of more pleasingly nefarious applications. Next month, apps for your Google Android phone. Apple App store http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore

Speciﬁc applications Take me to my car http://takemetomycar.anresgroup.com Ski Report http://www.skireport.com/australia Spyphone http://www.spy-phone.com

TIME WARP

Space Invaders J

ust over 30 years ago – about the same time some of us were queuing up to see Star Wars - the venerable Atari CX-2600 Video Computer System was released. It seems incredible now, but before this – and take note Generation Y, Generation Z or whatever comes after that – most people actually needed to depart the couch for an arcarde or pizza joint to enjoy videogaming entertainment. The Atari 2600 wasn’t the ﬁrst in-home games machine – that was Atari’s Home Pong game, released back in 1975 – but when the 2600 debuted two years later it showcased a radical design that relied on external ‘cartridges’ to store a game’s code, and a ‘universal’ Central Processing Unit (CPU) to execute it. Other products of the time used purpose-built hardware to run a handful of ‘locked-in’ games. The cartridge system freed up the internal circuitry from storing the games, and sparked a new industry of independent games developers. The Atari 2600 didn’t score immediate success in 1977, but after licensing the arcade smash-hit Space Invaders in 1980 sales shot to two million units. In 1982, Atari sold 8 million units, and by 2004 an astounding 30 million units had been sold and around 900 games had been developed for it. The 2600 also earned the title of the longest selling games console in US history, with sales spanning 14 years. But how far have we come since those days? How does the Atari 2600 stack up, for example, against Sony’s Playstation 3, arguably the most powerful games console available today? Under the hood, the Atari 2600’s CPU – the little engine that could – ran at 1.19 megahertz, or 1.9 million clock cycles per second. The PS3’s Cell Broadband Engine (BE), on the other hand, runs at an insane 3.2 Gigahertz, or 3200 million clock cycles per second! To boot, the Cell BE processor’s architecture also includes seven Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs), or ‘coprocessors’ to help the main processor get the job done. And remember, this is a product that reaches the ‘supercomputer threshold’ set by

the US government, meaning it could be put to use in applications such as missile guidance systems! As memory was very expensive in the late-70s, the Atari 2600’s engineers set aside just 128 bytes of ‘working memory’ for the system to execute games. The cartridges that stored the game data contained 4 kilobytes, or 4000 bytes of memory. In contrast, the PS3 comes with 500 million bytes (500MB) of onboard ‘working memory’, plus anywhere from 20 to 160 thousand, million bytes (20–160GB) of local memory to hold game data. Also, as PS3 games are stored on Blu-ray discs, these contain enough room for up to 50 thousand, million bytes (50GB) of game data – which is some 12.5 million times more than an Atari games cartridge! On the joystick front, Atari’s 2600 came with two 8-direction, single-button joysticks. The PS3 cheaps out by offering only a single ‘Sixaxis’ controller, but the console can support up to seven controllers at one time. Also, Sixaxis controller contains a cornucopia of buttons – 12 in total, plus two analog ‘thumb-sticks’, a four-direction pad, and it can connect wirelessly! Oh, and did I mention that it’s motion sensitive, and there’s also a vibrating version? Now how has the visual quality of games changed? By today’s standards, the Atari’s games were drawn from a grid of 192 x 94 pixels with a 104-colour palette, and complemented by stereo audio. The PS3 can create fully fluid, detailed 3D worlds in 1920 x 1080 pixels (1080p high definition graphics), using millions of colours and 5.1 channel Dolby Digital surround sound. Gaming worlds have never been so immersive or sounded so real. And consoles of today do much more than play games – they connect to the internet, screen Blu-ray movies, create slideshows of your photos, play music and more. Just around the corner, Sony is planning to build in support for 3D games and movies that will leap out from your screen, with the use of special 3D glasses. Despite all of the advances in games console technology, one thing remains as true in 1977 as it does now – great games are more than just great technology. Yesterday’s games couldn’t rely on flashy graphics, so thoughtful, challenging, strategic and fun game play took a stronger role in the development of games titles, and many were terrifically addictive. Perhaps the downside of today’s games is that we don’t need to rely on our imagination as much, and without that, how will we come up with the next generation of games for the future? Valens Quinn

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