Issue 24

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ISSUE 24

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TV’s Tipping Point A

lthough digital television broadcasts commenced ten years ago, only now is there some urgency about converting Australians to the technology. If the government’s timetable for switch-off is met, analog tellies will go blank by 2014, and that means around 14 million people need to tool up for digital over the next four years.

The government’s $38 million ‘Are You Ready’ advertising campaign is letting people know that change is coming by promoting a labelling program that helps educate around various DTV products. Running in tandem in this – and there’s no coincidence here – is the multi-year, multi-million dollar Freeview promotion. The new brand name for the collection of digital channels provided by the nation’s television networks, Freeview is spruiking the extra programming available from digital and adding Freeview stickers to select HD products to further define the choice for buyers of digital gear.

So digital TV is finally getting the kick-along it needs, but as more and more households make the switch there are going to be a lot of homeless CRT tellies on the nature strips of Australia.

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that we’ve already dumped 17 million tellies in landfill and that, annually, two million will continue to be put out to pasture.

That’s just the tip of the tech-junk iceberg too. According to a report from the Total Environment Centre, which was prepared using government data, we’ve buried around 56 million mobile phones and 37 million computers too. And all this stuff does more than just take up space; it’s toxic legacy includes mercury, lead, arsenic, bromide, beryllium and cadmium.

Existing schemes for properly disposing of or recycling e-waste are poorly coordinated and concentrated mostly in metropolitan areas, so much so that Australia recycles only 4 percent of its own throw-away tech. The rest is sent offshore to countries better setup to process the stuff, but recent ship seizures show that some operators are illegally exporting Australian e-waste and its chemical nasties to developing countries such as China.

Here, it’s often children who are employed to pick through hills of discarded, hazardous technology to retrieve the barest amounts of valuable metals.

If all this makes you feel sick, the proposed $35 levy to cover the cost of a national recycling scheme will be welcome news. Put forward at a meeting of Australia’s state environment ministers in May, the levy would be built into a TV’s retail price by its manufacturer and guarantee that the television would be taken away for environmentally responsible disposal when you’ve finished with it. Details of the scheme will be worked out in the next six months, with November earmarked as a commencement date.

In general, then, this is good news, but unlike other countries where similar schemes are mandatory, the Australian version is likely to be voluntary. While we all value the concept of not having to participate in something if we choose not to, an opt-in program is inconsistent with the government’s record in this area.

It is forcing us to buy digital TVs, after all, so why not be equally forceful in making us – and industry – properly dispose of our analog ones?

And then there’s the ‘35’ figure. The scheme will undoubtedly cost more (everything costs more, right?), and this will get some consumers and consumer groups all worked up. But unlike the plastic supermarket bags that remind you weekly of your lack of environmental commitment (‘cos you always leave the green bags in the car boot) the TV upon which you pay a ‘green’ levy can offer some nightly reassurance.

Coupled with the energy star rating and MEPS (Mandatory Energy Performance Standard) systems that will become compulsory in September, the big TV may well shake the 4WD stigma it’s collected of late. When it does we’ll be able to love our large-screen TVs, and feel good about them too.

Cheers

Anika Hillery, Editor

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 Athan Papoulias athanp@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

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CONTENTS JUNE /JULY 2009

22 48

28 68

FEATURES

REGULARS

LCD Essentials

22 Random Play

A plain-speaking overview of the key features of a modern, full high definition LCD TV. By Anthony Fordham.

TV Times are a Changin’

Wish 28 30 You At $US90,000 the Steinway Lyngdorf Model M is not

Analog TV will cease in 2013, replaced by more than 15 digital ‘Freeview’ channels, many of them broadcasting in high definition. Anika Hillery looks at how television is changing and what you need to make the most of it.

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Gear Log

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Ear, Eyes & Thumbs

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Time Warp

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A showcase of standout electronica.

world’s News from t show biggest gadge

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If Bruce Wayne had a private screening room, it would look a lot like this Melbourne home cinema cavern.

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Home entertainment news and product highlights.

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

A retrospective of milestone entertainment products and technologies. This issue: Meridian MCD.

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30 76

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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

18

Tech Corner

20

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

There’s new focus on tech that makes a smaller impact on the environment, but what exactly does ‘eco’ mean when applied to televisions?

HOW TO BUY Saving your Digital Life

61

Options for backing up and storing your life’s digital entertainment collections, from hard disks to NAS drives to online services. By Nathan Taylor.

Sony Playstation 3 Samsung UA46B7100 Toshiba XD-E500KY Toshiba Regza 52XV560A Sony Bravia KDL-40ZX1 LG 42PG60UD Sony Bravia KDL EX146 LG BD370 NAD T 587 Marantz SR-5003 Panasonic DMR-BW850 Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5

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RANDOM PLAY

New view Panasonic has boosted plasma’s profile as a display technology by previewing five ‘NeoPDP’ (Next Generation Plasma Display Panel) televisions. The new models include the one inch (2.54mm) thick ‘ultra-thin’ 54 inch Z1 wireless TV, the two inch thick (5.08cm) ‘super-thin’ 50 inch V10, and the G10 ‘full HD’ series.

The Neo PDPs provide a contrast ratio of more than two million to one and employ 600Hz Sub-field Drive technology. According to Panasonic, this detects and displays each frame and creates 12 shorter sub-frames for each 50Hz frame to produce the sharpest, fastmoving high definition images. The Z1 and V10 series are also THX certified, for a picture that most closely replicates that of a cinema presentation.

The 54 inch (137cm) Z1 comes with a separate tuner box, which transmits full HD 1080p pictures and sound wirelessly to the panel from up to 15 metres away, albeit through the use of chunky transmitter/ receiver units on each of the components. (Sony’s implementation of wireless HD on its LCD TV is invisible, but supports only the lower 1080i video standard.) Panasonic employs what it calls ‘beam steering technology’ to prevent interruptions to the signal path through people passing between the display and the tuner box.

The Z1 and V10 are expected on sale in September and August respectively, with pricing yet to be announced. The 42, 46 and 50 inch (106, 117, 127cm) DISTRIBUTOR G10 models have an RRP of $2749, $3299 and $3799 Panasonic PHONE 132 600 respectively, and are onsale WEB www.panasonic.com.au from June.

Italians do it sitting down Designed by premium Italian furniture maker, Natuzzi’s Sound Chair is a marriage of tannery and tunes, its luxe leather upholstery integrating a set of speakers and a connection for an iPod, MP3 player or, indeed, any audio system with a mini jack plug. The chair’s classic egg-shape is made to cup your bum perfectly, promising well-heeled bachelor types in their minimalist harbour-side pads many comfortable hours of engagement with their music collections, plus there’s a vast range of leather types and colours to suit all audio aesthetics.

Some of the world’s best instruments of musical reproduction have emerged from Italy – Stradivarius violins, Sonus Faber loudspeakers, Pavarotti – and while we suspect Natuzzi’s chair is unlikely to be in their league, at around $4260 it’s certainly not DISTRIBUTOR something you’ll want to forfeit to the cat either. Natuzzi Australia WEB www.natuzzi.com Regardless of how much she likes Puccini.

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LED Zeppelins Samsung reckons it new Series 6, 7 and 8 LED televisions are set so far apart from the rest of the TV market that it’s decided to call them a ‘new species’ of television – ‘Samsung LED’, in fact. The seven full HD models in the range use white LED edgelighting to achieve a claimed 3,000,000: 1 contrast ratio, a figure that puts any issues about LCD’s ability to produce deep black to rest. The use of LEDs also allows the televisions to be made thinner (around 2.5cm thick) and lighter than conventional LCDs – a unique optional mounting system allows them to be hung on the wall as easily as a picture frame – and to use up to 40 percent less power than a typical LCD TV of similar size, according to the company.

Series 7 and 8 televisions integrate interactive features that provide access to YouTube and Nine MSN and other ‘widget’ TV features, as well as stream content wirelessly from your PC via DLNA, or play media from any USB device such as memory sticks, MP3 players or external hard drives.

The sets also come with a built-in library of flash memory-based content, such as recipes, games and

DISTRIBUTOR

Samsung Electronics WEB www.samsung.com.au

exercise, which you can delete or expand with free content downloaded form the web.

The Series 7 offers 100Hz processing (see our review on page 40), with 200Hz employed in the Series 8. The range comprises 40, 46 and 55 inch models, with the 40 inch Series 6 costing $3600 and the flagship 55 inch Series 8 costing $6999.

Music management, with more

2009, and found it worked quickly and elegantly.

As for where to store your music, the Ensemble includes 1TB storage which is good for around 2000 A small US technology company specialising in music albums of uncompressed PCM music, and will serve music management and storage, Sooloos was acquired by to up to five discrete zones. It supports WAV, AAC, FLAC high-end British audiophile marque, Meridian, in early and MP3 formats, features special digital connections 2008, with the Control 10 being the first fruit of their for coupling to Meridian DSP speakers and one-touch union. The touchscreen controllable music server backup of all stored media DISTRIBUTOR comprises two parts, a hard drive storage component to an external HDD attached Amber Technology available in a number of configurations, and the Control to a personal computer. The PHONE 02 9452 8600 10, um, controller.

WEB www.ambertech.com.au Meridian Sooloos Ensemble Essentially a colour touchscreen monitor (17 inches; costs $8999, with the Control WEB www.meridian-audio.com 1280 x 1024 pixels) with a built-in smarts, this uses 10 adding $11,299. the AMG music database to help you find music when you don’t know what you’re looking for, but unlike The Meridian other companies using the database, Sooloos has a Sooloos Control 10 full data license on tracks. This means it will not just and Ensemble sort your library by genre and artist, but by sub-genre, contributing artists, specific instruments used on tracks, record label or the recording studio where the album was made. There is, in short, infinite scope for audio wonks to customise their playlists, with default functions, such as Swim (like Shuffle) there for when you want the Control 10 to do the thinking for you. We played with the system at the Sydney premises of the Australian Distributor, Amber Technology, in early May

RANDOM PLAY

Sony TVs reduce power bills Eco television seems to be the tech de jour, with Panasonic, Toshiba and Samsung among the first to present their green TV credentials this year. Sony now joins the club with its 40 and 46 inch ((101 and 117cm) WE5 Bravia LCD TVs, models that each consume less power than two 75 watt incandescent light bulbs, according to the company.

A trio of technologies is key to this claim, and to the five and four-and-a-half star energy ratings of the two televisions. These include the world’s first micro-tubular Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (HCFL) backlight which uses up to 40 percent less energy (than Sony’s 2008 W4500 model) when the TV is in operation, but with no loss of brightness. There’s also

a Presence Sensor which turns the picture off – but leaves the sound on – when someone leaves the room, reducing power consumption by 50 percent, and an Energy Saving Switch that allows you to shut off the TV’s power, without having to unplug the AC cord from the mains. This cuts standby mode power consumption to less than 0.0001 watts.

The WE5 televisions also benefit from full HD resolution, MotionFlow 100Hz capability, 24p True Cinema for optimum performance with Blu-ray players, S-Force sound for simulated surround effects, DLNA for streaming of movies, photos and music from compatible phones, cameras and PCs over a wireless network, and Sony’s Bravia Engine 3 processor for “vibrant colours and optimal DISTRIBUTOR contrast for each scene”.

Sony Australia The Bravia KDL46WE5 costs PHONE 1300 720 071 $3799 and the KDL40WE5, $3199. WEB www.sony.com.au

Digital radio variety Digital broadcasts from commercial radio stations commenced in Australia’s major cities in May, and Sangean is widening the choice in DAB+ kit on retail shelves with the release of four new models, priced from $239 to $699.

The DPR-69+ and DPR-99+ are compact benchsitters and offer battery power for when you need to go portable. For realising the best from DAB+ broadcasts and other music sources there is the top-priced WFR-1D+

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DISTRIBUTOR

Canohm Pty Ltd

PHONE 03 9645 4700 and component-type WFT-1D+ WEB www.sangen.com.au ($599, pictured). Designed to mate with AV receivers or two-channel amps in hi-fi racks, the latter provides an FM tuner (all DAB+ radios do), graphic equaliser, and Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections to support the streaming of Internet radio as well as music files from a networked PC. The WFR-1D offers all that, plus 2 x 5 watt integrated speakers and an auxiliary input for connecting other audio devices.

So easy, it’s laughable.

The whole family will get a kick out of the simplicity that is Nevo. With this intuitive house companion, you can control not only your home entertainment system, but almost any IR device you want. Dim the lights, close the curtains, sprinkle the lawn or check who’s at the door.

The NevoS70 and NevoQ50 can be easily personalised for every individual in the home, are infinitely upgradeable and offer a range of accessories making the possibilities truly limitless.

Get the most out of your world.....Get Nevo.

Member

1800 251 367 | (02) 9452 8600 | www.ambertech.com.au Australian distributor Amber Technology Ltd.

7

RANDOM PLAY

BeoVision 8

Bang & Olufsen’s 40 inch BeoVision 8 LCD television sports full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), 100Hz processing for reducing the inherent motion blur of LCD technology, and Dynamic Contrast for adjusting contrast levels according to the content in each scene.

Audio performance hasn’t been overlooked either, with a downward-firing bass speaker reinforcing the reproduction of lower frequencies and its pair of front speakers tuned to optomise human speech and create the impression of voices emerging directly from the screen

Yada Yama

Yamaha’s first digital radios provide FM and DAB+ reception with 30 auto presets for each, plus a dual alarm clock function. The TSX-130 and TSX-120 each provide a top-mounted iPod dock, four DSP modes (normal, mild, heavy and live), 15 watts of power output, rear-vented bass reflex ports for better low-end performance, and a card-type remote control. The TSX-130 ($799,

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DISTRIBUTOR

Bang & Olufsen WEB www.bang-olufsen.com

Designer David Lewis explains: “We moved the sound forward and up, designing the TV like a proper stage with an orchestra pit. This ensured the synergy between performance and design expected of Bang & Olufsen.”

Bang & Olufsen calls the 40 inch BeoVision 8 an entry level product, its $7990 price tag including the Beo4 remote. Equipped with retractable feet, it can be easily positioned on the floor or a countertop, with wall brackets and stands available as an extra-cost alternative.

DISTRIBUTOR

pictured) integrates a CD player Yamaha Music WEB www.yamaha.com.au and USB port, while the TSX-120 ($599) has a mini jack for connecting portable audio players. Both are offered with black or white face plates, with our favourite thing being the real wood top panel – it’s broad enough for setting your keys and glasses on, even the morning coffee and toast.

Feast your eyes and ears With so many new, innovative and stunning products entering the market, there has never been a more exciting era for Home Entertainment. Here are some favourites from the banquet at Len Wallis Audio.

MEriDian DiGitaL thEatrE

Focal Dôme is concentrated technology, concentrated pleasure – a stunning unique miniature loudspeaker system. Get superb, cinematic performance and astonishing sound with the Meridian Digital Theatre System. Explore and enjoy your music in every way you ever thought possible and in ways you never dreamt of with Sooloos Multimedia. Pick up crystal clear reception from any internet radio station on Earth or wirelessly play your music with Tivoli Networks Global Radio. Listen to any song in any room at any time with Sonos - instantly access all the music on your home network, internet radio or even from your favourite CD or mp3 player.

SOOLOOS MULtiMEDia

FOCaL DOME

tiVOLi nEtWOrKS GLOBaL raDiO

SOnOS WirELESS MEDia SYStEM

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RANDOM PLAY

Surround speakers with Imagination Exhibiting the finest presentation for proportion, sculptural form and visual detail since PSB’s flagship Synchrony line-up, each of the four models in the Canadian company’s Imagine home theatre speakers share the same wideband, ultra-accurate, titanium dome 25mm tweeter and high output (135mm) woofer.

The tweeter exploits an efficient magnetic design that extends output at both frequency extremes “for effortless higher octaves and smooth uncoloured response throughout the critical crossover region”, according to PSB, while the unique compound magnet structure of the bass/midrange driver enables “higher sensitivity at declining frequencies” (in other words,

Ear, ear

Audio Products Group WEB www.audioproducts.com.au WEB www.psbspeakers.com

volume levels don’t fall away when the speaker is called upon to reproduce deep bass).

The Imagine Series comprises the Imagine T, a three driver, two-way, full range floorstanding design ($2499); the Imagine B, a two-way, bookshelf front channel/stereo playback speaker system ($1299); the Imagine C, a dual-woofer, two-way centre channel speaker ($999), and the Imagine S, a twoway selectable dipole/bipole/dual channel monopole surround sound loudspeaker ($1499). The cabinets of the Imagine family are finished in a high grade black ash or dark cherry veneer, and are meticulously ‘cathedral’ matched and hand-finished to a satin finish.

Optimised for use with MP3 players, iPhones, iPods and other portable players, Sennheiser’s HD series headphones are compact and light, with dynamic bass performance and closed ear cups that help reduce the intrusion of external sounds, such as traffic and street noise. There are three models to choose from, starting at $99 for the HD218 and topping out at $199 for the open-ear design HD 238 Precision (pictured). Fitted with a superior transducer and neodymium magnets, and promising DISTRIBUTOR 16–23,000 Hz frequency response, these Syntec PHONE 1800 648 628 claim to double as quality cans for WEB www.syntec.com.au a home-based sound system.

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DISTRIBUTOR

11

RANDOM PLAY

Energy saving Toshiba TV Sporting a four-and-a-half star energy rating, Toshiba’s 40 inch (101cm) CV550 LCD television was, it claims, the first environmentally friendly full HD television in Australia when it went on sale in February. It’s since been trumped

by Sony’s five-star 46 inch WE5 Bravia, but remains as one of just a handful of options for TV buyers with an eye to reducing their carbon footprint.

This will change, though, when the voluntary MEPS (Minimum Energy Performance Standards) labeling period becomes mandatory in September. From this

time, all TVs sold in Australia will DISTRIBUTOR have to meet minimum standards Toshiba Pty Ltd WEB www.toshibaav.com.au and display appropriate energy labeling. The energy star rating is part of the labeling scheme, and operates on a scale of one to six stars, with the highest star rating as the most energy efficient. The star rating aims to ensure that only the products that meet a minimum one star requirement hit Australian shores.

Toshiba’s CV550 costs $1799.

Moveable treat NetOpt’s P380 is a portable digital TV that, with an SD/ SDHC/MMC 4.2 memory slot and mini USB port, will also playback music, pictures and videos stored on external cards or USB devices. You can use it to watch movies and digital TV – an external antenna and whip antenna are supplied, as is an EPG – or allow it to function as a photo viewer or music player.

Preloaded with two games, playback time from the non-removable rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery is rated at four hours for photo and video playback, and up to six hours for MP3 playback. The screen measures 3.6 inches, and the video output socket allows it to perform as a digital TV receiver for a monitor or analog television. It costs $395, and if you can live without the multimedia playback, its little brother, the P30 with FM receiver and digital TV, costs $100 less.

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DISTRIBUTOR

NetOpt WEB www.netopt.com.au

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Finishes: Cherry - Black - Walnut

Audition the range today.

Definition is a bold new range of Audiophile Loudspeakers from Tannoy. Designed to get the very best from stereo music in the home. The three-strong line-up of distinctive, contemporary styled loudspeakers offers unrivalled performance and value for money. Incorporating a wealth of high-tech features, innovative materials and cutting edge processes to enhance the music experience, Definition distils, refines and perfects Tannoy’s eight decades of loudspeaker expertise.

For your nearest authorised dealer in: Australia: Free Call 1800 648 628 email: sales@syntec.com.au

RANDOM PLAY

The art of the matter Loewe has a heritage of products that stand apart from the crowd; that offer something of the sculptural, design-centric look of a Bang & Olufsen, but without the price tag. Its televisions, in particular, have always looked classic, and the Art SL LCD range builds on that with the ultra-thin – 90mm – Art 47 and Art 42 SL. Indeed, the range was awarded the 2008 IFA Preview Award for design achievement, an accolade determined by more than 250 journalists from mainstream and specialised press, radio and television.

The 106 and 119 cm models provide full HD resolution, 100Hz technology and 24p motion picture display, which combine to present video of greater sharpness, detail and movement, even during fast camera shifts. Both have HD tuners built-in, with another available as an option to allow the viewing of two channels simultaneously in Picture-in-Picture

(PIP) mode. The twin-tuner DISTRIBUTOR Art SL models also feature Audio Products Group an integrated 250GB hard PHONE 1300 134 400 WEB www.audioproducts.com.au disk recorder that allows simple recording and playback of HD television content without external devices or additional remote controllers.

Other features include: Picture in Picture, DVB radio, Split Screen mode, Eco-Mode for energy saving and OPC contrast sensor for automatic adjustment of picture brightness according to surrounding room brightness. Connectivity options include 3 x HDMI, 1 x USB, component, RGB and PC inputs.

The Loewe Art 47 SL costs $6999, or $7999 for the twin-tuner/250GB PVR variant. The Art 42 SL $5999 or $6999 for the twin-tuner/250GB PVR variant. Both models are available in chrome silver or high gloss black.

On the shelf

The first of its kind in Oz, the HT-BD2ET home theatre in a box system integrates Blu-ray playback and bookshelf speakers. The speakers incorporate a ‘super tweeter’ capable of reproducing frequencies up to 50kHz (most cut out at 20kHz) and, all up, the system claims 800 watts RMS of power output.

Designed with blue LED accents, the piano black electronics component incorporates 24p output so that Blu-ray video is presented smoothly and free of jerkiness when paired with a compatible television; 1080p upscaling for improving the appearance of

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DVD video, and Anynet+ technology. Samsung‘s name for CEC/Consumer Electronics Control, this allows the entire system DISTRIBUTOR – plus other compatible Samsung Electronics equipment, such as a TV PHONE 1300 369 000 – to be controlled via one WEB www.samsung.com.au remote. It costs $1099.

Regza XV Series LCD TV

From intensive care to intensive joy How about that Anna Meares? From a broken neck in January to an Olympic silver medal around her neck in August. As intensely proud sponsors of Anna we suggest you watch her amazing ongoing journey on a Toshiba 1080p Full HD TV featuring Exact Scan Mode for intensive detail.

Like us you’ll be yelling ‘Go Anna!’, and what could be more Aussie than that?

For more details visit www.toshiba.com.au/TV

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RANDOM PLAY

Sharp looker As the first major electronics company to cease production of old-style cathode ray tube televisions in favour of LCD, Sharp Corporation has always had a vision of what the future of home TV viewing would be like. Its three new tellies suggest that future is glossy and black, with soft blue accents, for that is the

DISTRIBUTOR

Sharp Corporation PHONE 1300 135 530 WEB www.sharp.net.au

presentation of its new D77X series LCDs. The three models are not all fancy dressing though; they feature a 1920 x 1080p ASV ‘superlucent’ LCD panel manufactured at Sharp’s Kameyama factory in Japan, Fine Motion Advanced 100Hz for smoother reproduction of fast-moving pictures, dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1 and 1080p/24 signal input for jerk-free reproduction of film-sourced Blu-ray movies.

SRS TruSurround XT and an inbuilt digital amplifier create surround-like effects from the TVs’ stereo speakers, with low frequencies reinforced by a bass enhancer feature, plus there’s Optical Picture Control (OPC) for reducing power consumption by reducing the brightness of the screen when not required.

The 32 inch (81cm) LC-32D77X costs $1999, the 42 inch (106cm) LC-42D77X sells for $2999, and the 46 inch (117cm) LC-46D77X costs $3799.

Edifying sounds Going mobile doesn’t mean having to accept average sound quality, according to Canadian-based company Edifier, its 2.1 MP300 speaker system promising to deliver impressive sound from notebooks, MP3 players and portable DVD players. The compact system’s aluminium

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DISTRIBUTOR

Audion Innovision Group WEB www.audion-mm.com

tube subwoofer pairs with two spherical fit-in-yourhand-sized satellite speakers that integrate power on/off controls and volume adjustment. A 3.5mm input jack is provided for connecting audio sources, and finishes include black, silver or white. The MP300 costs $150.

GUY TALK

Radio Ga-ga T he first analog radio transmission in Australia occurred on 13 November, 1923, when 2SB (Sydney Broadcasters Limited) transmitted a concert featuring a soprano, a bass, a contralto, a cellist, a baritone and quartet. The technology that made it possible is now going digital, following analog television down the path to eventual retirement.

And this is a good thing.

The digital radio rollout, which initially includes the five major metropolitan regions, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, will simultaneously launch on 6 August this year. Until then, trial broadcasting is underway by each of the various commercial and public broadcasters, so if you buy a digital radio now you will find there is loads to listen to.

Australia has opted for the ‘next generation’ of digital radio technology, which it is calling DAB+ (Plus). Digital radio in Europe is just moving from first generation chips across to the more advanced hardware that Australia is deploying.

DAB+ dramatically improves on the sound quality that we are currently used to with AM and FM analog radio. Combined with high sound and signal quality (this also means better reception in most areas), DAB+ radio also offers a range of exciting features based on the digital platform. These include extra channels for each radio station, pause and rewind of live radio, downloadable music, slideshows, scrolling text and TV-like EPGs (Electronic Program Guides).

All the digital radios I have seen so far include automatic tuning by station name, not frequency, making it easy to find your favourite stations. And if you start trolling the digital broadcasts transmitted right now you will already find some interesting content.

Perhaps one of the most exciting, and simultaneously challenging, aspects for the industry is that digital radio will provide new channels, with the first examples being Austereo’s Radar and Pink Radio and DMG’s Koffee and Novanation.

The question here is whether these additional channels will dilute the listening audience of the primary station. For many reasons, this will be somewhat of a gamble for most of the broadcasters, although when asked the question about the effect on audiences, the broadcasters are confident that the additional stations will attract an additional audience, especially from younger demographics that were not faithful radio listeners.

To listen to digital radio, we will all need a new receiver. Many of the first generation DAB+ receivers are reviewed on the gadgetguy. com.au website. Included in the roundup are models from Pure, Roberts, Sangean, Bush, Revo, Grundig, Teac, Yamaha and iRiver.

And there are some marvelous ‘retro’ models, some hot futuristic designs befitting digital technology, and everything in between – from bedroom clock radios to digital radios that integrate into your hi-fi system.

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Importantly, there is also an incar model that looks like a portable GPS device. Called the ‘Highway’, this model integrates with the car’s built-in audio system. System upgrades are also expected to be available and there are likely to also be adaptor kits for mobile phones. It is expected that by the by the end of 2009 some major car manufacturers would include DAB+ radios as standard audio systems.

Eventually, DAB+ will appear in mobile phones, AV receivers and digital set-top boxes and PVRs. All current DAB+ devices receive FM, with AM and FM stations available as simulcasts on DAB+. There are no plans yet to switch off analog AM and FM broadcasts, so people can continue to use their existing radios – with an estimated five radio devices per home, or around 45 million analog radios in Australia, people must be given time to convert all their radio devices before any discussion of an analog switch-off even begins.

Perhaps the other area of confusion lies with the fact that many people confuse digital radio with Internet radio. There is a huge difference between the two: digital radio is broadcast free-to-air via DAB+ technology, and Internet-only radio services are streamed over the Internet. The latter incurs a download cost which varies depending on your Internet service provider’s package.

That said, most of the free-to-air broadcast radio stations will also stream their current radio stations, plus any new digital services, such as Radar, Pink Radio, Koffee, Novanation, on the Internet as well as over the air, so the content can be accessed on both platforms.

DAB+ will also bring a great deal of innovation to radio, not possible with the old analog service. Austereo’s Pink Radio, for example, is what has been called ‘Opportunity Broadcasting’ or ‘Event Radio’. The additional bandwidth available to broadcasters means they can introduce a kind of short-run broadcasting model.

Pink Radio is dedicated to playing rock artist Pink’s songs and all her favourite artists 24 hours a day, supported by interviews with Pink by the network’s Kyle and Jackie O, and Hamish and Andy. Launched to celebrate Pink’s ‘Funhouse Tour’ – the largest live music tour ever in Australia – Pink Radio will exist only for three months, and then, Austereo says, it could be replaced something like U2 radio or Footy Finals Radio.

So the DAB+ revolution has well and truly begun. Viva the Revolution. ■ 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 has a commercial arrangement with Commercial Radio Australia.

TECH CORNER

The Alphabet of Green T

he technological watchword of our times is ‘eco’. Ever since the Toyota Prius made it big in Hollywood, gadget-heads and geeks have placed a renewed focus on tech that makes a smaller impact on the environment.

The ideal is pretty straightforward for some gear: cars should use no petrol, houses should generate their own power, and everything should be built from recycled or at least renewable material.

But there’s one device in your house that’s big-ticket not only in terms of price, but also its ecological footprint. And that’s your fabulous flat panel TV. It makes sense: the TV of today is so much bigger than the TV of the 1980s or even 1990s. Exactly how much power your TV uses depends on the technology behind the panel. Plasma is the worst offender, not only because of the nature of the tech, but also because plasmas boast bigger sizes at each price point.

When it comes to a top ten of your big power eaters, the TV is pretty low on the list As a result, the average plasma from the last few years can consume more than 300 watts of juice at full load. The average LCD, on the other hand, consumes a more modest but still alarming 200-plus watts.

Remember, that’s like having two or three 100 watt lightbulbs running, for the whole time you’re watching TV – up to six hours a day, depending on your household habits.

What’s worse, the TV has become the centre of a veritable octopus of electrical consumption. Each device you plug in has its own power requirements, with games consoles such as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 at the top of the heap, sucking down the best part of 200 watts each.

No wonder that in some parts of the world, studies have determined that nearly ten percent of household power use is somehow related to TV. Does this mean we should all go back to 50cm CRTs? Should we bin the plasma and instead buy four 22 inch LCDs and bolt each one to the arm of a recliner, for a sort of airliner business class cabin look?

No – though that would be cool. While green activists decry technological solutions to environmental problems as naive, when it comes to consumer electronics it’s reasonable to expect clever companies to come up with less power-hungry TVs. And they have.

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LED backlit LCD TVs use less electricity than an old-school cold-cathode fluorescent (CCFL) backlit TV. The equation really is as simple as that. Depending on what you watch, an LED TV will use as much as 40 percent less power.

Companies such as Samsung, Sharp and Sony make a big deal of LED LCDs, and go further than the backlighting in explaining how their TVs save the environment. Most CE uses pretty toxic stuff to complete the product, and getting rid of a tube full of toxic gas in favour of a grid of solid-state LEDs that are unlikely to fail and thus need discarding is a good thing.

TVs that have eco-aspirations also tend to eliminate things such as painted casing (paint is toxic, and the painting process produces copious waste) and they’ll point out that by getting rid of CCFL backlights, the TVs no longer contain mercury. And everyone knows mercury is bad.

Okay, so would you ever choose between two TVs based on eco-credentials over actual performance? Any saving in power consumption is a good thing, but let’s not pretend the new generation of TVs are without eco-sin – they still use a lot of non-renewable resources such as tantalum and columbium (the bane of electronics) and complex devices of all kinds have relatively inefficient manufacturing processes, with quite a bit of waste.

What’s more, companies pushing low-power TVs will make it seem like 300 watts is a totally outrageous power-draw, but let’s put it in context. The electric blow heater you might be using to warm up the TV room will draw as much as 2800 watts. The air conditioner, 1500 watts or more. And that’s before we get to the fridge. When it comes to a top ten of your big power eaters, the TV is pretty low on the list.

Yes, it’s like running three lights. But forget compact fluorescent bulbs that last three years — the backlight in your TV will last 15 years, or longer.

The manufacturers of eco TVs have their heads in the right place though. And for us it’s the changes in the manufacturing process that are more interesting, ecologically. Factories that output less carbon dioxide and comply with reduction of hazard substance (ROHS) standards are much more important than saving a fraction of a kilowatt hour when you’re actually watching Today Tonight.

It’s also important to remember that you’ll do more damage to the environment by throwing away your old plasma than you can hope to make up by buying an eco-TV. That said, we love LED backlighting as a technology and if your flat panel monster is more than four or five years old, you’ll see the difference from a performance perspective – that’s why you should buy.

At the moment, the eco-credentials of a new TV should be considered a happy bonus. You’re not going to make that much of a difference, yet. When a TV uses ten percent of the power of its forebears, and your back wall is painted with photovoltaic cells that catch light from the display and put it back into the grid, that’s when we’ll admit it really is easy, being green.

Anthony Fordham

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lcd essentials

You’ve decided to buy an LCD TV, but what now?

Anthony Fordham explains the current state-of-the-art in LCD viewing.

S

o you’ve decided to buy an LCD TV. Good choice! LCD is a mature technology that offers great performance. Most of all though, it offers flexibility: you can get a full 1080p HD LCD TV as small as 22 inches (56cm), or as big as 70 (178cm).

LCDs are also much lighter than plasma, and thanks to new LED backlighting technologies, incredibly thin. This makes it easy to place them on the wall, on a cabinet, inside an AV cupboard, pretty much anywhere.

The dream of a gigantic, active picture frame your wall is now a reality: the very thinnest LCDs are not much thicker than a sturdy oil painting. The future is most definitely now!

Like all new AV technologies, LCD TVs are packed with features, and figuring out whether your particular model does everything you want can be a bit tricky.

Here then is a simple overview of the key features of a modern, full-HD LCD TV. Tick these off, but be aware they all add cost to your display. Choosing which ones you can live without will be up to you!

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Full high definition (1080p) is becoming more common in small screen sizes, including 37 and 32 inch LCD televisions www.panasonic.com.au

Full HD

Video processing

To get the best picture quality from an LCD, you’ll want to make sure you choose a full HD panel. There are three high definition resolutions: 720p, 1080i and 1080p. The ‘p’ refers to ‘progressive’, and the ‘i’ refers to ‘interlaced’.

Interlaced images skip every second horizontal line to save on bandwidth. A progressive image uses every pixel in your display, and offers the absolute best quality.

A display with 1080p HD runs at the highest current resolution, with 1920 x 1080 pixels. That’s the native resolution of Blu-ray, and it’s higher than any current TV broadcast or pay TV transmission.

All LCD TVs, regardless of brand, will bombard you with all sorts of terminology about the ‘Engine’ inside. Rather than just dumbly transform a digital signal into coloured pixels on your display, video processing tech examines each frame of video and optimises it for viewing.

This may include boosting contrast in dark scenes, dynamically brightening sections of the image for better quality, using coloured backlights to enhance greens or blues, or creating entire new interpolated frames.

When two TVs are the same size, have the same inputs, but have a difference of $1000 or more in their price, it’s the video processing engine you’re paying for. The difference is real, and will have a huge effect on your viewing experience.

1080p/24 Speaking of Blu-ray, a vital feature in the modern TV is the ability to display video at 24Hz. Blu-ray movies use a cinema-standard 24 frames per second in their video, and since 24 doesn’t divide into 50 or 60 (the standard refresh rates of an Australian TV), wide panning shots or fast movement can appear jerky and irregular.

A TV with 1080p/24 functionality, often called something like Theatre Sync, actually changes the refresh rate of the TV to 24Hz. This means each frame of the movie is matched to the frame-rate of the TV, and movies play as their directors’ intended.

Once limited to premium models, compatibility with 24 frames per second video, such as that output from Blu-ray players, is now available on entrylevel LCD televisions www.sharp.net.au

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Motion smoothing We’ve mentioned 24Hz Blu-ray sync, but that’s primarily for movies that are shot at 24 frames per second: what you see is what the director wants you to see.

When it comes to HD sports broadcasts, such as a Rugby game, what you want to see is reality. But on a 50Hz or 60Hz television, what you often get is very slightly blurry or jerky action.

Higher-end LCD TVs now include 100Hz motion interpolation.

At its most simple, this doubles each frame to fool your eye into thinking the image is moving more smoothly.

More sophisticated systems use 200Hz, and rather than simply doubling frames, the TV examines two subsequent frames and actually generates two or three unique intermediate frames.

Sounds like magic? It certainly is to watch!

The quality of the proprietary video engine technology inside an LCD is often at the heart of performance differences between brands.

lcd essentials

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The stats

Sets with 100Hz picture-smoothing technology come at a premium, with the newest 200Hz sets refining performance even further www.lge.com.au

HDMI Every LCD TV worth its salt now comes with at least one HDMI port. HDMI is a compact, simple cabling system that combines video and audio into a single high-bandwidth cable.

It doesn’t just carry video and sound either. HDMI 1.3 includes the Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) system - implemented under different manufacturer brand names, such as Aquos Link (for Sharp), Viera Link (for Panasonic), or Bravia Theatre Sync (for Sony).

To make use of it, you’ll need to brand-match your PVR or Blu-ray player with your TV, but when it’s active you can control everything through a single remote, using the TV’s own onscreen interface. No more switching inputs or powering up individual devices!

LCD televisions accounted for 61 percent of the total value of all high definition product sales in the first quarter of 2009, the 383,711 units sold during that period netting $495,202,672 for the brands tracked

by Gfk research for the latest Sony High Definition Benchmark Report. According to the report, one in every 2.7 Australian households now has access to a high definition LCD TV compared to one in 7.3 for high definition plasma TV. The latter accounted for 21 percent of total sales value for the same period – just of third of LCD – with unit sales of 121,157. Both technologies experienced highest ever sales in the three months leading to Christmas 2008, with LCD and plasma peaking at 417,903 and 155,796 units respectively.

Regarding the above figures, while it appears that LCD is kicking some serious plasma butt, it’s important to remember that LCD is available in screens sizes where plasma does not exist – namely the 12, 22, 32, 37 and 40 inch categories – and marketed by a far larger number of brands. The three marques behind plasma – LG, Panasonic and Samsung – have stated their long-term commitment to plasma, but also market LCD. HDMI also supports a new colour standard called x.v.Color or Deep Colour. This dramatically increases the number of colours the TV can display, but you do need content that supports it, and that’s a bit hard to find at the moment. You can’t, for example, find this content on Blu-ray or DVD, but you can create it yourself using one of the new AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) camcorders.

The amount of video processing modern displays need to perform means the onscreen video often lags the audio. HDMI addresses this too, communicating between your TV, your AV receiver and source to ensure lip sync in movies and TV shows is spot-on, and allowing you to make tweaks for your particular room set-up.

All that said, HDMI is still a cable. And we all know cables are a pain. So you should be excited about the future of wireless HDMI. The first implementations of this technology have just arrived, and will allow you to position your stack of AV gear wherever you like – instead of needing to put it right under or beside the TV – and enjoy full HD video, minus the cable.

Networking and DLNA Still on the subject of cables and wires, we all know that the modern LCD TV can display photos off your digital camera, and a modern AV receiver will play MP3 files from a flash/thumb drive.

But fishing around for a USB cable is a right pain.

Better to be able to sit on your couch and operate the camera (or mobile phone) while photos display on your TV across the

HDMI connections reduce the tangle of wires from high definition video sources to the LCD TV, and enable single remote control of like-branded equipment and automatic audio syncing www.toshiba.com.au

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“DLNA is the future, so you should look for the logo on your prospective LCD TV”

lcd essentials

“When two TVs are the same size, have the same inputs, but have a difference of $1000 or more in their price, it’s the video processing engine you’re paying for” room. And you’ll be able to do this just by switching on both devices: no setup, no modes, no fiddle.

It’s all thanks to the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA).

This rather complicated set of standards is adhered to by an increasing number of manufacturers to allow devices to just ‘see’ each other over a wireless home network and share video, sound and images.

It’s still a pretty geeky thing and will take some initial setting up, but DLNA is the future, so you should look for the logo on your prospective LCD TV.

LED and RGB backlighting Traditionally, LCD TVs have used cold-cathode fluorescent lighting - you’ll see this abbreviated as CCFL. It’s a reliable, mature tech that allows LCDs to throw a brighter image than many plasmas.

But there’s a new future in backlighting: LEDs. Light emitting diodes are tiny, solid-state lights that last for tens of thousands of hours and take up very little space. As a result, an LED backlit TV can be only few centimeters thick. And edge-lit models – which integrate LEDs into the sides of the LCD television – can be as thin as 1—3 cm.

Some manufacturers using this type of backlighting employ white LEDs, arguing that this most closely replicates the white light that is the source of all colours of the spectrum. Other nameplates use RGB LEDs and while it might sound like an overload of three-letter acronyms, what it means is there’s a grid of specifically-coloured backlights in the TV. When you’re watching a very red scene, the TV detects this and boosts the power of the red backlights, enhancing the depth and richness of the reds. It can do the same with blue and green, or combine all three for an overall boost to colour quality. LCD tellies that use RGB LEDs consume more power and are typically more expensive.

LED televisions offer the further advantage of vastly improved contrast ratios. The brightness of LEDs can be individually controlled, meaning the intensity of all the separate LEDs behind a dark scene can be turned down to enhance black levels and, at the same time, increased to improved brightness in light scenes.

Called ‘local dimming’, ‘dynamic’ or ‘smart lighting’, it offers more precise control of light and dark areas in an image than CCFL lighting, the intensity of which can only be increased or decreased across the whole frame at once.

LCD: The smart choice!

Stepping back from the nitty-gritty detail, there are plenty of more general reasons why LCD could be the HDTV for you. The sheer number of systems in the market means all manufacturers are highly focused on this tech. It’s the future, and as such manufacturers want their products to last.

An extended warranty is a valuable purchase on a TV tipping $4000, and gives you the peace of mind that in the increasingly unlikely event your TV will fail, you’ll have it repaired or replaced in no time.

And with technologies such as HDMI 1.3 CEC, you can now match all your devices and enjoy all kinds of extra functionality.

The LCD TV: it tidies up your lounge room, simplifies your AV experience, boosts your image quality and communicates with your other toys: all at once! ■

The first DLNA televisions required a wired connection to your networked computer, but the latest models allow photo, video and music files to be shared wirelessly www.samsung.com.au

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OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Steinway Lyngdorf Model M S

teinway & Sons pianos have been delighting concertgoers for over 150 years, and now, in teaming up with the noted Danish audio company Lyngdorf, the Steinway Lyngdorf collection of home theatre equipment is bringing its collective sound pedigree into our homes.

Not just any old home mind you, but we’ll get to that.

Last year in Home Entertainment we featured the Steinway Lyngdorf Model D Music system on these pages. Another year, another system. The Model D was big — it’s impossible not to apply the notion of big to speakers that weigh 174 kg each — but this year we’re looking at an entirely bigger collection of gear from the company, its Model M Home Theater Sound Systems. There is no one system per se, rather it is a collection speakers, amplifiers, processor and remote control — you pick the configuration and bespoke real-wood or lacquer finishes for the components.

That said, there is a ‘base’ Model M system of sorts, in a 5.1 configuration, producing 3200 watts power output. In this you’ll receive four Model M in-wall or on-wall speakers, one Model M centre speaker, two subwoofers, one P1 surround sound processor with HDMI 1.3 support, and four P1 amplifiers.

The system is controlled by the P1 remote control interface — there’s no button on any of the components, so don’t lose that remote. The sound will be crafted to suit your listening space using the RoomPerfect system, which produces a three-dimensional map of your room’s sound field.

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In the ‘basic’ matte wood finish, this configuration will set you back — and you’ll recall earlier I mentioned we’d return to the type of home that would host this system — $89,900. US dollars. Green gold.

If you think that’s something, the Model M system as demonstrated in the Sydney-based Audio Connection showroom was a 7.4 setup, producing 5600 watts power output. Yes, you read that right, four subwoofers. For this wall of sound you’ll pay $US128,000, not to mention the inherent necessary cost of soundproofing, damping and deadening lest you bring down on yourself the wrath of family and neighbours.

You’re not restricted to these two configurations; you can mix up the speakers, and add a piano lacquer finish to the components in any colour to match the décor of your home theatre room.

The P1 remote control interface — that’s a remote control to use a more readily understandable term — is an object of real desire. It’s substantial in size, simple in design, and the volume control moves with a pleasing and astonishing ease. You’ll just want to play with it to get that sound level right!

Anthony Grimani, a veteran of sound who has worked at Dolby and Lucasfilm THX, remarks of the system, “I have spent my career seeking out home theatre technologies that can deliver on sound that I desire for my clientele. With Steinway Lyngdorf’s new home theater products, my team and I will be able to design home theaters producing sounds unlike anything we have created before.”

Steinway Lyngdorf Model M

Pricing from

$US89,900 Audio Connection 1300 761 022

www.audioconnection.com.au www.steinwaylyngdorf.com

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PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

A R E

A

C H A N G I N ’

When analog TV broadcasts cease in 2013, Australia will have Freeview.

Anika Hillery outlines how to make the most of the new-look digital TV.

D

igital television commenced broadcasting ten years ago and while most Home Entertainment readers will already be onboard with HD televisions and PVRs, around two-thirds of Australia is yet to make the transition.

There’s some urgency to convert these laggards, too, because over the next four years analog transmissions will be phased out, with all anlaog TVs to go blank by 31 December 2013.

This is the impetus behind the current advertising campaigns by the Federal Government’s Digital Switchover Taskforce and Freeview. But while the Digital Switchover group is focussed on educating around the switchover and taking care of the infrastructure, Freeview, according to CEO Robin Parkes, “is about giving people a reason to want to switch, rather than just waiting for it to come to their area”.

Those reasons include more channels, better quality sound and pictures and a seven-day electronic program guide, but more about those later. First, what is Freeview?

A rose by any other name Freeview originated in UK to promote digital television during that country’s transition, and it’s now performing a similar function here and in New Zealand. Funded by the Nine, Seven, Ten, ABC and SBS, Prime, WIN and Southern Cross television networks, Freeview is, according to Parkes, “the brand that encompasses all the free to air TV networks, and it gives viewers a tangible name for what they’re switching over to as we go from analog to digital.

“Instead of people saying they watch TV, now they’ll be saying they watch Freeview,” she says.

Freeview is also evidence that the traditionally insular and paranoid commercial networks are recognising the need for some collective marketing to help retain the viewers that are so crucial to revenues. Pay TV, movie downloads, video on demand, the internet, games consoles and even DVD box sets of TV series are taking – and will continue to take – eyeballs away from traditional broadcast media, and to keep people’s attention broadcasters have to change. The commercially sensible approach involves

Freeview-endorsed set-top boxes and televisions integrate MPEG4, making them ready for any changes the broadcasters may make to how they transmit programs in the future www.strong.com.au

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PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

METROPOLITAN FREEVIEW CHANNELS

SD simulcast of analog ABC

HD simulcast of ABC1

SDTV with unique and catch-up viewing

SD simulcast of analog SBS

HD simulcast of SBS1

SDTV with unique and catch-up viewing

SD simulcast of analog 7

HD simulcast with up to 15 hours unique programming

SDTV by end 09

SD simulcast of analog 9

HD simulcast with up to 15 hours unique programming

SDTV by end 09

SD simulcast of analog 10

24/7 HD sports channel with unique programming

Possible SD channel

offering more choice and more compelling content, so what are the networks’ plans?

Extra channels, for free The five networks currently broadcast 12 digital channels in metropolitan areas (regional centres receive different broadcasts). Much of the programming comprises HD simulcasts of programming on the SD channels – which are in turn simulcasts of the analog channels (see box above) – but Parkes says that five are clearly identifiable channels that provide different content to what is available from the analog channels.

“There’s ABC2 with fully unique programming; SBS2, which from 1 June will be unique programming; Ten’s One HD which is unique HD sports programming, plus 7HD and 9HD which each provide about 15 hours a week of unique programming.”

While 30 hours of unique weekly HD programming from Nine and Seven might not be enough to coax people over to Freeview, Ten’s 24-hour HD sports channel and the mix of catch-up TV and unique programming on ABC2 and SBS2 are excellent, especially for fledging channels.

FREEVIEW EQUIPMENT PROVIDES • High definition tuner built-in • 7–day EPG, with forthcoming unified interface • MPEG4 to accommodate future changes to broadcast transmissions • No ad skipping, just 30x fast forward • No record-out or transfer of recordings

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SDTV Kids channel by end 09

“There are something like 14 million viewers still on analog, so for them the excitement they’ll get when they switch now… is all these great channels they don’t even know existed”

“There are something like 14 million viewers still on analog, so for them the excitement they’ll get when they switch now – without even thinking about what’s in the future – is all these great channels they don’t even know existed, that they couldn’t make use of… And then more channels as they become available.”

These new channels include the ABC Kids channel (ABC3) announced in the May Federal budget and due on-air by the end of 2009, plus new SD channels from Nine and Seven, again by the end of the year. (Ten has capacity to provide another SD channel but has made no announcement about its plans.)

Further down the track, when the analog spectrum is retired, there’s potential for a further ten digital SD channels, two for each existing analog channel.

How to get Freeview Freeeview’s mantra of “more channels, for free” is true only once you’ve spent money on equipment capable of pulling in digital TV broadcasts. The amount can be less than a hundred dollars up to several thousand, depending on how well equipped you want to be.

If you’re still watching analog television and don’t want to spend a lot of money or part with your existing TV, all you need is a digital set-top box. This will allow you to watch Freeview’s standard definition channels – including SBS2, ABC2, and the forthcoming ABC3 Kids channels not available to analog viewers – but not the high definition channels.

For that you’ll need a TV capable of displaying high definition pictures plus a high definition set-top box, with or without recording capabilities. Alternatively, you could choose an ‘integrated TV’, which is an LCD or plasma with a high definition TV tuner built-in.

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PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

THE SWITCH-OFF SCHEDULE The government’s digital television switchover timetable sets out a region-by-region timetable for the transition to digital television. The first area to convert is the Mildura region of Victoria, which is scheduled to switchover to digital in the first half of 2010. December 31, 2013 is given as the date for most metropolitan centres, including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, to convert fully to digital TV. See where you fit into the government’s switchover timetable at: http://www.digitalready.gov.au/rolloutmap.aspx Freeview endorses a range of televisions, set-top boxes and PVRs, but to access Freeview channels your choice is certainly not limited to products and brands with the Freeview sticker. The badging makes it easy for non-technical buyers to identify what they need to receive Freeview, but features-wise Freeview-endorsed products are little different to other digital TV products. With a few exceptions.

Watch the ads Freeview products do not allow ad skipping or permit recorded programming to be copied or transferred to other devices. It’s a bummer for consumers, but as owners of the Freeview channels the networks have rights too. The commercial operators, specifically, would not stand behind products that allow their revenues to be undermined or their copyright to be breached.

“Our service is free because it’s funded by an ad model,” says Parkes, “so we can’t cut out the ad model or we’d become a pay TV service. What we have done as a compromise for viewers and advertisers is that we allow a 30x fast forward button, so you can fast forward very fast, but you can’t skip through a whole block of ads.”

Future-ready Freeview products are also somewhat more future-proof than other digital TV offerings in that they provide MPEG4 decoding rather than MEPG2. Digital television is currently transmitted in MPEG2 standard, but if broadcasters move to the more efficient MEPG4 standard, which some networks say they will need to in order to provide more channels in the future, then Freeview products are ready to receive.

MPEG2 products, which comprise most of the digital TV equipment in homes now and – perhaps – the majority of equipment to be sold in the next two years, will be rendered useless.

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Ameliorating this is that fact that broadcasters have made no announcements about when or if they plan to migrate transmissions to MPEG4. If they do, however, it’s likely that MPEG2 will continue in parallel, with the final decision in the hands of the government of the day.

For those who like to be prepared, though, MPEG4 equipment is a sensible choice, especially if you intend keeping it for 6-8 years. If you’re considering a set-top box that you might upgrade in a year or two to an integrated TV, then a non-Freeview endorsed product is fine. Just make sure it’s high definition so that it can receive all the Freeview channels.

Uniform EPG What Freeview and non-Freeview products have in common is a seven-day electronic program guide (EPG). The Freeview EPG draws upon the same data used by the EPG currently broadcast by the networks, but will present a consistent interface between different products and brands when development is finalised in early 2010. It won’t replace the current EPG, so non-Freeview equipment owners remain catered for, or interfere with the functionality built into the PVRs of each manufacturer, assures Parkes. “It’s more about a consistent look and feel.”

“After the EPG,” she says, “Freeview will continue to add value and more viewing dimensions. There’ll be an online viewing capability, where you can do catch-up viewing online, and it will progress from there. In the UK where Freeview has been going for many years there are many benefits [eg. digital radio capabilities] that have been added, and we’ll be looking at them going forward.”

The future Sales of high definition set-top boxes quadrupled in the week following the 1 May launch of the Freeview campaign, with the ad showing at 6pm on Sunday night across all channels. The ‘roadblock’ tactic delivered six million viewers, according to Parkes, and shows that, despite the fragmentation of entertainment today, the power of television is still mighty.

The real measure of Freeview’s success, however, will be borne out by the number of people converting from analog to digital. Quarterly surveys by the Federal Government will provide a guide as to how conversion is tracking, and while progress will be interesting to monitor, the end-point is a done deal.

By 2014, Australian free-to-air television will be digital, and if we want to tune in it’s Freeview we’ll be watching. ■

Non-Freeview HD products deliver all the available digital TV channels, but the Freeview sticker makes it easier for the majority of buyers to identify the equipment they need. www.panasonic.com.au

COMPETITION Enter only online at

WIN

by answering the question below. Check out our other competitions while you’re visiting. Entry is totally free!

i91 nScreen WORTH$899

B

enQ’s i91 nScreen is different to most desktop PCs. It comes not in two clunky pieces but a single integrated chassis crowned by a high definition 18.5 inch widescreen monitor.

Slim enough to be placed on a shelf rather than a dedicated desk, the slick looks of this compact net-top will add tech style to any living aesthetic, and it’s been engineered with ease of use in mind. Just plug the nScreen into mains power and navigate a simple installation process to get online, and then allow the friendly interface to enhance your internet surfing experience.

Inside the BenQ i91 nScreen you’ll find Microsoft’s Windows XP Home edition, 160GB HDD, 1.3 megapixel webcam, speakers, 6 x USB ports, microphone in and headphone out ports and a memory card reader (MS, MS-Pro, SD, MMC). The nScreen uses up to 80 percent less power than a traditional desktop computer and comes with a one-year pick up and return warranty. It’s available from selected Harvey Norman stores nationally.

For more information visit www.benq.com.au

In 25 words or less, tell us why the BenQ i91 nScreen is simply perfect for your home.

Answer online at www.gadgetguy.com.au • ENTRIES CLOSE 17 AUGUST 2009 Details on how to enter, as well as competition terms and conditions can be found at www.gadgetguy.com.au by clicking the Competition graphic on the right-hand side of

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the home page. The competition is open to all permanent residents of Australia and there is no limit to the number of entries a single person can make. The competition

comprises one prize totalling $899. Prize value is in Australian dollars and is the recommended retail value as provided by the supplier and is correct at the time of printing.

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.

BOX FRESH Reviewed in this Issue

40 48 58

Sony Playstation 3 Samsung UA46B7100 Toshiba XD-E500KY Toshiba Regza 52XV560A Sony Bravia KDL-40ZX1 LG 42PG60UD Sony Bravia KDL EX146 LG BD370 NAD T 587 Marantz SR-5003 Panasonic DMR-BW850 Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5

38 40 42 42 44 46 48 50 50 54 56 58

Saving your Digital Life

61

With music and movies now kept as digital collections on hard drive devices and PCs, and an increasing range of equipment now designed for sharing that content with the living room, you need a strategy for keeping the home’s most important entertainment files secure. Nathan Taylor presents your backup and storage options.

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 criteria.

Poor

61

Fair

Good Excellent Reference

Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

37

BOX FRESH

Sony Playstation 3 I

f Blu-ray is a success, it owes it largely to one product: the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3). Blu-ray and HD DVD were slugging it out for dominance in the high definition disc stakes, but once people started to examine disc sales, it was clear Blu-ray was winning. The reason was that while special purpose Blu-ray and HD DVD player sales were in the tens of thousands, PS3 sales were in the millions.

And the PlayStation 3 plays Blu-ray discs. Furthermore, the PS3 was for a while the lowest cost Blu-ray player available.

We reviewed the PS3 when it first launched in 2007, and the firmware upgrades it’s received since (see box opposite) make it an even more appealing entertainment device than we concluded it was then. But how, more than two years on, does the veteran BD player stack up as a high definition disc spinner against second and third generation models from other manufacturers?

Features Except for one thing, the PS3 will do everything (and more) that a standalone Blu-ray player will do. It supports BonusView picturein-picture functions and BDLive for internet-enabled

38

additions for some Blu-ray discs. In fact, it had these before any other players on the market.

While other players give you a quarter-gigabyte of built-in ‘persistent’ storage, or provide a USB port (SD in the case of Panasonic and Yamaha) for a flash memory card, the PS3 gives you 80GB of hard disk storage. Download all the movie trailers you like – it’s going to take while to exhaust that space.

The one significant omission concerns output handling. Out of the box you get HDMI, composite video, stereo audio and optical digital audio. For me HDMI is plenty. If you don’t have HDMI, then composite video is the lowest of low quality. So you will need to fork out for an optional component video cable.

One other thing: if you are planning to watch a significant number of Blu-ray discs (or DVDs), consider purchasing the optional Blu-ray remote control. This is far easier to use than the regular games controller, even supplemented by the pop-up onscreen options.

Performance The first thing to remember about the PS3 is that it is designed for one main purpose: to play games. So it might be tempting to think that it would be a second-rate Blu-ray player.

SONY PLAYSTATION 3

THE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE The PS3 is more rightly called an entertainment centre Store and then upload videos of yourself and friends than a games console. You can copy music, photos and performing those songs to SingStar Online. video into and out of it; use it to browse the web; to download and/or purchase content from the Playstation Store, and to stream content from a networked PC over a wired or wireless connection. Connected to the Net, it is able to receive ongoing firmware upgrades that enhance functionality.

Some of the latest include VidZone, which allows you to stream music videos free from a networked computer; Text Chat for talking with up to 15 others in up to three chat rooms simultaneously, and DLNA connectivity with PCs and compatible cameras, phones and stereo systems. The latest firmware upgrades provide the ability to sort photos by the age of the people in them, smiles, landscapes, colours or the camera used, and to purchase songs from the SingStar That would be wrong. All Blu-ray players are effectively computers with Blu-ray disc drives, so the high-powered games CPU in the PS3 does a good job. An excellent job, in fact. This unit was for a long time the fastest of all Blu-ray players, and has only just lately been beaten for speed by LG’s standalone Blu-ray players. Most of the others remain much slower.

It also has no limits on controlling a Blu-ray disc. You can step forwards and backwards through frames, slo-mo both ways, do A-B or other repeats. Most other Blu-ray players approach their tasks tentatively. The PS3 takes command of the job.

The only addition I would like here is a fast-reverse speed between the current 1x (too slow) and 10x (too fast).

I did not test the component video output but stuck with HDMI. The picture quality with HDMI is basically about as good as any of the dozen other Blu-ray players I’ve had installed.

Since about firmware 2.30, the unit has had full decoding for all the new Blu-ray audio standards, including DTS-HD Master Audio. If your receiver accepts PCM sound over HDMI, you can get a full 7.1 channel experience from some discs. If it doesn’t, lacking multichannel analog outputs, you will need to make use of the lower 5.1 channel quality from the optical

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Games console Price: $699 (plus $49.95 for Blu-ray remote) Warranty: one year Contact: Sony Computer Entertainment 1300 365 911 au.playstation.com Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo analog audio, 1 x optical digital audio HDMI output resolution: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p @ 50 or 60 hertz, 1080p @ 24 hertz Component output resolution: N/A Firmware version during review: 2.60 Features: CD/DVD/BD playback, BonusView/BD-Live capable, Decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, 1080p video output at 24 frames per second, 7.1 channel PCM output, A-B repeat, Network media player capabilities, 80GB hard disk drive, Ethernet and wireless network support, 2 x USB ports, Web browser and internet facilities Dimension (WHD): 325 x 98 x 274 mm Weight: 5.0 kg

digital audio output. What it will not do is deliver the new audio standards as bitstreams for decoding in your shiny new home theatre receiver.

If you have a good sound system, do take a moment when setting up to find the Dynamic Range Control setting in the PS3’s audio menu and changing it from the default of ‘Auto’ to ‘Off’. Dolby TrueHD supports this ‘Auto’ function and consequently often has its dynamic range deadened.

Conclusion I have dedicated Blu-ray players running on my test bench all the time, but I frequently use the PS3 in preference to any of them because of the authority it takes over the discs.

And one thing you can be certain of: all Blu-ray discs will work in a PS3, because the PS3 is the main test-bed used by Thomas Bartlett Blu-ray disc authors.

PROS Full support for all Blu-ray functions including BD-Live Fully decodes all Blu-ray sound standards Fast operation

CONS Will not feed new audio standards as bitstreams to external decoder Cooling fan can be noisy in some circumstances

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

39

BOX FRESH

Samsung UA46B7100 N

ot all LED LCD TVs are created equal. Backlit LED LCD televisions can make use of dynamic dimming of individual sectors of the LED grid to improve contrast, but at the cost of a thicker TV casing.

Edge-lit LED LCDs, such as Samsung’s 7 Series (we’ve reviewed the 117cm/46 inch here) can be 70 percent thinner, but lack some sophistication when it comes to managing image quality.

For performance perfectionists, then, the choice is obvious.

Until, that is, the release of this TV, which demonstrates that edge-lit LED backlighting can produce impressive results.

Features The 7 Series (and the more expensive 8 Series, which integrates wireless networking) is an attempt by Samsung to create a TV that does much more than display video. Far from a ‘dumb panel’, this TV can connect to the Net via an Ethernet cable, and play content from a DLNA-equipped PC on your home network.

We would have preferred wireless to be built in at this price — after all, if an $800 mobile phone can have Wi-Fi,

40

why not a $4700 TV? Samsung’s optional USB wireless adaptor costs $99 and installing it will leave one USB for other media.

The USB ports also allow you to connect a digital camera and view pictures using a slideshow application controlled by the remote. A universal memory card reader would have been even better, but it’s USB only for now.

When it comes to video, the edge-lit LED system keeps the TV barely three centimetres thick, and unlike other superslim LED-type LCD televisions that couple with external media receivers, Samsung has managed to build the HD and analog tuners right into the chassis. While the 7 Series boosts the typical number of HDMI inputs to four, there’s only one component input.

“Thin, elegant, and with a great picture. It’s a compelling equation”

SAMSUNG UA46B7100 Yes, HDMI is the future, but it’s still too early to ditch flexible support for older DVD players and game consoles. Of course this problem can be alleviated by using an AV receiver with the TV or buying an adaptor.

Onboard audio is typical of TVs in this space: 10 watt speakers do the job, but won’t impress. Image quality is a different matter: 100Hz image interpolation, 24p sync for Blu-ray, and a virtually-infinite dynamic contrast ratio produce great results.

Setting up While tuning channels and assigning favourites is de rigueur, Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) compliance and features make setup rather more fiddly.

Software must be installed on your PC to allow the TV to find audio, video and picture files via the network. While the TV supports a wide range of video formats, the sheer number of subtle codec differences out there on the wild world web means video support can be hit and miss, unless you really know what you’re doing when it comes to encoding.

Performance First, the video. Blacks are impressively deep, especially since this is an edge-lit LED panel. At this price point it’s reasonable to expect extremely good colour and contrast, and the 7 Series doesn’t disappoint.

Selecting various picture modes – dynamic, natural, movie, etc – will allow the viewer to find a colour and sharpness mix that suits them, and deeper fiddling with the menu system reveals a host of options for the tweakophile. As seems typical with Samsung displays, reds are particularly vivid, though some viewers may find very chromatically complex images a little flat.

Edge-lit vs backlit – is there a difference? Our comparison at time of review was with an LED backlit Sony TV costing $2000 more. Yes, the more expensive TV had superior blacks and colour, but to the value of $2000? Your answer will demonstrate your dedication to videophilia.

Unfortunately the extras in the TV – the photo viewer, kids games, recipes and other ephemera – suffer from a somewhat awkward interface. After using a PS3 to view photos, with its dedicated buttons for rotating shots, having to cycle through menus with a rubber-keyed remote feels like a step backwards.

SPECIFICATIONS Category: LCD TV Price: $4699 Warranty: 12 months Contact: Samsung Electronics www.samsung.com.au 1300 362 603 Display: 117cm / 46 inch LCD; 1920 x 1080; 3,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, edge-lit LED, 4ms response rate, 1 x analog tuner, 1 x HD digital tuner Audio: 2x 10 watt stereo speakers (down firing), SRS TruSurround HD Connections: 4 x HDMI, 1 x component, 1 x AV, 1 x PC D-sub, 2 x USB 2.0, 1x Ethernet, 1x optical audio output Features: Motion Plus 100Hz, 1080 24p Real Movie, AnyNet (HDMI CEC), Content Library (games, recipes etc), digital camera connectivity with slideshow via USB, DLNA compliant, internet connectivity via Ethernet, Wireless LAN adaptor support, auto volume leveller, game mode Power consumption (in use): 170 watts Dimensions (WHD): 1129 x 705 x 29.9mm

Conclusion Thin, elegant, and with a great picture. It’s a compelling equation, and if you ignore all the fiddly data stuff, the 7 Series is an excellent TV indeed. But the sheer number of menu options can be daunting, and if the TV has a fault it’s in trying to do too much too soon – TVs that are also the home’s data hub need more time in the kiln.

A clean, fast interface and a next-generation remote with a focus on viewing user-generated content such as photos and home video should take precedence over games that kids won’t play – no TV can compete with the mighty Wii, after all.

On the other hand, just want to watch it? Then Samsung is Anthony Fordham right — this really is a new species of TV.

PROS Extremely thin Good black levels

Fun extras

CONS Single component input Wireless networking optional only Interface has awkward moments

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

41

BOX FRESH

Toshiba REGZA 52XV560A & XD-E500KY T

oshiba it seems isn’t quite ready to take the plunge into Blu-ray, but as a co-developer of the DVD and the producer of some of the iconic early DVD players, it continues to push the boundaries of that format. Here we look at the company’s current top of the line XD-E500KY DVD player, along with its top of the line TV: the 132cm Regza 52XV560A.

Features The DVD player has a bunch of video processing options, so that you can apply sharpening to the picture, tweak its colours and so forth. To make all this stuff stick, the unit offers upscaling of the video output, when delivered over its HDMI output, to a full 1080p. Furthermore, you can even set the output for US-type NTSC DVDs to the film-like 24 frames per second, which is a very rare, and very high-end feature.

The TV for its part also has some very fancy video processing which allows it to take plain ole US-style 60 frames per second video and turn it into 24 frames per second. So even if you don’t have this particular DVD player – or if you have a first generation Blu-ray player or still have an entry level HD DVD player (after all, HD DVDs were so cheap for a while there), you can use this TV to turn its jerky 60 frames per second motion to smooth 24fps motion.

The TV has four HDMI inputs, with one of them on the side with a bunch of conventional AV inputs, allowing ad hoc plugging in of video cameras. The styling of the TV is not as startling as some of the competition, but should fit with most decors.

42

Performance

The TV lacks the truly, deep blacks of the latest generation models from some competitor brands, but then it costs a couple of thousand dollars less that those offering the same screen size. In all but a very dark room, I found its black levels somewhere between adequate and quite good. The colour performance was excellent as well.

The digital TV tuner produced a good picture, but perhaps the most startling thing about it was that – aside from the excellent picture quality – it was hardly noticeable that it was digital rather than analog TV, because the station switching was very fast.

Likewise, the DVD player was fast and very responsive to the remote control. The only real letdown on the ‘interface’ front with either unit was the slightly out-of-date appearance of the menus and splash screens. These looked like they belonged on devices from three or four years ago. The DVD player’s front panel display showed only the current chapter number, which was of limited value.

As far as playing DVDs went, this system was either very good or brilliant, depending on the source. For PAL DVDs, it was usually very good. The DVD player would not deliver the raw DVD standard of 576i (interlaced) over the HDMI output, so performance was entirely subject to the unit’s built-in deinterlacing circuitry This performed a reasonable job at working out whether to treat the picture as video or film-sourced, but occasionally produced a little picture instability. The end result was to deliver a good quality picture, regardless of whether the output was set to 576p or

TOSHIBA REGZA 52XV560A & XD-E500KY 1080p. The colour was excellent, and the 1080p upscaling was excellent as well.

The conversion of NTSC DVDs to 24 frames per second output was of no particular use for most Australian DVDs, since our PAL discs are delivered at 50 frames per second.

Indeed, its use was hindered a little by the review unit being locked to Region 4, which effectively stopped most of my US DVDs from working. However, Googling ‘Toshiba region free xd-e500’ soon gave an easily entered code to make the unit region free. With the unit set to ‘NTSC’ output in the main menu, 1080p output and with the front panel ‘24F’ indicator going, it did indeed produce smooth, film-like motion on my US movie DVDs, although there were little stutters from time to time with a couple of discs. US DVDs are notorious for having incorrect ‘flags’ in their video streams as to their status, making it difficult for video processing circuits to work out how to assemble the frames properly.

The ‘Smooth’ setting for ‘Film Stabilisation’ in the picture menu of the TV did an even better job, even when the DVD player’s output was set to a regular upscaled 1080p60. In fact, doing it via the TV was the easier way to go because it avoided the need to switch the DVD player to NTSC-only output.

SPECIFICATIONS - XD-E500KY Category: DVD player Price: $219 Warranty: one year Contact: Toshiba Australia 13 30 70 www.toshibaav.com.au Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo analog audio, 1 x optical digital audio, 1 x coaxial digital audio HDMI output resolution: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p @ 50 or 60 hertz, 1080p @ 24 hertz Component output resolution: 576p, 480p, 576i, 480i @ 50 or 60 hertz Dimensions (WHD): 430 x 50 x 198mm Weight: 1.5kg

PROS Fast and reliable performance Good deinterlacing of 1080i50 and 1080i60 Seamless layer changes 1080p24 output option for NTSC DVDs

CONS No ‘force film’ mode for deinterlacing Very basic front display No 480i/576i output over HDMI

You may be wondering why this concentration on US DVDs. Well, my propeller-head nature got the better of me. This 1080p24 capability – both by the TV and the DVD player – is pretty ground-breaking stuff. Unfortunately it’s of limited value to most Australian video fans, for we mostly watch Australian PAL DVDs, or Blu-ray discs from players perfectly capable of delivering 1080p24.

Conclusion Toshiba continues to strike out on its own with startling technologies that no-one else seems to contemplate. But in addition to this, both the TV and the DVD player provided very good all-round performance.

Of course, the DVD player isn’t a patch on Blu-ray, despite the good upscaling. But there are many more thousands of DVDs available than Blu-ray discs, and no doubt will be well into the future. It is well worth checking out if you need a new DVD player.

Thomas Bartlett

SPECIFICATIONS - REGZA 52XV560A Category: LCD TV Price: $4599 Warranty: two years Contact: Toshiba Australia 13 30 70 www.toshibaav.com.au Image: LCD; 132.1cm diagonal; 16:9 native aspect, 1920 x 1080 pixels; brightness 500cd/sq m; 3000:1 contrast ratio, 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, panel response time 6ms Inputs: 2 x composite video, 1 x S-Video, 2 x component video (supporting progressive scan and HD), 1 x D-SUB15 RGB, 4 x HDMI, 4 x stereo audio Outputs: 1 x composite video, 1 x analog stereo audio, 1 x optical digital audio, 1 x headphone Audio: stereo, 2 speakers (35 x 160mm each), 2 x 10 watts Features: HD and SD digital TV tuner, analog TV tuner, Power Meta Brain video processing, Clear Frame (100Hz) mode, 3D comb filter, Dynalight active backlight control, 3D Colour Management, SRS WOW sound, side by side picture mode Supplied accessories: remote control; manual; desktop stand Dimensions (WHD): 1252 x 790 x 102mm (without stand) Weight: 31.2kg (with stand)

PROS Very good value for a large screen TV Full high definition display Direct high definition picture mapping Good video processing

CONS Can’t force film mode deinterlacing

RATINGS

RATINGS

Performance

Performance

Features

Features

Ease of use

Ease of use

Value for money

Value for money

No PIP

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BOX FRESH

Sony Bravia KDL-40ZX1 I

f you look Sony’s Bravia KDL-40ZX1 TV fair in the face, you won’t know what the fuss is all about. But if you wander around the room a bit, and take it in at a different angle, you will probably be amazed.

I was. And it all had to do with this TV’s edges.

Features The edges of this 101.6cm full high definition TV are less than one centimetre thick. It isn’t just the edges … that thickness continues for several centimetres in from the edges, and 20odd centimetres down from the top. This is a thin panel. The thicker part brings the total depth up to just 28mm, or less than a third of the thickness of regular LCD and plasma TVs. The 40ZX1 truly is a panel TV. It uses LCD technology, of course, and an ‘Edge LED’ module to provide the backlight without adding significantly

“The Media Receiver and the panel hooked up wirelessly to each other with no difficulty” 44

to the depth of the panel. LCD televisions that employ LED backlighting provide better contrast ratios and darker blacks than conventional LCD TVs using fluorescent backlighting.

They can also be made slimmer and lighter than conventional types. Edge-lit models reduce thickness and weight even further by locating the LEDs around the sides of the TV, rather than behind the LCD screen as in direct-lit models. This approach can, however, mean the picture is brighter at the edge of the screen than it is in the middle.

The speakers are actually in the base (if you wall mount it, you need to purchase a different speaker module), while most of the connections and the analog and digital TV tuners are in a separate ‘Media Receiver’. This communicates with the panel wirelessly. Sony says that the range is good for up to 20 metres. The panel itself has just one input: a single HDMI socket on the rear.

Sony has kitted out the TV with its usual range of premium goodies, including a USB socket (on the Media Receiver) for photo display and a ‘picture frame mode’ so that the TV

SONY BRAVIA KDL-40Z4500 can decorate your room with your precious memories. Plus there is Motionflow 100Hz for smoothing onscreen motion.

Performance This TV looks startlingly good, even when switched off, thanks to its amazingly thin profile. When switched on it looked pretty good too. Sony’s picture processing is excellent, and the dynamic contrast control, along with an automatic brightness feature that adjusted the picture settings for the level of room light, helped the TV produce a generally excellent picture.

In a very dark room and with very dark scenes, there was some backlight glowing, so the TV was in that regard just a little weaker than some of the premium competition. But the screen remained remarkably even in tone, despite the concentration of backlighting at the edges.

The Media Receiver and the panel hooked up wirelessly to each other with no difficulty and in my room, where they were a couple of metres apart, there was never any interference or loss of contact.

The digital TV tuner worked nicely.

Where things weren’t quite so good was with the signal handling of the Media Receiver. Apparently this uses 1080i as its fixed resolution for communicating with the panel. The latter supports 1080p24 (ie. the preferred Blu-ray format) when fed by a HDMI cable directly to its input. If you are using the Media Receiver for your connections, you don’t get 1080p24, so there is some jerkiness to onscreen movement from Blu-ray. You also lose the benefit of the high-end 1080p conversion of some Blu-ray players, since the Media Receiver turns it back to 1080i.

SPECIFICATIONS Category: LCD TV Price: $7399 Warranty: one year Contact: Sony Australia Limited 1300 137 669 www.sony.com.au Image: LCD; 101.6cm diagonal; 16:9 native aspect, 1920 x 1080 pixels; brightness not stated; 4000:1 native contrast ratio; 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio; panel response time not stated Inputs: 1 x composite video, 1 x S-Video, 1 x component video (supporting progressive scan and HD), 1 x D-SUB15 RGB, 4 x HDMI (1 on monitor, 3 on Media Receiver), 6 x stereo audio, 1 x USB Outputs: 1 x analog stereo audio, 1 x optical digital audio, 1 x headphone Audio: stereo, speakers not stated, 2 x 5 watts plus 10 watts for woofer Features: super slim panel, analog TV tuner, HD digital TV tuner, Bravia 1080 Wireless, Bravia Engine 2, 24p True Cinema, Motionflow 100Hz, USB HD photo display and audio playback, picture and picture mode Supplied accessories: remote control; manual; desktop stand with built in speakers (attached by user); Media Receiver source and switching unit Dimensions (WHD): 986 x 599 x 28mm (without stand or media receiver) Weight: 12.2kg (without stand or media receiver)

The panel, however, converts any incoming 1080i video to 1080p, and while the conversion was fairly high quality it was not perfect. It occasionally produced some jaggies and unstable elements to the picture.

Conclusion Nonetheless, there is an argument to be made that the fact that wireless communication works at all makes such quibbles an exercise in pedantry. I spent much of the time using a direct HDMI feed to the panel, and avoided all that. For the panel itself is excellent, and for the moment at least, its dimensions Thomas Bartlett are unique.

PROS Wonderfully slim panel Excellent colour Full high definition display Convenient Media Receiver Good digital TV performance

CONS Black levels not as good as state-of-the-art panels 1080i wireless causes problems with picture quality

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

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BOX FRESH

LG 42PG60UD L

G’s new low-cost range of plasma TVs feature traditional ‘high resolution’ panels – that is, 1024 x 768 pixels for the 106.7cm sized 42PG60UD – packed into an unusual ‘Frameless’ package. And all selling for an attractively low price.

Features By ‘Frameless’, LG doesn’t mean that the picture goes right up to the edges of the screen. In fact, the usual 50 to 60mm of frame surrounds the display area. But the frame is part of a sheet of glass that covers the whole front of the TV, a millimetre or two in front of the plasma display surface itself.

So the frame doesn’t stand forward from the picture screen, as is the norm, and the TV has a perfectly smooth fascia.

“While LCD TVs continue to improve and narrow the gap, I still think the colour of plasma is just that bit more natural than LCD” 46

The TV comes on a swivel stand and has three HDMI inputs, one of them easily accessible from the side. Next to that HDMI input is also a USB socket, so you can plug in a USB memory stick to display your photos and play back music and DivX video. The photo display was by far the fastest to load that I’ve seen on a consumer device.

Performance To be honest, initially I was not especially impressed with the whole ‘Frameless’ thing. It looked a little like a regular blackframed plasma TV, but with a sheet of glass placed in front to cover the whole thing, frame and all. But over time its virtue became apparent, especially the first evening when I switched out the room lights and ran my various tests for black levels.

Most TVs have some amount of reflection of the screen contents from the inside edge of the frame around the screen.

This is particularly noticeable in dark scenes with a few bright elements. There, hanging at the edge of the screen, is a bright splash of colour or white, reflected on the (usually) piano gloss finish of the bezel.

But this TV has its ‘bezel’ painted on the inside of glass sheet. If you peer closely, you can see that rather than a somewhat reflective surface standing at right angles to the plasma surface, there is a small void between it and the ‘bezel’-bearing glass. There were no reflections. Small point,

LG 42PG60UD perhaps, but it quite eliminates an occasional distraction from the picture.

The colour performance of this TV was excellent. While LCD TVs continue to improve and narrow the gap, I still think the colour of plasma is just that bit more natural than LCD. For the most part, this TV’s colour looked like that from a high quality CRT TV, just bigger and far more detailed.

The black levels, when I switched off my room’s lights, seemed pretty ordinary indeed, and nothing like what a two million to one contrast ratio would seem to promise. So I explored the picture settings and found an ‘Energy Saving’ item which by default was set to ‘Intelligent Sensor’, which in turn was set to ‘Low’. Switching to anything other than ‘Intelligent Sensor’ improved the black levels enormously. They still weren’t the blackest I’ve seen in a plasma, but they were more than acceptable and dark scenes were rendered very acceptably.

The TV, despite having only 1024 x 768 pixels of resolution, accepted full 1080p signals, including the 24 hertz variety from Blu-ray, so it delivered smooth motion.

Occasionally there was just a little instability on very fine picture detail, resulting from the scaling of full high definition signals down to this TV’s display, but it was generally very good.

For DVDs, it didn’t do a very good job of deinterlacing 576i signals, resulting in occasional jaggies and motion artefacts, so it would generally be best to use a high quality DVD player with progressive scan output.

The TV tuner did a good job, delivering a nice picture especially on the HD stations. The TV’s sound was, well, like

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Plasma TV Price: $1699 Warranty: one year Contact: LG Electronics Australia 1800 725 375 www.lge.com.au Image: LCD; 106.7cm diagonal; 16:9 native aspect, 1024 x 768 pixels; brightness 1500cd/sq m; 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, panel response time 0.001ms Inputs: 2 x composite video, 1 x S-Video, 2 x component video (supporting progressive scan and HD), 1 x D-SUB15 RGB, 3 x HDMI, 4 x stereo audio, 1 x USB Outputs: 1 x composite video, 1 x analog stereo audio, 1 x optical digital audio Audio: 4 x downwards firing speakers, 2 x 10 watts Features: single-layered technology, ‘Frameless’ display, Teletext, analog and HD digital tuners built-in, three HDMI inputs, 16 bit colour processing, Dual XD Engine, ‘Expert’ picture modes, USB input for photo display and DivX and MP3 playback Supplied accessories: remote control; desktop swivel stand Dimensions (WHD): 1041 x 670 x 77mm (without stand) Weight: 20.4kg (without stand)

regular TV sound. Nothing objectionable, but far better to get a real sound system to go with it.

Conclusion I rather liked this TV. I found the frameless design to have actual picture-improving qualities. But the lack of full high definition resolution was, for me, a major drawback.

Thomas Bartlett

PROS Excellent colour performance Good black levels Plenty of HDMI inputs ‘Just Scan’ picture mode

CONS Not full high definition Poor de-interlacing of standard definition inputs

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

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BOX FRESH

Sony Bravia KDL-52EX1 S

ony’s ultra-thin Bravia KDL-40ZX1 LCD TV (reviewed on page 44) isn’t the only model from the brand to use wireless communications. The EX series TVs do the same. In fact, the only significant difference between the two is the panel, because both employ what appears to be the same ‘Media Receiver’ external TV tuner and switch box.

Features The main purpose for having this in the KDL-52EX1 TV isn’t to keep the TV thin, although at 57mm it is remarkably thin.

Instead, the main reason seems to be to avoid the ugliness of cables, although of course you need a power cable.

“The colour was immaculate and the combination of some subtle noise reduction circuits and the Motion Flow 100Hz video processing burnished the image to make it highly watchable” 48

In practice, this TV makes the ideal wallhanger. Being relatively thin, and devoid of most connections, it would look a million dollars properly installed. It comes with a white bezel, with narrow aluminium frame at the edges, and to my eyes looks utterly gorgeous. That does tend to make the dark screen stand out more when the unit is switched off, but the TV has a ‘Picture Frame’ mode, in which it can display your photos from a USB memory stick, statically or as a slide show.

The TV has plenty of inputs on its Media Receiver to accommodate a range of video sources (the panel itself has one HDMI input to supplement the wireless communications). The Media Receiver also features both analog and digital TV tuners.

One other radio-type wireless part of this TV is the remote control. Infrared is not employed, which eliminates line-ofsight demands, so you can put the Media Receiver away in a cupboard (two IR remote control ‘blasters’ are included to control other Sony equipment, via the TV’s remote control).

It goes some way to replicating the convenience offered

by Bravia Sync, which allows compatible Sony equipment connected over HDMI to be operated by one remote (the one belonging to the TV or Blu-ray player for instance), and once I got used to not having to point the thing at the TV, I found it became even more of a pleasure to use.

SONY BRAVIA KDL-52EX1 Performance How this TV performs depends very much on what you are watching, and whether your external sources are directly connected to the panel, or through the Media Receiver.

Digital TV performance was simply brilliant, on both high definition and standard definition stations. The colour was immaculate and the combination of some subtle noise reduction circuits and the Motion Flow 100Hz video processing burnished the image to make it highly watchable, even with standard definition stations.

DVDs and Blu-ray were variable though. The same situation arose with the 40ZX1 (see page 44) and it is all to do with the wireless connection. This uses 1080i as its format, even if you have your DVD player or Blu-ray set to output 1080p. If you have your Blu-ray player connected to the Media Receiver, you can’t even use the smoother 1080p24 output format at all.

Sony has long-championed the benefits of 1080p24 compatibility (the ability to display a film at its original frame rate), integrating it as ‘24p True Cinema’ to all its recentmodel Blu-ray players and even its new entry level Bravias.

Its absence, then, is likely a limitation of the particular radio frequency technology used rather than a failure by Sony to implement it.

The TV panel has quite a bit of video processing built in, however, so it attempts to restore the full 1080p image after transmission, and the results were sometimes very good, sometimes quite poor. In particular, some 1080i50 material from the increasing number of Blu-ray discs in that format were not handled at all well, with visible instability on fine picture detail.

Fortunately the direct HDMI input to the panel accepted 1080p24 and other forms of 1080p and delivered a fine performance. Even though I am not a great fan of the motion smoothing features of most TVs, Sony’s ‘Motion Flow 100Hz’ version generally gave good results, with a minimum of

SPECIFICATIONS Category: LCD TV Price: $7099 Warranty: one year Contact: Sony Australia Limited 1300 137 669 www.sony.com.au Image: LCD; 132.2cm diagonal; 16:9 native aspect, 1920 x 1080 pixels; brightness not stated; 3000:1 native contrast ratio; 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio; panel response time not stated Inputs: 1 x composite video, 1 x S-Video, 1 x component video (supporting progressive scan and HD), 1 x D-SUB15 RGB, 4 x HDMI (1 on monitor, 3 on Media Receiver), 6 x stereo audio, 1 x USB Outputs: 1 x analog stereo audio, 1 x optical digital audio, 1 x headphone Audio: stereo, speakers not stated, 2 x 8 watts Features: slim panel, analog TV tuner, HD Digital TV tuner, Bravia 1080 Wireless, Bravia Engine 2, 24p True Cinema, Motionflow 100Hz, USB HD photo display and audio playback, picture and picture mode Supplied accessories: remote control; manual; desktop stand; Media Receiver source and switching unit, IR repeaters for controlling other Sony equipment Dimensions (WHD): 1312 x 806 x 57mm (without stand or media receiver) Weight: 33kg (without stand or media receiver)

artefacts and a more natural overall look to the picture, even with 1080p24 from Blu-ray.

Once again, the colour was excellent, and the black levels were very good as well, and quite even. Subjectively, blacks were even better than usual thanks to the contrast against the white frame around the TV picture.

Conclusion The Sony Bravia KDL-52EX1 is an excellent LCD TV with a very large screen and high performance when you use a wired connection to the panel. The TV performance is excellent as well. But for its wireless convenience and styling, you do pay a very large premium ($1700) over the more highly specified KDL-52Z4500.

Still, I could see it fitting very well into my home.

Thomas Bartlett

PROS Slim panel Full high definition display Excellent colour White bezel Convenient Media Receiver Good digital TV performance

CONS 1080i wireless causes problems with picture quality

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

49

BOX FRESH

LG BD370 Blu-ray Player T

his Blu-ray player, and its predecessor the BD300, raises a question: if LG can do it, why can’t anyone else? And I’m not talking about the YouTube playback capabilities. Read on to see what it is so special about LG.

Features What’s special is not one of the things we list under this heading (read on a bit further still to get to this), but what you

do get is a fully capable Blu-ray player. If a feature exists on a Blu-ray disc, this unit will deliver it. It supports BonusView picture-in-picture functions. And it supports BD-Live features, so it can download additional material from the Web for Bluray discs supporting this feature.

To hold this material, the unit has a USB socket on the front. It’s up to you to supply the thumb drive to use in this, but these are remarkably cheap now. However the front location means that your memory stick will be poking out the

NAD T 587 T

he highly respected company NAD (which originally stood for ‘New Acoustic Dimensions’) has now entered the Blu-ray fray with its first model, the T 587. Rather than a stumbling first effort, this proved to be a highly capable unit that provided good performance with PAL DVDs in addition to Blu-ray itself.

Features This player is a full BD-Live unit. That is, it has on the back a network connection. Plug it into your home network and use your broadband connection to allow certain Blu-ray discs to download additional content. So far this content hasn’t been compelling, but has included additional trivia tracks that play along with movies.

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It also supports Bonus View so that you can use the picturein-picture (PIP) commentaries provided on some discs.

To support both these features the unit requires additional memory to be inserted: at least one gigabyte. This is via a USB socket on the front, which I reckon is a silly place to put it. On a DVD player a USB socket is an extra which you can use ad hoc. With a Blu-ray player like this one, the USB memory is an integral part of the unit and needs to remain in place most of the time, so having it at the front is not a good idea.

The unit will play back the usual range of discs, plus recordable Blu-ray discs (BD-R and BD-RE). It also supports a wide range of multimedia: JPEG and PNG photos, MP3 and WMA music, and AVCHD video.

LG BD370 BLU-RAY PLAYER & NAD T 587

“But where the BD370 simply outshines the competition is in usability. And that mostly comes down to one thing: speed” front, and also means that the panel that normally conceals this must be left open.

The unit will play various multimedia files from the USB socket, including DivX, MP3 and WMA and JPEG photos.

For output, the unit provides composite video, component video and HDMI, along with both flavours of digital audio, plus stereo audio. You do not get 5.1 or 7.1 channel analog audio outputs. The composite video output works at the same time as the HDMI one, even if the latter is delivering the highest quality 1080p24 video.

Performance The unit has a number of ‘Skins’, which are the background screens shown on your TV when no content is playing. The default one is called ‘Fantasy’, which turns out to be a plain ‘NAD’ logo over a blue background. Could someone at NAD have a quirky sense of humour?

Checking through the unit’s setup menus, it soon became apparent that the unit does all the good quality stuff one would expect. It can, and indeed did, deliver 1080p video at 24 frames per second, providing the best possible picture quality from Blu-ray. It could also pipe the original bitstream high definition sound to a recent home theatre receiver via HDMI for decoding. It does not have multichannel analog outputs, so although it will decode Dolby TrueHD itself (but not DTS-HD Master Audio), there’s no way of feeding this to a home theatre receiver except via HDMI (so your receiver needs to have HDMI).

However, it will deliver the Dolby Digital and DTS ‘core’ audio streams embedded within the new high definition ones.

BD-Live capability demands networking, so the unit can via its Ethernet port automatically check for firmware updates, download them, and in a first, it can also play YouTube videos.

Performance Yes, YouTube videos. This is a cute feature, and actually worked very well. Obviously the picture quality was rather compromised by the source, but you are getting something for nothing, so what’s to complain about?

The unit plays Blu-ray discs magnificently. It played them all, every one of them, and every feature, without a single hiccough. That included the excellent PIP features of Serenity, and the interesting BD-Live graphical tracking movie accompaniment on Transformers.

The picture quality was excellent on all normal Blu-ray movies, which deliver the picture at its natural 24 frames

If you are playing a PIP Bonus View title, it can decode both audio streams, mix them together again, and send them out as multichannel DTS via the optical or coaxial audio outputs, thereby supporting older home theatre receivers.

“The picture quality was excellent on Blu-ray movies, and on PAL DVDs. It was not quite so good with interlaced 1080i material, but that is relatively rare”

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BOX FRESH per second. It was also pretty good on such odd titles as Crash in which the video is delivered in interlaced high definition at 50 fields per second. A few titles of this kind are beginning to appear, so this good performance is useful.

The BD370 also did a reasonable job on Australian DVDs, with generally good deinterlacing and excellent scaling to 1080p output.

But where the BD370 simply outshines the competition is in usability. And that mostly comes down to one thing: speed.

The unit starts up quickly (about four seconds), starts discs quickly (20 to 30 seconds for a Blu-ray, depending on the disc’s complexity), and just feels as though it is in command. It is far faster to start discs than other players … even the PS3. If you have an onscreen menu being displayed, when you press an arrow key on the remote control, the highlight moves to the

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Blu-ray player Price: $449 Warranty: One year Contact: LG Electronics Australia 1800 725 375 www.lge.com.au Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo analog audio, 1 x optical digital audio, 1 x coaxial digital audio 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 54 x 245mm Weight: 2.70kg

The picture quality was excellent on Blu-ray movies, and on PAL DVDs. It was not quite so good with interlaced 1080i material, but that is relatively rare.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this unit was how fast it was. Starting up, opening its tray, reading and starting Blu-ray discs, it was even faster than a Playstation 3!

Conclusion The NAD T 587 is an impressive Blu-ray debut from NAD, but the price is a heart-stopper. Similar performance is available for a mere fraction of the $1999 NAD is charging for this unit.

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Blu-ray player Price: $1999 Warranty: three years Contact: Audio Products Group 1300 134 400 www.audioproducts.com.au Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo analog audio, 1 x optical digital audio, 1 x coaxial digital audio Other connections: IR input, Ethernet, USB port 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): 435 x 60 x 280mm Weight: 3.5kg

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new selection instantly. There is none of the delay that has marked Blu-ray players from the start.

Conclusion The YouTube feature is fun. The performance was generally very good. But what makes this a great Blu-ray player is the pleasure it is to use it, its responsiveness and speed. LG has another Thomas Bartlett excellent Blu-ray player here in the BD370.

PROS Good value for money Fast, fast, fast!

BonusView Blu-ray support BD-Live Good deinterlacing of 1080i50 and 1080i60

CONS The front location of the USB port is entirely wrong

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

Still, if you already have a NAD system, the styling alone might make this unit a must-have, in which case you won’t be let down by performance.

Thomas Bartlett

PROS Very fast performance Excellent picture quality Excellent PAL DVD performance BD Live operation

CONS Very, very expensive Silly location for USB port

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

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BOX FRESH

Marantz SR-5003 I

t’s a tough job being a modern-day AV receiver, what with all manner of high definition demands coming from all directions. The AV receiver’s role used to involve just looking after the processing of analog surround sound, but that’s largely a distant memory. Video upscaling, deinterlacing, analog-to-digital switching, not to mention the demands of high definition audio and all the data that HDMI throws back and forth, means today’s AV receiver has well and truly got its work cut out.

Marantz has enjoyed a niche of sorts over the many years it’s been producing AV surround sound hardware, and it’s one that other manufacturers have only relatively recently woken up to. Surround sound is one thing, but music is a different matter all together. Marantz AV gear has always sounded great with all channels blaring, but if all you desire is traditional stereo performance it has delivered that in spades too.

Features The SR-5003 carries on this heritage and adds all the features the avid HD digital video or audiophile demands. Priced at $1599 and occupying the middle of Marantz’ AV receiver range, the 5003 is aimed squarely at the user who doesn’t necessarily want the top-deck, most powerful mega-receiver, but doesn’t want to miss out on much either. This is the sort of AV receiver that strikes a nice balance.

Three HDMI inputs and one output are fairly standard in number and the 5003 is capable of upscaling and deinterlacing video from all analog inputs and outputting it at 1080p over HDMI to a display. On the audio side, the 5003 includes onboard

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decoding of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD Master Audio and 7.1 multichannel PCM from Blu-ray. Power output is rated at 7 x 90 watts per channel, and Marantz doesn’t usually exaggerate this figure.

Audyssey’s MultEQ auto-calibration is a nice one-touch inclusion and it’s one of the better auto setup functions available.

Marantz has also included a couple of DSP rarities – namely Neural Surround THX and SRS Circle Surround II. Both are stereo-to-surround enhancers, but as yet not often licensed and used by other manufacturers. And for the audio purist there’s a Pure Direct Mode that switches off all but the necessary audio

“It offers an extended frequency range too, which enables it to handle a good variety of recordings, and reproduce wide-open, atmospheric and, above all, natural sound”

MARANTZ SR-5003

processing circuits, plus the 5003 will give MP3 audio files a boost with its M-DAX digital audio expander.

The remote control handset is a reasonable unit and it’s nice to see backlit buttons, which isn’t always the case, but absolutely necessary especially if you’re using projected video in a dark room.

Performance The Audyssey calibration worked a treat and is so simple to use, plus it’s accurate. As per my testing norm, I started out with music – this is Marantz after all. Rhythmically it’s no slouch and carries on the Marantz tradition of being able to hold a tune. Playing a Super Audio CD or high-quality conventional CD, the Marantz’ bass lines have excellent speed and extension, and the amplifier is fully able to convey the weight and power of a symphony orchestra. It offers an extended frequency range too, which enables it to handle a good variety of recordings, and reproduce wide-open, atmospheric and, above all, natural sound.

This flair continues with movies, with the Marantz extracting ample crispness and energy from moving picture soundtracks. Its onboard decoding, regardless of the flavour, produces good sound steering and accurate effects placement, something that’s clearly audible when playing the BD of Wanted. Encoded in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, this no-brainer action is very entertaining and the Marantz handles the big audio moments without any problem.

It manages big dynamic shifts well and those 90 watts sound

SPECIFICATIONS Category: AV receiver Price: $1599 Warranty: 2 years Contact: QualiFi Pty Ltd www.qualifi.com.au (03) 8542 1111 Power output: 7 x 90 watts RMS (20Hz – 20kHz) Audio Processing: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio, 7.1 multichannel PCM, DD-EX, DTS-ES, DTS96/24, Circle Surround II, Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, M-DAX audio enhancer for all compressed audio Connections: 3 x HDMI 1.3a inputs/1 x output, 4 x component video inputs/1 x output, 4 x S-Video inputs/2 x outputs, 4 x composite video inputs/ 2 x outputs, 6 x analog audio inputs, 3 x output, 2 x digital optical audio inputs, 1 x output, 2 x digital coaxial inputs Features: 1080p HDMI upscaling using i-Chips video processing, HT-EQ (Cinema equalisation), Dolby Headphone, Audyssey’s MultEQ, RS232c, IR flasher port and DC trigger for system integration, learning system remote control Dimensions (WHD): 440 x 388x 160 mm Weight: 15.4kg

like they’re all being delivered – I pushed the 5003 to a whisker of ‘reference level’ (very loud, at around 105dB) and the Marantz remained unflustered; it was quite happy to be tested to this limit, but I wouldn’t recommend doing so for long – for the sake of both the amp and your ears.

The receiver’s i-Chips Technology-based video engine works well too. In the interest of research, I upscaled good old analog 480i Laserdisc to 1080p and it looked, well, like upscaled analog video, but with the appearance of somewhat higher resolution than the original source material can offer on its lonesome. High definition video is best viewed in its native resolution so stick with Blu-ray and ‘proper’ 1080p. If you’re a tragic and still watch the likes of Laserdisc or videocassettes, then make use of the upscaling.

Conclusion There’s much to like about this mid-priced Marantz. It will handle all the latest audio formats and comes with a few unexpected features to boot. Build-quality and the new-look design face also impress, making the SR-5003 a sound choice for any mid-level AV system that’s to be used as much for music as it is movies.

Nic Tatham

PROS Even-handed performance with both music and movies Good audio support, including DTS-HD Master Audio Audyssey MultEQ calibration, quick and accurate

CONS More HDMI connections would be useful

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

55

BOX FRESH

Panasonic DMR-BW850 A

round this time last year we reviewed here a startling new product: a twin tuner high definition Blu-ray recorder from Panasonic.

Panasonic tells us that since then this unit has been a huge success for the company, to the point where it has been replaced with not one but two models. The higher end of the two, the DMR-BW850, is on the face of it very similar, but it does make a few improvements.

And still, Panasonic is the only participant in this product segment.

What has been added is BD-Live – the support for the extra functionality on some Blu-ray movie discs to download additional material from the Internet, or participate in online activities – and even greater high definition recording flexibility.

This last provides four extended-time high definition recording formats. HG allows up to four hours on a single layer blank disc, while HX, HE and HL provide, respectively, six, nine or 12 hours.

Features

Let me get something off my chest before continuing: this recorder is a horribly frustrating machine. Its remote control is a minefield of interrupted enjoyment. Its surface has several prominent keys, some of them quite innocuous (‘Function Menu’ for example) that without so much as a ‘by your leave’ stop Blu-ray playback and return you to TV watching. Many Blu-ray discs cannot be resumed from where they were stopped, so you have to go through the entire startup process, and then search for where you were up to.

That, in short, is profoundly irritating, and makes me give this unit a mere 2.5 stars for ease of use (also contributing

What it preserves are the huge 500GB hard disc drive for recording and time shifting digital (including HD) TV, the Blu-ray player and the Blu-ray recorder. It also continues to provide editing for your recordings on the hard disc drive, with subsequent burning to a Blu-ray recordable disc (both the write-once BD-R and the re-writable BD-RE).

Those blank discs remain exotic and expensive ($15 to $25 each for 25GB discs), so the ability to downscale HD material to SD for copying to standard recordable DVDs remains welcome.

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Performance

PANASONIC DMR-BW850 But BDMV is the format used by commercial Blu-ray movies, and it works on all Blu-ray players. BDAV is hit or miss.

I could play Blu-ray discs recorded by this unit on only one non-Panasonic player, but not on the PS3. If you want to send your high definition home movies to your auntie, there’s no guarantee that she will be able to play them unless she also has a Panasonic unit.

That stuff aside, this is a great unit. The SDTV and HDTV picture quality was magnificent: clearly and obviously better than most HD set-top boxes. It was sharp, with well-formed and clean colouring and minimal noise. Simply lovely.

The recording was reliable and the dubbing to disc went smoothly. For Blu-ray, dubbing the original recording preserves the perfect original condition. The additionally compressed formats actually made very little difference to picture quality for material recorded from HDTV stations.

For Blu-ray playback, the picture quality was as good as it has ever been with the discs in my collection, including those troublesome 1080i50 ones. And the same for DVDs. All the special extras on Blu-ray, including PIP BonusView material and BD-Live Internet downloads worked brilliantly.

The unit also provides access to YouTube videos and the Picasa web photo site, and delivered adequate quality from them.

Conclusion is the unit’s overall slowness: nearly 40 seconds to open the drawer from standby, for instance).

Still, this remains the only game in town for Blu-ray recording, which brings me to another point: the unit uses the BDAV format for recording to disc rather than BDMV. The difference? Hardly any. The actual video streams are the same.

It is merely a matter of disc organisation and the lack of a disc menu for BDAV.

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Blu-ray recorder Price: $2199 Warranty: one year Contact: Panasonic Australia 132 600 www.panasonic.com.au Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 1 x S-Video, 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo analog audio, 1 x 5.1 analog audio, 1 x coaxial digital audio, 1 x optical digital audio Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 1 x S-Video, 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo analog audio, 1 x coaxial digital audio, 1 x optical digital audio Inputs: 2 x S-Video, 2 x composite video, 2 x stereo analog audio, 1 x DV Others: 1 x Ethernet, 1 x SD (supports SDHC), 1 x USB Playable disc types: BD-Video, BD-R/RE, BD-R/RE DL, DVD Video, CD Audio, DVD-RAM, DVD+/-R/RW, DVD+/-R DL, CD-R/RW Recordable disc types: BD-R/RE, BD-R/RE DL, DVD-RAM, DVD+/-R/RW, DVD+/-R DL Multimedia formats: MP3, JPEG, DivX, AVCHD HDMI output resolution: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p @ 50 or 60 hertz, 1080p24 Component output resolution: 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p, 576i, 480i @ 50 or 60 hertz Dimensions (WHD): 430 x 66 x 330mm Weight: 4.1kg

This is a great machine. If you can afford it, it is the highest quality way of getting high definition TV presently available, does superb recording, and delivers excellent quality from Bluray and DVD discs.

But Panasonic really ought to hire a usability engineer to go over its control interface, because it is often a highly frustrating unit to use.

Thomas Bartlett

PROS Blu-ray recording BD-Live Converts HD to SD for DVD HD editing Excellent HD PVR functionality Excellent Blu-ray picture quality Excellent digital TV picture quality

CONS Slow in operation All too easy to accidentally stop Blu-ray playback

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

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BOX FRESH

Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5 B

ang and Olufsen is not your regular consumer electronics company. Positioned comfortably in the upper echelons of hardware providers with imaginative industrial design that at once distinguishes it from the competition and defines an instantly-recognisable identity for its wealthy owners, B&O dares to be different.

Very often, the company’s innovative ideas are emulated and the imitations may even become better known than the original, so it’s rare to find the Danish company playing catchup. However, with the BeoSound 5, there’s an element of that, because this strikingly designed system is intended for digital music lovers.

Not your teenager iPod fanatic, mind, but a more serious, cashed-up music lover who has lately come around to the realisation that, like it or not, music in digital form is here to stay, and that there are many conveniences in that development. B&O seeks to bring these folk into the 21st

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century but aims, in doing so, to create an entertainment system that could elegantly grace the smartest of homes.

Setting up In essence, the BeoSound 5 is an MP3 jukebox, but that rather tawdry description doesn’t do it justice. Crafted by Anders Hermansen, designer with Bang & Olufsen since 1990, the system comes in two parts, but it’s the controller element that immediately attracts the eye.

A 26.4cm high resolution LCD screen with a cylinder attached to one side, it’s unexpected but unusually glossy and appealing; something that wouldn’t look out of place on the Enterprise’s bridge in the new Star Trek movie.

The controller can be placed on a side table, mounted flat against the wall with the included bracket or given pride of place on a dedicated aluminium pedestal, for maximum eye-candy effect.

As with all B&O products, there’s always the option to have professional installers visit your home and do the installation

Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5 for you and, with the BeoSound 5, this may be more attractive because the second part of the setup – the heart of the system – is the BeoMaster 5, an unattractive black box housing a 500GB hard drive and plenty of AV connections that can, thankfully, be secreted away out of view while still connected via Ethernet and AV cables to your PC and TV.

Features The BeoSound 5 system deals with all the popular digital music formats including MP3, AAC, WAV and WMA files and up to 28,000 lossless audio tracks will fit on the BeoMaster’s hard drive. If that’s not enough, you can squeeze on a whole lot more compressed tracks – 80,000, in fact, at 196kbps.

Although capable of outputting photos and video to a connected TV, this is not a feature B&O is promoting with the system, hence the current lack of DVI/HDMI compatibility.

And despite its lovely screen, the BeoSound 5 controller doesn’t display either, so won’t double as digital photo frame when not in use.

Album covers are displayed on the 1024 x 766 LCD screen in vivid colour and selected by turning the heavy, high-grade aluminium navigation wheel and attached handle. Moving the handle swings a selector beam up and down in the macro selection menus (such as ‘albums’ or ‘artists’) then you spin the wheel to scroll within that selection and use the ‘back’ and ‘forward’ buttons on the wheel itself to dive deeper into your chosen listing and select a specific track.

Once it’s playing, push the handle all the way down and MOTS (see opposite) kicks in, instantly. The intent, says B&O, is to give the user the feeling that they’re actually physically delving into the equipment with their fingers, for a more experiential, tactile experience, and it should be easily operated with one hand.

Now before the Apple brigade get all fired up about copycat controls, it’s worth noting right away that B&O, and not Apple, devised the first-ever ‘wheel control’ interface with the BeoMaster 6000 from 1974 and followed that up with the first product to use the wheel to ‘scroll’ through menus and options in the BeoCom 6000 cordless telephone in 1998.

“MOTS facilitates a kind of musical ‘six degrees of separation’ that makes for an intriguing journey through your collection” But what’s MOTS? Well, MOTS is an acronym for ‘More of the Same’ (sounds better in Danish, we’re assured) and describes an automatic playlist-creation function.

The product of extensive research B&O conducted with AI specialists OFAI – the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence – MOTS, Bang & Olufsen claims, is more sophisticated than Apple’s ‘Genius’ software, analysing the tracks you’ve selected on the basis of musical qualities such as “rhythm, syncopation, key tonality and vocal harmonies”, rather than the conventional tags of artist name or genre. So there. It then immediately compiles a listing of ‘more of the same’ music for you to enjoy.

Start with AC/DC, for instance, and the BeoSound 5 doesn’t serve up other ‘rock’ tracks, such as those from Crosby Stills and Nash, but musically similar tracks that cross genres. The link between tracks isn’t always obvious, but as one segues into another you’re aware that the playlist isn’t totally random either. In short, MOTS facilitates a kind of musical ‘six degrees of separation’ that makes for an intriguing journey through your collection.

In use Naturally, in the interests of professional investigation, we tested the ‘single handed’ theory with a decent glass of pinot noir, carried aloft as we manipulated the swish wheel mechanisms, then for reasons of due diligence did the same with a 15-year malt whisky a refreshing G&T and lastly, should the hoi polloi ever save up enough cash to grace a B&O showroom with their presence, a good old stubbie. In each case, the controls were easily manipulated – and, given the ubiquity of the iPod, certainly familiar – but it’s not immediately obvious, or easy to recall, what does what and really no more tactile than anything else we’ve encountered.

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BOX FRESH

Bang & Olufsen BeOsOund 5

If that kind of trip doesn’t suit your mood, however, the BeoSound 5 allows you to choose playlists according to more conventional album, genre and artist tags.

Conclusion The BeoSound 5 frees you from having to create a whole heap of separate playlists, as you’re compelled to do with other MP3 devices. Oh, and it looks amazing.

To get the most from this setup, however, and avoid the abrasiveness of compressed music played back at high volume - because you will want to turn this rig way up – you need to ensure you’re transferring only lossless tracks to maintain the highest quality. Do this and reproduction is superb.

Unfortunately, you have to use the B&O software via a PC to download music files to the BeoMaster 5 unit, not a USB drive in one of the USB ports, otherwise the MOTS system doesn’t work and, at time of testing, B&O has no wireless

SPECIFICATIONS Category: Music system Price: $8995 Warranty: two years Contact: Bang & Olufsen www.beosound5.com Controller screen (BeoSound 5): 26.4cm (10.4 inch) TFT LCD; 1024 x 768 resolution Video formats supported (BeoMaster 5): MPEG (various), AVI, WMV and VFW Photo formats supported (BeoMaster 5): JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF Audio formats supported (BeoMaster 5): WMA, WMA lossless, MP3, WAV, AAC, plus internet radio streams in WMA, MP3, ASX and M3U HDD capacity: 500GB Features: N.Music, N.Radio, Photo, Web Dimensions (WHD)/weight: BeoSound 5: 310 x 190cm x 80mm/2.65 kg; BeoMaster 5: 100 x 380 x 280 mm/4.7kg Connections: BeoMaster 5: B&O MasterLink, IR input, analog line out, S/PDIF output, DVI-I, DVI-D, YPbPr, S-Video, composite video, 3x USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet. OS is Windows XP Embedded; BeoSound 5 controller: USB and HDMI/DVI Supplied accessories: wall bracket

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Ethernet solution for the connection to your PC, so trailing wires it is.

The LCD really should be a touchscreen, if B&O is aiming for true ease of use and, given the deluge of finger-activated gear from every bandwagon-hopping consumer electronics company these days, that’s a seriously missed opportunity.

Lastly, you need to add a pair of speakers to the BeoSound 5 system if you want to actually hear what it produces. Proprietary connectors at the rear of the BeoMaster 5 indicate Bang & Olufsen active models as a bestfit and, although adaptors for non-B&O powered speakers and amplifiers are available, the typical B&O customer will choose Max Everingham to keep it all in the family.

PROS Attractive design, particularly if professionally mounted Excellent build quality Near-instantaneous playlist creation

CONS Flywheel control not as intuitive as it could be No option to expand storage capacity Not designed to pair easily with non-B&O speakers

RATINGS Performance Features Ease of use Value for money

GEAR GUIDES FOR DIGTAL LIVES

Backup and storage for your digital entertainment 61

Digital Safeguards With the right backup and storage solution, there’s no need to play Russian roulette with your digital life.

By Nathan Taylor

information and entertainment files secure is now simpler than ever – low cost hard disks (internal and external) as well as online services make keeping that content safe much easier now. Here’s a guide to some of the solutions available to you.

e keep so much of our lives on computers now that a hard disk failure or a laptop theft can be catastrophic.

It can be like someone snuck into your house and stole all of your family photos and home movies, your favourite library of movies as well as your life’s music collection.

Then there’s the loss of financial records, address books, emails, school projects and, if you run a small business, outstanding invoices and more.

So think about all the things you keep on your computer. And think about the amount of entertainment gear now capable of accessing your PC’s entertainment content over an Ethernet or wireless network – Tivo, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, some HDD PVRs and smartphones, plus DLNA-equipped televisions and sound systems, for starters.

Now think what you might lose if something happened to that data, and about what you’re doing to prevent that from happening.

If you’re like most people, the answer is “not much”. Too few people think about their data security until it’s too late.

The good news is that keeping your home’s most important

1. External hard drive, flash drive or optical disc

HoW mucH capacity do i need?

Obviously the capacity needed will depend on what you want to back up. If you’re just interested in preserving documents such as Word files, then you actually don’t need that much capacity, and a thumb drive will probably do the job. Backing up photos, video and audio can take up a huge amount of space, however (video especially). One thing you can do if you’re a Windows user is to go to Windows Explorer and find the folders that contain the files you want to back up. Right click on the folder and select Properties from the context menu. This will show you how big the folder is and how much hard disk space it will require to back up.

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Pros: It’s easy, cheap and fast and requires little technical knowledge. Operates at slightly slower than regular hard disk speeds Cons: Requires manual intervention and backup discipline Probably the easiest solution for most people, external hard disks and thumb drives have become almost ridiculously cheap

External hard drives are an affordable way to backup and archive digital entertainment files from a PC, with 120GB drives costing around $100 www.seagate.com.au

digital safeguards Hard disk failure rates Many external hard drives come with automated backup software for protecting your photos, music, videos and more www.maxtor.com.au

in recent months, with USB hard drives costing roughly the same as an internal drive. For around $100 you can readily get a 120GB or 160GB drive. Physically smaller drives tend to cost a little more, but are more portable and can be powered directly from USB rather than needing mains power.

If your storage needs are modest, you can even look to something like a thumb drive, which works in practice like an external hard disk but has much less capacity (of course, it also fits in your pocket). The really good thing about thumb drives and other flash drives is that they’re much less fragile than portable hard disks – there are no moving parts to break down.

They work pretty well if you just want to back up a few GB of photos, for example.

When you plug an external drive into your PC it will appear as a separate drive in your computer’s file viewer. For example, if you’re a Windows user, when you plug a USB drive into your PC it should appear in Windows explorer as a new drive letter. Then you can just drag and drop files to copy them from your PC to the external drive.

For backup, a good solution is to have special backup software that automates this process for you, periodically

Hard disk vendors typically advertise disk failure rates using an engineering measure called mean time to failure (MTTF), which is typically in the range of 1,000,000 hours. A million hours is around 114 years but we can guarantee that your hard disk won’t last that long.

The life span of a disk is affected by how it’s treated (external hard disks, because they’re often moved, jostled and dropped often have the worst life spans), the quality of manufacture and the volume of data that gets written to and from the disk. The take away here is that hard disks fail with some regularity, and you can’t place complete trust in just one. A hard disk is never going to get anywhere near the MTTF, so it’s always a good idea to have a backup strategy in place.

Hard disks become damaged over time and fail, so it’s a good idea to have a secondary backup plan

updating the backup with new files. A number of external hard drives come with automated backup software, and Windows XP and Vista both have automated backup software built in.

These programs allow you to schedule periodic (usually weekly) backups to an external drive. As long as the drive is plugged in when a backup is due to occur, it will happen automatically

Backing up copy-protected media Non copy-protected files can be backed up to optical disc or HDD, copied to another device and played back on that device, but backups of DRM or other copy-protected files typically cannot. Any backups you make of movies downloaded from Apple TV or of ‘Digital Copy’ versions of some Blu-ray and DVD titles, for example, will be for restore purposes only, and play only on the device that you initially downloaded them to or installed them on.

This is because the key to decrypt the copy-protected media is stored on that device in a special cache, separate from the media file itself. When you try to play the media on another device, that device won’t have the decryption key and therefore won’t play it.

There are exceptions to this rule. iTunes, for example (back when it used DRM) would allow you to assign other computers that you could play the media on. Basically what would happen is that

a copy of the file’s decryption key would be sent to that other computer’s iTunes decrpytion key storage when they next logged on. Some other services will allow you to re-download media that you’ve previously bought from them if you log on to their service again from a different PC.

Entertainment gear and backups Then there are those recording and media hub devices that reside in the living room and allow the attachment of USB mass storage, thumb drives or portable players.

In most cases, the media recorded to these devices is not encrypted – it’s just a regular video file, like you’d get if you were using a TV tuner on a PC. Thing is, most allow you only to copy files to them – not take files

off them – which makes backing up their contents problematic. And if you do manage to get a file off such a device and into your computer, you may have to deal with some wacky file formats – especially when it comes to video – which might be altogether more trouble than its worth.

The PS3 console and Beyonwiz and Divx PVRs, however, are some of a handful of devices that allow media to be copied fairly easily to and fro. And of course, the likelihood of getting uncommon codecs is pretty slim when the device is actually designed to allow you to copy video to and from it.

The media stored on some home entertainment devices can be backed up to a hard drive or thumb drive, or transferred to a PC

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digital safeguards

Forget complicated networking and time-consuming disc burning, the FreeAgent Theatre HD media player acts like docking station for Seagate Go portable drives, playing audio, video and photo contents from a drive through a connected home theatre theatre system www.seagate.com.au and in the background. You just have to make sure the drive is plugged in.

The Windows tools and some other backup software solutions also give you the option to backup to an optical disc, like a CD-R or DVD-R. In this day and age, we probably wouldn’t recommend that as a solution, since a single DVD probably doesn’t have the capacity you need and having to manually switch over and store discs is a pain. Using optical discs is essentially a manual process, and we don’t recommend manual backup processes for the simple reason that people just forget to do them.

2. Online backup service and internet drives Pros: It’s automated, continuous and perhaps most importantly, off-site Cons: It costs money on an ongoing basis and can really suck away your monthly download quota. Only as fast as your Internet connection We’ve become big fans of online backup services such as Carbonite and Symantec’s Norton 360 backup service. These services copy your data over the Internet to a secure data centre, and if you lose your data you can re-download it later.

They’re completely automated, so you don’t have to remember to plug in your external drive whenever a scheduled backup is about to occur. As long as you’re connected to the Internet, you’re good.

Much more importantly, they provide a level of security that none of the other options here do. Using RAID doesn’t help you if your computer is stolen or your house burns down. An external hard drive is likely to be stolen along with the computer it’s attached to.

A file server is also likely to be stolen. But because one online backup is offsite, it should be safe no Some software solutions matter what. automate PC backup to a secure There are three data centre, essentially making problems with online an offsite copy of all your important files storage services: they’re www.symantec.com.au slow, they cost money and all that data transfer can gut your monthly broadband quota.

Carbonite (carbonite.com.au), for example, is an excellent service but it will cost you $72 per year. It’s also possible that your first backup will take weeks to finish (depending on the speed of your Internet connection and the amount of data being backed up) and use your entire monthly broadband quota if your ISP meters uploads. Subsequent backups are quicker and use less data, since they only backup changed and new files rather than copy all the files again.

3. RAID Pros: It’s automated and immediate, so a hard drive failure results in no data loss. Operates as fast or faster than a regular hard disk Cons: It’s highly technical and doesn’t save your data if your computer is stolen, lost or destroyed

Online backup services are offsite, so precious files are preserved even if your computer is stolen or your house burns down www.carbonite.com.au

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RAID stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks and it’s an excellent tool for protection against hard disk failure. In a RAID 1 array, for example, you have two hard disks of equal size in the PC, but they appear as only one drive in your operating system. What is saved onto one drive is automatically and

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systems, since notebook computers don’t have the space to have multiple internal hard drives. It can also be technical to set up – you have to open your PC to install another hard drive; you have to be able to go into the computer’s BIOS setup screen and set up the RAID, and you generally have install drivers in the operating system. If you don’t know what a BIOS is, this probably isn’t the solution for you.

However, if you’re buying a new PC, you can certainly get the vendor to set up RAID for you. Most build-to-order computer sellers will be able to do it for you for the cost of an extra internal hard disk. Just ask for a RAID system when you’re buying your PC and they should be able to walk you through your options.

RAID also won’t protect you from computer theft or destruction. The extra hard disk(s) are in the PC, so if the PC gets stolen, those hard disks get stolen with it.

4. File server or network attached storage Pros: You’ve probably already got everything you need and the backup system can be completely automated Cons: It can be technical and if you get it wrong you can expose your system and your data to hackers. Only goes as fast as your network will allow (slow on wireless, for example, but fast on Gigabit Ethernet)

LaCie’s 2big Quadra provides RAID 1 backup and costs $800 for the 2TB version, with up to 4TB available www.lacie.com.au immediately copied to the other. This happens completely in the background – you don’t even know it’s going on. If one of the drives fails, then all the data is still available from the other drive and your computer will continue to operate as normal. You will experience no loss of data unless both drives fail simultaneously.

RAID 1, also called mirroring, is only one type of RAID available, though not all types of RAID provide data protection – other types provide performance benefits or simply the convenience of combining multiple drives in to one virtual drive.

Of course, there are some caveats to using RAID. The external hard drives are typically expensive and designed for use by creative professionals working with large digital libraries, rather than everyday consumers. The more affordable internal disks are generally only available to users of desktop

One way to protect your data is to copy it to another PC that you or a family member owns. In Windows, Mac OS and Linux it’s possible to set up what’s called file sharing over a network.

You designate one or more directories on a PC as shared and other people can read or write to that directory over a network. They can also ‘map’ the directory to their system, so for example, the C:\MySharedFolder on one computer can be made to appear as the E: drive one another. Whenever a person on the second system copies anything to their E: drive, it will actually appear in the C:\MySharedFolder directory on the first, and vice versa. This way, files can be backed up between PCs either manually (by dragging and dropping them) or automatically using backup software such as the Windows XP or Vista backup system.

Setting up file sharing turns a PC into what is called a file server, and often the most secure system in the home or business is set up as the main designated file store. This system is often one with RAID on it.

data recoVery So you’ve been rather slack with your backing up, and you’ve had a hard disk failure. All may not be lost – there are a number of hard disk recovery services that may be able to extract the data from your hard disk, even if your PC can no longer talk to it. They may be able to crack it open and extract the hard disk’s platters even if the drive mechanism failed, recover from a bad format or restore accidentally deleted data.

The most important thing is not to try and fix it yourself unless you really know what you’re doing. For example, when a file

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is deleted from a hard disk or the drive is formatted, the data is not actually lost – it’s still there, just hidden and an expert may be able to recover it. However, if you write over the part of the disk with the old data, the original files are probably lost forever.

So don’t futz around – get the drive to an expert immediately if you don’t want to lose your data.

The thing about data recovery services is that they’re not cheap. It’s much, much less costly to implement a good backup system than have to go to one of these services. For

a damaged disk, you’re likely looking at several hundred dollars at least, and even solutions that can be implemented over the phone or with remote access to still cost a pretty penny.

A Google or Yellow Pages search for ‘data recovery services’ will quickly reveal dozens of such operators around the country. It’s a good idea to find one that offers free consultation, can give a good estimate of how long it will take and operates under a ‘no fix, no fee’ policy, where if they can’t get your data back, they won’t charge you.

digital safeguards

RAID is also a good solution if you can get the PC manufacturer to set it up for you

While it can be a convenient way to copy files between computers it is also fraught with danger for the uninitiated. It’s possible to inadvertently make your file available to everyone, not just the other PC. If you’re not comfortable with setting it up, we suggest getting hold of your geekiest friends to help you. It’s also a good idea to check out some online guides to setting up file sharing.

An alternative to setting up your own file sharing is to acquire a network-attached storage (NAS) device such as a Western Digital ShareSpace, Linksys Media Hub or Netgear Storage Central. These are effectively ready-made file servers that are managed through a web browser. They’re useful if you have a lot of data, especially video and audio, that you need to back up. They have more capacity than external hard disks and work over a network, which means they can easily be

NAS devices such as the Linksys by Cisco Media Hub can automatically backup all the movie, photo and music files you select on a recurring basis. And if you have a PlayStation3, Xbox 360 or other media extender, you can stream movies and slideshows from the Media Hub to your TV www.linksysbycisco.com.au

Western Digital’s ShareSpace is a ready-made file server with loads of storage for backing up video and audio. With Gigabit Ethernet, accessing files over a network is also super-fast www.wessterndigital.com.au accessed by multiple PCs at once. They also often come with in-built RAID, which adds an extra level of security, as well as comprehensive full-computer backup systems. They’re more expensive than other options, however, and you can easily pay more than $1000 for one.

So which solution is for you?

For most people, an external USB hard disk combined with a software backup automation program (such as the backup services built into Windows) is the easiest and cheapest way to expand your storage capacity and back up your crucial files.

The important thing is to actually go to the effort of setting up the software properly and to have the discipline to remember to plug the hard drive in.

The software is very important – if you think that you’re going to remember to do backups manually, you’re probably kidding yourself. Software backup can also do things you might not think to do manually, like back up your email file and address book. A USB hard disk is not a great primary store for data, however – they can be prone to high failure rate. A USB hard disk should not be only place you store your important files.

RAID is also a good solution if you can get the PC manufacturer to set it up for you. Its biggest advantage is that it’s completely invisible – data is automatically and immediately protected. You won’t even lose a day’s work if a hard drive fails.

In fact, you probably won’t even notice it, except for a warning light on your PC or a flashing icon in Windows.

If you’re particularly concerned about theft (notebook users especially), an online backup solution is the go. They’re usually not outrageously expensive (you’re looking at around $100 annually) and there is a definite sense of security that comes with knowing that your data is in a secure data centre with redundant systems.

File sharing we’d generally leave to more technical users, since a poor security configuration can expose your data for all to see. Still, it’s the one solution that requires no extra expense and can actually work well if you get it right. n

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DIGITAL SHACK

DARK K Story by Max Everingham • Photography by Danielle Benson

A bolthole of heroic proportions for Caped Crusader fans. hen Bruce Wayne fell down a well and found himself in a pitch black cave, all he felt was an overwhelming, suffocating fear that clawed at his sanity and drove him to a frenzied escape as the bats thrashed around him. And we’ve all grown up watching movies that demonise the dingy basement, making us mortally afraid of what may be lurking down there in the darkness.

So when it comes to commissioning an expert team of installers to put a home theatre in your basement, turning it into a dark cave may seem like an odd choice. But that’s precisely what this home owner from the Brighton suburb of Melbourne did, asking Mark Barrett and Evan Christides from Frankston Hi-Fi to give him an exact replica of a ‘Batcave’ home theatre he’d seen one day in one of those ‘ultimate setup’ emails circulating on the Internet.

“So the owner’s not necessarily a huge Batman fan?” we asked Chris Selby, owner at Frankston Hi-Fi. “No no,” Chris replies, “he just loved what he saw of this Batcave-themed home theatre in Canada and wanted the same thing”.

But whatever the motive, the result is stunning – take a look at the photos on these pages and, while no pictures can really do it justice, it’s clear that this was a very big challenge, and one what was magnificently met by the Frankston Hi-Fi crew. While the rock effect may look a little Disneyland, ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, the atmosphere is incredibly authentic and cave-like, dark and brooding but cosy and inviting at the same time.

Amazing space “Fitting everything in the room space we were given,” was the biggest challenge relates Mark Barrett, the man largely responsible for the outfitting. “But in the build we also achieved the correct dimensions for maximal acoustic performance. (‘The processor alone, a Lexicon MC12HD EQ B, is worth 28-grand,’ chips in Chris). This is a real home cinema, not a living room setup, as well as looking amazing.”

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DARK KNIGHTS

KNIGHTS

A curved Stewart screen with a 3.1 metre diagonal is the visual focus of the room, with images projected by a Cineversum scaler and Blackwing III full HD projector combo with motorised masking. The image on the screen is a real still from the movie, not a photo dropped in by us at the magazine

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DIGITAL SHACK

…An iPod shuffle plays random ‘cave noises’ as you walk in!

And amazed is exactly how their client’s architect must feel now that the work is done. When first presented with the plans of the model Canadian ‘Batcave’, the architect’s response was clear. No-one in Australia, he observed, is capable of completing the job. But the Frankston Hi-Fi team lives for a challenge and this never felt like a project that would get the better of them.

“I took about eight weeks just planning the theatre out,” notes Mark, “to make sure there’d be no surprises and everything would fit”.

And they may now be hidden forever; submerged under layers of polystyrene, expandable foam and hard lacquer, but the technical drawings Mark scrawled on the walls as he planned it all out are evidence of his thoughtful and thorough approach.

Rapid response Getting the green light from the owner to proceed with the creation of his dream home theatre, this job was, astonishingly, started and finished within a six-week timeframe. Wanting peace and quiet over the holidays, the crew were given strict instructions to complete all building work – and, preferably, the entire project – before Christmas (2008).

“You could say that it took five-plus-one weeks,” Chris calculates. “Yeah, five weeks to do the build, which we did before Christmas, then a whole week’s work during February to put the equipment in,” clarifies Mark.

First in was the timber framing then, right after that, the carpet. Usually the last thing to go in but not possible here

Bowers and Wilkins CT700 speakers handle 7.1 soundtracks in the theatre, with control of all audio-video operations programmed into a Philips Pronto learning remote

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given that they needed to build the cave walls on top of the carpet itself, Mark laid timber, then plastic sheeting, over the carpet to protect it while the messy stuff got done.

And boy was it messy! Polystyrene blocks were next, to form the ‘body’ of the cave walls and, laughs Mark “we carved them out with a chainsaw, stuff flying everywhere”.

Aluminium sisal paper, scrunched up into balls, went over the polystyrene and then the whole thing was sprayed with an expander foam.

Hard graft came next, using kitchen knives and sandpaper blocks to finish off the shaping of the cave walls, then a clear, hard coating over the top of it all to protect against gouging or stumbling, outstretched fingers!

Holy toxic dust!

The only real challenge encountered, Mark tells us, was the size of the room, especially given a ceiling height that was already restrictive but had concrete beams running across in certain spots, along with existing cabling. Since these beams were holding the rest of the house up, Mark and team had to work around them, not mess with them, and the irregular, bulging cave-like finish actually helped here.

Toxicity, too, was a problem, especially when it came time to add the foam, so Mark built a ventilation tunnel, running out through the hallway, into the garage and emerging outdoors, to carry away the fumes. There’s a second ventilation grille near the first purely so Mark can reach the door mechanism if necessary and then the last part of the build was installing the curved screen – a Stewart Cinecurve 3.1m widescreen – another small challenge for the lads when building the timber framework!

The finished Batcave is as far away from style over substance you can get, theme or no. “We have other customers who’ve done exactly the same thing but without the theme,” Chris informs us, “but here everything complements the Batcave theme perfectly.”

AN EPSON SPECIAL PROMOTION

Shine on There are flat panel TVs and there are projectors but only one presents pictures on a truly cinematic scale

Setting up a true home cinema is easier and less expensive than it has ever been. With a digital projector connected to Blu-ray or DVD player, digital set-top box or even pay TV box, you can re-create that movie theatre feel in your own home.

Just find your favourite chair, dim the lights and watch TV, play console games or enjoy a movie screening with family and friends.

Key to an authentic cinema experience is the projector, with the good news being that models delivering eye stretching, life-like, images are now available for movie lovers with modest budgets.

Benchmark blacks Full high definition, widescreen video is now de rigueur for discerning home entertainment lovers, and Epson’s EHTW5000 delivers nothing less from its 3LCD chipset. Colour reproduction is bright, vibrant and true-to-life, and with a dynamic contrast ratio of 75,000:1, blacks have never been deeper, inkier or more velvet-like.

The naturalness of projected images is assured too, with ‘FineFrame’ technology smoothing onscreen motion by inserting as many as four new film frames between each pair of actual film frames, and ‘3:2 pulldown reversal’ eliminating the jerkiness that occurs when playing back US discs on DVD players or using early model Blu-ray players. With the excellent HQV Reon VX video processor onboard, superior picture scaling, deinterlacing and picture noise reduction are assured too, meaning the EH-TW5000 will wring the very best from any connected video source.

A massive 2.1:1 zoom range, coupled with horizontal and vertical lens shift, enable exceptional flexibility when it comes to locating the EH-TW5000 in a room. It can, for instance, be placed quite off-centre from the screen and still display an undistorted picture. It can even be mounted on the ceiling, and with a backlit remote, all adjustments and operations are made easily, even in the dimmest of screening rooms.

Into the light Whether you want to re-create the experience of a commercial cinema, or just get more from your DVD and Blu-ray collection, there’s a home cinema for everyone. And with a projector at the heart of your system, you’ll enjoy movies and sport on a truly grand scale.

The world’s number one projector brand since 2003, Epson is a big-picture specialist, and in the EH-TW5000 has produced “one of the best home theatre projectors currently on the market, at a remarkable price”*.

“Blacks have never been deeper, inkier or more velvet-like”

Epson EH-TW5000 Warranty: three years, including lamp RRP: $5299 Epson Australia 1300 361 054 www.epson.com.au

DIGITAL SHACK BATCAVE INFO SYSTEM VALUE Equipment: $130,000 Labour: $14,000 Room build: $95,000

Strip lighting traces the room’s perimeter, allowing people to move safely around the room if they need to during screening sessions. Acoustic panels are fitted to help absorb sound reflections, creating an acoustically dead room with little reverberation

THE EQUIPMENT

AUDIO-VISUAL Lexicon MC12HD EQ B processor Lexicon ZX7 amplifier Lexicon RX7 amplifier Cineversum Blackwing III 1080p projector Cineversum Master Four scaler Schnieder 2:35 anamorphic lens Stewart Cinecurve 3.1m widescreen Digitalview DVR-810 PVR Pioneer LX71 Blu-ray player B&W CT700 series speakers (3x CT7.3 front, 6x CT7.5 surround) CONTROL SYSTEM Philips Pronto TSU9600 + RFX9600 serial extender RTI keypads OTHER Acoustic panels and foam by Acoustic Industries C-BUS lighting control Pneumatic sliding door control

CUSTOM INSTALLER FRANKSTON HI-FI Shop 71-75/4 Clyde St Frankston VIC 3199 03 9781 1111 www.frankstonhifi.com.au

Polystyrene blocks were next, to form the ‘body’ of the cave walls and, laughs Mark “we carved them out with a chainsaw, stuff flying everywhere” 72

DARK KNIGHTS Kit with kick And what he says is true – the Cineversum Blackwing III full HD 1080P 24p digital projector even looks like it’d be right at home in Bruce Wayne’s subterranean grotto. The curved screen, leather furniture, black grilles and speakers and the black front wall housing left, right and centre speakers all combine to enhance the cavern effect.

Entry to the room is through an automated sliding door that is pneumatically controlled and linked to a compressor in the neighboring garage; chosen over electric control so that in the event of a power outage, the door opens and no-one gets trapped inside. Punch a code in on the RTI keypad outside, and the door slides open, the C-Bus lighting system is triggered, the projector and Cineversum Master Four scaler spring into life along with the Lexicon MC12 EQ B processor and an iPod shuffle plays random ‘cave noises’ as you walk in!

All the equipment is in a corner of the cellar next door – the original plan to have it in the theatre room was soon scrapped when Mark showed the owner all the other gear that needed to fit in the space – and was chosen on the basis of performance and reliability.

‘Tried and proven’ was the go here, Evan and Chris assure us, with world-leading technology put in place to complement the ambitious looks of the theatre. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t leading edge. The team claims that the B&W CT700 speakers are the first set in the country, and along with the Blackwing, which they described as “the most complete anamorphic solution available”, there’s that 2.40:1 CineCurve screen, a first in Australia for an installation at this level according to Frankston Hi-Fi. Neatly, the CineCurve features silent, motorised masking for 16:9 or even 4:3 free-to-air TV for when the owner’s not playing a 2.35:1 movie.

Real deal This is a home theatre built for performance, however, and in full flow, with The Dark Knight rather appropriately relaying through the Pioneer LX71 Blu-ray player, the Frankston Hi-Fi team’s knowledge and experience is clear. Images are vibrant and blazingly crisp, but it’s the audio that impresses most.

Able to place the B&W 700 series speakers exactly where they wanted, the installers positioned them differently for each row of seats to ensure maximum range and fidelity. The cave construction behaves as a diffuser without creating any echo, and acoustic panels from Acoustic Industries behind the screen helped with sound absorption. The result is sound as impressive in the detail as it is with the overblown showcase effects usually used to instill shock and awe into visitors. That photo showing the close up of the Joker is real, a still frozen from the Blu-ray disc, not stripped in afterwards by us. A real home cinema indeed. ■

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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 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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Directors Chair Sydney Tenant 6, Level 1, Rear 290 Botany Road Alexandria, NSW 2017 1300 652480 www.thedirectorschair.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 Silent Butler 57 Himalaya Crescent Seven Hills NSW 2147 0416 153 433 www.thesilentbutler.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 Pacific Hi Fi 62 Macquarie Stree Liverpool NSW 2170 02 9600 6655 www.pacifichifi.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 Digital Brilliance PO Box 981 Buderim QLD 4556 07 5445 2180 www.digitalbrilliance.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 joe.blair@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 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 Big Picture 14/96 Gardens Drive Willawong QLD 4110 1300 799 734 mskehan@thebigpictureav.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 Unit 1/7 Endeavor Drive Kunda Park QLD 4556 1300 306 893 www.visiontronics.com.au Visual Focus 16 Clifford Street Toowoomba QLD 4350 617 4632 0402 www.visualfocus.com.au

SA

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

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

Soundtech Integrated Systems 262 York Street Launceston TAS 7250 03 6331 9900 david@soundtech.net.au

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

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

VIC

WA

NZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 P.O. Box 1084 Altona Meadows 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 sales@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

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GEAR LOG LG ARENA KM900

Sweet talker

LG’s Arena KM900 is an appealing alternative to the ubiquitous iPhone. The ‘S-Class’ interface presents a 3D cube-like layout, with customisable home screens on four sides of the cube providing directtouch access to the phone’s most used features, including contacts, messages, music, movies and photos. It’s a 3G phone offering super-fast HSDPA 7.2 internet connectivity, Dolby Mobile for enhanced audio performance, Wi-Fi and Google Maps assisted-GPS.

PRICE: $799 ($0 upfront with Vodafone on $69 or $79 per month Internet Cap (on a 24 month contract. Optus and Telstra to follow.)

WEB: www.lge.com.au

LACIE USB PASSKEY

Ring-a-ling

USB flash drives have been designed as bracelet charms and pendants, the most lavish examples bejewelled with Swarovski crystal. For less froufrou types, LaCie’s key designs attach to a key ring for take-everywhere access to all your important data. Constructed of sturdy metal, the Itakey and Iamakey store between 4GB and 8GB flash memory, with the latter being water and scratch resistant. The PassKey has a built-in micro SD (or micro SDHC) card reader, and all keys support USB2.0 for highspeed transfers between PCs and Macs.

PRICE from $44 WEB www.lacie.com.au

PHILIPS BODY PERFECT & CORLESS EPILATOR

Bare it

For the ultimate hair down there, the Philips Body Perfect – with hygienic silver ion comb – enables the laydeez to precisely and safely trim their most sensitive regions and – where the appropriate invitations are made – can give expression to the inner topiarist in us all.

Adding variety to the whole ‘let’s go bald’ theme is the cordless epilator, a device that makes the process of ripping hair out by the roots quicker and less painful that others of its creed. It achieves this through a combination of hypoallergenic ceramic discs, which remove hair 20 percent faster, and sonic massage. The latter “tenderly stimulates” the skin, an effect that, we reckon, is essentially designed to distract from the terrifically uncomfortable ‘pulling’ sensation that is the core feature of epilators. Good luck.

PRICE $140 (cordless epilator), $100 Body Perfect WEB www.philips.com.au

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The GadgetGuy™ presents great gear and top tech for your digital life ASUS EEEPC S101H PINK EDITION

In the pink

Adding a pink finish to a product is one of the least imaginative – and patronising – ways tech makers try to appeal to women.

A case of “Don’t bother your pretty head with the technical details darling, it will match your shoes perfectly”. We’ll forgive Asus this approach with its Pink Edition S101H netbook, though, because it’s donating $5 from each sale to breast cancer research and because it’s such a neat little computer. For the money you get a 10 inch screen, a 160GB hard drive, Intel’s N270 Atom processor for better mobile performance and Windows XP Home. Oh, and if she prefers, she can have it in a champagne finish with Swarovski crystals embedded in the side of the hinges.

PRICE $1099 WEB www.asus.com.auu

PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-FT1

All that, and more

Olympus pioneered the ruggedised compact digital camera, but Panasonic is giving chase with the Lumix DMC-FT1, a waterproof (to three metres), shockproof (for drops up to 1.5 metres) and dustproof digital camera with the added benefit of AVCHD Lite3 High Definition video quality. This allows almost double the recording time in HD quality compared with the conventional Motion JPEG format.

The 12 megapixel shooter provides a 28–128mm telephoto Leica zoom lens with optical image stabilisation for blur-free images, and Panasonic’s iA (Intelligent Auto) mode for both still images and in Movie Mode. In Movie Mode, iA optimises video through providing automatic Optical Image Stabilisation, Face Detection, Intelligent Exposure and Intelligent Scene Selector functions. It also provides a Wind Cut function that blocks out most of the noise from background wind.

PRICE $699 WEB www.panasonic.com.au

DUALSIM SLIDER

Two in one

Over five million Australians have two SIM cards (which they switch in and out of one phone) or have two active phones, and there are more than 5000 Google searches daily from Australians looking for dual SIM phones. While these are sold in other markets, they have been unavailable locally until now, with the DualSIM being the first to allow Aussies to manage two SIM cards from one mobile handset.

The slider design tri-band DualSIM allows you to separate work and private calls, take advantage of special deals from two different telcos, and use a local pre-paid SIM alongside your domestic number when traveling overseas to save money. It integrates Bluetooth, MP4 and MP3 playback, a two megapixel camera, microSD card slot (2GB provided) and FM radio, and comes with a 12 month warranty.

PRICE $399 WEB www.dualsim.com.au

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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 M Distributor Fox The Day the Earth Stood Still Rated The modern remake of the 1951 classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still stands up on its own as a decent enough sci-fi thriller. While the direction never really creates any tangible sense of dread in the audience, the original premise is so strong, and the delivery of a tasty appetiser morsel of the full threat credibly irresistible, that it succeeds in updating the salutary message to mankind. Not that we’ll take any notice this time around, either. But as with far too many movies these days, the (over)use of CGI becomes an excuse for tepid screenwriting and languid acting, as if the whizbang computer effects will somehow distract us so we don’t notice how mediocre everything else is. And so it is here: there’s just no substance to the plot; Klaatu the unfriendly alien makes the world’s most pathetic attempt to get to the

UN before running off into the woods; there’s no rhyme or reason for his sudden warming to the woman and child, let alone all humanity; plot, characterisations, relationships are all under-developed.

The highlight of the extras has to be the ridiculous merry-goround generated by over-excited ‘creatives’ to re-invent Gort, the super robot. And, just like the wheel, or the Russians’ pencil for use during space travel, someone sensibly decided to basically leave it alone. But the only extra unique to the Blu-ray version of this movie worth a look is the ‘In-Movie Features’, allowing viewers to access special features as the movie is in full flow; even then, one for serious movie buffs who don’t mind that kind of interruption.

Sound: 5.1 Dolby Digital

Valkyrie Rated M Distributor Fox

A moving and quite powerful thriller based on the true story of senior German – but decidedly not Nazi – army officers planning the assassination of Adolf Hitler, Valkyrie has you willing the plot to succeed despite your knowledge of their inevitable failure. With steady pacing that builds into a tense and dramatic finale, the appeal in Valkyrie lies in watching the denouement of this extraordinary attempt by a few good men to rid Europe of the greatest evil it’s ever known, regardless of whether they lose the actual war. There’s some sensitive and understated acting from the likes of Bill Nighy and Kenneth Brannagh, culminating in high drama as their scheme unravels, their bravery is met by the gutless ignorance of weaker soldiers, and all is lost. Valkyrie is as worthy of your time as Schindler’s List, belatedly demonstrating to audiences perhaps tiring of World War II sagas that there were brave Germans too, who resisted Hitler and paid dearly for so doing.

The Blu-ray edition of Valkyrie includes several segments not on the DVD. Of these, ‘92nd Street Y: Reel Pieces with Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer’ is interesting, in spite of a

gushing series of questions from Annette Insdorf, Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia University, who is either Tom Cruise’s biggest fan or simply terminally starstruck. Better is the BD-only segment ‘The Road to Resistance: A Visual Guide’ presented by Stauffenberg’s own grandson Philipp von Schulthess, which includes an eye-witness account, some moving imagery of actual locations frequented by the conspirators and several stark reminders of how vile Hitler’s regime was. Best, though, at least for any wartime aviation fan, is ‘Taking to the Air’, which details the use of the genuine, vintage aircraft featuring in the movie. Seeing the real thing in flight – indeed the very fact Singer went with the real thing, rather than CGI - is a real treat, particularly for fans of the Meschersmitt 109, Curtis P40 or the venerable old Junkers transports. Significantly, the Blu-ray version also ships with a second disc that is a ‘digital copy’; a second copy of the film that you can transfer to a portable player via your home computer.

Sound: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital

Marley & Me Rated PG Distributor Fox

Soppy, sentimental and downright unconvincing, Marley & Me is a small step up from the usual chick-flick guff but not a very big one. The film tells the real-life story of Michigan journalist John Grogan (Owen Wilson) who moves to Florida with his girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston) after landing a new job. Acquiring a new Labrador puppy to ‘test the water’ in lieu of having a real baby, the movie then charts the Grogans’ unsuccessful attempts to instil any degree of obedience whatever into said animal. But you have to really, really love dogs to forgive what follows; a dull plod through suburban life interspersed with the antics of their dumb mutt that fails to engage any kind of emotion, unless the Beethoven movie series is your idea of brilliant

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filmmaking. The only real pleasure comes in the funny and sympathetic character of Grogan’s editor boss Arnie Klein, portrayed by Alan Arkin.

The special feature section of Marley & Me creates distinction with its ‘Gag Reel’ but, unfortunately, the distinction is that none of the footage is even remotely funny. Clearly planned from the beginning of the project, the gag reel is perhaps the most slickly produced of any we’ve seen, but is more a ‘behind the scenes’ series of out-takes devoid of any humour, let alone slip-ups, mistakes or pranks that might justify the term. Much of the rest is as excruciating as the main feature.

Sound: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

GAMES GTA IV: The Lost and Damned Rockstar Platform Xbox 360

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is a whole new chapter to add to the full game, played out among the titular renegade motley crew of violent, throwback biker types who slot neatly into the frightened public’s stereotypical view of ‘Hell’s Angels’. Bad language is as prolific as the grey paint Rockstar’s artists have slapped around the joint, so this is definitely not one for the kiddies. Who it most suits, in fact, is the gamer that couldn’t get enough of the original game and quite literally just wants more of the same. The same ‘travel to the starting point’, ‘watch cut-scene’, ‘kill loads of people’, ‘watch cut scene’, rinse and repeat that formed the basis of the full game. Apart from a few tweaks, however (a new checkpoint system being the best), there’s nothing new here that affects gameplay in any major way. The upshot being that the Lost and Damned has breathed more life into GTA IV – so get it if you’ve finished the game and need another fix – but not new life.

Resident Evil 5 Capcom Platform Xbox 360

Resident Evil has always been about killing zombies and that remains so in this latest incarnation, with the viral infection doing its dirty deeds out in Africa this time around, resulting in your character being relentlessly attacked by hordes of infected and extremely crazed village inhabitants. And we do mean ‘relentlessly’, because the most apparent change this year has been the obvious intent from the development team to make the game much more ‘run and gun’, with the emphasis squarely on action game play and grisly outcomes. The game looks gorgeous. The environments are lush and immersive, with characters animated with eye-popping attention to detail, so it’s a shame that the ghosts of Resident Evil’s past come back to haunt, and seriously detract from, the enjoyment of the game. Stubbornly sticking to the ‘thou shalt not wield a weapon and move at the same time’ commandment laid down by the Resident Evil designers in the first outing, is both nonsensical and incredibly frustrating, exacerbated by the new emphasis on action and the faster pace demanded throughout. But it’s still a great game. There’s enough ‘legacy’ stuff added to the shiny, new coat that any fan of the previous games will love Resident Evil 5 and the new co-op mode is the best — the only — way to play.

Monsters vs Aliens Activision Platform Xbox360

Clearly but not too religiously following the DreamWorks movie of the same name, Monsters vs Aliens delivers admirably on the premise of allowing players to relive what they enjoyed onscreen.

The 12 levels, seeing the player swapping control between The Missing Link, B.O.B. and Ginormica, are fun to play and suitably bite-sized, assuming that the primary audience for the game is kids.

There isn’t much variation in what you get to do – each mission is built around using the respective monster’s specific powers or skill-set – but the execution is very good, with solid graphics, some funny voiceovers and, as you’d both want and expect from this kind of licensed fare, there’s a real feeling of controlling the characters you just saw in the film. The difficulty level, too, is pitched squarely at the younger market, including quick restarts and very forgiving timeframes for button presses. There are a few problems, beyond the formulaic action, but Monsters vs Aliens is fun, a word that’s becoming increasingly difficult to apply to many of the more ‘mature’ videogames being released these days. There are also some very neat extras to unlock as you progress, which are then presented back to you more like a DVD movie than a game, making Monsters vs Aliens the perfect pickup for your youngsters.

Apps for Windows, Android

If you’re one of the smart crowd who’s been running a Windows Mobile device such as those from Palm Treo, Samsung and HTC long before the trendy iPhone brigade started their feverish ‘app’ land grab, you’re probably eagerly awaiting Microsoft’s own one-stop app shop, SkyMarket. But SkyMarket isn’t yet with us, said to be due for launch alongside the forthcoming Windows 7, and of course Windows Mobile 7, OS updates later this year. Happily, unlike the solitary iPhone app store that Apple phone owners have to frequent, Windows mobile users have hundreds of possible download sources for applications for their cell phones and we’re going to draw attention to some of the best of those programs here. We’re also including a few Android apps, just to be ahead of the game.

Starting with the most comprehensive overhaul you can give your Windows device first, we have the US$29.95 ‘Spb Mobile Shell’. This massively popular ‘next generation user interface’ for Windows Mobile devices gives your phone much more visual and user-friendly access to your phone’s features. The newest version of Spb Mobile shell supports Facebook and Widgets, as well as allowing different ‘Home’ screens for work or play. The app is available in any of 24 different languages and there’s even a 15day free trial so you can try before you buy.

Essential apps are up next, and here you can’t go past Google Maps, Google Sync and Fring or Slick (choose just one). The first surely needs no explanation, but it’s worth saying that the mobile version can determine your current location, even if you don’t have GPS on your phone, using the beta feature ‘My Location’ (positioning is more approximate without GPS), display driving directions, the cool ‘street views’, real-time traffic conditions and business listings. Google Sync, still in beta, allows you to synchronise the calendar and contacts from your Google account with those on your mobile, with any changes pushed to your phone, while Fring and Slick both let you instant message with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo users (Fring also works with SIP, Skype and Twitter).

In the gimmicks and games department, we have ‘Shazam’, the nifty program that captures a few seconds’ worth of any song you’re listening to and then tells you the artist and track name (it’ll even take you to Amazon to buy the track if you like).

Shazam is available for both Google Android and Windows Mobile phones, then there’s ‘Realms’, a space-based shooting game that’s really a modern-day take on the old favourite ‘Asteroids’, journeying through six different areas, or ‘realms’, and, yes, blasting stuff to kingdom come. For Android owners, we recommend the superbly faithful version of Pac-Man, which you can get directly from Namco games.

Lastly, and definitely least, there’s ‘iDialer’, which gives you a phone dialer interface just like the one on the iPhone and, for the super frivolous, there’s Tiny Twitter or TwitToday (Android users can download Twidroid), all of which allow complete twits – sorry, twitterers – to post the latest critical update on their dinner plans, state of mind or colour of underpants chosen this morning directly to their Twitter account.

79

TIME WARP

The Perfect CD

I

The first audiophilegrade CD player, Meridian’s MCD

80

n 1982, an anonymous copywriter coined the infamous marketing claim, “Perfect sound forever” for the worldwide launch of the compact disc. While the shiny new technology from Sony and Philips promised the world, the CD fell pretty wide of the mark in terms of ‘perfect’ sound that lasted ‘forever’. It seems incredible now to think that CDs were thought to endure scratches, skipping and warping, and many audiophiles certainly weren’t impressed with the sound reproduction of the first CD players, which they perceived as lacklustre and clinical.

When measured against average vinyl and tape systems, the first compact disc players did a lot to iron out problems such as ‘wow’ and ‘flutter’ (otherwise known as background noise and uneven spectral balance). However, compared to audiophile-grade high-end analog systems, CDs just didn’t live up to the hype.

In 1984, Meridian, a small UK company specialising in ‘perfectionist’ high-end audio, decided to address the shortcomings of CD technology. The belief was that the technological edge that CD was supposed to bring was dulled by the use of only ‘adequate’ audio components after the laser picked up the digital signal. So while the Japanese and European mass market CD players used cutting edge laser, lens and disc tracking elements, it was when the digital signals were extracted from the disc, converted to analog and routed to the speakers that the sound lost its honesty.

Meridian didn’t have the resources to build a CD player from scratch, as there were only a couple of huge electronics companies that could, so it did the next best thing. It found the market’s best sounding CD player, which at the time was the Philips 101, ripped out its guts from the CD mechanism itself, and started afresh.

“It found the market’s best sounding CD player… ripped out its guts from the CD mechanism itself, and started afresh” Meridian’s bold ‘MCD’ was built on the bones of a Philips 101 CD mechanism, only it now included an upgraded power supply, a revamped CD servo (that speeded up its focus reaction time and improved its ability to track warped discs), a new and better shielded audio circuitry board, a more precise three-pole analog filter and higher quality output coupling capacitors.

While the MCD was a gamble for Meridian, it paid off. The MCD met with critical acclaim and helped turn the tide against high-end analog players. In 1985, reviewer and audiophile J. Gordon Holt wrote of the MCD: “For the first time, the sound of the best CDs is truly liquid and transparent, with an effortlessness that I have not previously heard except from the better analog sources”.

While convincing on the audio front, the MCD did have its downsides. It used a basic, top-loading design and had no remote control or programming functions. Also, as it was underpinned by the Philips 101 disc mechanism it was inherently slow in operation.

While a premium audio device, and priced accordingly, the MCD required you to wait six seconds from the moment you pressed ‘play’ until the first note appeared. Also, there was a four second delay when skipping tracks, and often you would need to wait for the CD mechanism to catch up to the selected track. The bare bones LED readout was also frustrating, with no numeric display and only a single LED for each of the 15 tracks – and if you played a CD with more than 15 tracks, the LED display would get confused.

The MCD launched with a hefty price of $US689 (in 1985).

While it was a marked improvement over mass-market CD players, and did help to restore audiophile faith in CD technology, the MCD wasn’t quite up to reviving the “perfect sound forever” claim. Since then, Meridian has continued its quest to perfect the CD, and considering the advances in quality and reduction in costs, the CD has never sounded better. However, even by today’s standards, the MCD is appreciated in AV enthusiast circles for its unique and impressive CD sound quality, and earned its place in Valens Quinn audiophile history.

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