Blu-ray finally killed off the HD DVD format early this year meaning that many were expecting to see Blu-ray players drop in price quickly. That didn’t really materialize with Blu-ray players staying at levels about the same as before HD DVD died. At least one Blu-ray player has finally come down into the reach of most consumers.
Sherwood has announced a new Blu-ray player called the BDP-5003 that retails for $299.95 and offers upscaling, 1080p resolution and video playback at both 60Hz and 24Hz. The player is fully compatible with HDMI 1.3 and supports Dolby TruHD and DTS-Master Audio HD.
Other supported features include BD Bonus View profile 1.1. This is all fine and good, but the PS3 is still one of the best Blu-ray players on the market thanks to its ability to add Blu-ray features via updates. Still, the 80GB PS3 retails for $399 making it about $100 more than the Sherwood player. Movie fans looking to step into Blu-ray on the cheap may find the BDP-5003 to be the best way to do so.
Sherwood
Written by Shane McGlaun on October 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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We had the opportunity to check out the Epson MovieMate 55 all-in-one projector, which offers a high-quality projector, a CD/DVD player and stereo speakers in a portable unit. Epson’s goal with the MovieMate 55 seems to be to offer consumers an affordable, easy and convenient home entertainment console that goes anywhere. Did they succeed? Read on.
Whether you’ve used this sort of portable projector before or not, there’s probably something to impress you. It literally takes just a minute to set up out of the box. Attach the power cord to the unit and plug it in. That’s it. Simple. Then just do what you want to do. It will project a 16:9 widescreen 60-inch image from only six feet away or a 120-inch image from just 12 feet away. Obviously it gets even bigger the further you go.
I can’t even tell you how many movies I watched on the MovieMate in theater size. Seeing movies like Iron Man large as opposed to a typical sized TV is awesome and the picture quality looks every bit as good as the theater as far as my eyes could tell. Just pop in a DVD, point the projector at a large wall, adjust the focus and you are ready. I wanted to see how big I could make the picture, so I even projected a movie against my neighbors house. Even that large it looked pretty damn sweet.
It’s not just movies and CDs or slideshows either. It will connect to your iPod, Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 too. I don’t have a huge TV so I was pretty impressed when I hooked the Wii up to the projector and saw all of our games huge. I was seeing all kinds of detail that I didn’t even know were in the games.
The sound that pumps out of the unit has to be commented on as well. While I was playing some Wii games I heard sounds that I had just never heard before. Very deep, layered and textured sounds thanks to two built-in 8 watt 5.1 Dolby Digital DTS speakers. Which is surprising for such a compact unit. It makes for a great experience all in a small 8 pound unit.
Basically movie night is wherever you are. I had a lot of fun messing around with the Movie-Mate 55 and though I was expecting too, I didn’t find any flaws. It retails for $699. When you compare that to TV prices, you’re getting a larger screen and portability. They pack in a ton of features for that price. Though I’m a little surprised there’s no Blu-Ray. I’m pretty sold on it after using it and I’m thinking about buying one instead of upgrading my TV.
[Epson]
Written by Conner Flynn on October 13th, 2008 with no comments.
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This may not be the most portable home theater ever, but it conveniently keeps all of your devices in one spot so they can be stored away out of sight. The Pinel Pinel Movie Trunk boasts a Bang & Olufsen Beolab 6000 subwoofer, Two Beolab 3 speakers, BeoVision 6-26 TV and a DVD1 DVD/CD player.
You can choose from 51 flavors of different leathers, all with nickel plated brass hardware, and you even have three drawers for you to store your DVDs. Up to four dozen DVDs. No word on price yet, but I think most of us love the idea, but would want a larger TV at the expense of portability.
[Luxurylaunches]
Written by Conner Flynn on October 9th, 2008 with no comments.
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The Pinel Pinel’s Movie trunk is a portable home theater system that consists of a Bang & Olufsen Beolab 6000 subwoofer, two Beolab 3 speakers, BeoVision 6-26 television, and the DVD1 DVD/CD player. You can change its color because there are 51 vibrant leathers with nickel plated brass hardware that you can choose to cover this movie trunk. The Pinel Pinel’s Movie trunk also offers 3 drawers to store 48 DVDs. Find out more pictures in the gallery below. [Likecool]
ShareThis
Written by Johan on October 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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Niveus Media is rolling out a new storage device for custom home theater installers based upon the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform. It is called the Niveus Storage Server – Cargo Edition.
The Cargo is scalable to hold up to 16TB of data in one server, with the ability to add more to a home network as necessary. It is housed in a custom-designed, 3U rack-mountable chassis, measuring 18.5″ in depth, marking what Niveus says is “the most compact storage server in the custom electronics industry.”
Features of the Cargo include a personalized Web address from which one can access and monitor the server and stored content and an image-based, scheduled backup of the media server. It is slated for release sometime by the end of the year.
Niveus Media
Written by Nino Marchetti on September 10th, 2008 with no comments.
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If there is one common truth with home theaters — other than lots of wires — it’s the multiple remotes that come along with them. You need one remote to change the TV channel, one to control the volume on your amp and one to control your HTPC or DVD player. It’s enough to blow the minds of many home theater users.
One of the items most home theater owners buy quickly is a universal remote control to eliminate the hoard of remotes sitting on the table. Gyration has introduced a new universal remote called the Air Music Remote with MotionSense that goes one-step further than the typical universal remote.
Sure it can control all of your home theater components using IR remotes. However, the Gyration remote can also act as the mouse for your HTPC as well via RF connectivity. The Air Music Remote is available for purchase now for $179.99 by itself or for $229.99 you can get the remote and a wireless keyboard.
Gyration
Written by Shane McGlaun on September 9th, 2008 with no comments.
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I remember trying to get my wife to agree to let me put 5.1 surround sound in our living room when we bought our first house. She was of the opinion that two small speaker wires running along the bottom of the wall would be the first thing other women would see when they walked in the house. I was of the opinion that she was crazy, but as is the way of women, she won out — for a while.
Thankfully, guys can preempt the old “wires are ugly” argument when they tell the wife or significant other that they want a surround sound system in the living room thanks to JBL. The new JBL WEM-1 Wireless Expansion module will turn wired loudspeakers into wireless units. The JBL system uses a receiver and amplifier unit with 50W of power.
The transmitter module connects to an audio source and the receiver/amp unit connects to a pair of speakers. The system features a remote control and has a 70-foot transmission range. Connectivity options include line-out and speaker-level outputs to accommodate a variety of components. The amp/receiver also has a local input for playback of music from a MP3 player. The JBL On Air WEM-1 Wireless Expansion Module will be available in September 2008 for $359.
Harman
Written by Shane McGlaun on September 5th, 2008 with no comments.
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Epson announced their latest addition to the MovieMate line up, the MovieMate 55. The 55 model will have the same WVGA (854 x 480) resolution as the 50 model, but with a brighter 1200 ANSI lumens. The MovieMate 55 will also have a built-in DVD player inside the projector, which will play standard DVDs and CDs. If you want HD quality you can connect an external player.
It’s able to display an image up to 150 inches, diagonally, from a projection distance of less than 15 feet, making it an ideal portable to take movie night with you wherever you go. It also sports 8 watt stereo speakers with Dolby 5.1 Digital DTS technology for the best sound possible. The MovieMate 55 is already available for purchase on the Epson website and will retail for $699.
[Epson]
Written by Conner Flynn on August 26th, 2008 with no comments.
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