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Blogs

Apple jumps on the Sex and the City hype

May 13, 2008

Apple has announced that iTunes' US customers will now be able to download television shows from cable channel HBO. Controversially, Sopranos fans will be expected to stump up $1 more an episode than fans of Sex and the City.

The Sopranos will be available for download at $2.99 an episode, while SATC costs only $1.99 a show. Sounds to us very much like Apple jumping aboard the Sex and the City bandwagon and offering cut-price downloads for the most hyped show of the moment.

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


Panasonic PZ81 Freesat plasma TVs

May 6, 2008

Panasonic is the first TV maker to launch a dedicated Freesat plasma TV screen. Panasonic says its PZ81 plasma TV range, which launches in June, will come with integrated tuners capable of picking up Freesat free-to-air satellite TV channels.

The Panasonic PZ81 television range will come in 42in, 46in and 50in versions, with the smaller two TH42-PZ81 and TH46-PZ81 models going onsale in June followed by the larger TH50-PZ81 in July.

Rosemary Haworth | Read more...


Humax Foxsat-HD Freesat digital TV box

May 6, 2008

Set-top box maker Humax is first in line with a Freesat box. The Humax Foxsat-HD Freesat is a £149 digital TV box that provides access to more than 80 Freesat TV channels.

Freesat is a joint venture between the BBC and ITV that launched today and that offers consumers the ability to access a broader than ever range of free-to-air digital TV content. Rather than using a Freeview set-top box, consumers pay a one-off fee to have a satellite dish installed.

Rosemary Haworth | Read more...


Hauppauge WinTV Nova-S update

April 21, 2008

Hauppauge has been a little hasty in claiming Freesat channels will be available on its latest WinTV Nova TV tuner.

Freesat got in touch with PC Advisor to clarify the situation. We print their comments below.

Rosemary Haworth | Read more...


Iomega Media Xporter USB 2.0 Xbox and PS3 console media storage

April 18, 2008

External hard drive maker Iomega has launched a 160GB Xbox and PS3 console media storage. The Iomega Media Xporter USB 2.0 external backup drive costs £73 in the UK.

The 2.5in Iomega Media Xporter external hard disk drive enables games console fans to easily and conveniently port their photos, videos and other multimedia items from a PC and display it on the screen they use for gaming.

Rosemary Haworth | Read more...


Hauppauge WinTV Nova-S Freesat HDTV tuner

April 16, 2008

Sky satellite subscribers are to get their own mobile TV station add-on when Freesat launches in a few weeks time.

TV tuner company Hauppauge says it is launching a £79 USB-based TV tuner dongle specifically for Freesat that will support high-definition TV broadcasts.

Rosemary Haworth | Read more...


Plextor PX-MPE750 750GB media storage drive

April 1, 2008

Plextor has launched a 750GB multimedia backup drive. The Plextor PX-MPE750U media storage drive is intended to hold music, movies and TV downloaded from the web and is primed with a number of ports so it can be hooked up to a home entertainment system.

Plextor reasons that, when it come to music and TV downloaded from the web, most of us rely on our PC to store and play back the files. If we want to be able to enjoy them on a consumer device such as a TV we tend to go through the hassle of burning a DVD or CD in order to do so. Its media storage drive is intended to obviate this step.

PC Advisor | Read more...


Sony Bravia W4000 Series 1080p LCD TVs

April 1, 2008

Sony is upping the ante in the high-definition LCD TV stakes with the launch of its Sony Bravia W4000 Series 1,080p screens.

The four W4000 screens will range from 32in up to 46in. Onscreen images are processed by Sony’s Bravia 2 engine and all the displays have an HDTV tuner.

Rosemary Haworth | Read more...


Digital TV set-top box blaze danger

March 6, 2008

You might not just be saving the planet by unplugging your TV equipment at night – you could be saving your life as well!

In a bizarre but chilling incident last night all the set-top digital TV boxes in one street in Washington, Tyne and Wear, burst into flames after a power surge.

Simon Jary | Read more...


Blu-ray: PC Advisor readers hit back

March 6, 2008

So what are you waiting for? Rush out and buy a Blu-ray player immediately. That was what we were supposed to do when the next-generation format war finally came to an end, and yet many PC Advisor readers remain indifferent to the new world of high-definition video.

Toshiba announced last month that it would stop producing HD DVD players, immediately making Blu-ray the next-generation DVD format of choice. But as one challenger dies, another one emerges, and now many believe Blu-ray will prove irrelevant, with users downloading content over the internet, rather than buying films on discs.

Paul Trotter | Read more...


Panasonic £349 DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player

February 29, 2008

Panasonic’s DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player looks like its will finally makes its UK debut.

Released to the US market in October last year, the BD30 features Final Standard Profile, which adds new and enhanced features to compatible Blu-ray discs. For example the Picture-in-Picture feature displays a sub-screen within the main screen while an Audio Mixing function lets the user switch the playback sound between the main screen and the sub-screen.

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


Format war: what is it good for?

February 26, 2008

In the case of Blu-ray vs HD DVD, not a lot. Unless, that is, you have a vested interest in reducing consumer confidence, spending tech-company cash and wasting early adopters’ hard-earned moolah.

But nothing becomes a largely pointless spat quite like its leaving. At least it ended quickly.

Matt Egan | Read more...


BBC to put TV shows on iTunes

February 18, 2008

The BBC will this week start offering BBC TV shows on the iTunes Store.

According to no less a source than The Reg, BBC Worldwide (the bit of the Beeb that is allowed to fleece us for cash with our knowledge), will announce the move this week.

Matt Egan | Read more...


16 percent of Xbox 360 consoles will fail

February 15, 2008

Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console has a staggering 16.4 percent chance of breaking down. The failure rate for PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles, by comparison, is only 3 percent.

Electronics warranty trading firm SquareTrade investigated 1000 warranty claims submitted for the Xbox 360. Sixty percent of these failures were due to the Xbox's now famous 'Red Ring of Death'.

Matt Egan | Read more...


47% of men 'would give up sex for a 50in plasma TV'

February 11, 2008

According to a Comet poll that questioned 2,000 people, 47 percent of UK men would give up sex for six months to bag a 50in plasma TV set.

Only 35 percent of UK women would make the same sacrifice, however.

Matt Egan | Read more...


Pinnacle Video Transfer VHS to PC, iPod and PSP software

February 9, 2008

Video-editing software and hardware company Pinnacle has put its Video Transfer software for iPod and PSP on general sale in the UK.

The £100 inc VAT package enables users to copy their videotape and analogue camcorder footage and save it for posterity.

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


BBC investigates Nintendo DS for 'racism'

February 5, 2008

The BBC's Watchdog team is investigating the Nintendo DS game 'Dr Kawashima's Brain Training' and its apparent inability to recognise regional accents. There's trouble at t'mill.

Watchdog is following up a complaint from Manchester-based Michelle Livesey. Livesey couldn't get the game to recognise her flat Lancashire vowels, you see.

Matt Egan | Read more...


Victory for Blu-ray Disc over HD DVD?

February 4, 2008

The biggest story in home-entertainment technology right now is the impending close to the HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc battle.

And this is despite the fact that - with our first look at Windows Home Server (a product that could well turn out to be very big news indeed in 2008) and a clutch of new graphics cards from ATI and nVidia - there's no shortage of interesting new products to look at.

Robin Morris | Read more...


Samsung launches 14.6Mp digital SLR

January 24, 2008

Samsung today announced a 14.6Mp digital SLR camera. The Samsung GX-20 offers continuous shooting from 3 to 9 frames per second (fps) and features a wide view 2.7in TFT LCD screen with live view on screen or through the optical viewfinder.

The Samsung GX-20 features an Enhanced Digital Filter, which allows for a greater range of exposures to be used or can add various effects and compensate for missing pixels after taking a picture. The GX-20 also comes with Optical Picture Stabilisation (OPS) technology, which shifts the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) by oscillating the image sensor vertically and horizontally, to counter any movement of the camera’s body and prevent blurred pictures. This function also eliminates the need for additional anti-shake lenses

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


Apple launches 8GB Pink iPod nano

January 23, 2008

Apple has released a pink version of the 8GB iPod nano to the UK market. Like the black, silver, blue, green and special-edition red versions, the pink iPod nano features an all-metal design made with anodised aluminium and polished stainless steel.

As well as audio playback, the iPod nano let users watch TV shows and music videos purchased from the iTunes store on its 2in display. The enhanced user interface includes Cover Flow, so users can scroll through their entire music collection by album cover artwork using the Click Wheel. The pink 8GB version is available from www.apple.com now and costs £129 inc VAT.

Carrie-Ann Skinner | Read more...


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