Archos to show five new Android tablets at IFA
Archos will unveil five new Android tablets at IFA this year – with screen sizes ranging from 2.8 to 10 inches.
The French company will be showing off not only its popular current ranges, but also showcasing its next generation of tablets at the electronics show.
One of the new tablets will almost certainly be the much-rumoured Archos 32 internet tablet.
"The company will showcase five brand new Internet Tablets ranging touch screen from 2.8 to 10 inches featuring computing, communications and apps with the power of Android plus Archos' legendary video quality will be shown for the first time," stated the company.
Showcase
"Current Archos product ranges will also be on display and available to view, including the large-screen Archos 7 and Archos 8 Home Tablets offering functions, features and applications suited to the home, the latest Vision range of affordable MP3 and MP4 players and ARCHOS 9 PC Tablet with Windows 7."
Archos' Android tablets will face huge competition, with major manufacturers like Samsung poised to show off their own devices.
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Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 become biggest ever UK seller
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has officially become the best-selling game in UK history, with the first person shooter achieving this in significantly less than a year. According to figures from GfK Chart-Track, CoD: MW2 has overtaken Dr Kawashima's Brain Training in 41 weeks, to take the UK title.
The game itself was beset with controversy for its slightly odd 'terrorist' level in which you played along as an undercover agent in an airport slaughter.
Shooting star
However, despite the disgust at this level – and the debate as to its justification is still raging – the game was a massive hit with the consumers.
Previously Dr Kawashima's Brain Training had taken 32 months to overtake the previous holder, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
So, if you want a formula for success, pile in a load of controversial nonsense onto an already popular IP and season with popular multiplayer. Boom, headshot.
But who would try to reinvent the wheel? *Cough* MOH *cough*
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Opinion: PCs will be sold on polish and presentation, not cores and clocks
Here's a question: you know who made the processor in your PC? I'm betting you do. But 10 years from now, you won't know and you won't care. As for the average punter, in just a few years' time they will pay no more attention to the brand of computer chips inside PCs than they do to those in their HDTV. Which is to say, no attention at all.
The reason is this: even entry-level PCs today are good enough for nearly everybody, almost all of the time.
Think about it. When was the last time your PC couldn't open a document or play back a video stream because the processor wasn't fast enough or your video card didn't have enough stream shaders? That's assuming you even know what stream shaders are. If you've avoided finding out, I doff my GeForce GTX 480 to you.
It's useless information. It was likely many years and systems ago that your hardware last let you down. Put simply, modern PCs are plenty powerful enough.
More to the point, when people do have problems, it's likely thanks to an operating system riddled with viruses, trojans and spyware rather than a lack of CPU cores, graphics memory or bus bandwidth.
End of an era of enthusiasts?
It's not just mainstream hardware that's feeling the pinch: the wind has gone out of the enthusiast market, too. Whether it's graphics cards or motherboards, high-end kit seems ever-more futile. The ramifications of this are becoming more and more apparent.
For some companies, it means a change of emphasis. Motherboard maker DFI, for instance, appears to be giving up on enthusiast models. It will probably revert to making unbranded boards for OEM customers.
For a graphics chip maker like Nvidia, it's even more of a challenge. I'm not sure ultra-high-end graphics cards have ever made sense. Today, they're laughably irrelevant to all but a tiny minority of pathologically hardcore enthusiasts.
In fact, these enthusiasts aren't really even gamers – most gamers have consoles. Like me, only freaks who enjoy high-end hardware for the sake of it care about performance GPUs.
Admittedly, there is one exception to all this, and it's to do with bandwidth. By that I mean bandwidth of nearly all kinds – in and out of drives, on and off external storage devices and even to and from internal PC components.
Commoditised industry
However, with SSDs getting cheaper and interfaces such as SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 on the cusp of ubiquity, it will only be a few more years before that final frontier is conquered. When that happens, the hardware industry truly will become commoditised.
Exactly what impact all this will have on the major players is a fascinating question. Already you can see this is something Intel, for instance, is really struggling to come to terms with. Deep down, Intel knows that the $1,000 CPU is not long for this world. It needs new revenue streams.
Probably the best case study here is the Atom processor. At launch, Intel was keen to big up Atom's capability, proclaiming it had squeezed the full x86 computing experience into a tiny, super-efficient chip. Soon after, Intel seemed to realise that Atom made its heavyweight – and higher margin – CPUs look pointless.
So the story changed and Intel executives began bad-mouthing their own product, effectively saying that the Atom processor wasn't the real x86 deal. At the same time, Intel is desperately trying to expand its repertoire into smartphones, set-top boxes and even cars.
Core dilemma
Intriguingly, however, none of those applications will solve Intel's core dilemma. Nobody cares what CPU is powering their sat-nav system. Today, I would wager, a lot more people know the brand of CPU in their PC than their phone or set-top box. However, in a decade's time, Intel will be all but invisible to consumers.
For AMD, on the other hand, that may be no bad thing. It has always struggled to compete with Intel's marketing dollars. AMD would be all too happy to drop its ineffectual efforts to get into the minds of the buying public and get on with the job of supplying hardware manufacturers with 'good enough' chips.
As for what will replace the traditional list of componentry as the differentiator between one PC or laptop and another at the retail level, I say look to the smartphone. That means interfaces, apps, software and services – the ecosystem, as it's known.
More generally, I think PCs will increasingly be sold on the basis of presentation, polish and ease of use, not cores and clocks. But then, what do I know? I'm a hardware guy predicting his own demise.
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Asus Xonar DG soundcard unveiled
Asus has officially unveiled its Xonar DG soundcard, which offers Dolby Headphones 5.1 surround sound and the company's proprietary GX 2.5 gaming engine tech. The Xonar DG sound card also boasts an on-board headset amplifier which Asus believes helps provide 'accurate and deep audio that brings every nuance and sound across fully'.
The Asus Xonar DG is being pitched at gamers, and joins the Xonar Xense and Xonar Essence in Asus' soundcard range.
Truly immersive
"The emphasis with Xonar soundcards has been to ensure truly immersive, precise audio reproduction in games and movies, making interactive and multimedia experiences more enjoyable," states Asus.
"Standard soundcards offer compromised audio when heard through headphones, resulting in muddy and underpowered reproduction.
"The new Xonar DG resolves this and other issues with headphone-dedicated amplification. The card has been designed from the ground up to cater to PC gamers who prefer to get sound through personal audio."
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ViewSonic announces 3D camcorder and portable TV
ViewSonic is unveiling a 3D camcorder and a portable 3D television at IFA, along with additions to its monitor, media streamer and eBook reader ranges. ViewSonic, who will also be showing off two ViewPad tablets, believes that 3D is a key technology for consumers and is hoping to cash in on the halo effect of the increase in 3D TV.
"ViewSonic are focused on providing a full 3D experience, allowing our users to not only view 3D in the best possible way, but now create their own affordable content." said James Coulson, marketing manager, ViewSonic Europe.
3D simple
"We believe by making 3D simple to use, whilst providing a complete solution, we can introduce 3D technology to consumers who were hesitant about new technology or concerned about the cost."
The 3D camcorder is capable of recording at 720p, and also has an integrated 3D display – with a UK release date pending but a price tag set at £199.
Also on display will be 3D digital camera and a 3D digital photo frame, along with, intriguingly, a portable 3D TV.
"In addition to the new tablet range, visitors to the ViewSonic stand will be able to try first-hand a range of products, including the new VPC220, a fully all-in-one PC; the VMP74, an award winning HD media-streamer and the VEB625, a touch screen eBook reader with wi-fi connectivity," adds ViewSonic's release.
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Freeview HD iPhone App goes iOS4 friendly
Freeview has upgraded its HD TV Guide iPhone app to make it iOS4 compatible, as well as adding in a raft of new features.The new 1.1 upgrade is now compatible with iPhone iOS 4 offering all original functions alongside new features including:
Sharing with friends - email out programmes to pals
Offline viewing - check out TV listings when you're out of phone signal
Programme repeats - check out when a show you've missed is going to be shown again.
You can also get programme alerts as well as an improved UI with the new download, which is free and available for the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad.
All the old things too
Version 1.1 still has all of the original Freeview HD TV Guide features, including the Programme Guide, 'Now and Next' viewing and the 'Top 10' channel list.
Users can also set their local region listings and personalise the app by re-ordering favourite channels.
Adrian Mack, New Media Manager at Freeview says "Freeview's commitment to helping viewers get the most out of subscription-free TV programmes is underlined with the upgrade of our HD TV Guide app.
"After listening to our users, we've added sharing features as well as search options and programme reminders; this iPhone app makes TV planning easy and intuitive."
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ViewSonic to show 10-inch dual-boot Windows tablet
ViewSonic will show off a 7-inch Android tablet at IFA called the ViewPad 7, alongside an Intel-based 10-inch tablet that will dual-boot Windows and Android. The Californian manufacturer is keen to resurrect the ViewPad brand, which was operating as far back as 2002, and hopes that its latest offerings can impress when they are shown off at IFA.
"The ViewPad 7, a 7" Android tablet with 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, access to thousands of applications and front and back-facing cameras will be previewed for the first time in Europe," said ViewSonic's release.
Specs
"The ViewPad 7 also features assisted GPS, a Micro SD card slot, Bluetooth, G-Sensor and USB connectivity, making the device a compact lightweight companion that has a lot to offer," it continued.
Although intriguing, this product sounds very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which is also making its debut at IFA, but the next line of ViewSonic's release teases another tablet.
10-incher
"ViewSonic will also be previewing a new Intel-based 10-inch tablet with dual boot Microsoft and Android operating systems."
Although dual-boot is not a new idea, the prospect of a 10-inch tablet with both Windows and Android is an intriguing one, with the assumption that the Microsoft OS will be Windows 7 rather than CE or the forthcoming Windows Phone 7.
IFA, we hope, will reveal much more.
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Vodafone's HTC Desire Android 2.2 upgrade finally starts
Vodafone's Android 2.2 update for the HTC Desire has finally begun rolling out, according to TechRadar readers.It appears the update is still only activated by manual updates, so you'll need to head into Settings, then About Phone to check for new software upgrades.
The process requires 25MB of internal phone storage to install, so make sure you have adequate space otherwise you'll need to start the process all over again.
360 begone!
There's good news too if you downloaded the 360 update recently: although Vodafone says you'll need to manually remove the icons, readers are telling us that all 360 traces are gone without needing a reboot.
So if you're one of the lucky Vodafone HTC Desire-toting users, then head on over to your settings menu to see if there's a Froyo treat for you to play with - and don't worry if you haven't got one yet, as Vodafone has said it could take up to two weeks to land.
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In Depth: 25 essential BlackBerry tips and tricks
You probably bought a BlackBerry for the keyboard and fantastic battery life but there's more to it than that.You can just pick a BlackBerry up and start using it, because all you need to do is press the Menu key to get the main options on every screen - but the BlackBerry OS hides a huge number of clever tricks and shortcuts that make it faster and simpler to get things done.
There are some tips you won't need often - like pressing Alt, Del and the right-hand Caps key at the same time to reboot instead of just restarting; others you'll use all the time, like pressing the red 'hang up' key to get back to the home screen and clicking the spanner icon on the home screen to open Options. Here are our top 25 Blackberry tips.
1. Use the keyboard less
BlackBerry has always had a QWERTY keyboard and you can type everything out in full - but you can save time with the built-in shortcuts. Press space twice at the end of a sentence to get the full stop and an automatic capital on the next word.
Don't bother with apostrophes in words like I'm and isn't (type im and the BlackBerry will correct it for you); there are other handy abbreviations like 'wel' to get 'we'll' and 'il' to get 'I'll' and you can add your own with Options > AutoText.
AUTOTEXT: Speed up typing by creating your own abbreviations and corrections
2. Quick capitals
You don't need Shift - press and hold a letter key to type the upper case letter.
3. Skip Symbol
If you're typing an email address into a field that expects an email address, don't bother looking for how to type the @; just hit space and BlackBerry with put the @ in for you. Press space when you need the . in the middle of the email address and it will fill that in, too. Do the same for URLs in the browser; pressing space fills in the periods faster than typing them by hand.
4. Fast select
There's a Select command on the menu for choosing what to copy and paste - but you can make a selection just by holding down the Shift key as you scroll the trackball.
5. Keyboard shortcuts
Save on scrolling by using 't' to get to the top of any email message, web page or other long screen and 'b' to get to the bottom. There are specific shortcuts for all the built-in apps like using the Mute button to pause videos or music or skipping to the next or previous track by pressing and holding the volume up and down keys (which also zoom in and out in the camera - although many apps use I and O to zoom); there's a list in the Help tool.
SAVE TIME: Put the keyboard to work with shortcuts in every built-in app
6. Choose dialling or shortcuts
Under Options > Phone Options > General Options you can set Dial From Home Screen to Yes or No; if you set it to Yes you can start typing a name to dial the number on the home screen, if you set it to No you can type the first letter of apps on the home screen to open them (M for Mail, B for browser, C to compose email - and oddly N for Messenger, L for Calendar and U for Calculator).
7. Web columns
Press Z in the web browser to reflow the page into a column the size of the BlackBerry screen so it's easier to read; press Z again to go back to a normal page view you can scroll around.
EASY READING: Switch between seeing the original layout and a version of the page reformatted as one long BlackBerry-sized column
8. Turn on JavaScript
To save memory and make pages load faster, the BlackBerry browser usually has JavaScript turned off by default; use Options > Browser Configuration > Support JavaScript to turn it back on and make more pages load correctly.
9. Which browser?
There are three different browsers on the BlackBerry; a WAP browser for viewing content from your mobile network, the BlackBerry HTML browser (and a hotspot browser that prioritises the Wi-Fi connection). If you have problems accessing or loading Web pages, choose Options > Browser Configuration and set Browser to BlackBerry Browser and make sure Options > General Properties > Default Browser is also set to BlackBerry Browser.
10. Don't get mobile Web sites
You can also try changing Browser Identification from BlackBerry to Firefox or IE to force the full versions of specific pages to load instead of the cut-down mobile versions - but they might be slow or not load fully.
BROWSER SWAP: The BBC web site always loads the mobile version on BlackBerry; if you want to see the full site, have your BlackBerry pretend to run Firefox or IE
11. Fast search
You can search for contacts, messages and inside files and web pages - press S to search in contacts and messages and F to search in other apps.
12. Colour-code messages
If you get both work and personal email on your BlackBerry, you can change the colour of either set of messages. Choose Options > Security Options >Information> Message Outline Colours and either Enterprise Messages or Other Messages.
COLOUR-CODED: Show work and personal messages in different colours
13. Menu multi-tasking
BlackBerry has had multitasking for years but it's subtly done; apps stay running so you can switch back to them (unless you run out of memory when they're closed automatically). To get back to another app, press and hold the Menu button to get the task switcher.
14. Lock with mute
Some BlackBerrys have both a lock and a mute button on the top edge, others - like the original Bold - only have a mute button. You can always lock the screen by scrolling down to the Lock icon but it's faster to just press and hold mute until the screen locks (do the same to unlock it).
15. Real convenience
There are two 'convenience keys' - one on each side of the BlackBerry; you've probably found one of them by knocking it and hearing that irritating 'say a command' message. If you never use voice command, choose Options > Screen/Keyboard to change the buttons to something more useful - starting the camera, opening the music player or launching your favourite app.
QUICK START: Put two apps or commands you use all the time at your fingertips
16. Tweak your trackball
Use Options > Screen/Keyboard and scroll to the bottom of the page to choose the horizontal and vertical sensitivity (how far it moves across the screen when you move it) and whether you hear a click as it rolls.
17. Turn off speakerphone
The slightly confusing way to put a call on speakerphone is to use Menu > Activate Speakerphone; the even more confusing way to turn it off is Menu > Activate Handset - or you can use the $ key to turn it on and off. (And the $ key produces the $ sign in email, use Options > Screen/Keyboard > Currency key to set it to £ instead).
18. Say a command
Voice command does more than voice dialling; if you want to check your signal and battery strength you can wade through the Options menu or you can hit the voice command button and say 'status' or 'check battery' and 'check signal strength'.
19. Say it again
Voice recognition works quite well, but you can train it by reading a list of numbers and words; choose Options > Voice Dialing> Adapt Voice.
VOICE TRAINING: Choose Adapt Voice and your BlackBerry will ask you to read a list of sample names and numbers
20. Hidden Help
The hidden 'Help Me!' screen shows the signal strength, battery level, device PIN, free space, space in use, IMEI, OS version, how long the BlackBerry has been on and some other info that can be useful for troubleshooting. View it by pressing Alt + Caps + H.
MORE INFO: The Help Me! Screen collects key information together
21. Archive, don't uninstall
Only the very latest BlackBerry models have anything like enough memory for all the apps you want. When you run out of space, pick the ones you use least and archive them to your microSD card (this only works with apps from App World). Select the app in the My World sections of App World and choose Menu > Archive; archived apps have a green arrow on their icons and you can click them to reinstall - but you may have to restart to archive or restore an app.
ARCHIVE APPS: You can't run apps from the SD card but you can archive them to save space
22. Save power overnight
BlackBerry is very frugal on battery life and you can make it last even longer by having yours turn itself off overnight and back on in the morning. Choose Options > Auto On/Off; you can have different on and off times for weekdays and weekends.
23. Master Control Program
Use the free third-party tool MCP (http://mcpfx.com) for tweaking your BlackBerry, doing a factory reset in an emergency - or just installing updates more easily than with the sprawling and inefficient BlackBerry Desktop software.
TWEAK BLACKBERRY: Install a new OS or tweak the modules on your BlackBerry with the excellent Master Control Program
24. Install any app
If you want to run an app that doesn't have an installer - including alternative email clients like Astrasync and NotifySync which RIM won't sign for installation - connect your BlackBerry by USB, switch to mass storage mode so it shows up on your PC as a drive and copy the JAR file to the root folder. On your BlackBerry use the Media app to open the folder and select the JAR file to install it.
25. Save money on texts
If you're sending a message to another BlackBerry user, BlackBerry Messenger is free -but you need to know their BlackBerry PIN.The easiest way to get someone in your contact list is to invite them.
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Exclusive: Google Labs a big success story for search giant
The success of Google Labs – the public experimental playground for Google's latest applications – is down to a mixture of peer pressure and public feedback, according to product manager Aparna Chennapragada. Speaking to TechRadar, Chennapragada explained the process behind Labs, which has been the launching groud for some of the biggest hits for Google, including Google Alerts, Google Reader, Google Suggest and Google Maps.
"Labs is actually intentionally a playground," said Chennapragada who is soon leaving to work on video search within the company. "That was the way we designed it.
"A normal idea can take three years to get to the public, but with Labs we can get them out early – even if they are a little rough around the edges, and by getting them out early we can start to get user input that can help to shape the product."
Dogfooding
Although the public's input is vital to each project, before it arrives on Labs, every idea goes through a stringent peer review process within Google.
"Engineers are encouraged to take their ideas as close to a prototype as they can and it is then shared among the teams to try," she added
"We call this dogfooding – it happens not only for labs products but other products as well – and the barrage of criticism that arrives from the moment it goes out is immensely useful…in retrospect!"
Much of the features applications released through Google Labs comes from the famed '20 per cent' time offered by Google to its engineers, where people are encouraged to work on their own products for one day a week .
Own devices
Chennapragada told TechRadar that the products are not monitored, with even a small success rate still bringing huge dividends for the company.
"The 20 per cent products are not monitored. It's nice to go away and see if an idea works, and actually the hit rate – even if it's one per cent of products – is pretty good.
"It's a nice experimental process that sometimes provides something concrete or sometimes something that becomes a main product if it proves it merits it."
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Review: Sony STR-DH810
Were you to catch the prime movers and shakers at Sony at an unguarded moment or ply them with drink, many would admit that, until comparatively recently, the company was going through a dull patch lasting some years. There was nothing wrong with what they made, but somehow many of their mainstream products lacked the pizzazz historically associated with the brand. Denon and Yamaha seemed more on the ball with technical (and sometimes also sonic) innovation and, more recently, Onkyo has stolen a march on most others with their combination of technical wizardry and impressively low prices.
But Sony appears to be fighting back. Okay, so the STR-DH810 obeys all the usual clichés of mainstream receiver design. That is to say it looks boring, and lacks personality – if you removed the Sony badge, there would be no way of identifying where it came from.
Even Sony can only find one thing of interest to say about its receiver's front fascia: that it employs a new 10-digit dot matrix for a sharp and clear display.
But dig a bit deeper into the STR-DH810 and it's a different story. I was surprised to find that it was widely on sale at an unfeasibly low £300, especially as it soon became apparent that it is a bit better than you might expect.
It could easily form the core of a quite sophisticated system, offering many of the latest tech tools such as a 3D passthrough and upconversion from composite and component (PAL/576i or NTSC/480i) video to HDMI.
Another weapon in Sony's armoury is Anchor Bay's AutoCUE-C, which removes the artifacting associated with the chroma upsampling errors associated with some DVD players and set-top boxes.
The receiver comes with a programmable, multi-component remote, and it even allows a slightly-limited wireless speaker capability called S-AIR (though you'll need to add some external hardware, and, for a variety of reasons, this is not an option I would normally advocate). Yet on a purely-practical basis, it's laudable; S-AIR is intended for wireless surround, or painless multi-room.
The STR-DH810 is a full-on 7.1 channel receiver, with a nominal (okay, hopelessly optimistic!) 140W per channel. Our Tech Labs rate it as 50W per channel (and that's with only five of the possible seven driven), which puts it in line with similarly priced rivals.
This overhyping of power output is a deception that is all too widely practiced in the industry, particularly at this end of the market.
A look inside the unit reveals a relatively small mains transformer – a key component of the all-important power supply. Not even the corporate might of Sony can magic up reserves of juice from nowhere.
Internal construction is excellent, Sony having clearly paid a lot of attention to such matters. The company is of the opinion that chassis rigidity can influence sound quality; much like a car, the STRDH810' s strengths in this area are derived through clever design rather than throwing mass at the problem. Indeed, this AVR is fairly lightweight by contemporary standards.
Digital delights
Rear-panel furniture is not as extensive as you'll find in more upmarket receivers, but still generous enough to offer inputs for most practical purposes. The only notable omissions are S-video and a multichannel audio input – but the target customers for the STR-DH810 are unlikely to possess a collection of 5.1 SACDs or DVD-A discs, never mind compatible hi-res playback equipment.
There are four HDMI v1.4 inputs, which should just be enough for the kind of buyer that this budget AVR is aimed at. It is this adherence to the latest revision of the HDMI standard that readies the STR-DH810 for 3D and the flexibility of the 'audio return channel'.
Shame there isn't an extra port sited round the front, though. I'd have swapped one of the trio of component inputs for a little more HDMI flexibility.
The STR-DH810 has seven pairs of 4mm speaker binding posts, which amply provides for front height speakers to be connected, if you decide to experiment with Dolby's Pro-Logic IIz surround format. The main front speakers can also be bi-amplified, or you can opt to run a more traditional 7.1 setup with surround-back channels.
There are two terminals that may be unfamiliar: one is labelled 'Digital Media Port' (DMPORT), and is intended for Sony aftermarket accessories like iPod docks and Bluetooth adaptors. The other is a recessed connector labelled 'EZW-T100.' Into this slot will plug the optional wireless transmitter/ transceiver, which is part of the aforementioned S-AIR system.
As part of its basic setup, the STR-DH810 includes a slightly more than routine auto-calibration function that Sony calls DCAC (Digital Cinema Auto Calibration). covering the presence and polarity (phase) of speakers, speaker distance, level and basic equalisation. To achieve all of this, the unit comes with a matching calibration microphone. This is pretty comprehensive for what is after all a budget AVR.
The STR-DH810 has been through an audio tuning exercise, independent of the headline features already mentioned, and includes wide-band phase-accurate power amplifiers, a new audio circuit-layout with shorter signal-paths and some detail improvements to the design of the power supply and its layout within the chassis, compared to previous models.
Performance
Taking price into account, the performance of this AVR was both surprising and gratifying, though it is quite likely that many users will never fully get to grips with its extensive capabilities.
After connecting it to our Onkyo DV-DB502 Blu-ray player and display, one of the first tasks the Sony was put to was playing Wagner's Tristran und Isolde – in our case, the DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack of a Blu-ray issue.
This is heavy-duty material whose sound is generally very dense in texture, and sonically intense in a way that more mainstream material seldom achieves. The result, though slightly short of the highest standards, was nevertheless listenable, and generally did justice to the music.
But DVD and Blu-ray movie material is really what this amp is about, and it made a great fist of multichannel material. Cloverfield (Blu-ray, Dolby TrueHD) delivered an immersive and realistically-scaled image.
Dolby Pro-Logic IIz also allows the addition of extra front high speakers above the standard front speakers with 5.1 channel soundtracks. This gives a height dimension that would otherwise be missing, and which is impressive with suitably-encoded 5.1 channel material.
Dolby Pro-Logic IIx works similar magic, by adding audio to back-surround speakers. If you have the right setup, you can switch freely between Pro Logic IIx and Pro Logic 11z and decide for yourself which works better.
Leaving aside the complications of additional speakers, many people will simply not have room for extra boxes. So, the STR-DH810 also offers the option of adding a bi-amplified output for the front main L/R speakers, and this is certainly worth doing if you want to add muscle and consistency to music reproduction as well as dynamic movie material.
Exceptional value
The verdict here is no surprise. The Sony doesn't set new standards for sound quality, but what it does do is cover the standard bases, and sound significantly better than you might expect for a £300 receiver.
There are shortcomings, though, such as the patterning akin to (but not quite the same as) moiré with some video material, for example, but the STR-DH810 is, by any standards, exceptional value for money.
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Galaxy Tab to be renamed Pad, coming in two sizes?
Samsung's forthcoming Android-powered tablet PC could be called the Galaxy Pad and come in more than one screen size.According to OLED-display, the new name could be unveiled at IFA, although the new size of screen would come 'in due course'.
However, conflicting sources are claiming that the Galaxy Tab moniker is the one Samsung will choose, so it might be best to wait until TechRadar heads to IFA to find out the truth.
The TabPad cometh
Given the Samsung Galaxy TabPad already looks the bastard Android offspring of an iPad, the name change and size upgrade make sense as Samsung decides imitation is the best form of flattery.
We're still waiting to see whether Samsung does go high end and use an OLED screen for the 7-inch marvel, although that would surely push the cost sky high, and an Android tablet would need to be cheaper than the iPad from the outset.
We'll be looking to get our hands on one of these new tablets as soon as possible, so keep checking back for our Samsung Galaxy Tab review.
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Review: Panasonic DMP-BDT100
With the DMP-BDT100, Panasonic has extended its 3D Blu-ray proposition down to the mass market. The brand's first 3D player, the DMP-BDT300, was a highly-polished performer; this model not so much cuts corners as neatly bevels them.
The deck has been designed to work solely in an HDMI v1.4 environment, there being no secondary HDMI output or analogue audio bank to deliver lossless audio into legacy equipment.
It's been targeted at those who simply want to connect directly to a 3DTV. If buyers hanker for lossless DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD they'll need to spring for a new AV receiver with HDMI v1.4, or take advantage of an all-in-one system with Audio Return Channel.
The unit itself is smart enough. A flap lowers to reveal an SD card slot and USB port. The latter can be used with Panasonic's DY-WL10 Wi-Fi adaptor (sold as an optional extra), if you don't want to use a wired network connection.
With its DLNA branding you might expect the BDT100 to smugly play all media across your network, but you'd be wrong. If you have one of this season's Panasonic Blu-ray recorders on your network, this deck can access and play content from that machine.
However, it cannot play media across a network (even though it lets you browse to UPnP devices). File playback only extends as far as an attached USB device. My assortment of AVIs and MKVs could only be played from a USB flash drive.
While supporting BD-Live, the player has no internal memory onboard (so you'll have to add your own). It can also access the Blu-ray version of Viera Cast (which does not have identical content to the brand's TVs). Pickings are still relatively slim, and include YouTube, Bloomberg, Daily Motion, Weather and Picasa.
Hey good lookin'
It may not deliver the same video performance as the BDT300 (measurable characteristics are quite different), but I would nevertheless regard video quality as excellent.
A combination of extreme sharpness and stability with nuanced colour ensures both 2D and 3D Blu-rays look pristine. Kudos goes to the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus and Adaptive High Precision 4:4:4 signal processing.
The player is also refined as a CD spinner, and while it may not be audiophile grade (dynamic range peaks at 91.7dB), imaging is spacious and enjoyable.
Tweakers should investigate the 96kHz Re-Master modes (accessed from the handset) that fine-tune frequency response. Panasonic has yet confirmed a price point for the BDT100, but we expect it to be around £250.
Even if it's lower than that (and despite its top-notch AV performance), I expect it could struggle against its better specified competition: the DLNA function is limited and online content via VieraCast lags behind the portals of rival brands Sony and Samsung.
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New expedition to 'virtually raise' the Titanic
A new scientific expedition to the wreck of the Titanic is aiming to create the "most detailed portrait of Titanic's wreck site to date."The team set out from Canada over the weekend armed with the latest sonar and high-resolution optical video technologies.
It is now nearly a hundred years since the Titanic crashed in the Atlantic, killing 1,500 passengers and crew. The ship went down after hitting an iceberg on April 14, 1912.
The wreck of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 around two and a half miles down from the surface of the ocean.
Virtually raising the Titanic
The new sonar and optical video imaging tech will allow the team to paint an incredibly accurate picture of the site of the wreck.
Christopher Davino, president of RMS Titanic, said that the scientific expedition to the bottom of the ocean:
"Will be using some of the most advanced technology available to create a portrait of the ship unlike any that has been created before -- virtually raising Titanic and sealing her current state forever in the minds and hearts of humanity."
The mission will be updating its findings on its website at www.expeditiontitanic.com and providing real-time video and photo updates via Facebook and Twitter.
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Review: Sony Bravia KDL-60LX903
Sony may have followed behind Panasonic and Samsung in releasing its 3D TVs, but the Japanese giant is wasting no time making its presence felt in the new market with an extensive range of LED-lit screens. The biggest, and best, of the bunch is this 60in flagship model, the KDL-60LX903. It may be out-muscled in size by Panasonic's 65in plasma, but this is still a large TV, bigger than anything Sony has produced for quite some time, in fact.
Luckily, it's pretty slim (64mm) and features the brand's minimalistic Monolith design, so it holds its size well, but it's also heavy. Don't try to lift it out of its packing on your own; you wouldn't want to drop this £3,500 monster onto your coffee table or do yourself an injury into the bargain.
The extra real estate provided by this 60in TV is always welcome for serious home cinema viewing, and it's even more relevant with 3D. Having witnessed the extra dimension on screen sizes from 40in to 103in, and at the IMAX cinema, I'm already convinced that the 3D effect is better the bigger the screen gets. The more your vision is filled by the 3D images – rather than the wall next to your screen – the more likely you are to experience the 'wow factor' that 3D strives to deliver.
With Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs on 3D Blu-ray, the LX903 serves up a solid, captivating experience, but crosstalk is there if you look for it, and the shimmering nature of the next-generation format soon had me hankering for standard 2D high-definition viewing.
Flattering flatness
In fact, it's in flat-o-vision where the LX903 excels, as it's capable of delivering a very natural-looking, cinematic HD picture. With the Warm 2 setting engaged (which our tech labs measured at 7,000K), Flight of the Phoenix on Blu-ray offered true, but never over-saturated colours, solid black levels and sharp, well detailed images.
All this helps the Sony achieve a sense of depth. Dedicated tweakers can get a 6,500K white point via the 'Advanced' menu.
One picture mode that should be avoided with BD is 'Vivid'. Not only does this ramp up colours to an unrealistic level, it also engages Sony's Motionflow technology. I found this worked very well – too well, actually, smoothing motion to such an extent that film characters seem to be sliding around on ice skates. Not a good look, unless you're watching Slap Shot...
Meanwhile, television content delivered by the screen's own Freeview tuner did cause a bit of a shock. BBC News 24 in standard def isn't necessarily the kind of channel you'll want to see blown up to this size. Thankfully, the three high-definition channels in the Freeview roster are far better.
If you're thinking of investing in this set, I'd advise feeding it an HD-heavy diet. As the pinnacle of Sony's current flatscreen range, the LX903 comes armed to the teeth with extra features. These include: the aforementioned Motionflow (here in the 200Hz Pro guise); 2D to 3D conversion (a novelty, but nothing more); the impressively well-stocked Bravia Internet Video service; Bravia Internet Widgets; integrated Wi-Fi ; the XMB interface and playback of media files over USB or a network.
The screen also ships with two pairs of the brand's TDG-BR100 3D glasses, which are reasonably comfortable. Combine that with the 60in screen and the much improved build quality over the HX models and you have an impressive package.
It's not going to topple Samsung's UE55C9000 as our current dream LED TV, but it comes in at half the price, which may very well make all the difference to you.
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Defence Secretary calls for Medal of Honor boycott
Britain's Defence Secretary has called for UK retailers to boycott the forthcoming version of EA's Medal of Honour game in order to "show their support for the armed forces."Gamers will be given the option of playing as the Taliban in the latest version of Medal of Honor, which is what seems to have caused such upset over in Westminster.
Thoroughly un-British
Conservative Defence Secretary Liam Fox issued a statement about EA's forthcoming game, noting that:
"At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. It's shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban against British soldiers.
"I am disgusted and angry. It's hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product."
EA is refusing to accept such calls for it to change the content of its new Medal of Honor, issuing the following response:
"The format of the new Medal of Honor game merely reflects the fact that every conflict has two sides. We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Nobody who plays video games is going to be shocked or surprised by this.
"Most of us have been doing this since we were seven: someone plays the cop, someone must be robber."
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Apple investigates tech to detect jailbreakers
A recently published patent filed by Apple back in February 2010 appears to cover new technologies that would allow the company to detect and circumvent 'jailbroken' iPhones.Apple's patent is entitled "Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device," and would help to protect the company from jailbreakers and other hacks to the iPhone.
Jailbreaking iPhones was recently deemed to be perfectly legal, according to the US Library of Congress.
Identifying the jailbreakers
Apple's patent application describes the identification of "hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of a SIM card" so that the company can take action against the user.
Apple is presenting the patent as a move to protect registered iPhone users from thieves and unauthorised users of their mobile.
"Access to sensitive information such as credit card information, social security numbers, banking information, home addresses, or any other delicate information can be prohibited," notes the application.
"In some embodiments, the sensitive information can be erased from the electronic device. For example, the sensitive information can be erased directly after an unauthorized user is detected."
A remote 'kill switch'?
However, concerned jailbreakers are pointing towards the following section of the patent application, which says:
"An activity that can detect an unauthorized user can be any action that may indicate the electronic device is being tampered with by being, for example, hacked, jailbroken, or unlocked.
"'Jailbreaking' of an electronic device can generally refer to tampering with the device to allow a user to gain access to digital resources that are normally hidden and protected from users.
"'Unlocking' of a cellular phone can generally refer to removing a restriction that 'locks' a cellular phone so it may only be used in specific countries or with specific network providers.
"Thus, in some embodiments, an unauthorized user can be detected if it is determined that the electronic device is being jailbroken or unlocked."
Slightly more worrying, Apple's planned responses to the identification of a jailbroken iPhone might include remote activation of the iPhone's camera, with a geo-tagged image uploaded to a server.
Or it might transmit data from the phone to a server and then wipe it from the iPhone – what some refer to as a 'kill switch' – a worryingly Orwellian method of a company looking to control how its customers use its products, should it turn out to ever be implemented.
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British woman breaks texting record
A British woman has smashed the world record for texting, using Samsung's Swype technology to breeze to victory. After typing the phrase 'the razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human' in 25.94 seconds, Melissa Thompson was effusive about Swype.
Shock and awe
''It's a real shock to find out that I'm the fastest texter in the world," she said. "But using Swype helped. Everyone should give it a go and see how easy it is.''
Which will presumably keep her in free Samsung phones for the rest of her life.
Thompson was using a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone, and she knocked a whopping 9.6 seconds off of the previous record by an American.
The Guinness Book of World Records has yet to ratify the record.
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Kodak Playtouch pocket camcorder announced
Kodak has announced the Playtouch video camera – a pocket camcorder that boasts 1080p recording and a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen. The Kodak Playtouch offers on-camera editing and easy share options along with LCD glare shield and an external microphone jack.
"Kodak has firmly established itself as a leader in the digital pocket video camera space since introducing its line in 2008, and continues to be one of the most highly rated and recommended in this category," said Phil Scott, Vice President of Marketing, Digital Capture and Devices, Kodak.
Innovative and intuitive
"We're committed to providing our consumers with innovative and intuitive products that satisfy their needs.
"Whether it's a night out on the town with friends or your child's school play, the KODAK Playtouch Video Camera makes capturing and sharing your favourite moments simple and fun."
We're still chasing a UK release date and price, but it's arriving in the 'Fall' in the US and priced at $230 – which translated into English means it will be after Autumn for Britain and probably cost around £150.
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Microsoft sees Kinect on PC as 'a possibility'
Microsoft has told CVG that it sees the use of Kinect motion control technology as a 'possibility' for PC gaming.Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios, also thinks that Kinect's potential for "widespread applications" outside of gaming has not yet been fully realised or developed.
In addition to such numerous potential uses across other entertainment industries such as film and music, Kinect may also work with mobile phones in the future, according to Tsunoda.
Kinect on the PC
Asked directly if Kinect would soon come to the PC, Tsunoda replied:
"We're very focused on Kinect for the Xbox, and launching that. I think it's cool though - and this is just from me - I've been in the video game industry for a while now, and I know that in the games industry lots of times we'll take things from other industries and bring it into games.
Warming to his theme, the Microsoft game studios boss continued: "We take stuff from movies, or take technology from PCs and put it into games, and Kinect really is the first time that the video game industry is pioneering something that I really think has widespread application outside of just video games.
"So, hypothetically, if I worked at a company that didn't only make games, but also did things with PCs and phones, I think there could probably be some possibility that the tech might get used in other places. But, at least for now, [Microsoft is] focused on Kinect for Xbox."
Microsoft plans to launch Kinect worldwide later in November.
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Rape claim against Wikileaks' founder withdrawn
A warrant for the arrest of WikiLeaks' founder, Julian Assange was issued in Sweden last Friday by a Swedish prosecutor following allegations of rape.Strangely, the Swedish authorities then withdrew the warrant less than a day later, claiming that there was actually not enough evidence to support it.
Dirty tricks?
Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the authority, told the Associated Press: "The prosecutor who took over the case yesterday had more information, and that is why she made a different assessment than the on-call prosecutor."
Assange remains under suspicion of "molestation," yet, for his part, suspects that is connected to a "dirty tricks" campaign on behalf of the Pentagon.
This follows on from Wikileak's recently issuing hundreds of confidential files pertaining to the war in the middle east recently. The release of these war documents by WikiLeaks has been seen as one of the worst ever breaches of military information for the US.
Quoted in a Swedish tabloid, the Wikileaks' founder said: "I don't know who's behind this but we have been warned that for example the Pentagon plans to use dirty tricks to spoil things for us."
While the WikiLeaks's official Twitter account added: "We were told to expect 'dirty tricks.' Now we have the first one."
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In Depth: The many faces of in-game advertising
As gamers we're easily hypnotised by swish. When a game engine manages to make the real world look rubbish in comparison to a 3D tree, our eyes well up like we're witnessing dawn's rays rising across the ziggurats of Machu Piccu. Games have a long history of mimicking reality and making games that look and feel like realistic environments are key goals for many developers wanting to immerse the player in their worlds.
Ignore for a moment honest physics, expressive facial animation, even the vast, open world of GTA 4 and the GPU shredding graphics of Crysis, because one other area where reality has seeped into games is the wall-to-wall coating of real-world products and ads in games.
For over three decades game developers have combined forces with advertising agencies and commercial brands to create games that have incorporated a plethora of ads from billboards, movie ads and mascots to in-game products and brand-hyping posters to your local polygonal neighbourhood.
These in-game ads have made game environments as commercially important to big corporations peddling their 'shiny new thing' as real ads, and naturally gamers have taken notice of the growth.
Space, I'm lovin' it
With enough promotional material from Pepsi, McDonalds, AXE Deodorant, Adidas and T-mobile to fill out a prop quota for an American sitcom, in-game adverts (IGAs) have developed a reputation for shamelessly commercialising games.
But since their inception thirty years ago, IGAs have changed in tone and style alongside the games themselves, and modernised almost as dramatically as graphics have in that time. Which begs the question, are IGAs as much a commercial coup as they were decades ago?
Step back just a few years to 1979 and we see product placement at its earliest. There she was, Atari's Lunar Lander, wretchedly archaic to us now. It was a bleeping, blooping coin-op game to be played on a single, hulking arcade cabinet. And even though Atari had no specific relationship with advertisers during its development, these days it's widely considered the first game to incorporate a corporate brand.
In this case it used McDonalds as its reference of choice. The game provided an Easter egg that allowed your astronaut to leave his ship to buy a Big Mac at a hidden McDonalds when you land on just the right spot. Lunar Lander followed the classic arcade tradition that fine-tuned gameplay to create compulsive titles that hooked arcade players into repeat plays, and this genre became the very first platform for true in-game adverts, which were seen throughout the early 1980s.
Pepsi is funded by martians (maybe)
It is astounding to realise that the corporate world had started kneading its bejewelled knuckles into game design at a time when games were struggling to make objects look round let alone recognisable.
Pac-Man had just been released on the Atari 2600, and so had Sinistar; the games industry was still in its infancy at this point. But alongside the arcades was a new genre of game: the adver-game.
One of the earliest examples had come out of a partnership between Coca Cola and Atari, with both companies pooling their expertise to create the Space Invaders clone, Pepsi Invaders. In a stroke of marketing genius worthy of The Apprentice, the game replaced all invading aliens with the letters 'P', 'E', 'P', 'S' and 'I' and added a command ship in the form of a Pepsi logo, followed by the words 'Coke Wins'.
These words would flash repeatedly on the screen once you destroyed its commercial rivals, presumably to counteract the effects of the Pepsi Challenge Pepsi Invaders had been commissioned specifically for a 1983 sales convention and it was a hefty piece of marketing that had more to do with strategic advertisement than it did game development. But this was the nature of the adver-game: a genre wading in corporate imagery and built largely to sell breakfast cereal and bargainpriced soft drinks.
The eighties were riddled with adver-games, and that trickled out into the nineties too. Pepsi Invaders was quickly followed by similarly heavy handed promotional video games that featured the likes of Johnson & Johnson's Tooth Protector and Kool-Aid's human pitcher of juice, the Kool-Aid Man.
That was followed by 7 Up's Cool Spot on the Mega Drive and Cheetos' Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool on SNES.
Volvo: Need for Tweed
Today few modern brands bother to continue the traditions of adver-games because of the difficulty of finding an accepting market. The classically-styled adver-game has been crossed off the list of relevant genres and relegated to the ranks of interactive banner ads and free CD giveaways wedged in your mailbox.
It's only natural that modern adver-games in the vein of Pepsi Invaders are rarer finds on PCs and consoles as society, as a whole, has become more adept at blocking the messages they attempt to peddle.
There are always exceptions, and in 2003 Volvo made a go of it with their Xbox release Drive for Life. Burnout: Paradise It Ain't. Drive for Life was a pseudo-simulator designed for the sole purpose of marinating users in the brand's core value: car safety. The game challenged you with such tasks as moose-avoidance and the mouthwatering objective 'avoid pile-ups'.
Beyond the problems of developing a game that can actually compete in a market that expects the cutting edge, the real difficulty is finding gamers who have been clamouring for a good 4-door hatchback racer. Anyone?
Deodorant for the covert op in you
These days modern games embrace a level of subtlety that wasn't required twenty or thirty years ago. We're a street-smart bunch, we sniff out the heavy-handed promotional rubbish they throw at us, and both developers and ad agencies alike have learned to cater to this.
The next logical alternatives came in the form of static and dynamic in-game ads. Both kinds of adverts could be incorporated into a game's environment and placed in a natural setting. It was a slightly more subtle approach to promoting brands, and in some instances they actually helped to create an authentic-looking setting for the game.
An early example of this kind of advertising can be found in 1992's FIFA International Soccer, a game that featured a football field decorated with Adidas banners.
Similarly, 2005's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory slid in an enormous, glowing neon AXE billboard into the New York mission. Players, controlling Sam Fisher, had to zap the AXE sign with their EMP pistol to get to a strategically placed zipline undetected, which led on to an adjacent building.
Both of these were static in-game advertisements insofar as they were put into the game and could not be changed on the fly. But dynamic ads let developers and ad agencies create advertisements that could be modified at any time, allowing campaigns to be promoted depending on their relevance at the time.
If a film needed promoting for a November release date then it could be done, and it could be pulled a month later when its promotion was no longer necessary.
In-game ad networks, such as Massive, IGA and Extent made dealing with in-game ads almost as apple-pie simple as churning out a web banner for your website by including a string of code in the upcoming title that let networks stream ads from their servers when the game was released.
The upside to this for the networks and game developers has been that they have avoided hard-coding an advert into a game for a single product that might not be relevant in six months' time and, in theory, offer a supply of relevant and up to date ads.
The downside, of course, has been that the products have often been completely unrelated to the game, which has sometimes prompted a gloriously ranty horde of gamers to headbut down the door of irrelevant ad peddlers in response – or prompted a Penny Arcade comic strip.
See your ad here
Recent IGA trends have led gamers into a tight corner. On the one hand these adverts rarely take anything away from gameplay; an IGA often will show up as a billboard on the side of the highway or a relatively innocuous poster and only exist in-game as a petulant eyesore on the worst of days.
On the other hand launching ads that are consistently suitable for any game and genre is highly unlikely, and combining a game with an ill-fitting ad provides a bucket of cold water for any gamer seeking an escape from everyday reality through a game world.
A billboard flashing an ad for Motorola might fit in the backdrop of Times Square in True Crime: New York City, but we're not always so lucky. In 2005, SWAT 4, a tactical shooter not known for wising cracks, included a promotional campaign for the Canadian animated sci-fi comedy Tripping the Rift for US players. While the game tried to convey the tense experience of leading a five-man team around a serial killer's lair and coping with realistic firearm protocols, ad posters for a comedy show peppered the walls. Surreal maybe, but also a great way to shatter the atmosphere.
Similarly, the MMOFPS Planetside, a game that took place one thousand years in the future featured posters promoting the premiere of Rob Schneider film Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.
Ads saved the videogame
However IGAs don't always hinder a game, in fact they help pay for the big titles. With the current cost of cranking out good AAA games, ad revenues at least offer the possibility of offsetting initial costs. Costs so high you'll feel a bit ill.
Gone are the days when a developer could turn out an MMO for eight million dollars. The current poster boy, Modern Warfare 2 cost between $40 to $50m to produce and even after 12 million copies sold, the publisher wasn't guaranteed a profit. It has subsequently bounced back with a hefty $381m net profit for the first quarter for this year, but from a commercial standpoint, IGAs offer publishers a much needed cheque after years of production costs.
And likewise, the gaming industry has grown as a leading player in commercial entertainment. The work put into shoehorning brand names into games is evidence of the mainstream's acceptance of games as both a steadfast medium and competitor, as opposed to a simple novelty.
And with TV demographics drifting since the early noughties, advertising agencies all want to reach the 18 to 34 year-old, couch-bound male demographic. As we've seen with the internet, television and radio before that, games are being shaped into commercial spaces, although it's not necessarily a commercial takeover.
And that's because from a creative standpoint, the revenue taken from adverts can help to recover some of the costs put into creating games, giving development teams more leeway to take risks for the sake of experimentation and new innovative gameplay.
But more than that, it can offer a very helpful hand to smaller independent companies. It's a land of pirates out there in the commercial market, pirates and cheapskates. With the ease of downloading it can be hard for some to find the incentive to cough up the 30 or so quid for a top-class AAA game. But for an independent company already trying to avoid sickeningly high developing costs, pirated downloads can be crippling.
Traditionally this has been dealt with through dear ol' DRM, that's used various means, some more controversial (*cough* Ubi *cough*) than others to impose limitations on how game content can be accessed.
Security guru, Bruce Schneier once described attempts to make files uncopyable "like trying to make water less wet". Maybe then, ad revenues are the lesser evil that could be the far less tedious and cumbersome alternative for gamers and a way for developers to off-set their losses?
Thirty years in and IGAs are still a work in progress, but in their current form they have the potential to offer us DRM-free games – as well as a burger and a side of fries.
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Review: Vivitek H5080
Taiwanese brand Vivitek has hit the ground running in its recent bid to conquer the UK projector market, having already impressed us with both a strong sub-£1,000 budget model and a spectacular £10k three-LED flagship variant, labelled the H9080FD. So we're intrigued to be looking at a mid-range model, the H5080, which is well built and glossy enough to avoid any accusations of ugliness, thanks to the symmetrically mounted lens.
But it is chunky. Its connectivity is unexpectedly good, though, thanks chiefly to its provision of not two, but three HDMis. The H5080 also handily provides two 12V trigger outputs, and both RS232 and USB ports to help the projector integrate properly into a wider home cinema installation.
These latter connectors could help the H5080 become a favourite with custom installers seeking an inexpensive but flexible big-screen option.
With this in mind, Vivitek also makes four different lens options for this lightbox, with one short and two long-throw options available, plus the standard mid-throw affair. Other handy setup tricks include very responsive horizontal and vertical image shifting, with straightforward manual zoom and focus rings around the lens.
Vivacious colour
The H5080 continues to offer good picture flexibility in its onscreen menus. There's a decent colour management system, for instance, plus a series of sensibly calibrated picture presets, plenty of gamma setting options, an auto-contrast 'DynamicBlack' system delivering a claimed 25,000:1 contrast ratio, plus Vivitek's 'ViviSettings' in-house video processing system.
The latter includes motion compensation processing, sharpness fine-tuning, and a Flesh tone setting that provides a quintet of 'base' skin colour options. Unfortunately, none of the settings actually benefit the H5080's pictures and, in many ways, actually make them worse.
This is particularly true of the ViviMotion system, which consistently generates unwanted side effects. Happily, with ViviSettings turned off, the H5080's pictures are really very good.
Particularly pleasing, given that the H5080 uses single-chip DLP technology, is how little the projector suffers from the rainbow effect, even during particularly challenging sequences such as the opening credits of Alien, where bright lettering sits atop dark backgrounds.
Making this all the more impressive is the fact that the 'gap' between the peak whites of the titles and the deep blacks of space is extremely wide, thanks to the machine's startling ability to paint rich, black colours within the same frame as bright whites and colours.
The H5080 also produces a very intense colourscape, with vibrant, punchy saturations during bright and dark scenes alike. Critically, though, these well-saturated colours seldom, if ever, tip over into looking forced.
With HD material, the lightbox produces a likeably sharp, detailed picture. Certainly rival projectors at the H5080's level, such as Epson's TW4400 and JVC's DLA-HD550, can deliver a crisper, more forensic HD experience. But we suspect some tastes might prefer the H5080's slightly softer scrutiny. The H5080 upscales SD material quite effectively, too, if you have to watch this from time to time!
Our complaints are few, but we must say it does run more loudly than we'd like, with Vivitek's 27dB claim feeling a tad conservative. And the pictures contain slightly more video noise than those of its best non-DLP rivals, too, with greenish grey dotting visible during dark scenes and an occasional slight fizzing to expanses of rich colour.
Finally, the H5080 doesn't run quite brightly enough after calibration to reproduce as much shadow detail as some rivals, though you might argue that its black level depth sufficiently compensates for this.
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In Depth: How to speed up your old Mac
Perhaps you bought your Mac more than five years ago; if so, you're likely lusting over the newer models and their impressive specifications. But a new Mac doesn't have to be the answer if you want to improve performance or make use of the latest software that demands higher requirements. A few simple hardware upgrades could offer an inexpensive way to boost performance and elevate your Mac to a more up-to-date state.
The first thing you need to find out is what upgrades are available for your specific machine. If you're a Mac Pro or PowerMac user, pop off the side of the casing for easy access when adding or replacing hard drives, new RAM or even new optical drives, such as DVD and Blu-Ray.
More advanced upgrades include swapping the processor, although this is a job best left to the professionals.
More compact Macs like the iMac and Mac mini have easily upgradeable RAM chips, but things become a little more complex if you want to swap drives or processors, due to the design of the computers and their tightly packed parts.
Laptops suffer the same upgrade issues, with only RAM and, in some cases, the hard drive being readily accessible. More difficult-to-access parts are best left alone or in the hands of a trained professional.
Ramp up your ram
Upgrading your Mac's RAM is one of the most effective and easiest upgrades to perform. Installing more RAM speeds up your Mac's performance by assigning more data to the chips and relying less on the hard disk, which makes launching and switching between apps quicker, avoiding the spinning beach ball.
Most systems provide a convenient hatch for you to remove and slot RAM into, however older computers may require you to remove a portion of the casing in order to gain access. Early iMac G5 models, for example, require you to remove the rear of the computer in order to locate the RAM slots, but the latest 27-inch models provide a small bay underneath the screen that can be opened using a screwdriver, with no need to open the whole computer up.
Mac minis are similarly simple to open and swap RAM, as are Mac Pros and PowerMacs. MacBooks, iBooks and PowerBooks all differ, with some requiring the keyboard to be removed. while others allow access via the battery bay beneath the laptop. Full instructions on replacing RAM for your chosen system can be found in the manual that came with your Mac and also online at www.apple.com/support.
Before you head out to buy your RAM there are a number of things you need to research to ensure compatibility. First you will need to know the maximum amount of RAM your Mac supports, as it's not a simple case of bigger is better with every model, especially older machines.
You'll also need to know what type of RAM your Mac uses and how many slots your computer has. Once you have this information, you can calculate how much RAM you need to buy and in what formation.
Older Macs normally offer two slots; more recent models have four and accept different amounts of RAM per slot. By default, an older Mac will likely have two small RAM chips in two slots, such as two 256MB chips for a total of 500MB of RAM; newer machines will have two larger chips, such as a pair of 2GB chips for a total of 4GB.
It is possible to mix and match chips if you're using a machine with two RAM slots, but it's best to replace both chips in a process called pairing, which will improve performance.
Again, information on compatible chips for your computer can be found by searching Apple's support pages, where you will also find available configurations to help you decide on the RAM you need to buy. To make things easier for DIY upgraders, websites like Crucial.com help you find the right RAM by asking you questions about your Mac or by scanning your system.
Drive dilemmas
Beyond RAM, available hard disk space also plays a large part in the speed of your computer. Macs make use of free hard drive space as virtual memory, so the more of it there is available, the more it can use. It's a good idea to keep at least one quarter of your total drive space free for this purpose but, with smaller hard drives found in older Mac's or laptops plus ever-growing media libraries, it's not always an easy thing to do.
In order to make more space available there are a couple of options open to you. The first doesn't involve any dissection of your system but merely the purchase of an external hard drive. If you have a giant iPhoto library or collection of music and movies, off-loading your media to your new disk could free up valuable gigabytes on your main hard drive and improve speed.
Alternatively, you could replace your existing hard drive which, depending on your Mac model, isn't always as scary as it sounds.
PowerMac and Mac Pro users have the option to add an additional hard drive into one of the available bays, whereas all other Mac users will have to perform the slightly fiddly task of replacing their existing drive.
The cost of storage, both internal and external, has dropped dramatically in recent years and for under £100 you can pick up a 1TB hard drive to double, if not triple the storage space on your existing hard drive.
Copying data across
The first thing you need to do when opting for this method is to make a copy of your original hard drive in order to transfer it to your new disk. This can be done using a FireWire connection to another Mac, an external hard drive or a variety of applications, such as SuperDuper! which creates a clone of your hard drive, ready to be copied to your new drive.
Once you have your files securely backed up, the choice of drive and the process of upgrading is, once again, dependent on your Mac model. Apple's support pages will offer all you need to know about the upgrade options available, as well as the dimensions of the drive you need to buy.
Most desktop Macs use 3.5-inch SATA hard drives, while laptops use 2.5- inch versions. If you're in any doubt, some retailers have sections of their website dedicated to selecting the right drive for your computer.
As an alternative to a standard hard drive, a larger cash outlay will provide you with a solid-state drive that uses less power and is far faster than a traditional drive. Capacity and cost are the compromise here, with a 128GB drive costing around £200 or more.
If, however, a solid-state drive is compatible with your Mac, the performance boost is worth investigating.
While hardware is a significant factor, it's not the only cause of sub-par performance from your Mac. There are a variety of settings and applications that can make even simple tasks take an aeon to complete.
A lot of the time you won't even know these resource-draining apps or processes are running until you start wondering why a task that once took seconds now leaves you twiddling your thumbs for minutes.
Changing the way your Mac boots up, which applications you leave running and which you keep closed until needed will make a big difference to your Mac's performance and won't cost you a penny either.
Limiting login items
The first place to investigate is your Mac's System Preferences pane, which can be a stronghold for system sappers if you don't keep on top of things. Start by heading to the Accounts section and clicking on the Login Items tab.
The list that appears includes all of the software that launches when your Mac boots up. Do you really need all of them to fire up automatically and begin eating away at your precious RAM? Did you even know half of them were there in the first place?
The cunning checkbox next to each name hides an application at startup so you won't see the app launch, but it will still sit in the background slowing things down without you even realising. During installation, some applications add themselves to this list automatically when they really don't need to be there, so simply click on the app's name and then click the minus button to remove the app from your startup items.
Of course, there are some apps, such as antivirus tools, that you might want running from the get-go, so think carefully before removing an app from the startup list.
Punishing preferences
Moving back to the main System Preferences pane, take a look at what appears in the Other section. This is where third-party, non-Apple apps find a home for their preferences and, again, rarely ask your permission to set up camp.
You'll likely spot a few apps that you use all the time, but perhaps there are some that you rarely use or installed as a one-off and they are now merely wasting space and potential speed. If you're lucky, the app's preference pane will include an uninstall button but, more often than not, they don't. In this case, simply hold down the Ctrl key or right-click on the pane you want to remove and then click the Remove Preference Pane button.
This not only removes the pane from System Preferences but also the prefPane file from your Mac's hard disk, so double-check that it's not an essential item before removing it entirely.
Resource hogs
Preventing apps from launching automatically is one thing but, of course, you do need to run them sometime, so it's always handy to know which software demands the most attention from your system.
Launching Activity Monitor (via the Applications folder or Spotlight) while you're running a bunch of programs will tell you the exact percentage of your CPU being used by each. You can also sort the list of processes by CPU percentage so the most draining apps appear at the top, and you can also see how much real and virtual memory each process is using.
The list constantly changes as each application requests more processing power, but you can build up a pretty decent picture of the apps that ask a lot of your Mac and close them down quickly between uses. Apple's own iTunes is, sadly, still quite a memory hog, as is Microsoft Office, so make sure you close them each time you're done before moving on to new tasks.
As we mentioned before, some apps need to be run constantly and, as a result, frequently demand a portion of your Mac's available memory and CPU. Even so, investigate whether limiting options are available, such as scanning the system less frequently or setting backups to run when you're not using your Mac.
When Apple introduced Mac OS X Tiger, everybody loved the new Dashboard feature with its clever little widgets. This euphoria managed to hide the fact that these Dashboard widgets, especially those created by third parties, are essentially a bunch of little apps that are constantly running, often accessing the web for data, and launch whenever your computer is turned on.
Jump into your Dashboard and see how many widgets you currently have running and then limit yourself to the essentials, using the Widget Manager (the plus sign) to disable the rest. You might be surprised at the speed bump you get.
Clear out your apps
Cunning tips for speeding up your Mac may make a world of difference, but there's a tried-and-tested method for sprucing up your system that has worked on almost every computer ever made and still works today – deleting unwanted apps.
It's all too easy to spot an interesting bit of free software, download it and then forget about it, or to try out a bunch of new web browsers, decide on one and leave the rest languishing in your Applications folder, wasting space.
Space isn't the only problem here either, since when each application installs it spills out a whole mess of preferences and support files into different directories on your Mac, meaning simply deleting the application itself won't remove them.
Where possible, use the app's uninstall option or try out App Zapper which quickly and effectively clears out any reference to an application on your Mac, including all its related files dotted around your system. The basic version of the app is available for free and can get rid of unwanted software in a single click.
Keep OS X lean & mean
So far we've covered upgrading your system, cutting down on resource-hogging apps and freeing up space on your drive, but there are a few more bits of housekeeping left to guarantee a smooth-running Mac.
As well as some very simple rules to adhere to, we've also included some more drastic solutions if you're looking for the ultimate in Mac detoxification.
Desktop icons
Kicking off with a simple one, did you know that every icon on your desktop uses system resources? That's right, even that folder with nothing in it that you keep meaning to delete is sucking up valuable bytes. Everybody knows the value of a tidy desktop but not everyone realises that it could improve your Mac's performance as well.
Try to keep desktop icons to a minimum and use the Finder's preferences to prevent Mac OS X showing hard disks, external disks, CDs, DVDs and iPods or connected servers on your desktop. Obviously, a completely clean desktop is best but a few essential icons won't hurt.
And while we're on the topic of very simple tips, when did you last empty your trash? It seems crazy to think this could make much of a difference but if you don't clear out the trash on a regular basis you can soon rack up hundreds of megabytes hanging in limbo waiting for their demise, all of which are wasting valuable space.
Make sure you at least empty the trash at the end of each day to avoid an unwanted build-up of throwaway files.
Ask permission
Hidden away in the Utilities folder, within your Mac's Applications folder, is a little app called Disk Utility. You may have used it before for restoring or formatting drives, but it also offers a pair of useful tools to keep your Mac in tip-top shape, namely the Verify and Repair Disk Permissions options.
Over time, these permissions can become confused as you install new software, leading your Mac to slow down and, in some cases, prevent apps from launching at all. While it sounds like a complex task, repairing permissions is a very simple process.
Clicking the Repair Disk Permissions button is all you need to do; then wait as Disk Utility does all the work. Any permissions that aren't as they should be are made right and your system should purr along nicely after this quick but effective fix that should only take around five minutes to complete.
Switch off non-essentials
Apple includes some great features in its operating systems, but some do push slower Macs a little too far and therefore need to be tweaked in order to maintain system harmony.
One such feature is Spotlight, the handy search tool that sits at the top-right of your Mac's screen and finds files, folders and applications for you in a flash. In order to work this fast, Spotlight needs to continuously index your Mac's hard drive so it knows where everything is at all times. As a result, it takes up memory and accesses the disk while it does this.
If you head to Spotlight from the System Preferences pane you can stop Spotlight indexing categories of files and folders that you don't want to search for and in doing so can prevent quite so much work from going on in the background.
The Dock is another pretty but unnecessarily draining OS X feature that can be customised in order to free up a few resources. Turning off Magnification, changing the Minimize setting to Scale effect rather than Genie effect and unchecking the Animate opening applications box in System Preferences should offer a small but important performance boost to older Macs.
Let's face it, they might look good, but what do these little animations really do other than slow you down?
Stay up to date
If you're using an older Mac, you may not be able to enjoy all of the performance enhancing goodness of Snow Leopard, but Apple hasn't forgotten about you just yet. Apple still releases software updates for older Macs and their software – even for PowerPC machines – and installing them will bolster your ageing Mac's performance to the best of its ability.
The same is true of the applications you have installed and the drivers for your printers, scanners and other software. Make sure they're all up to date to keep them running smoothly and free of bugs that are often ironed out with updates.
You can access Software Update from the Apple menu at the top-left of your screen; it checks for new updates when clicked. If nothing seems to be working for you or you're after the most drastic solution possible to enhance your Mac's performance, this is it. Wipe your Mac and start over again (we said it was drastic).
The benefit of performing this sweeping move is that all of the clutter, the erroneous files and the CPU-munching background tasks are wiped out, leaving you with a Mac as virginal and pure as the day you bought it. The downside, obviously, is that you'll have to reinstall all of your software, find a place to store your music, movies and photos and re-home all of your important documents while you refresh the system.
You can make a clone of your system, but you're essentially just putting the same old clutter back onto a clean machine. It's a far better plan to simply cherry-pick the essential items you need to keep and start afresh.
So there you have it – a selection of ways in which you can speed up your Mac, regardless of its age, and claw back some extra disk space while you're at it.
However, in the style of Steve Jobs, there is 'one more thing' you should remember to do at least once per week to keep your Mac running at its best. Restart. Yes, we've saved the simplest tip for last, but it's a magical technique that, thanks to the Mac's Sleep settings, is all too easy to forget.
Shutting down and rebooting is a rejuvenating process for your Mac that allows it to clear out the memory. Given how far we've come in terms of technology, it's funny, perhaps reassuring, to think that the old 'turn it off and on again' trick remains a proven solution to this day.
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Review: Panasonic DMR-BW880 Blu-ray recorder
Steve Jobs may have dismissed Blu-ray, but when it comes to watching and archiving HD movies, IP delivery and hard-disk storage have some way to go before they can match the convenience and efficiency of optical media. And for the significant, but niche, group of enthusiasts who like to archive either TV broadcasts or their own digital home video recordings, a Blu-ray/PVR combi is the ultimate living room recorder, especially when it has dual Freeview HD tuners.
A couple of years ago, Panasonic bestowed a brace of Blu-ray recorders on the world with its Freesat models, so it was no surprise when the 500GB DMR-BW880 and 320GB DMR-BW780 recently rode in to town on the coat tails of Freeview HD.
When Freesat launched it was hampered by copy restrictions that prevented ITV HD shows from being archived. Happily, this situation is not an encumbrance to Freeview, as present rules allow BBC HD broadcasts to be copied on to Blu-ray multiple times, while those from ITV and C4 may be copied once (and you can make further limitless standard-definition copies).
Considering how cutting-edge the DMR-BW880 is under the hood the box itself looks somewhat bland. The fascia is split into two dropdown panels; one hides the optical disc drive, the other, through which the LED display shines, reveals some basic transport control buttons, composite video/stereo phonos and inputs for DV, SD card and USB.
With Top Up TV now offering Sky Sports, the absence of a CI slot could prove critical for sports fans. The front edge of the otherwise nondescript top is festooned with 14 barely visible badges such as AVCHD, GuidePlus+ and DTS-HD MA, with the Freeview+ HD, DVB and Gracenote logos getting full prominence on the front right panel.
The latter has significance for anyone likely to use the BW880 as a music server; the hard disk can store 40,000 tracks and has a folder structure similar to an MP3 player with artist, album, playlist, favourite and random options.
Despite charging a princely sum for the BW880, Panasonic doesn't provide any built-in flash memory, and to enjoy BD-Live you need to supply your own 1GB SD card.
The company did at least find room for both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. All common video formats can be output, with the exception of component video. Up and running It takes some time to get to grips with the BW880.
If, like me, you take the plug 'n' play approach before reading the 120-page instruction manual, you'll be pleased to know that the machine tunes itself in and asks you to set basic preferences such as power saving settings.
Within minutes, I was watching BBC 1 and instinctively pressed the okay button on the remote to access the channel list. No programme info is provided here but scrolling up and down and selecting a channel is reassuringly fast.
Considering Panasonic's deck is such a complex beast, both the menu system and remote control are well laid out, and the latter deserves special praise. It's a nice size, has good ergonomics and colour coding, not to mention the fact that all the vital functions are easily and logically accessed.
One key button allows you to switch between the HDD, BD, USB and SD drives. For the most part Panasonic's user interface works very well, but, like the box itself, it looks dated and not nearly as slick as those used by the likes of LG and Samsung.
Even more offensive, though, is the GuidePlus+ sponsored Freeview EPG, which carries poster adverts that even Gene Hunt would find archaic. Advertising has its place, but the EPG page isn't one of them.
Another annoyance about the EPG is that you entirely loose the picture and sound of the current broadcast. The EPG shows seven channels in two-hour segments and you can switch between list and grid view. You can filter by genre, but not according to definition type (HD or SD), and you can directly view the channel or set a recording timer, including series link.
The EPG does tell you if a show in standard definition is also available in HD, and you can pad out recordings manually or change the title. Banner info when watching a live TV broadcast shows Now and Next descriptions, whether it's HD or not, as well as what the audio format is and what else is being recorded at that time.
All TV shows are recorded in DR (direct record) mode using the same bitrate (8Mbps for HD, 4Mbps for SD) as the original, to the hard disk. The 500GB HDD has a handy 130-hour HD capacity.
Performance
The HD Freeview tuner is first rate. The BBC Make Up Department should take note: the orange line across Gary Lineker's forehead has never seemed so obvious!
Image clarity and detail are a match for Sky HD and any other Freeview HD tuners. Standard-def pictures are also excellent, especially if you set the output to 1080p and partner the box with a decent screen.
One caveat is that detail drops-off just a tiny bit with recordings, presumably as a result of re-encoding. On all but the largest of screens it will be barely noticeable, but certainly on a Samsung UE46C8000 I noticed skin tones appeared blotchier. Fortunately, no more detail is lost when recordings are copied on to Blu-ray.
Sonic shortage
Audio clarity is also very good, but the BW880 doesn't output Dolby Digital surround sound. This is because broadcasters use the AAC codec, in order to ensure provision of Audio Description, and the box can't transcode from AAC to DD (few units can, in fact).
When spinning Blu-rays, though, the likes of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA can all be bitstreamed via the HDMI output. The Direct Navigator button on the remote is the gateway to recordings, which are displayed with a thumbnail. You can view shows by genre, as well as those not viewed and AVCHD files archived from your camcorder.
In all modes unviewed shows are flagged up and icons tell you how many Blu-ray copies can be made of HD ITV and C4 programmes. To copy archived material to Blu-ray you might want to convert from DR to HG, a process which is done in real time, but can be done when the machine is in standby. While this lowers the bitrate by around 50 per cent, it's still considered HD.
The reason to do this? Because nowhere in the manual or onscreen does it tell you that if you wish to play a finalised Blu-ray recording in another brand's player you have to convert from DR mode.
A number of useful editing options are available such as chapter marking, splitting, changing the thumbnail and renaming. Blank disc formatting can't be done if the hard disk is recording a show, but after that it's fairly straightforward to select titles for copying, as the Panny walks you through the process of selecting the copy mode and direction and which shows you want.
Despite some rather sluggish disc-loading times, the DMR-BW880 is a very decent Blu-ray deck. The incredible Avatar disc looks clean and pure, as the deck renders plenty of fine detail in Sully's T-shirt and in the bristle of his beard.
Multimedia playback is not as broad as some machines and it oddly refused to show my reference JPEG snaps, but MP3 and DivX HD played back without any problem.
Clearly, the DMR-BW880 won't be everyone's cup of tea, and it bears a price tag commensurate with its early adopter status. But if Blu-ray archive recording from Freeview HD is your bag, this is a highly accomplished machine that comfortably delivers the goods – plus a few others besides.
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