LATEST ADDITIONS

Televisions
Sharp LC-46LE831E review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Sharp follows the yellow-rich road The brand’s latest offering combines much-improved 3D talents with ‘four-colour’ technology to startlingly good effect, says John Archer

Despite the best efforts of a lab-coated George Takei in Sharp’s ‘Quattron’ TV ad campaign, the brand’s unique four-colour technology hasn’t fired the imagination of Joe Public as much as was hoped.

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Televisions
Toshiba 42RL853 review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Slim pickings Toshiba's 42RL853 is tailor-made for the mainstream, says Steve May. But that doesn't preclude a few surprises

Earlier this year, Toshiba announced a slew of upmarket 3D-ready TVs. Dressed in togas, and liberally invoking the god Bacchus, the brand’s senior executives took over the Italian film set used to make Rome, the BBC/HBO co-production, and proclaimed that a legion of advanced tellyboxes brandishing the banner of its new Toshiba Places online portal, would march on the combined rival armies.

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Projectors
SIM2 LUMIS 3D-S review
Ed Selley  |  Oct 30, 2011  |  0 comments
Ambassador of 3D, you truly spoil us SIM2's latest three-chip DLP projector is a watershed moment in home cinema 3D’s fortunes, reckons John Archer

Despite the AV industry’s best efforts, it seems the public’s interest in domestic 3D may be waning. Indeed, it feels as if the format needs a ‘booster shot’ from some landmark film or product, to re-ignite public enthusiasm.

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Blu-ray
A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection
Anton van Beek  |  Oct 29, 2011  |  0 comments

While the recent remake might have done its best to kill him off for good, Freddy Krueger remains the definitive '80s horror icon and has carved out a place as one of the legendary monsters of cinema. Admittedly, as proven by this collection of the original seven films in the series (only the subsequent crossover hit Freddy vs Jason is missing from Robert Englund's run in the franchise), Freddy's film career has been as hit and miss as they come.

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Games
Dead Island
Anton van Beek  |  Oct 23, 2011  |  0 comments

Despite having been in production for half a decade, the first time most people were made aware of Polish game developer Techland's first-person survival horror title was earlier this year when a dazzling trailer exploded across the internet. Entirely pre-rendered and featuring no in-game footage whatsoever, the trailer was a superb mini-movie that hooked gamers around the world and ended up generating a bit of controversy (about both the lack of in-game footage and the dramatisation of the death of a child) before nabbing an advertising award at this year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

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Blu-ray
The Caller
Anton van Beek  |  Oct 23, 2011  |  0 comments

Despite the presence of actors Rachelle (Twilight) Lefevre and Stephen (True Blood) Moyer in its lead roles, The Caller has nothing to do with creatures of the night with pointy teeth. Instead, Matthew Parkhill's film has more in common with the decade-old sci-fi drama Frequency. But, whereas that film dealt with a son and father connecting across 30 years via a radio link, The Caller has Lafevre's character being bothered by a batty old lady from the past with murder on her mind.

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Books
The Hammer Vault
Anton van Beek  |  Oct 23, 2011  |  0 comments

The last few years have seen an explosion in the growth of so-called Vault publications. These prestige-format coffee-table releases typically take the form of an archive of background info and rare imagery related to a specific company or franchise, and often come accompanied by numerous reproductions of 'artefacts' that fans simply wouldn't be able to get hold of any other way. Or that's how it all started.

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Pro-Install
Home cinema install: Underground retreat
Anton van Beek  |  Oct 20, 2011  |  0 comments

Designing a home cinema installation can be challenging enough, but having to do the work in a short time really sorts the men from the boys. St Albans-based installer FAB Audio Visual won a CEDIA Award for Best Home Cinema under £40,000 for this stunning system, designed for a client who was big on expectation, but short on time.

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Blu-ray
Mimic: Director's Cut - Collector's Edition
Anton van Beek  |  Oct 20, 2011  |  0 comments

Horror films about killer insects are nothing new. Cinema is littered with the broken carapaces of insect invaders, both big and small, that had waged war against mankind. And in 1997 it was the turn of giant genetically-altered cockroaches in Guillermo del Toro's first Hollywood movie.

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DVD
The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season
Anton van Beek  |  Oct 19, 2011  |  0 comments

The slow drip-feed of animated TV sensation The Simpsons on DVD continues with this latest four-disc boxset, collecting together all 22 episodes from the show's 2002-2003 14th season. By this point in the show's life many were already claiming that The Simpsons was past its best, having peaked around seasons six and seven and having been on a downward spiral ever since. But despite some fairly vocal criticism, this particular season was actually one of the show's most critically lauded.

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