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Canada: a land of sweeping mountains, pine forests and ice hockey, where maple syrup rules and giant moose walk the streets. But what the country is becoming increasingly famous for is its rather tasty AV equipment.

The Quick Start guide supplied with Yamaha’s YSP-2200 system concludes with a clear message in bold, overlarge type. It reads: ‘Then have fun for playback!’

A couple of issues back, we brought you our first impressions of Samsung’s flagship UE55D8000 when it arrived too late in the day to run through our Tech Labs. To recap, this is a £2,500 55in edge LED 3D set sporting an insanely thin bezel of just 5mm, plus Samsung’s new Smart TV functionality, which combines a superb new onscreen menu hub (providing instant access to just about every input, app and content source) with a web browser and a much stronger app offering than you got with Samsung’s previous Internet@TV system.

When asked by Sharp if we wanted to audition its 3D projector, we weren’t about to say no, even though the machine hasn’t yet been confirmed for a UK release. Oddly, Sharp is prevaricating about whether there’s a market for a 3D PJ with a retail price of around £4,000. But AV retailers’ shelves aren’t exactly heaving with such items. There’s only Sony’s VPL-VW90ES (£5,400) and a trio of JVC models, ranging in price from £3,500 to £9,500. And that’s currently it.