Software Features

First there was the scratchy and hissy shellac 78, rendered obsolete by the improved sound of the 'microgroove' vinyl LP in the mid-1950s. Twenty years later, we had eight-track and cassette alternatives for pre-recorded music on the move – early in-car gear, followed by Sony's Walkman revolution. Recorded music was then taken into the digital realm by CD, but beyond that not a lot has happened to the technical basics of music for most mainstream users. Sure, downloaded music is now a popular option courtesy of iTunes and its ilk, but the vast majority listen at no better than CD quality. Indeed, if you haven't opted for a lossless download format like Apple Lossless or FLAC, and stuck with compression technologies like MP3 and AAC, then it's probably worse.

To celebrate the DVD release of his new documentary, Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide Part Two - Draconian Days, we caught up with filmmaker Jake West to chat about film censorship and moral panic in the UK during the James Ferman era of the British Board of Film Classification...

HCC's ultimate countdown of the 101 best discs around continues below with our Top 20 Blu-rays. Click Part 1 for numbers 101-81, Part 2 for numbers 80-61, Part 3 for numbers 60-41, and Part 4 for numbers 40-21.

HCC's ultimate countdown of the 101 best Blu-ray discs around continues below. Click Part 1 for numbers 101-81 and Part 2 for numbers 80-61.

With movie streaming services becoming bigger and better and even TV manufacturers getting into the content-delivery game, Blu-ray is facing its biggest battle since the days of HD DVD. But if you are thinking of leaving the physical format behind, make sure your get these discs first...

It’s not just video that is getting a resolution update. Audio has also jumped the bandwagon and is now promising an altogether sharper sonic experience. The High-Resolution Audio banner is being unfurled by a growing number of big-name brands, eager to push performance beyond the limitations of the now venerable compact disc.

Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar shot to fame a little over a decade ago with a series high profile gigs for DC Comics and Marvel including The Authority, The Ultimates, Superman: Red Son and Marvel Knights Spider-Man.