Home Theatre - Home Cinema Kits - Latest Articles

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  Panasonic range focuses on 1080p and plasma

  Panasonic has unveiled its 2008 range of televisions and home theatre in Sydney with HD recorders and plasmas high on its priority list.

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  T-Visionarium: Behind the 360 degree 3D cinema

  What do you get when you put two artists and a team of clever techies together in a dark room with a AU$1 million equipment budget? ZDNet.com.au visited the University of New South Wales iCinema centre to find out.

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  Pioneer unveils razor-thin plasma TV

  Pioneer shows off its TV chops at CES, with a 9mm thick bezel and rendering contrast ratios obsolete.

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  Has Blu-ray won the format war?

  The war is over. Well, that's the buzz from CES, where everyone's talking about Warner Bros' suspiciously timed decision to dump HD DVD and become a Blu-ray-only studio.

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  U2 previews unreleased track on Facebook, snubs MySpace?

  Bono has given the creators of Facebook app iLike a sneak preview of U2's upcoming re-release of the Joshua Tree, which will feature previously unreleased tracks.

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  Dolby stakes its claim in 3D movie tech

  The audio stalwart is set to mount a major challenge to pioneer Real D starting in November. How soon before all movies are 3D?

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  The music sales conundrum

  Album sales have slumped since the glory days of the late 80s and early 90s, yet more people are buying music than ever before. What's going on here?

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  MP3s aren't ruining music

  Far from meaning the end of music as we know it, Matt Rosoff argues that MP3s could lead a whole generation to discover new musical lands.

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  Whaddyareckon?: Promo girls

  Long hours, high heels, leering comments; what's the appeal of being a promo girl? In this week's Whaddyareckon? we find out.

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  Photos: T[Life] Melbourne

  Telstra's new T[Life] store in Melbourne is glossy and enormous, and those south-of-the-border should count themselves lucky. Everyone else we bring you a virtual walk through.

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  Microsoft TechFest 2008: A glimpse into the future

  Each year Microsoft holds its Techfest show, an exhibition of some of the research projects it's working on. CNET.com.au went to check out where the future lies.

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  Valentine's Day Gift Guide

  Face it -- roses, chocolates, and yes, diamond rings, have been done before. If you really want to impress your sweetheart, surprise him or her with a tech present that will have them remembering you the whole year through.

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  Ditch the disc: A guide to online music and videos in Australia

  CDs and DVDs are like so 1990s, man. If you're ready to ditch the disc and want to disco over to digital, then check out CNET.com.au's list of the major online media stores in Australia.

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  Photos: CES 2008 starts up

  From Bill Gates' final CES hurrah to Yoko Ono and Wil.i.am, CES launched with a star-studded cast. See the full slide show.

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  Format wars: the tech that should have won

  Did you love Laserdisc? Were you bonkers over Betamax? Do you cry yourself to sleep because BeOS never hit the big time? Fret no more -- superdork Captain Tech is here to travel back in time and save the format losers that should have triumphed.

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  Aussie filmmakers talk high-def

  We took to the Tropfest 2007 red carpet to ask some of the finalists and film industry guests for their thoughts on shooting films in high-definition format.

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  So many home wireless standards, so little time

  A number of wireless technologies are headed for the living room, but with a hodge-podge of differing standards it can get a little too daunting. We take a look at the leaders.

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  CES 2007: Home theatre preview

  Interested in a sneak peek of what's heading our way in the not-so-distant future? Get your dose of home A/V buzz with CNET.com.au's Consumer Electronics Show 2007 preview.

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  Panasonic range focuses on 1080p and plasma

  Panasonic has unveiled its 2008 range of televisions and home theatre in Sydney with HD recorders and plasmas high on its priority list.

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  Best 'home theatre in a box' systems

  You've finally taken the plunge and invested in a large screen TV, but found out pretty much straight away that the sound is thin and not deserving of the term "home theatre". So where to next?

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  Samsung's new receivers, DVD players, and HTIBs

  On the home-theatre front, Samsung usually makes the most news at CES with its announcements of new TVs, but it also trotted out some notable home-theatre systems and a couple of new A/V receivers.

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  Yamaha aims high and low

  Yamaha is aiming to entice more consumers into the world of home theatre, introducing several products in its 2005 range for the budget conscious.

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  CES 2007: Philips' home theatre in a speaker

  We heard about Philips' 1.1 virtual surround system, the HTS8100 SoundBar, before CES 2007, but now that we've got the final specs, we're even more eager to give it a whirl.

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  1080p DVD: Denon DVD-5910CI

  The Denon DVD-5910CI adds the latest video-processing technology from Silicon Optix and DVDO to enable DVD playback via its HDMI output at resolutions as high as 1080p.

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  Easy home theatre setup

  In setting up a surround system, how much space should I allot between the speakers and the listening position?

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  Philips's inexpensive HDMI home-theatre system

  One of Philips's more intriguing announcements at this year's CES is an inexpensive, virtual surround home-theatre-in-a-box system that features HDMI connectivity.

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  TV: LCD vs. DLP vs. plasma

  I am leaning toward an LCD rear-projection TV because I don't want to deal with the rainbow effect of DLP rear-projection sets or the burn-in issues with plasma flat panels. I hate the fact that I have to replace a bulb every few years, but it's only a couple hundred bucks, so I guess I can stomach it. Have any strong opinions about one technology over another? Thanks.

• Surround sound buying guide

• Digital radio in Australia

• Home theatre: kits or components?

• Surround sound formats

• Calibrating surround sound

• What is HDMI?

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  Samsung HT-X715

  The Samsung HT-X715 is very easy to set up and it does make your movies look and sound good. We just didn't care for the music sound quality with flabby sounding bass.

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  Samsung HT-X810

  The Samsung HT-X810 is a breeze to set-up and looks great sitting underneath your TV, and while picture quality is great, the sound slightly disappoints.

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  Panasonic SC-PT865W

  The Panasonic SC-PT865W is a 5.1 HTIB system with wireless rear channels and an integrated iPod dock, but do the features justify the cost?

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  Samsung HT-BD2

  The Samsung HT-BD2 delivers the sort of top-notch video quality you'd expect from the world's first HTIB with built-in Blu-ray — but its high price, average audio quality, and lack of extras make it tough to recommend.

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  Samsung HT-X30T

  It's not the loudest system around, but people will love the Samsung HT-X30's warm sound and great picture quality. Extra features such as a USB port, DivX playback and DVD-Audio support only add to its charm.

More reviews »

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  Samsung HTX810

  The Samsung HT-X810 is a breeze to set-up and looks great sitting underneath your TV, and while picture quality is great, the sound slightly disappoints.

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  Sony DAV-IS10

  The Sony DAV-IS10 is a likeable system with incredibly tiny speakers but it stops quite short of a hearty recommendation.

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  Panasonic SC-PT865W

  The Panasonic SC-PT865W is a 5.1 HTIB system with wireless rear channels and an integrated iPod dock, but do the features justify the cost?

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  Yamaha Digital Sound Projector YSP4000BSWi

  The Yamaha YSP4000BSWi has a great range of features and is still one of the best 5.1 simulators, but it may not represent the best value for money.

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  Panasonic's 2008 AV range

  Panasonic has unveiled its 2008 range of televisions and home theatre in Sydney with HD recorders and plasmas high on its priority list.

More popular reviews »

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  Samsung HT-TXQ120T

  The Samsung HT-TXQ120 is a rock solid audio system that rivals component-level kits in sound quality. This, however, is not the case for the video department with its just above-average visuals.

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  Samsung HT-P1200

  A stylish and highly capable 5.1 home-theatre-in-a-box system with HDMI support and a fully-featured DVD player.

More editors' choice »