Wal-Mart intends to hammer the price of Blu-ray players in the US down to a new low, by selling a Maganvox player for just $128.

The price, if internet scuttlebutt proves correct, will make it the world’s cheapest, high-street Blu-ray deck. It’s expected to become available during America’s Black Friday sales.  read more »

Subscribers to BT Vision’s basic Pay TV package will soon be able to view ITV’s on-demand service, alongside VOD programming from the BBC, C4 and others.
BT's V-box  will allow instant access to popular ITV 1, 2, 3 and 4 shows up to 8 days following their transmission. A selection of archive shows will also be made available.  read more »

This Friday, Sony Pictures will become the first Hollywood major to release Blu-ray movies in China, launching a 30-title catalogue which includes the Spider-Man trilogy, Kung-Fu Hustle and Hitch.  read more »

Philips continues to distance itself from the consumer electronics market in the US.

The European giant has confirmed that its Philips and Magnavox brand names will be licensed to Funai, for use on DVD players and recorders, Blu-ray decks and home cinema systems. Funai already distributes Philips branded TVs in the US and Canada, following an agreement struck in 2008.  read more »

A US custom install operation has found itself going head to head with Time Warner's Turner Entertainment group for using the phrase There’s no place like home … theater in its advertising material.

The Hollywood studio claims that it has sole rights to the There’s no place like home line, made famous in the 1939 classic The Wizard Of Oz  read more »

Humax has confirmed an over-the-air software upgrade designed to minimise the fan noise on its PVR-9150T and PVR-9300T digital TV recorders.

Its new Smart Fan Control software will ensure that the deck’s fans only start if the PVRs exceed a temperature outside of that necessary for safe operation. After a predetermined time, they will switch off again.  read more »

It's Monday, and consequently a new batch of downloadable pdfs of Home Cinema Choice's full reviews have been added to the Reviews Archive.

Leading the way are tests of two reasonably priced Blu-ray players; the Sony BDP-S350, and Panasonic's DMP-BD55. Also, the Sonos BU150 music-streaming system is prodded, poked and pored-over. Finally, MJ Acoustics' Xeno speaker package gets the testing treament, as do the Sony PlayTV PS3 Freeview PVR adaptor and the NextBase Media 22 iPod/DVD combo unit. Enjoy!

BT has confirmed that a second generation V-Box PVR/VOD box is on its way, and it’ll not only look different but be more interactive and eco-friendly. So says BT Vision's Consumer CEO Dan Marks.

Manufactured by both Pace (which took over the Philips subsidiary responsible for the original V-Box) and Motorola, the next V-Box will to be launched in 2009.  read more »

Since getting into hi-def have you become far less tolerant of standard definition TV? Do you go out of your way to avoid the digital blockiness of low-bit-rate Freeview?

The likelihood is you have and you do, if the latest survey of HDTV owners in America is anything to go by.  read more »