Home Cinema Choice April 2017

I'm willing to bet that you own the original Star Wars trilogy on Blu-ray. Perhaps the prequels, too. You may even dress up as a Wookiee on the weekend. And who'd blame you? George Lucas' thrilling sci-fisaga pretty much marks the birth of our current era of popcorn-munching cinema. Hard to believe, then, that first movie A New Hope celebrates its fortieth birthday this year – see p24 where we trawl through its varied home media history. Star Wars is, of course, famous for its audio mix and Lucas' drive to break new ground with movie sound. And in this issue we're taking a look at other sonic innovations, from Philips' first Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar and REL's astonishing new No.25 subwoofer, to BT Sport's 3D audio broadcasts and the sublime…

Ben Q's new X12000 Ultra HD DLP projector may not support HDR, but still has plenty of other tech tricks up its sleeve. In addition to its 4K Texas Instruments DMD, it uses a 2,200 Lumens LED light engine (rated at 20,000 hours) and claims a colour performance that hits the DCI-P3 standard. Installation of this £6,300 beamer is aided by vertical and horizontal lens shift, a 1.5x optical zoom allowing for a throw ratio of 1.36-2.03:1, and HDCP 2.2 support on one of its HDMI inputs. HCC ONLINE… For breaking AV news, blogs, features and reviews visit www.homecinemachoice.com Follow us on Twitter @hccmag Like us on Facebook facebook.com/homecinemachoice…

Pioneer VSX-531D www.pioneer.co.uk In-wall Atmos solution SpeakerCraft has launched the world's first Dolby Atmos-enabled in-wall speaker. Dubbed the ATX100, the model's dual 2.5in Kevlar-reinforced midbass drivers and 0.75in titanium dome tweeter fire upwards at an angle to project height info off your ceiling. In addition to the standalone ATX100, SpeakerCraft has also launched the ATS500 and ATS200 systems, which marry the module with its AIM LCR Series 2 speakers behind a single grille for a neat install. www.speakercraft.com Soundbar concepts unveiled Panasonic is adding two new models to its 2017 portfolio of TV audio boosters. The SC-HTB488 (pictured) is a traditional 2.1-channel soundbar system that includes a wireless sub and promises a combined power output of 200W. The SC-SB1 Sound Bar Concept is also a 2.1 system, but the subwoofer is…

One such was John Taylor, the sound mixer whose work on The Revenant was Oscar nominated. 'We wanted to get his feedback on the product,' Sonos Sound Experience Engineer Greg McAllister told HCC. 'By the time we left, he was totally happy about how his movie sounded on our speaker.' Oscar-winner Chris Jenkins (Mad Max: Fury Road) has also been involved in the tuning process. 'He's had a lot of impact on the Playbase. Going to these kind of people gives us valuable feedback on how we can improve things,' says McAllister. The first new addition to the Sonos hardware lineup since 2015, the three-channel Playbase boasts an LCR nine-driver array (comprising six midrange, plus three tweeters), along with a newly developed 5.25in woofer, allied to an S-port for enhanced…

The Wolverine: Extended Cut (BD) Watching Logan on the bigscreen left us in the mood for even more wild Wolverine action. Enter the longer and (much) bloodier Blu-ray edit of his previous solo outing. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (BD) Spielberg's 1977 sci-fimasterpiece is the perfect Blu-ray companion to Arrival (see p96). What We Become (DVD) This Danish zombie film basically distills the entire first season of Fear the Walking Dead into just 78 minutes and does it brilliantly. No Second Chance (DVD) France's love affair with suspense writer Harlan Corben (see 2006's Tell No One) continues with this gripping six-part TV thriller. Ballers: The Complete Second Season (BD) A technically terrific HD release is yet another reason to seek out this enjoyable comedy-drama on BD.…

Netflix will roll out HDR streaming on mobile devices later this year, according to CEO Reed Hastings. Speaking at the recent Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the company chief said the first hardware to support the content will be LG's new G6 handset. Netflix has been off ering HDR versions of some of its shows to TV owners since last Summer, beginning with historical drama Marco Polo and expanding the portfolio with films like The Ridiculous Six. Yet the streaming king is now adding mobile to its arsenal, a development made possible by employing a more dataefficient codec. This allows for HDR material to be streamed over the lower-quality internet connections provided by mobile networks. Netflix previously announced it had been conducting codec trials in December, comparing Google's open-source…