Home Cinema Choice August 2022

You can't move for anniversary edition products at the moment – see Monitor Audio marking its 50th birthday with the Concept 50 loudspeaker, p10 – and it makes total sense. If your company has a storied past, why wouldn't you leverage that to appeal to new customers? When you discover that Denon has been in the audio game for over 110 years, you figure it knows a thing or two about AV receivers. Chinese companies Xgimi and TCL don't have that advantage. Both are relatively young, and have only gained UK distribution in the last few years. Their way to grab attention? By going big on value for money – Xgimi's Aura projector (p52) and TCL's C835K TV (p60) have serious wallet appeal. So perhaps, in the future, these brands…

➜News highlights MONITOR AUDIO Flagship 'Concept 50' loudspeaker unveiled ITV Hub streaming service to be replaced by ITVX ACOUSTIC ENERGY 100 Series gains three-way floorstander AT THE PLEX This month's cinema releases NEWS X10 Hot news stories in bitesized chunks SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 Speedy hero returns on 4K Blu-ray & MORE! Sony's got game Sony INZONE M9 ➜ www.sony.co.uk Joystick junkies are the target audience of a new hardware range from Sony, dubbed INZONE. Initially comprising monitor and '360 Spatial Sound' headsets, the product lineup is topped by the £999 M9 display (pictured). With Auto HDR Tone Mapping to optimise video performance from a PS5, this stylish 27in screen features a 4K panel with local dimming LED backlight and claims 95 per cent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour…

Acoustic Energy AE1202 ➜ www.acoustic-energy.co.uk Loudspeaker brand Acoustic Energy has capped its recently relaunched, entry-level 100 Series with a new flagship model. The £799-per-pair AE1202is a three-way floorstander, partnering twin 5.25in bass drivers with a 5.25in mid-range and 1in tweeter with Wide Dispersion Technology (WDT) waveguide. The speaker's 15mm-thick HDF cabinet is mass-loaded to reduce vibrations, and finished in a black or walnut veneer. The movie-friendly series also features centre channel (AE1072), bookshelf (AE100 2) and incoming AE108 2active subwoofer models. B&W revamps Px7 'phones Bowers & Wilkins has upgraded its Px7 headphones to 'S2' status. Priced £379, these wireless cans feature a new active noise cancellation (ANC) system and upgraded internal microphone, new customdesigned 40mm drive units, and a slimmer profile design. Input options are Bluetooth (with aptX Adaptive),…

Malignant (4K BD) This UHD upgrade of James Wan’s unhinged 2021 horror fills the screen with rich and detailed 4K HDR10 visuals. Wrath of Man (BD) Having debuted on Prime Video last year, Guy Ritchie’s actionpacked reunion with Jason Statham is now on UK Blu-ray. Pink Flamingos (BD) John Waters’ notorious 1972 ‘bad taste classic' is now available fully uncut in the UK thanks to The Criterion Collection. Dr. Who and the Daleks (4K BD) UHD release for the time traveller’s first cinema outing exterminates all previous versions with its colourful 4K restoration. Dexter: New Blood (BD) This revival miniseries finally gives Michael C Hall’s serial killer the send-off he deserves.…

ITV has announced plans to revamp its ITV Hub streaming platform later this year, replacing it with a new service called ITVX. The company describes it as 'the UK’s first integrated advertising and subscription funded (AVOD/SVOD) platform'. This is because it will come in two tiers – one free (with adverts), and another premium option (price TBC) that removes advertising and adds access to content from the BBC/ITV/Channel 5 joint-venture Britbox. Another key difference will be a greater emphasis on exclusive content, with the broadcaster opting to premiere 'much' of its new series on ITVX, before airing them across its linear TV channels 'six to nine months later'. Spying an opportunity This 'digital first windowing strategy' will include debuts for limited series A Spy Among Friends, starring Damian Lewis and…

DC League of Super-Pets July 29: Ahead of the upcoming Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson pops up in another DC Comics movie, voicing Superman’s dog Krypto in a CG animation about a team of super-powered pets on a mission to rescue the Justice League. Bullet Train August 3: A down-on-his-luck assassin, tasked with collecting a briefcase on a Bullet Train heading from Tokyo to Kyoto, discovers the train is full of competing professional killers. Zippy actioncomedy starring Brad Pitt. Nope August 12: Shrouded in secrecy, not much is known about horror writer/director Jordan Peele’s latest beyond trailers focusing on abnormal events in an isolated US town and glimpses of people being sucked up into the sky...…