Home Cinema Choice Dec-18

The winner of the Best Home Cinema Global accolade in this year's CEDIA Awards (see p24) features a 169in screen, 33 seats and… a Full HD projector. In an AV world dominated by 4K (and with 8K now garnering attention – see p20), this is quite surprising. Credit is due, therefore, to the CEDIA judges looking beyond the spec sheet and celebrating a project that excels in areas other than simple image resolution. This is a room that clearly hits the owner's brief, meets industry standards around sound calibration, features a gorgeous, unique styling, and comes in at a tempting price. Of course, a 4K projector can be swapped in at a later date. The room, now complete, is easily upgradable. As our AV-Holic explains this issue (see p86), getting…

John Archer: The experienced TV tester cut his teeth as an early HCC staffer Jon Thompson: Film producer and post-production expert delves into Hollywood and AV Steve May: HCC’s former Ed. is one of the UK’s most respected AV journos Martin Pipe: Technical expert Martin is renown throughout the industry Richard Stevenson: Former Editor of the UK CE trade journal ERT Ed Selley: Audiophile Ed mixes his home cinema passion with a love of vinyl Vincent Teoh: Professional video calibrator writes about technology and tweaking…

'Powerful, precise and truly exciting to experience' – that's the verdict of PSB founder Paul Barton on the brand's new SubSeries 350 subwoofer. Available for £1,000, it combines a sealed gloss-black cabinet with 12in front-firing driver and 300W amplifier, with 'smart bass' limiting circuitry to prevent overdriving. A 10in, 200W model (the SubSeries 250) sells for £700; both can hook up wirelessly to your AVR through PSB's optional RT100 kit. 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…

KEF’s R Series of speakers has been fully revamped and the new range – comprising three floorstanders, plus standmount, centre channel and Atmos options – is available from November. The company claims 1,043 individual changes have been implemented, with revisions to the UniQ and bass driver design, trim rings, ports, grilles and cabinet construction. The flagship R11 floorstander is priced at £4,000 per pair, with R7, R5 (pictured) and R3 (standmount) models at £2,600, £2,000 and £1,300 per pair respectively. Expect to pay £850 for the R2c centre and £800 for a pair of R8a Dolby Atmos modules. 4K TV art class Available in 43in, 55in and 65in versions, Samsung's new The Frame TV will appeal to those aiming for the ultimate stealth AV setup. When not in use for…

Amazon has given its Fire TV platform a refresh with a new streaming Stick that brings 4K playback to the slim-line product for the first time, plus Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support. It has also expanded its Echo range of AI gizmos to include a subwoofer, plus an Input model that brings Alexa functionality to any 'dumb' speaker. The new Fire TV Stick 4K is available to pre-order and due to ship on November 14 with a price tag of £50. This makes it a more affordable option than the bulkier, 4K/HDR-capable £70 Fire TV player, while introducing new functionality – the Stick is the first streaming device available with both Dolby Vision and Atmos support. 'We've listened to our customers and pushed to deliver the complete 4K…

Bad Boys I & II (Ultra HD BD) While the 4K image upgrades are excellent, it's the exclusive Dolby Atmos remixes that make these outrageous action films must-owns for home cinema-hedz. Young Sheldon: Season One (All-region BD) A satisfying double-disc BD debut for the surprisingly enjoyable Big Bang Theory spin-off. Mary and the Witch's Flower (Region B BD) A beautiful Blu-ray outing for a delightful anime that manages to recapture some of that elusive Studio Ghibli magic. Monkey Shines (Region B BD) Fans of George A Romero and killer monkeys will welcome the hi-def release of this twisted 1988 thriller. Harlequin (Region B BD) Robert Powell stars in this oddball 1980 flick that reworks the story of Rasputin with bonkers results.…