Home Cinema Choice June 2017

First came OLED, now comes QLED, the latter in the shape of our cover star TV, Samsung’s QE65Q9F. This is an eye-catching TV in many ways – not least in its phenomenal brightness output and colour vibrancy. But something else that really caught my eye is that it’s flat. Are curved TVs being phased out? It looks like it. Panasonic, Sony and LG have all binned the bend, and while Samsung is still selling such models (the new Q8C range), it’s gone back to a flatpanel for its flagship set. I’m not one to normally celebrate the end of a technology, but in this instance I’m happy to say ‘good riddance’. Curved TVs were a fad, and a stupid one. They looked odd wall-mounted, they introduced screen reflection issues with…

John Archer: The UK’s most experienced TV tester cut his teeth as an early HCC staffer Jon Thompson: Film producer and post-production expert delves deep into Hollywood and AV Steve May: HCC’s former Editor-in-Chief is one of the UK’s most respected AV journos Martin Pipe: Technical expert Martin is renown throughout the home cinema industry Richard Stevenson: Industry veteran and former Editor of UK CE trade journal ERT Danny Phillips: A former editor of What Video magazine, now a certified home cinema audio buff…

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS PANASONIC Twelve-strong line of 4K HDR sets in-bound ONE FOR ALL Wall-mount your TV without wall-mounting... OPTOMA Projector corp brings Darbee to gaming WEBWATCH Click here for trailers and tech NEWS X10 The hottest news stories in bite-sized chunks PATRIOTS DAY Thriller to fly the flag for 4K Blu-ray & MORE! Yamaha is inviting other kit to join its MusicCast multiroom party via its new WXAD-10 adapter. This smallscale network/Bluetooth add-on features phono and 3.5mm outputs to hook into legacy gear (a stereo system, soundbar, AVR, etc), enabling devices to become MusicCast clients. Compatibility with hi-res audio (FLAC, AIFF, WAV and ALAC), a Burr-Brown DAC and a ‘subtle ceramic-like design’ are all part of the £150 package. HCC ONLINE… For breaking AV news, blogs, features and reviews visit…

’What do you do if you want to wall-mount your TV without drilling into the wall?’ asks accessories specialist One For All. The answer, it says, is this VESA-compatible stand. With slim feet to tuck under AV furniture and a discreet cablemanaging support, it hopes to give the illusion of a stylish on-wall installation. The stand (code-named WM 6471) provides three height adjustments, plus a 15-degree tilt, and is designed to take TVs up to 60in and 30kg. Pricing is around £170. Optoma plays with Darbee Optoma has taken the wraps off an updated version of its GT1080e Full HD projector. As the revamped model’s name indicates, the major change to the £730 GT1080Darbee is the addition of Darbee Visual Presence image enhancement tech. The projector also has videogame fans…

LG is the latest soundbar czar to add a Dolby Atmos-enabled flagship to its TV audio lineup. Unlike the lookalike Dolby Atmos soundbar that comes with the brand’s W7 ‘wallpaper’ OLED screen, this model actually works with Dolby Atmos soundtracks delivered by Blu-ray – and it comes with a wireless subwoofer, too. HCC had an early preview of the ‘bar, and can confirm it plays deliciously loud and throws audio enviably high. The SJ9 claims a 5.1.2 design, even though there are no rear speakers used. Height comes from twin upfiring Dolby-enabled drivers built into the top of the cabinet. In addition to immersive audio, the hi-res audio compatible SJ9 can play 24-bit/192kHz FLAC and WAV tracks, and will upsample low-bitrate MP3s to 24-bit resolution, something demonstrated to impressive effect…

Arrival (Blu-ray) Denis Villeneuve’s thoughtprovoking sci-ficontinues to enthral on Blu-ray, with its endlessly creative DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundmix being especially worthy of praise. The Kettering Incident (DVD) The Night Manager’s Elizabeth Debicki stars in this brain-boggling Aussie mystery series. Season Two can’t come soon enough… Experiment in Terror (Blu-ray) The gorgeous Blu-ray restoration of this 1962 thriller is sure to send a shiver down your spine. Alien Anthology (Blu-ray) In the wake of Alien: Covenant’s cinema release, we had to go back and savour the original films on Blu-ray all over again. The Goose Steps Out (Blu-ray) This classic 1942 Will Hay comedy scrubs up nicely on BD in its fully uncut form (at last).…