Home Cinema Choice September 2016

With Sky's 4K service starting this month and Ultra HD Blu-ray going from strength to strength, many of you will be looking to give your home cinema system a 4K boost. And it's a good time to do so, too, with plenty of affordable hardware options hitting shop shelves. Need a new HDR TV? Check out Philips' well-priced 65in PUS7601 (p36) or Panasonic's gorgeous 58in DX802 (p68). Want a leading-edge AV amp that doesn't break the bank? Denon's AVR-X2300W (p44) could be your saviour. Ready to embrace Dolby Atmos? Samsung's innovative HW-K950 soundbar system (p62) works multichannel wonders without taking over your viewing room with cable clutter. These are just a few of the tantalising system upgrades auditioned this issue. Oh, and for design inspiration for your movie den, check…

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 Adrian Justins: Made his name as the editor of What Video & TV and What Home Cinema…

News highlights HDR TV Agreement reached on broadcast TV standard SKY 4K content to launch this month YAMAHA MusicCast range adds ultra compact audio kit ACOUSTIC ENERGY Third-generation Aego speakers break cover NEWS X10 The hottest stories in bite-sized chunks CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR Big brawl hits Blu-ray & MORE! Positioned by the high-end brand as an affordable second screen, the Loewe One range consists of Full HD 40in and 4K/Ultra HD 55in flatscreens (priced around £850 and £1,350, respectively), with a 65in model due to follow at a later date. The two current sets employ rear-firing 2 x 20W stereo speakers and offer a smart portal with access to Amazon Video and Tidal apps, amongst others. The TVs ship with a swivelling table base; a floorstand is an optional…

Flexibility is the ambition when it comes to Teufel's new Varion multi-driver speaker. Available in a number of 2.1 and 5.1-channel packages, the slim enclosure is designed to be placed either horizontally or vertically, with each Varion housing six 2in midrange drivers and a 0.75in tweeter arranged in a D’Appolito configuration inside its 7cm-wide body. Prices begin at £320/£560 for standard 2.1/5.1 arrays. Other bundles add extra AV kit, with Teufel offering choices of its CoreStation AV receiver, a wireless subwoofer module and a Raumfeld network audio player. Bank-busting Blu-ray deck McIntosh has revealed that it is adding a new high-end Blu-ray player to its range of handcrafted AV kit. The MVP901's hefty $5,500 price tag (around £4,250) gets you 4K upscaling of BD/DVD platters, various image adjustments and 'ultra-fast'…

The lack of an agreed standard for making HDR (High Dynamic Range) programmes, which has stalled broadcast 4K services, looks to have been overcome, with the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) announcing parameters for the production and distribution of HDR TV. Known as ITU-R HDR-TV BT.2100, it builds on the UHD colour space recommendation BT.2020, approved in October last year and now universally adopted by content and hardware providers. BT.2100 resolves issues regarding backwards compatibility, through the adoption of the BBC/NHK developed Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) standard, and mandates image quality through Perceptual Quantization (PQ). Of PQ, the ITU says it 'achieves a very wide range of brightness levels using a transfer function that is finely tuned to match the human visual system.' Translated, that means more realistic images, then. The new…

Deadpool (Ultra HD BD) This nutty superhero flick isn't the best-looking 4K platter around, but Fox's first Dolby Atmos track ensures that it sounds sensational. High-Rise (Region B BD) This bigscreen adaptation of J.G. Ballard's cult novel scores an impressive UK Blu-ray platter that boasts impressive AV credentials and an enjoyable chat-track. The Five (Region B BD) The brainchild of popular novelist Harlan Coben, this 10-part crime drama serves up plenty of hi-def thrills on BD. Trancers III: Deth Lives (Region B BD) Enjoyable B-movie three-quel gets a fresh lease of life courtesy of this splendid hi-def platter. Bone Tomahawk (All-region BD) This unforgettable mix of The Searchers and Cannibal Holocaust is a cult classic in the making...…