Home Entertainment Systems

Blu-Ray has been around for a while now and has led me to ask myself this question - is blu-ray now the norm?

Although you can pick up Cheap Blu Ray Players, some priced just over the £100 mark, te higher spec models are still in the high £200 to even £400 mark and when it comes to a format where quality is the key, shelling out on a cheap budget model is not always for the best.

It is this point that makes me thing that more people are still buying DVD’s then are buying Blu-Ray discs, and I still feel DVD’s will have a place in the market even when Blu-Ray does become more popular, more accessible and possibly the norm. One factor that has helped the emergence of Blu-Ray is the inclusion in the Playstation 3 games console and the possibility of this also been included in next revisions on the Xbox 360 and Wii.

Still the whole idea of having a gaming machine to be the center of your home entertainment system and be there to play high quality movies still baffles me. Its like having an iPhone and playing games on it all the time instead of hainvg something like a DS or PSP to do that. It does the job is a fashion but no where near as well as a piece of kit whose primary goal is to offer you the best quality movie playback possible.

If you are in the market be sure to check out the different players and read some Blue Ray Player Reviews before making your purchase. You still find that there are plenty of makes and models to choose from and a quick read and search will often show you of any known faults or issues certain players might have.

It seems that every new piece of tech seems to be implementing one thing across the board - Touch Screens.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the little touch screen on my Nintendo DS and my iPhone but I have the feeling sat writing things on my blog and doing things on my desktop machine might seem a little awkward when I know I can touch the screen. This is exactly what you can do with the new range of HP TouchSmart all-in-one PC’s.

I have the feeling that no real work would get done for at least a month - and that’s if there aren’t any touch screen orientated games bundled with the new OS Windows 7. Which of course seems to have a thing for, you guessed it - Touch Screens.

Maybe its Microsofts fault? They get the blame for everything still, right? I mean it must have been over a year ago when I saw this video for Microsoft Surface:

I feel like I’m not quite ready to leave the way I know and love computing. They can stick it in my home aswell as my traditional PC, even put it on my fridge and cooker - but not my PC yet.

How about you?

I am a big fan of the iPod, always have been, but am starting to think that the range has maybe reached its limit. My first iPod was a 30GB video one, about 5th generation - so it definitely took me a while to jump on the bandwagon. It was only after reading some Apple iPod Reviews and finding out about the Griffin iTrip that I decided I had had enough burning CDs to listed while traveling in the car and that this would be a worthwhile purchase.

I was not disappointed. 3 years later and that same iPod and iTrip combination are still going strong even after multiple drops and flying across the car’s dash. More recently I have invested in an iPod Shuffle to accompany me at the gym, I think I like this little one even better than my original iPod. Its so light and small and still packs a full gig of music that I am never left without something I want to listen to.

What I was a amazed at is the difference in price from store to store and also online, if you are looking to purchase any iPod I would definitely look at a price comparison web site or search for Compare Cheap iPod Prices.

With everything from the mini Shuffle to the Nano’s and full size iPods, the new iPhone and the Touch where can Apple go now? Surely they have covered everything downsizing - maybe a look at something slightly larger that will make viewing videos more practical.

If your a technology fan who loves to purchase new gadgets as they hit the market the Carry a Charge is a must have. This solar backpack allows you to charge your gadgets on the go with nothing but mother nature has to offer, which is sunlight. You can charge a variety of electronics including media players and cell phones. You will never be stranded without a way to reach help again.

The adapters that come along with this extraordinary buy is Mini-USB (for Motorola Razr V3/Blackberry), iPhone/iPods, Nokia, LG, Motorola, and Samsung which of course covers the majority of name brands.
The approximate weight is around 1.5 oz, made from plastic and aluminum material, monocrystaline cell type, and uses a 5 volt battery pack.

You can easily charge iPods, PDAs, cell phones and many other electronic devices with speed and high efficiency. You can choose to charge all of your gadgets under one setting saving you time. Most items can be charged within two hours or less. Also there is a headphone outlet built in that allows you to listen to your music or videos while its in the process of charging.
You can also support notebooks up the 15.4 but would not be advised to try with anything larger.

If your constantly on the go and often forget your chargers this would be the perfect gift to yourself. No point in toting along several different charges when this one will work for all. Not only does this save you space but you will also be helping the environment at the same time.

If you’ve ever considered buying a laptop for its portability and gone down the local store you’ve probably realised that 90% of them are no good, they are either too heavy or too big to be truely portable. The times are now changing with the new range of EEE PC’s from ASUS. These light weight sub-notebooks have really took the market by storm and other manufacturers are now getting in on this new micro niche.

Take Sony for example, their laptops were getting bigger and more HD, now the Sony Vaio TZ series offers a 11.1 inch screen and weight just 1.19 KG. That said you still get some of Sony’s better qualities in there too, notable are the x-black screen and sleek flat styling, making this one of my favourite new ranges in the laptop market.

After reading a few articles I came across some Samsung laptop reviews, now I thought they only made TV’s and monitors so I was interested. Not only do they but they have a range offering what ever your needs could be whether it be something like the NC10 ab ultra portable netbook or something to replace your desktop machine in the office.

It looks like my search for a new laptop just got a little more complicated!

The decreasing prices of LCD televisions has resulted in larger screens for most households. The most used location for these to be placed, estimated at 75%, is above the fireplace in the main room of the house. The increase in the screen size has caused both women and designers have been having stern issues with a 50-70? black glass object as the central piece and main focal point of the living room.

Although it is only a visual or mechanical change when the television is hidden, to many it can change the entire atmosphere of any room. Even when the television display has been turned off, attention is either consciously or unconsciously drawn towards the blank screen. This is not just a figment of peoples imaginations, it is real, and it can have a direct effect on both the decor and atmosphere of the room.

Concealment devices are more often than not custom made furniture. Due to both tv sizes and room measurements there is no single solution that will work for everyone, hence why such systems often cost more than the TV itself. The justification is that the time, money and creative effort spent in making the room look great is not masked by trying to make a 50″ piece of black glass blend easily into the room decor.

If you were to look into some detailed market research you would see there are a a number of solutions to get around this problem. All with certain pros and cons. However the most commonly used option is usually a mechanical tv lift.

A television lift effectively combines both an item of furniture and a TV stand. It gives the user the ability to switch between viewing a piece of general furniture or viewing the television. This is done using a remote controlled lifting device which is fitted inside the furniture. When activated this mechanism will cause a steel lift to move which in turn will cause the TV to gently rise from the furniture and effectively turn it into a TV stand.

This operating system effectively solves all the problems bought to attention by a home designer. The rooms look and feel does not have to be compromised, just modified in a way which cannot be seen unless controlled. The television no longer has to be in full view unless you require it to be. As well as this there are vast security benefits which mean your television is a lot less likely to be thieved or broken in the every day movement throughout your home.

Conclusion

No matter what efforts TV manufacturers put into their aesthetic design, they can’t solve the problem of having a large blank screen take over a room when the TV is off. It is no surprise then, that demand for tv stands which offer concealment solutions has been doubling every year for a while now.

By educating themselves about concealment products, companies such as TDK can offer the home owner a solution allows a large TV to be hidden within the decor using a TV lift, while maintaining the visual design of the room. It is a win-win situation for both parties.