Category Archives: Equipment

Australian Audio Show set for October 2011

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Stephen Dawson

On behalf of the Chester Group, organisers of the renowned National Audio Show in Britain, Sound+Image, Australian Hi-Fi and nextmedia are proud to announce The Australian Audio & AV Show 2011. The first such show for many years! Melbourne, Friday … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Equipment, Misc | 1 Comment

Subtracting colours

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Yesterday I got my hands on a sample of a projector that will soon be released. It worked beautifully yesterday but, as is often the case with samples, it developed a problem which appeared in fits and starts today, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Equipment, Testing, Video | Leave a comment

Audio Return Channel – a complication too far?

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

The latest version of HDMI — 1.4 — provides for, amongst other things the Audio Return Channel. You have a HDMI cable from your home theatre receiver to feed video to the TV. ARC allows this very same cable to … Continue reading →

Posted in Equipment, HDMI | 3 Comments

Stuck

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Over the years, and two or three thousand product reviews, I’ve occasionally dealt with some physically difficult devices. But this is the first time I’ve been completely stuck. Last night I dragooned one of my daughters’ boyfriends — a fine … Continue reading →

Posted in Equipment, Testing | 2 Comments

How black can Epson get?

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Yesterday Epson flew me up to Sydney to attend at Fox Studios, well, not precisely a launch, but a briefing on its two forthcoming home theatre projectors. They will be available in November. These are somewhat of a departure for … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Equipment, Giveaway, Video | 6 Comments

It’s nice to be right sometimes

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

The next issue of Sound and Image should contain my review of the Panasonic 50 inch 3DTV. In that review I wrote: The very first TV for which I formally measured the power consumption using the international standards was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco, Equipment, Testing | 1 Comment

Why do they do that?

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Some years ago I reviewed Sony Minidisk deck. Nice unit, but I was confused in that it had more optical connections than it was supposed to, and fewer coaxial ones. Later it was revealed that the device I had in … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Equipment, Testing | 1 Comment

SACD comeback?

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’m presently looking at Sony’s new Blu-ray 3D player, the BDP-S470. Only $299! As I was exploring the player’s menu system, I came across something unexpected: a facility for handling Super Audio CD playback (you can choose between CD layer … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Blu-ray, Equipment | 2 Comments

Exciting New Product from Kogan!

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve reviewed a few products over the years from direct to consumer importer, Kogan Technologies, and while it tends to attract derision from some of the more obnoxious home entertainment enthusiasts, I reckon it does a decent job providing so-so … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer, Equipment | 1 Comment

A Bit on the Slow Side

Posted on June 20, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

One of the enormous pleasures of being self-employed is the many exciting hours one spends doing paperwork related to taxes one must pay. Fortunately, I am in a position to temper the extreme joy by having a beer (or two) … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Equipment, Giveaway | 7 Comments