I’ve always wanted a projector for some unknown reason, saying that, I do have a reason to want one these days. As some of you may know I’m doing a Special Effects degree and having the ability to see my work on the big screen is always a bonus. There are times when I can’t get to a big monitor or display, so a projector at home would be ideal.

The Acer PD 723P Projector is a great little buy in my opinion. As always I’ll list some of the specs in a minute, but I wanted to tell you why I thought it was a good buy first. Weighing in at 2.3Kg it’s not the lightest projector out there, but it can be transported if you need to. Another great selling point is that the Acer PD 723P Projector is available to buy today for less than £250. That’s amazing value. Now on to those specs:

• 2000 ANSI lumens
• 1 x VGA input - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)
• 1 x composite video input - RCA
• 1 x S-video input - 4 PIN mini-DIN
• 800 x 600 Resolution
• 4000 hours bulb life cycle

As you can see there are no HDMI inputs on the Acer PD 723P Projector, but I am assured it can display HD images. Overall this is a great first time projector. You’re not going to break the bank buying the Acer PD 723P.

So I know the summer is almost upon us and we should be thinking about things to do outside, but given the track record of the UK weather over the past couple of years it may be a good idea to stock up on some movies to pass the time as you wait for the showers to clear. In the past few weeks there have been some fantastic releases, and if you didn’t get a chance to catch them at the cinema first time around, then you may want to consider picking them up on Bluray disk.

First of how about I am Legend.  The tale of one mans fight for survival in a deserted New York. Will Smith plays the part of a sole survivor in this famous American city after a plague has wiped out most of man-kind leaving any survivors as blood thirsty zombies. Unlike some of the Zombie films of the past these guys can get around at top speeds which makes for some great action sequences. Personally I think these were some of the best zombie special effects to date and I for one can’t wait to see them in High Def.

I can also highly recommend Enchanted, which in my opinion is another winner from Disney which will be a sure fire hit for kids of all ages. I actually watched this on a flight during my recent trip and even though it was on a small screen with terrible audio I highly enjoyed it. I can’t wait to see it again, this time with the Bluray treatment.

Finally another disk I can’t wait to get my hands on is 3:10 to Yuma,  a gritty story of a small-time rancher who desperate for money agrees to hold a captured outlaw who’s awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. If you are even the slightest bit interested in Westerns then you will want to pick this one up - it’s fantastic.

So I was talking to a few friends today about my cinema setup at home and a lot of them were saying that they would love to do the same, but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg. This got me thinking, and a quick browse around the Internet quickly revealed that you no longer have to spend big to get the cinema experience at home. Only a couple of years ago High Def projectors were over £1000 for starters and this for many was too much, especially as the recommendation would be to only use this for the likes of sports, movies and gaming. Believe you me Pat Butcher on a 9ft screen isn’t pretty.

So how about the Optoma HD65,  which is a 720p capable projector for under £400.  Now just because this is cheap in money terms don’t think that you are getting a sub-standard projector. Depending on throw distance you could achieve a screen size of up to 7.6m (diagonal) which is more than enough for even the most cinema hungry person. You also get a host of connectivity options, including HDMI 1.3 (that’s the latest standard) which is a  fantastic addition for a sub £500 projector.

Bulb life is also rated at 3000 hours which is an important factor when considering a projector, especially if you, like me, are putting in a number of hours per week in front of the screen. Given it’s lumens rating as well (1600) you could also expect to get away with watching content via this system, in a reasonably lit room, again another consideration when choosing a projector.

So now you perhaps have no excuse for bringing the cinema experience home. And of course the likes of GTA IV look fantastic on a large screen. So what you waiting for?

So I like many spent the past 12 months following closely the High Def format war between Blue Ray and High Definition Disks. It wasn’t much of a surprise that in the end Sony won the battle, and the war, especially given their massive backing of the format and the growing popularity of the Playstation 3.

I myself had already bought into both technologies so wasn’t really worried which one was going to win, and in fact was looking forward to the day when we had one winner as I thought this would mean cheaper prices for the loosing format.

Well I don’t think I could have been further from the reality as it turns out High-Def discs are maintaining their price. Of course people will argue that the High Def hardware prices have fallen quite considerably since the end of the war, especially the price of the XB360 HD-DVD add-on, but I also want to see the price of discs falling too. My advice right now, if you are an XB360 owner of course, would be to pickup the HD-DVD add on and wait. The prices of the discs are sure to drop and you could end up with a pretty decent High Def collection before long without having to drop a load of cash in the process.

Another rumour that seems to have been quashed of late is that of the XB360 having an integrated BlueRay player before long. I personally think that at this stage Microsoft have no real need to integrate BlueRay into their device, but could very well do this later in the year. I believe right now they are very happy going after the content distribution method via XBox Live, which in my opinion is probably going to be the main method consumers get their content in the years to come.

For now though it’s time to sit back and relax, those HD movies are sure to fall in price at some point in 2008 and when they do I’ll be ready, credit card in hand.

In probably one of the worst kept secrets in recent times the news that a lot of us feared has this morning come true - Toshiba have officially announced they will be dropping HD-DVD as of March 2008, thus bringing an end to the format war with Blue Ray. Their decision also covers the worldwide end to development of all HD-DVD devices for PCs and games. I for one am a little disappointed that it’s come to this.

For me, an early adopter, gamer and movie fan I think one of the main reasons behind this win for Blue Ray is the heavy backing from the likes of Sony (read a massive pay-cheque to make sure their format won) In my experience so far the whole movie experience has been better on HD-DVD, with many more extras and special features appearing on these discs than those on Blue Ray.

Of course for the general consumer the end of the format war had to come, and over the past few months it was becoming clear that there could be only one winner in truth. It was only last week that the likes of NetFlix in the United States announced they were going to be only stocking BlueRay discs with other high street stores following. Now that the format war is over I’m just hoping that the consumer will benefit by seeing a reduction in both the hardware and media costs. It was only this weekend I was a few high street stores here in the UK and was shocked to see 3rd rate movies on Blue Ray and HD-DVD still selling for around £30 - that for me is just too much.

What however this does mean is that for the next few months the price of both HD-DVD hardware and media should drop in price and for those of us who already own an HD-DVD player it could see a windfall in terms of cheap discs. I’m keeping an eye on the Matrix boxset to see if it drops in price. Of course for those who don’t own an HD-DVD player as yet you could do a whole lot worse than pick yourself up the XB360 HD-DVD add on, which is probably one of the cheapest next generation players around - and it’s a pretty cool player as well. After all you will always have something around that you can plug it into so could end up with a decent HD-DVD collection without dropping your life savings.

And don’t forget in a few years time you may be able to take it along to the Antiques Roadshow and get them to give you a price.

Goodbye HD-DVD, gone but not forgotten !

So as I continue my efforts in improving my home cinema I start to realise one of the major issues I’m going to have - lack of HDMI ports. Back in the day (and I’m only talking 18 months ago) I purchased a Sanyo Z4 720p projector. Two areas that concerned me at the time were the presence of only one HDMI port on this projector and the fact that the maximum resolution was 1080i. At the time however High Def, and in particular HDMI sources, were thin on the ground so I didn’t really deem it a major issue.

Fast forward to the present day and I’m starting to understand the drawbacks. I must admit, not really with the fact that the maximum resolution is only 1080i given that this, at present, is the resolution broadcast mostly by Sky HD, combined with the fact that I have my XBox 360 connected over component, again limiting High Def output to 1080i. In fact, the only source in my cinema room capable of 1080p is the Playstation3. The Playstation3 however, combined with the Sky HD box means that I now have 2 HDMI sources and only one HDMI port on the back of my projector.

Up until now I’ve been manually switching the HDMI cable between these two devices and although this is pretty simple to do it leaves me with a feeling of an unfinished cinema room.  Of course there have always been solutions available to allow multiple HDMI ports into one, however up until recently they have either been of poor quality, or very expensive. Well that is beginning to change and now I’m in the market for an HDMI switch.

These boxes allow you to plug multiple HDMI sources in, with one HDMI uplink to your screen or projector of choice. You can then either have ones which require you to manually switch them to the correct source, or automatically switch based upon which source is active.  There are some which also all for audio optical inputs, which again is something that a lot of home cinema enthusiasts welcome.

Of course my choice now is do I go for a box which offers 3 way switching, something that will more than cover me now, or future proof myself by going down the 5 way switching route.

It’s a good job I like these kind of decisions.

Even though I’ve been incredibly busy at work I’ve managed to fit in a couple of decent movie nights this week already. It got me thinking that it’s been a while since I blogged about what I’ve been watching and of course what I recommend you add to your watch list. For me over the past few days I’ve been watching, An American Werewolf in London - the HD version, Land of Dead, again on HD and HellBoy, this time on BlueRay. I have to take just a few moments to pay a special tribute to the High Def version of American Werewolf in London. This has to be one of my all time favourite movies and given its age (released in 1981) the picture quality of this version is spectacular. The London Underground death still freaks me out and I must admit if I ever found myself alone in the tube at night I would be thinking the same thing. I actually rented this, but have since bought it - it’s just that good!

So with that out of the way what else do I recommend? Well first things first I’d recommend you consider the BlueRay / High Def version of the discs, if you can find them.  You won’t be disappointed, trust me !

Well how about Blood Diamond (HD-DVD), the Academy Nomination Winning story of diamond smugglers in war torn Sierra-Leone. It’s a powerful, true to life story, which will have you gripped to your seat from start to finish. I personally think that DiCaprio puts in a very solid performance, something I never thought I’d hear myself say [I’m not his biggest fan]. If you are looking for something a little more light hearted then you must pick yourself up Ratatouille. I actually watched this on the plane on the way to Houston last week and as soon as I had landed went out and picked up the BlueRay version. It actually had me laughing out loud on the plane and the picture quality (BlueRay) is probably one of the best available today - a real demo disk to show of your shiny new TV. Finally, and changing genre, how about the latest from Nine Inch Nails - Besides You In Time (HD-DVD). This is one of the few high def discs to be given 5 stars (out of 5) for both picture and audio quality. Even if you are not totally into their music this should form the centre piece of your home cinema system. It does however just happen that I’m a big NiN fan so I’m twice as happy !

Right enough blogging for the night - it’s high def movie time !

Sony recently made an announcement that they were getting out of the Rear Projection game and would be focused on the highly competitive LCD market. So why is it then that I have just spent some of my hard earned cash on a Sony 55″ Rear Projection TV?

Well if we look closely at the reasons behind this it is purely down to the market in the UK - we seem to love our TVs flat and sometimes, in my opinion, can get blinded by a poor quality TV, in terms of picture quality, when it looks so sexy switched off.  I  know my wife would have preferred me to get an LCD or Plasma, but she agreed that when comparing like for like the Rear Projection knocked spots of other LCD and Plasma systems on display. Now I’m not saying Rear Projection is a better technology, what I’m trying to say is that bang for buck, in my opinion, you can get better picture quality, especially for standard definition TV out of a rear projection set.

Another complaint I hear is that the rear projection sets are too bulky. Now let’s consider the size of an LCD or Plasma for one moment. Unless you are going to hang it on a wall, which can present its own issues, then you will also require a stand. During the viewing in the shop we measured a range of stands and it turns out that having a 55″ rear projection TV would only add an additional 2 inches of depth due to the pretty standard size of stands these days. Finally the first thing a lot of people will say will be in regards to the bulb life. Well I’ve owned a 40″ Toshiba rear projection set for almost 7 years and it’s still running strong on the original bulb. The bulbs in fact should be good for between 4000 and 8000 hours and cost around £150 to replace. I wont linger too long on the subject but you can search on Google to find out the additional electricity costs of running an LCD or Plasma for 8000 hours in comparison to the  rear projection.

Now I don’t want to be seen as giving LCD or Plasma screens a bad name - in fact in the coming years I’m sure I will own one and you can pickup some pretty good sets already. Just right now, and before they are gone forever, you may want to at least consider rear projection. Did someone say Sony 70″ ?

One of the issues today for the home cinema buff is controlling all of the devices you have in your collection. At the last count, my home cinema was made up of over 10 devices, which included an amp, Sky+ (HD) box and Playstation 3. For every device you need a remote control, or at least that was the view only a couple of years ago. Now however, if you have any more than even a few devices to control, you would be crazy to not consider investing in an all-in-one remote control.

When the idea of universal remote first came about their price was generally too high for most consumers - my first all-in-one was the price, and indeed almost the size, of a DVD player. Nowadays, however, both the price and the size have been reduced - thankfully.

At one end of the scale we have the likes of the Philips SRU 9600, which supports up to 8 devices - more than enough for most. Its extensive IR database should mean even the most obscure piece of home cinema kit should be supported. If you find that you have a device that isn’t supported out of the box then this controller can also learn from existing devices. You could also consider the One For All URC 7800 controller, which controls up to 12 devices including your amp, DVD player and TV. Its low price is quite incredible considering its functionality, including a built in modem to download additional codes, an extensive macros function and of course it actually looks and feels like a standard remote control.

Of course if you wanted to push the boat out a little, you still can, with the Harmony 1000 from Logitech. The touch sensitive 3.5″ colour screen adds a little style to your home cinema room, without losing any functionality. The advanced features allow you to perform multiple tasks at the touch of a button. Just imagine hitting a picture of a DVD player, only for your amp, DVD player screen to spring to life. Of course as with any complex piece of kit, the setup can take a little bit of time and as you add to your collection ongoing tweaking may be required. I know some people have even taken home cinema control a little further by enabling control of lighting which adds another special touch.

One thing is for sure though, the addition of any universal remote is a must have if you want to save time and space in your home cinema setup. Oh and one final thing, you will also need to find yourself a big box to store all of your obsolete controllers in.

So on my previous post I commented on a couple of surround sound systems that you may want to consider if you like your movies loud. Sometimes though you want to enjoy the full audio effect without having the wrath of the wife or the next door neighbour. Well that’s when a decent set of headphones can be your saviour. Over the years I’ve used both wired and wireless headphones in my cinema room, both with their own pros and cons so today I thought I’d provide links to two sets that got my attention.

In the wireless corner we have the Sennheiser RS-120 headphones, which claim to provide up to 100m range. In reality though I found my own wireless headphones have a range of around 50-70 meters. Now quite often this is more than enough around a house, but if you are considering using these at the end of your 300 foot garden then firstly, how the heck do you cope with cutting so much grass, and secondly you may want to consider the quality of the sound at the bottom of your garden. I must admit though the big advantage of wireless is the freedom in and around the house. Quite often I’d be watching something late at night, headphones on, and realised it was time for another beer. It was quite good to be able to head downstairs and keep listening to what was going on upstairs in the cinema room.

In the wired corner we have the Sennheiser HD 555. This is actually the set I used to own and I must admit I was pleased with them considering their low price. They are fantastic for both the movie and music fan, ramping up the bass when needed, yet being able to deliver clarity with both voice and strings. One down side, apart from not being able to visit the fridge while listening to the TV, would be some sound leakage, given their design. This was one of my reasons for upgrading as quite often I’d be gaming or movie watching (very) late at night and my wife in the other room would sometimes complain. If however you don’t have the volume turned to 11+ then these may be the perfect set for you.

One word of advice though; if you can, try a few sets out first of all. Don’t forget it’s pretty likely that you will be wearing the headphones for long periods at a time and some I have tried in the past become very uncomfortable very fast.