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Panasonic today unveiled New Zealand’s first 4K or UHD player, the UB900, which will go on sale this month for $1200. That may seem a steep price until you remember Panasonic’s first Blu-ray player cost $4000 when it was released 10 years ago. Samsung’s UHD player, which you can buy across the Tasman, and in the […]

Don’t expect to be able to buy a 4K/UHD disc player here until September. In a lack of co-ordination that beggars belief, the software has gone on sale in this market months ahead of the hardware. Tomorrow marks the first simultaneous release of a movie on 4K/UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, Oscar-winner The Revenant, with […]

The Way, Way Back | Value for money: $$$$ Written and directed by Nat Faxon, Jim Rash Starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Sam Rockwel, Liam James. What a gem of a movie. It’s funny, dramatic, clever, and the nice guy ends up doing ok. To hell with dark gothic tales, that’s what newspapers are for. And […]

Samsung is extending its vacuum tube technology from audio dock speakers and home theatre systems to its latest soundbar – and the first in the world that can connect with a TV via Bluetooth. The HW-F750 will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, along with a new Blu-ray player […]

Sony NZ is about to announce a “big increase” in 3D displays as part of  a “fundamental shift” from passive to active viewing in its 2011 TV range. “We will have 23 [2D and 3D] models in the first half of 2011,” Sony’s Tim Barlow told ScreenScribe.tv. “The overall range will be a similar size […]

Oppo’s first 3D-capable Blu-ray player has gone on sale in New Zealand for $1149. The BDP-93 succeeds the BDP-83, which sold for $200 more, and has two HDMI outputs (version 1.4a) to optimise audio and video settings for TVs and a/v receivers. It also boasts a new video-processing chip, Qdeo by Marvell, that upscales DVD […]

Sony’s new Blu-ray home theatre systems are due in stores but won’t be 3D-capable for another month or so. The three 5.1 channel models were meant to go on sale late this month but retailers now expect them mid-June. A 3D firmware update will be available about a month after their launch, to coincide with […]

Samsung Electronics NZ’s retailer and media roadshow is underway for its 2010 range of HD- and 3DTVs. Even though stock has been in stores for the past two weeks, the company is only just starting to brief retailers and journalists on the new technologies. Putting the cart before the horse like this risks consumers being […]

New content protection rules soon will make it easier to archive MyFreeview|HD recordings. Their application will give Freeview|HD DTRs the same advantage TiVo enjoys over Sky’s MySky HDi, whose users can’t burn their HD recordings to a hard drive or Blu-ray disc. That’s because Sky’s subscription-only signals are encrypted whereas Freeview’s, which TiVo also receives, are […]

The Oppo BDP-83 may cost several hundred dollars more than premium models from Sony, Samsung or Panasonic. But such is its convenience, versatility and virtuosity that HD buffs won’t regret their $1350 investment. True, you can buy a quality Blu-ray player for under $500 that provides comparable HD video but it will offer only a […]