For most of us buying gifts this Christmas will undoubtedly have a request for a tablet. If the request is not brand specific then the Sony Xperia Tablet S is worth considering. The price is reasonable (just about) for what you are getting and the features are comparable to other tablets on the market.
Master of the Living Room
Mobile devices are too small to give the quality sound that some music deserves; therefore, to get the quality you want dock/connect the device to an adapted entertainment system. Phorus has decided to address both issues with a new DTS based solution. They have adopted the DTS Play-Fi wireless technology to create a new entertainment package for Android based devices. The Play-Fi solution has a Receiver, Android App and Speakers.
Virgin Media customers are in for a treat this Christmas; the company has launched its cloud-based entertainment service, “Virgin TV Anywhere”. The Virgin TV Anywhere service will allow Virgin customers to watch Cable via their smartphone or tablet using a downloaded app or via a browser. There are social functionalities integrated in the service that allows customers to comment on TV shows.
If you are not ready to spend big on a Smart TV or you want to extend the features on your existing Smart TV, then these latest releases from Netgear could be the answer. The company has release three new Netgear streaming players (NeoTV, NeoTV Pro and NeoTV MAX) that give you access to some of the best on-demand and subscription services.
According to the latest report from DEG (The Digital Entertainment Group) we are spending more to entertain ourselves at home. Our spending on home entertainment in the first nine months of this year is up 1% from the first nine months of 2011. The growth is attributed to increase in Blu-ray Disc sales, subscription streaming and electronic distribution.
Sony is known for their ability to create great home entertainment systems and Control4 is known for their home management and automation products. Now both companies have merged their technologies to create the world’s first range of AV Receivers with built-in home automation capabilities. The new models of Sony ES receivers (STR-DA5800ES and STR-DA2800ES) will work seamlessly with Control4’s systems and at the same time offers full 4K resolution viewing experience with 9.2 channel surround sound.
STMicroelectronics and PacketVideo have collaborated to port the Twonky Media Server software to the STiH416 (Orly) connected home system-on-chip device. According to both companies, the solution delivers state-of-the-art home multimedia capability, where content from many different sources can be stream to many different devices in the home, regardless of the original content format or the screen resolution of the display device.
The long awaited subscription-free digital TV and catch-up TV (YouView) for UK household has finally arrived. According to the YouView site, the YouView boxes are now available to buy from a range of high-street and online retail outlets. YouView ISP partners TalkTalk and BT are now offering their customers YouView set-top box as part of their TV, phone and broadband packages.
Google and Sony are sticking to their partnership to develop the Google TV platform. For the first time Google TV services will be available outside the US. Sony has announced that its Google Android base NSZ-GS7 player will be available in the UK, in July. According to Sony the new Internet player is due to launch in Canada next followed by Australia, France, Germany and Netherlands, Brazil and Mexico.
Pioneer has added two new SC AV Receivers (SC-1222 and SC1522) to its range of in-home entertainment systems. The receivers offer the latest in connectivity with support for Windows7, DLNA and Apple’s Airplayer. Another feature is their ability to offer increase customization to end users and system integrators. Both models are compatible with home automation systems such as Savant, Crestron and Control4.