Home Cinema Media Centers Hi-Fi Wireless Networks More! APRIL ’05 ISSUE 24 RETURN OF THE… TEN NEW PCs THAT ARE A REAL OPTION FOR THE LIVING ROOM “Imagine 50Mbps broadband!” INSIDE INTEL p21 ESSENTIAL GUIDE Which HOW TO: Big TV? Make FREE phone calls with VoIP Get the most from online music Choose the best tech Understand DVD formats LCD DLP CRT PDP PLUS! Tips & tricks for Mac OS X Reviewed & Rated £3.95 DIGITAL HOME APRIL 2005 HOME DIGITAL Sonus DAB Radio MobiNote DVX-Pod Optoma ThemeScene Check out the 7-inch widescreen LCD, Humax 26” LCD TV The latest and greatest digital radio from 20GB hard disk and DivX/WMV playback The new H30a delivers stunning images Pure with brand new ‘voice’ features The LGB-26DDT claims that it’s “HD- and near-silent running for £1,000 Ready”, but does that make it a winner? TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine ! On The Cover The best Media Center PCs fight it out in our trademark Top Ten p61 We report from Intel’s annual tech-fest, the Developer Forum p21 Which Big TV? We show you how to choose an LCD, plasma, DLP or CRT p27 Transform your home into a ‘digital home’. Tech help starts on p74 The Humax LBG-26DDT is big and HD-ready. But is it worth the money? p40 The new H30a is an ideal projector for that home Digital radio is enjoying a cinema effect p47 quiet revolution. Read all about it on p78 & p17 It’s the biggest portable video player yet – check Welcome to Digital Home out the 7-inch LCD p54 Three years ago, the idea of a ‘digital home’ didn’t stretch far beyond having a computer in one room and your TV and VCR in another. The two could be linked together, but only five star geeks knew how. Today, Media Center Edition PCs have the potential to bring the two rooms together, enabling you to record TV, browse digital photos and listen to your MP3 music collection. In the 2005 edition of the MCE software, you can burn recorded video to DVD and have MSN Messenger running in the background while you couch potato through Match of the Day with a bowl of chips. It’s easy to become a fan. But if Media Centers are so flexible and powerful, why have sales been so sluggish? Why aren’t all new PCs being sold as Media Center PCs? Has it been the sobering fact that they’re three times as expensive as a DVD recorder? Or are their prospects still hindered by their legacy IT complexities, making them fiddly to use and prone to a myriad of random system problems? Yes, there’s safety in a consumer electronics device, but there’s undeniable vision and power in an IT-based one. While Media Center PCs are far from perfect, looking at machines like the Elonex Lumina and the Hi-Grade DMS 2 this issue, we can see that they’re getting better all the time. We’ve picked the best Media Center PC systems for this month’s Top Ten test – the countdown starts on page 61. It’s the highlight of a packed issue that also includes a Buyer’s Guide to Big TVs (page 27). See why DLP is often better than LCD, and how CRT sets are about to make a comeback. Enjoy the issue. Dean Evans, Editor [email protected] Cover image: Be Cool, released 1st April + + = ULTIMATE ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine ! ULTIMATE ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY Inside p61 MEDIA CENTER 2005 TOP 10 The worlds of computing and home entertainment are colliding head on in the form of Media Center 2005. Sam Kieldsen is given the task of finding the ultimate convergent device. p61 WHICH BIG TV? p27 Plasma v LCD v DLP v CRT. The choice of big TVs has IN YOUR never been greater, but which is the best technology? FREE CUSTOM INSTALL MAGAZINE… ● A £2 million refurbished apart- ment in Mayfair ● Complete guide to HVAC ● Find a custom installer near you TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine ! Contents p46 R&R REVIEWED AND RATED Sagem Axium HD-D45 36 Linn Kinos 38 Humax LGB-26DTT 40 JVC LT-26D50BJ 41 Sony XDR-M1 42 Sharp DV-HR300H 43 Citygizmos Mini PC 44 Goodmans GPDR40 45 Mustek PVR-H140 45 Pure Sonus -1XT 46 p36 Optoma ThemeScene H30a 47 Nokia 9500 48 AJP Z71A 50 Averatec 3300 51 p48 Packard Bell DVD-DivX 350 52 Widio audio player 53 Mobinote DVX-Pod 7010 54 D-Link DWL-G810 55 p52 Rotel RSX-1056 56 Six of the best Media Center alternatives 58 p44 The UK's Top 10 Media Centers 61 THE NEW AGE OF COMPUTING p21 Where next for the humble desktop? You’re about to be blown away… HIGHLIGHTS Solutions THE SMALLEST PC EVER P44 14 PAGES OF EXPERT ADVICE FOR YOURDIGITAL HOME A full blown PC in an optical drive box GET THE BEST FROM YOUR EQUIPMENT LATEST NEWS ON THE PSP P14 It's almost time... will the wait be worth it? SKY CONFIRMS HDTV DETAILS P6 How to… But no information of pricing yet PLUS! EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW Get the most from Got a problem? ABOUT BUYING A MAC P90 online music stores 78 We solve your Plus! Tips & tricks for Mac OS X From iTunes to Napster to Wippit, how to get more digital dilemmas CONNECT 6 from today’s virtual record stores News and analysis from the tech frontier Understand DVD formats 82 Q&A 74 WIN! the UK’s best AV amp 16 The mighty Denon AVR-3805 could be yours -R +R -RW +RW -RAM = confusion, understandably NEXT MONTH 18 Get more from your Mobile video, Top Ten PVRs and much more. On sale Thursday 5th May Media Center PC 84 Did you know you can get RSS news feeds through Media Center? INBOX 19 You haven’t read this, then Your letters. SUBSCRIBE TODAY 67 Get started with VoIP 86 Get Digital Home for a couple of quid Slash your phone bills with broadband telephony TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine ! DIGITAL HOME 5 Connec t PLUG IN TO THE LATEST PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY THE ROAD TO HDTV Prepare for all-digital signals, high-quality pictures and hard disk recording when Sky launches high-def in the UK New details of the UK’s first high definition TV service, set to debut in 2006, confirm that you can expect visuals of startling quality, with an all-digital link between the HDTV receiver and your TV. Broadcasters will be able to transmit programmes in the highest quality HDTV format available. But owners of older TV sets could be left because of plans to encrypt the broadcasts all the way to the screen, for which you’ll need a new or recently bought set. The HDTV service is being planned by Sky, which aims to offer high-def entertainment, sport and documentaries over its satellite network from next year. The service is sure to incur an extra subscription cost, and you’ll need a brand-new set-top box to receive programmes. Speaking at the recent DVB World conference (DVB is the Europe-wide standard for digital TV broadcasts), Sky’s chief operating officer Richard Freudenstein said the new boxes would decode both HDTV formats – 720p and 1080i, and broadcasters will be free to choose which will suit their programming. The devices will provide an HDMI connection that will send a pure digital signal to your TV. Cable connections such as Scart lose some picture quality because they convert the signal to analogue, but an HDMI link should result in a picture that’s indistinguishable from the original. To take advantage, your TV will need to have either an HDMI or a DVI socket. If you’re buying a new TV, Sky recommends that you look for the ‘HD Ready’ label, which confirms that the set has a screen resolution of at least 720 DIGITAL CONNECTIONS Most new plasma, LCD and DLP carries a video signal that’s televisions now include a digital compatible with the one used by socket connection as well as HDMI, but no audio, which traditional analogue links such instead goes through a separate as Scart or component output. analogue connection. In TVs, HDMI (High Definition Multimedia personal video recorders and Get ready to treat your flatscreen TV to the best TV pictures available, as Interface) carries both video and DVD players, both HDMI and DVI Sky confirms details of its high-def audio from one device to another, work with the HDCP encryption set-top box. Sky recommends a set ensuring that the entire standard. DVI links used by PC with a digital connection and a broadcast remains fully digital. and flatscreen monitors do not screen of at least 26 inches. DVI (Digital Video Interface) recognise HDCP transmissions. 6 DIGITAL HOME TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine ! New Movies The kind of flexible hard disk recording features already seen in today’s Sky+ boxes will also be on offer in the new generation of HDTV receivers. DVD OF ★★★★★ THE MONTH House of Flying Daggers Region 2 Sublime photography illuminates this tragic folk tale, brought to life with understated, intimate acting and kick-ass fight scenes. Zhang Yimou also directed Hero, which was released earlier this year on DVD to great critical acclaim. This sumptious double-disc HDTV set presents the movie in crisp 2.35:1 Y widescreen and Dolby 5.1 audio, while the centrepiece of the extras lineup is an STANDARDS extended documentary showing how the film was made.