Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Home Cinema Choice

I recently helped a friend unbox and install a new 55in TV, and it reminded me there are things I take for granted that perhaps I shouldn't, such as needing to agree to various T&Cs to set up a Google telly. Indeed, while providing a quick low-down on the functionality of my pal's new flatscreen, I started to wonder if smart TVs have become almost too smart. My friend wasn't particularly interested in voice control, or Bluetooth connectivity, and mainly wanted to know how to access BBC iPlayer. This turned out not to be available. 'You can get that on the PlayStation,' announced her 10-year-old son. Queue more HDMI input fiddling. Finally, after lacing up the soundbar through eARC and being greeted by the sound of silence, I eventually remembered…

What Team HCC has been watching this month The Meg This incoming sequel (see p10) prompted us to dig out the terrific 4K release of Jason Statham’s first tussle with a titanic killer shark. Chucky: Season Two The diabolical dolly heads to Catholic school in the latest season of his wild and wacky TV show, now on Blu-ray. The Lighthouse A stunning new 4K upgrade makes it even harder to resist the siren song of Robert Eggers’ pitch black 2019 period comedy. Samurai Reincarnation Akira Kurosawa meets Mario Bava in this stylish slice of early '80s Japanese samurai cinema, newly restored on Blu-ray. Smooth Talk Criterion’s handsome Blu-ray makes it all-too easy to be seduced by this affecting 1985 coming-ofage drama starring Laura Dern.…

Heading out to see a flick? Catch these this month Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Pt. One July 11: Actor-turned-stuntman Tom Cruise returns for this penultimate outing in the action franchise. Expect car chases, train crashes, lots of running, and the ‘biggest stunt in cinema history’ as Cruise rides a motorbike off a cliff. Oppenheimer July 21: Christopher Nolan directs a biopic about theoretical physicist and ‘father of the atomic bomb’ J. Robert Oppenheimer, played here by Cillian Murphy. Starry cast also includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh and Rami Malek. The Meg 2: The Trench Aug 4: Jason Statham kicks more giant shark butt in this sequel to the 2018 blockbuster – but this time megalodons aren’t the only prehistoric beasts rising up from the depths of the…

Discs spinning your way in the coming month… July 10 Avatar 4K The Black Demon The Circus Tent Gold Diggers of 1933 In the Good Old Summertime The Italian Job 4K [2003] Sakra Scream VI 4K Scream 6-Movie Collection July 17 Jaws 2 4K Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest 4K Evil Dead Rise 4K Gallivant Golgo 13 The Iron Prefect Jet Pilot Katsuhito Ishii Collection The Last of Us: Season One 4K Renfield The Song of Songs Thieves Like Us Thunderbolt July 24 Black Magic Rites: Ltd. Edition 4K Blood Money: Four Classic Westerns Vol.2 Carmen Cold Eyes of Fear: Ltd. Edition 4K Earwig Frontier(s): Limited Edition Magic Cop May: Limited Edition Murder Me, Monster Rich and Famous/Tragic Hero Ride On You’ll Like My Mother July 31 Andrzej Zulawski: Three…

PERLISTEN/STORM AUDIO The only real home cinema setup at Munich High End, which took over the city's MOC venue in May, happened to be a quite impressive one. A collaboration between France's amplifier/processor specialist Storm Audio, US loudspeaker newcomer Perlisten, and Sweden's Dirac, the invitation-only sessions showcased an 11.7.6 surround sound system in a custom-built 15-seat theatre. All three brands had something to talk about, starting with the enveloping 17-channel loudspeaker system culled from Perlisten's in-wall S Series, and the seven D series subwoofers (the company also launched the S7t limited edition model during the show – see p8). Driving the array was Storm Audio's flagship ISP Elite MK3 processor, the first product to complement Dirac Live Room Correction and Dirac Live Bass Control with Dirac Live Active Room Treatment.…

WWW.FINITESOLUTIONS.CO.UK KIT CHECKLIST TRINNOV: Altitude16 processor ACURUS: 2 x five-channel A2005 power amplifiers; 1 x ACU-M8R eight-channel power amp WISDOM: 7 x Insight-P2i in-wall speakers; 6 x Sage ICS7a in-ceiling speakers FINITE SOLUTIONS: 4 x custom subwoofers using 15in Acoustic Elegance drivers JVC: DLA-NZ8 4K/8K (eShift) projector, with Panamorph lens PROJECTA: 3.5m (158in diagonal) projector screen APPLE: Apple TV 4K SONY: UBP-X800M2 4K Blu-ray player KALEIDESCAPE: Strato movie server/player CRESTRON: System integration/control CINEMATECH: Acoustic treatments THIS IMPRESSIVELY STYLED cinema room is not actually owned by a regular (and well-heeled) movie fan. Rather, it's a newly designed 'showroom' of UK installer Finite Solutions, intended to give potential clients a flavour of what a dedicated theatre looks, sounds and feels like. This will explain the attention to detail, including the illuminated lattice-effect…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Onkyo's TX-RZ50 continues the brand's ethos of taking the basic notion of an AV receiver and adding a plethora of bells and whistles. Yet this isn't a budget model. Although the more affordable of two top-tier AVRs in the brand's stable, it costs £1,429. Good news for Onkyo then, that it still feels like good value for money. Due to the recent corporate machinations surrounding Onkyo, discussed previously in HCC, the RZ50 is new to the UK, but not fresh from the factory – it was first announced in 2021. This means if it were a TV it would be deemed old hat, but the AVR market – beset by issues with the production of HDMI chipsets and other factors – hasn't moved at a striking pace in…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED EMOTIVA'S BASX MC1 AV processor decodes surround sound audio, passes through/switches video signals, and pretty much nothing else. That it can do this so ably from a thin chassis and for under £1,300 makes for a refreshing cocktail. You'll need to buy power amps, and forego some of the features of the integrated competition, but this could be just what you're looking for if a separates setup is in your sights, and you've been left frustrated by the lacks of processors on the market. The MC1 is part of Emotiva's BasX range, for which we are to read 'basics'. This, as you might guess, is the Tennessee-based company's entry-level. Across its ranges Emotiva sells power amps, processors and AVRs, plus loudspeakers (the AirMotiv series), subwoofers, headphones, hi-fi preamps,…

WWW.SAMSUNG.COM/£1,999 WITH ITS CURVED Cinerama-style 49in display, the Samsung Odyssey G9 (aka G95SC) is an OLED like no other. Futuristic by design, this stunning near-field monitor embodies the new era of cinematic gaming. This G9 is the first OLED monitor we’ve seen to offer Dual Quad High Definition (DQHD; 5,120 x 1,440) in a 32:9 aspect ratio. There are various display options: you can place three 'screens' side-by-side, go fully wide, or run 16:9 content centrally, with black bars left and right. Multi View allows game play on up to two screens simultaneously. Connections include standard and micro HDMI 2.1 inputs, Display Port 1.4, and a USB hub. Picture detail is excellent. This monitor gets Neo Quantum Processor Pro silicon, with deep learning techniques, familiar from Samsung’s Neo QLED screens.…

AV INFO PRODUCT: Premium 4K HDR home cinema projector with JVC's 8K e-ShiftX tech POSITION: Mid-point between JVC's DLA-NZ7 and DLA-NZ9 PEERS: Sony VPL-XW7000ES TIME ON TEST: 16 months REVIEWER: Steve Withers WHEN JVC LAUNCHED its first full range of native 4K projectors in 2019 it decided to move away from the traditional approach of releasing incrementally better models each year. Instead, it offered significant firmware updates in 2020 and 2021, much to the delight of owners. This change of tack has been retained for JVC's 2022 lineup of NZ laser-powered 4K beamers, which already enjoyed their first major update at the end of last year. It offered improvements to the Frame Adapt HDR feature and the dynamic laser control, plus added Filmmaker Mode. JVC's focus is also on the…

I RECENTLY MET up with HCC's Steve May for a beer and to discuss the state of the union. Steve had dug out some old DVDs and was reporting how good they sounded, considering they are using a 30-yearold codec by Dolby, the original Dolby Digital. This started a chat about dynamic compression. A soundtrack can have two types of compression added. Mathematic compression reduces the bit-rate by a factor, then when played back it is reconstructed to as close to the original as possible. The sound should be faithful to the artist intent. The other type of compression is dynamic compression, a process done at the mastering stage of the audio. This has been referred to in the past, in the music industry, as the loudness wars. In the…

Scream VI When another 'Ghostface' starts slicing through the Big Apple, the survivors of the last Woodsboro massacre discover that everyone is a suspect in this new instalment in the popular horror franchise. Scream VI is available to Download & Keep now and on DVD, Blu-ray™, and 4K Ultra HD™ from July 10, courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment, and comes with over an hour of killer bonus content. To celebrate the release we have three copies of Scream VI on 4K Ultra HD™ to be won! Question: Which former Friends star plays journalist Gale Weathers in all six Scream movies? Answer: A) Jennifer Aniston B) Courtney Cox C) Lisa Kudrow The Laureate Tom Hughes, Dianna Agron and Laura Haddock star in this tale of obsession and jealousy based on the…

DC's teen superhero (played by Asher Angel/ Zachary Levi) battles angry deities (including Helen Mirren) in this second helping of family-friendly comic book fun from Warner Bros. Is the 4K Blu-ray release destined for greatness? See p93…

➜SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS When the first Shazam! movie was released in April 2019, it stood out from most other DC properties. Unlike the main Batman/Superman strand of the DCEU, here was a film unafraid to embrace the goofier side of costumed crimefighters, and it seemed to have little ambitions beyond delivering some family-friendly fun within a relatively selfcontained story. In many ways Shazam! Fury of the Gods is more of the same. However, the belief that sequels must be bigger in scale than their predecessors has resulted in a flabbier, less focused story. The formula has lost a little of its magic. The film kicks off with Billy Batson/Shazam (Asher Angel/Zachary Levi) fearing that, despite his best efforts, his 'Shazamily' of super-powered foster siblings is growing apart. An…

➜Cosa Nostra: Franco Nero in Three Mafia Tales by Damiano Damiani – LE Celebrating pioneering Italian filmmaker Damiano Damiani and his collaborations with actor Franco Nero, this handsome boxset collects three equally brilliant, but very different, crime thrillers linked by the filmmaker's fascination with Mafia-related corruption across different spheres of Italian society. The Day of the Owl (1968) casts Nero in the role of the new police chief in a small Sicilian town investigating the murder of a local construction worker. His attempts to solve the crime, however, are continually hampered by corrupt officials and the townsfolk's support for their benevolent 'gentleman' Don (Lee J. Cobb). The Case is Closed: Forget It (1971) puts Nero behind bars, playing a wealthy architect thrown in prison while he awaits judgement on his…

COULD EVERYTHING YOU think you know about Dolby Atmos home cinema be about to change? A recent visit to the HQ of AWE, a leading distributor of AV gear to the UK custom install industry, has had me – if not questioning the meaning of life – at least pondering the layout of my home cinema. For most of us, the only decision we make when specifying our own Atmos system is whether to opt for two or four height speakers. Even larger theatres stick to a variation on this, as indeed did AWE's Reference cinema. But now it's been upgraded – and I'm wondering if it's time for me to follow suit. Gutted and rebuilt, the AWE theatre now features a pair of front-wide speakers as part of its…

WWW.HOMECINEMACHOICE.COM New upmixing technology that 'separates the audio into its individual parts' is at the heart of Sony's £449 HT-S2000 soundbar. Offering Atmos/DTS:X decoding, but not physical height drivers, this 3.1-channel bar instead aims to spread its sonics wide and high through virtual processing. Bass come from two in-built woofers, but the enclosure can be partnered with Sony's optional SA series subs, as well as wireless rears. Features include control via a new Home Entertainment Connect app. HCC ONLINE… For breaking AV news, blogs, features and reviews visit www.homecinemachoice.com Follow us on Twitter @hccmag Like us on Facebook facebook.com/homecinemachoice…

As a long-time favourite of the professional music/film industry, much of PMC's business is in kitting out studios for content monitoring/mastering. Now the UK-based company aims to bring a flavour of that pro-grade approach to a larger consumer market than ever through two entry-level loudspeakers. The prodigy1 and prodigy5 are standmount and floorstanding models, respectively, both employing the same two-way driver configuration of a 27mm soft dome tweeter and 5.25in bass/mid driver, split via a 1.7kHz crossover. PMC says the tweeter unit has evolved from that of its result6 studio monitors, and delivers a 'wide dispersion high-frequency response, a very wide "sweet-spot" and exceptional detail'. Meanwhile, the speakers' natural fibre bass/mid drivers, with inverted dustcap and 'high-power' magnet assembly, are lifted from PMC's ci series. All down the line Helping…

iFi Audio's catalogue extends from bargainpriced, pocket-friendly gizmos to high-end 'head-fi' hardware designed for desktop use, and its new £3749 iCan Phantom analogue headphone amp fits in the latter category. This new flagship, with distinctive double-layer chassis construction, aims to suit any headphone flavour imaginable, with outputs on 4.4mm Pentaconn and S-Balanced 3.5mm; 3-pin and 4-pin XLR; 6.3mm; and even two for electrostatic models (with bias cards supplied for headphone matching). The Phantom also works as a preamplifier into active speakers or a power amp, again with balanced and unbalanced hookup options. Onboard power is offered in both solid-state and valve guise (with two user selectable 'Tube' modes), providing more scope for performance fine-tuning. iFi Audio's XBass and XSpace analogue processing tools are also present. The upper section of the…

If you've been wondering why a dodgy rock band from the '90s is suddenly getting attention, this article is for you. WiSA, and not Weezer, stands for Wireless Speaker and Audio, and is a hardware and software standard for wirelessly transmitting digital audio from a certified source to compatible speakers. While wireless audio is hardly new, this standard promises up to eight channels of high-quality sound using a system that's easy to setup, robust, and low latency. The dream of an immersive multichannel system freed from the shackles of speaker cables snaking around the lounge is within reach. Promoting this dream is the WiSA Association, a consortium of electronics companies, technology providers and retailers, all committed to the concept of wireless spatial audio. The list of home entertainment brands involved…

FOR MOST MOVIE fans the pivotal event of 1977 was the release of Star Wars, the sci-fi blockbuster that would reshape the cinematic landscape. But there was something else that happened that same year, an event that would also have a major impact on the industry. Only this one didn't take place on the silver screen. First launched in 1974, the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game had been a healthy seller among wargame fans and hobbyists since its launch. However, it was publisher TSR Inc.'s decision in 1977 to overhaul the rulebook and launch Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (alongside a 'Basic Set' aimed at traditional toy retailers) that transformed the game into a cultural phenomenon. All of a sudden muscular warriors and evil wizards were everywhere, and Hollywood wanted a…

➜Hardware PHILIPS 55OLED808 TV packing Ambilight and upgraded picture engine ONKYO Nine-channel TX-RZ50 AV receiver with Dirac Live JBL Bar 1300 Atmos soundbar EMOTIVA BasX series multichannel processor REL Mid-level sealed sub from the HT range KLIPSCH Powered bookshelf speakers with HDMI ARC XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro portable PJ & MORE! The Chinese TV giant's 55C745 model aims to please with gaming-friendly features, multi-HDR support, AI processing and an agreeable price point. We put it to the test on p54 All prices quoted are approximate and may have changed…

Let's be honest, we often don't use our surround sound systems. If you're watching Bake Off or the news, it's unlikely you'll want to immerse yourself in spatial audio. Of course, with other content the ability to enjoy immersive sonics completely changes your viewing experience. JBL's Bar 1300 might be the best of both worlds, thanks to ingenious detachable/rechargeable rear speakers. When you're just looking for cake recipes or catching up on Prime Minister's Questions, simply leave the surrounds attached to the main soundbar. Then, when you fancy watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster, detach the rears, place them behind you, and you're good to go. It's a clever idea that eliminates speaker cables, plus the need to plug the rears into power sockets. JBL has taken this approach before with…

AV INFO PRODUCT: 12in front-firing sealed subwoofer POSITION: Mid-range model in REL's HT stable PEERS: SVS SB-2000 Pro; Velodyne DB-12; Paradigm Defiance V12 THE REL HT/1205 MKII is the new mid-range model in the brand's lineup of dedicated home theatre subwoofers, sandwiched between the entry-level HT/1003 MKII (see HCC #336) and high-end HT/1510 (see HCC #333). When REL launched the HT/1510 it was nicknamed the 'Predator', which seemed appropriate for a sub capable of bass that felt like Arnie had just nuked an alien big-game hunter. The brand obviously liked the feedback, and thus chose to name the HT/1003 the 'Hammer' and the HT/1205 the 'Cannon' for their MKII iterations. It's certainly in line with the concept of these more home cinema-centric subwoofers that eschew REL's usual emphasis on musicality…

WWW.ACOUSTIC-ENERGY.CO.UK/£224 (EACH) WHEN ACOUSTIC ENERGY treated its 100 Series of entry-level speakers to a MkII upgrade (see HCC #340), the British sound brand also slipped in an entirely new model – the AE105. This two-way speaker is primarily intended for wall-mounting, but along with surround duties in tandem with the rest of the range, its design makes it an ideal LCR speaker, adding another feather to its cap. Used here are the same 25mm soft dome tweeter with WDT waveguide, and 130mm paper cone driver, as the other 100 Series speakers, but the AE105 adds a passive radiator for a claimed LF response that goes down to a respectable 35Hz. The speaker is simple but elegant, with excellent build quality and a cabinet measuring 450mm wide, 200mm high and 120mm…

THERE'S NOTHING THAT quite sets techwatchers tongues wagging as much as an Apple reveal. And this year, at its annual 'Developers Conference', it really did pull a rabbit out of the hat with its Vision Pro. For those who missed the live-streamed event, the subsequent Twitter hashtags, or the coverage in the mainstream press and on TV news, Vision Pro is the Californian company's take on VR glasses. Well, sort of. Apple would rather refer to the experience as 'spatial computing', and the Vision Pro is about much more than just standing around, swinging your hands at imaginary beasties in a virtual gaming world. Apple calls it 'the most ambitious product' it has ever created. The eyes have it The technology certainly looks extravagant. The Vision Pro features a higher-than-4K…

Headphone considerations In these days of noise apps and emails to the council, I'm amazed your magazine manages to promote living room audio. Even soundbars can irritate the neighbours. And it's not just decibels, it's bass. Enter my world of the home cinema headphone. I'll go straight to the peak of my learning curve by telling you it's all about impedance. Not size or output but impedance in ohms. Mine are 300ohm Sennheiser HD660 S2s. That impedance number enables explosions and gunfire from your home cinema amplifier, something I never thought possible with headphones. I did have a happy compromise with quality earbuds (Sony WF-1000XM4) – these are surprisingly spacious in sound reproduction but I still have to reduce the volume when the going gets explosive and the battery does…

Welcome to the AV-Holic Hall of Fame – introduce yourself! Hi there, my name is Byron Goddard. I'm 51 and a builder from Cornwall. How long have you been into home cinema? I have been into home cinema for as long as I can remember. It started when I first connected some JVC hi-fi speakers to my TV and got the bug for big sound. My first full setup was a Yamaha Dolby Pro Logic amplifier with a Polk Audio centre speaker, Canon corner surround speakers, some JVC hi-fi fronts and a REL Q50 subwoofer. When did you decide to set up your cinema room? I brought my current house about two years ago knowing that I was going to use the third bedroom from the start for a home…

➜COCAINE BEAR In 1985, narcotics officer-turned-drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II dumped 40 containers of cocaine out of his plane while flying over the Georgia wilderness. The drugs were subsequently discovered by a black bear, which promptly ingested around 35kg of the white power and keeled over dead. The latest film from Pitch Perfect 3 helmer Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear takes that bizarre but uneventful story and gives it a comic B-movie spin. Instead of overdosing, here the bear goes on a drug-fuelled rampage, leaving a gruesome trail of severed limbs in its wake. If this brings back memories of 2006's similarly high-concept horror-comedy Snakes on a Plane, don't fear. Unlike that turkey, Cocaine Bear largely delivers on the promise of its tongue-in-cheek setup. It certainly doesn't hurt that…

➜ Netflix With James Cameron's True Lies rumoured to be making its belated Blu-ray debut this year, it's ironic that in 2023 there have been two TV shows that owe a sizeable debt to that 1994 box office hit. First was CBS's underperforming smallscreen True Lies remake, which had the plug pulled after just one 13-episode season. The other is Netflix's new eight-episode action-comedy series FUBAR. Named after the military acronym for when something goes very wrong, the show stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Luke Brunner, a divorced dad whose family fell apart due to his secret life as a top CIA agent. On the day of his retirement, Brunner is pulled back in for one last mission rescuing an undercover CIA operative whose identity is about to be blown. His…

IN THE SPRING of 1970, a thirty-year-old Bruce Lee took a trip to Hong Kong that would change his life forever. The American television series The Green Hornet (1966-67), in which Lee played the hero's masked sidekick Kato, had recently been broadcast in Hong Kong, only there it was rechristened The Kato Show and became a big hit with audiences – leading Hong Kong studios to start sounding him out. 'He was greeted there as a returning star,' Lee's widow Linda Lee Cadwell would later recall. 'That was the first time he thought, "Wow. People recognise me. They remember me." That was the first inkling that there might be a future there'. Fighting prejudice Lee was no stranger to the screen. The son of a well-known actor/opera singer, he'd appeared…

The vintage aesthetic revival train keeps rolling, with McIntosh joining the likes of Wharfedale, Mission, NAD, Yamaha (and others) in launching a product that looks like it's fallen through a time-tunnel from the 1970s. And, like other companies, McIntosh has looked to a specific past model for its new offering. Priced £14,000 and available soon, the ML1 MKII is – you guessed it – a modern take on the American company's original ML1, its first ever loudspeaker. Five into four A (very) large standmount design, it features a four-way configuration, utilising five drivers. Accounting for the cabinet's 38cm width is the ML1 MKII's 12in polypropylene woofer, which patrols frequencies below 180Hz (and down to 27Hz, says McIntosh). There are then three mid-range drivers: two 4in 'mid-low' units that output into…

Panasonic has taken the wraps off four new OLED screens, a Mini LED set, and new smart LED models, to complete its 2023 flatscreen proposition. We already knew about the high-end MZ2000 OLED TV, having had a preview of this flagship at CES (see HCC #339). It will now be joined by the MZ1500, MZ980, MZ800 and MZ700. Panasonic has also announced its first Quantum Dot Mini LED offering, the MX950, and its first LED 4K TV built around Amazon’s Fire TV OS. New to the higher-end models this year is Nvidia G-Sync compatibility; a True Game Mode which aims to ensure colour accuracy with source-oriented HDR tone mapping; and Game Sound Modes. True Game Mode can be professionally calibrated using Calman calibration software, should you feel the need. Starting…

WHEN THAT T-REX stomp shook the glass of water in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park in 1993, it sent ripples through the entire home cinema world. At that moment, deep bass – and subwoofers in particular – became an essential ingredient in the AV mix. Subwoofers first began to make themselves felt in the early sixties (although low-frequency speakers had been around for decades earlier), and became synonymous with movies when they were used to deliver the 'Sensurround' rumble audio effect in theatres for 1974 disaster movie Earthquake. But for many, it was Jurassic Park's home video release on DVD and LaserDisc that really cemented the need for an LFE (Low Frequency Effects) speaker in the home. These days subwoofers come in various flavours, from modest boom boxes to heavyweight models…

It's easy to forget what the TV market looked like at the turn of the millennium, with a host of now defunct or greatly reduced Japanese brands still in play. But eventually Fujitsu, Pioneer and others were muscled out by South Korea's Samsung and LG, companies which both sit at the top of the pile some 23 years later. Chinese manufacturer TCL will be hoping the same market shift can happen again. Around five years ago, the company began making a push into the UK. Some early niggles (UK models being shorn of key features offered elsewhere in Europe) have been ironed out, and it's dramatically widened its distribution, to include retailers including Curry's and the Euronics network of independents (in addition to online sellers like Amazon). Naturally, TCL's ambition…

THE LATEST ARRIVAL from Chinese projector marque Xgimi is a portable, smart model with popcorn sensibilities. A rival to Samsung's The Freestyle (aka SP-LSP3), the MoGo 2 Pro casts large Full HD images (100in plus) from a compact, cylindrical form factor, on any wall you want to point it at. About the size of the average Bluetooth speaker and tipping the scales at just 1.1kg, this PJ can be carted anywhere you want. There's no built-in battery (unlike the original MoGo Pro) but you can run it off an external power bank (provided it delivers at least 65W) when out and about. The big brother of the MoGo 2, this Pro iteration improves resolution from 720p to 1080p, and utilises upgraded ISA (Intelligent Screen Alignment) technology to keep imagery sharp,…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AV INFO PRODUCT: Active bookshelf speakers with HDMI ARC input POSITION: Largest powered speaker pair in the company range PEERS: KEF LS50 Wireless II; Sonus faber Omnia AS WELL AS a considerable range of passive speakers, including models that trace back all the way to its founding in 1946, American manufacturer Klipsch now produces powered ones. And by introducing a more premium finish, tweaking the connectivity – including fitting an HDMI ARC port – and generally sprucing up what's often considered a value-orientated product, Klipsch created The Fives, which by all accounts has sold very well. The Nines are a fairly route one approach to broadening the available range. In every aspect of connectivity and basic design, they are the same as their smaller brethren. The main speaker…

I'VE BEEN ON a bit of a downer in my previous two Film Fanatic columns (HCC #341 and #339), so was hoping this issue's piece would be more upbeat. Surely there would be some good news for fans of physical media that was worth celebrating? Then came the shocking news concerning the demise of UK software label Network Distributing, that began to spread on social media at the end of May. With no official statement forthcoming at the time of writing the full details about what's actually happened at the company have yet to be revealed. What we do know is that on May 30 the official Network On Air website went down, replaced by a message saying the account had been suspended. The company's social media channels went silent…

I await each issue off HCC and the kit reviews to see how something performs and whether it is worthwhile going on the old shortlist for the next upgrade. Also, like many I suspect, I 'caught the bug' years ago with the first surround tracks on VHS. Nicam stereo and surround sound suddenly uplifted movie viewing. My first purchase in that regard was a Sherwood ES1280, which provided the processing, and extra amps for the additional channels. Next it was a Yamaha, and with the arrival of DVD and digital surround, a Sony SDP-EP9ES. In those days the processor was king and you either added to your stereo amplifier or added power amplifiers. Then 'all in ones' took over, my first being the Yamaha DSP-AX2. As HD arrived with HDMI…

You'd think it would be impossible to screw up a film with the premise 'spaceman fights dinosaurs' and yet that's exactly what the makers of this dull and dour sci-fi survival thriller have done. Unless you can't get enough of watching Adam Driver falling over and grunting (activities that amount to the bulk of a modest 92-minute runtime that hints at production troubles), that leaves this disc's refined 4K Dolby Vision encode and impressive Dolby Atmos soundtrack as the only real positives. Perfunctory extras are confined to the bundled Full HD Blu-ray copy of the movie. AvB ★★☆☆☆…

Diablo IV Blizzard Entertainment ➜ PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC ➜ £70 Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo games started life in 1997 and have remained at the pinnacle of the isometric dungeon crawling genre ever since, no matter how many clones have come and gone in the meantime. Now Diablo IV has arrived and it's superb – alesson in gameplay over gimmicks and, in some respects, fancy graphics. That's not to say it's not pretty (in a gloomy and dark way), but everything great about the Diablo franchise is in effect. You get to play as one of several character classes – barbarian, sorcerer, druid, rogue, etc – but never really get that close to them visually. Instead, like its original inspiration, Gauntlet, you control them from afar,…

Shot with SD digital cameras, David Lynch's brain-busting 2006 masterpiece returns to Blu-ray with a new 4K 'restoration'. Completed using AI-enhanced upscaling software, the remastered 1080p image retains an ugly, early digital video aesthetic (nothing will ever change that), but is improved in terms of both detail and colour balance. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix has also been remastered for a richer sound, but remains predominantly front-focused. A bonus BD includes the 85-minute Lynch (One) doc, 75 minutes of additional footage, and an archival interview with the director. AvB ★★★★☆…

➜Extraction 2 This sequel to the breathless Netflix actioner, starring Chris Hemsworth as one-man-army Tyler Rake, gets off to a deceptively slow start. A quick recap is followed by a montage of Hemsworth slowly working his way back to health. Retirement seems on the cards – until Idris Elba turns up at his cabin in the woods, with a mission he can't refuse. And for the rest of its running time, Extraction 2 is a delirious symphony of brilliantly choreographed, chaotic action. Former stuntman Sam Hargrave once again directs, with Joe Russo writing. Golshifteh Farahani returns as Tyler's merc mate Nik, along with Adam Bessa as brother Yaz. Rake is charged with rescuing his ex-wife's sister and her two kids from a Georgian prison. The resulting assault, as Tyler makes…

01 LG OLED65G3 ➜ £3,500 ★★★★★ The brightness-boosting 'Micro Lens Array' panel of LG's wall-mount-centric G3 TV takes OLED performance to new heights. Stunning HDR and a specification list that will delight home cinema fans and gamers alike make this worth the premium price tag. HCC #341 TOP 5 New releases Knock at the Cabin [4K BD] Thanks to its slick 4K encode and inventive Dolby Atmos sound design, you'd be a fool not to open the door when M. Night Shyamalan's chilling new psychological horror comes knocking. ★★★★☆ All Quiet on the Western Front: Ltd Col. Ed. [4K BD] Bombastic Dolby Atmos audio means that there's nothing quiet about this award-winning German war epic, and the disc's 4K HDR presentation outdoes the Netflix streams. ★Bombastic Dolby Atmos audio means…