The best home cinema magazine?

[Kopacabana]

Hi there

I have received an offer of a 6 month subscription to any magazine at a 50% discount.

There are two AV magazines on offer: What Hi Fi? and Home Cinema Choice.

I have been a frequent buyer of What Hi Fi? and quite enjoy it (although many people say that their reviews tend to be biased towards their big-name advertisers). I have never read Home Cinema Choice.

Can anyone tell me the difference between the two and which, if any, is generally regarded as the best.

Many thanks

[Azzin]

Home Cinema Choice would be my recommendation.

[table manners]

home cinema choice is more of a install mag and they allways have reviews that are more on a products performance then its cost.what hifi is a mag that takes price to be a big factor in reviews but still a good read.
i buy home cinema choice because i like the custom install features that they run, i would love to have one of my installs in there mag its always been a dream of mine.ps (what hi-fi got me into av)

[argi]

so I think homecinema choise and hometheater mag

[Mark@Velocity]

'What HiFi'???? Think they just changed their name to 'What Sony'!!!!

[jon smith]

For a UK mag, definitely Home Cinema Choice.

until friday they had a huge free to view equipment review section, now its gone.

Anyone know whats happened to the reviews ?

[table manners]

forgot to say that if you can get your hands on sum then hi-life mag is the best ht mag ive ever had.it was made by the peaple from home cineme choice but you cant buy it any more but well worth looking up its full of installs front to back.

[ufitsy]

Originally Posted by TonyOT

until friday they had a huge free to view equipment review section, now its gone.

Anyone know whats happened to the reviews ?

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/reviews/

[Kopacabana]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

I must say I do find Home Cinema Choice a little erm techy or even geeky (no offence). I'm not really interested in building setups yet - I don't have the time, inclination or cash.

I prefer reading reviews and the testing of new equipment. I find What Hi Fi's regular slots of comparing the 5 leading products within a particular category rather interesting and useful.

Think I'll go for What Hi Fi as it's more appropriate for my needs at the moment.

Thanks

[willadunno]

home cinema choise all the way!

[Max Payne]

I subscribe to 2 US mags: Soundandvision and HomeTheater

I think both are excellent, but a bit too alike.

As for UK mags, Home Cinema Choice is definitely the best - but a bit pricey!

I have bought a few German mags while travelling (for the pictures, but they are excellent and very cheap and seem very free of adverts (If I only knew German I would have a montly subscription)

I do think we are been ripped off in Ireland and the UK and we pay for the advertising, but that said HCC is the best of the UK bunch.


Any thread that I have mentioned US mags in this section has been deleted without trace.......wonder will this one disappear too?

[LicensedTaximan]

Home Cinema Choice...on subs, then not so expensive. (most monthly hi-fi / home cinema / video maggies are never that cheap) they're all about £4-£6, but on subs cheaper, I thank yow.

[pjroyal]

I go for Home Cinema Choice every time but I have found their subs dept erratic. Did not tell me my sub had run out, sometimes have published offers (cable) which they then say they have run out of and their next publication date is sometimes incorrect or missing.

But I have been getting the mag for at least 5 years and enjoy the dvd reviews as well as the hardware.

[Liam @ Prog AV]

Another US Mag - Widescreen Review. More a journal than a mag, definitely my favorite read. Reviews are actually scientific reviews, displays are presented with CIE charts, real world contrast measurements, a plethora of deinterlacing and scaling tests etc etc. DVD players are measured for voltage innaccuracies, deinterlacing and scaling again etc etc. They talk about mpeg decoders, processing chips, power supplies, and give actual measurements and response curves. UK magazines have a tendency to review in vague metaphor which doesn't actually compare one thing to another at all. And for some reason they still think LCD is watchable...

[binbag]

None of 'em. They exist to serve the electronics industry and push the consumerism ideal that 'what you've got isn't good enough anymore'. When did you last see a really useful or even moderately interesting article about room acoustics, controlling the amount of light reflection in your viewing room, cheaper options for projections screens (or anything on PJ screens), the importance of throw ratios and image offset, keystoning and why its bad, sound isolation, electrical cleanliness, HT decor, memorabilia, etc, etc...

I really could go on all day and thats before you look at the screens on the products which that show images from films that have just been released on DVD that to mags have probably been paid to use.

[Takes a deep breath...]

Now I'm a realist and I know that the mags have to reach outside the narrow band of us 'enthusiasts' to the unwashed masses that spend £1500 on a big telly and run it as it comes out of the box to make a crust but a couple of articles about something that has something else to do with home cinema other than what you can buy in shop with very big windows would be nice in a magazine that has Home Cinema in the title. As for the other one; the answers in the question.

What do I buy - T'internet (every month) and those ones that go on about £12000 stylus' (styli?) - I leave them laying around at work to make everyone else think I'm loaded.

[mattym]

Originally Posted by binbag

None of 'em. They exist to serve the electronics industry and push the consumerism ideal that 'what you've got isn't good enough anymore'. When did you last see a really useful or even moderately interesting article about room acoustics, controlling the amount of light reflection in your viewing room, cheaper options for projections screens (or anything on PJ screens), the importance of throw ratios and image offset, keystoning and why its bad, sound isolation, electrical cleanliness, HT decor, memorabilia, etc, etc...

I really could go on all day and thats before you look at the screens on the products which that show images from films that have just been released on DVD that to mags have probably been paid to use.

[Takes a deep breath...]

Now I'm a realist and I know that the mags have to reach outside the narrow band of us 'enthusiasts' to the unwashed masses that spend £1500 on a big telly and run it as it comes out of the box to make a crust but a couple of articles about something that has something else to do with home cinema other than what you can buy in shop with very big windows would be nice in a magazine that has Home Cinema in the title. As for the other one; the answers in the question.

What do I buy - T'internet (every month) and those ones that go on about £12000 stylus' (styli?) - I leave them laying around at work to make everyone else think I'm loaded.

have you seen the new improved HCC? its not a bad read at all, looks to me like the mag is trying to push some of those subjects you mention into peoples minds.

[magsite]

Home Cinema Choice is £11.24 for 3 issues (quaterley direct debit)

[norliss]

Originally Posted by Mark@Velocity

'What HiFi'???? Think they just changed their name to 'What Sony'!!!!

No, but they should do, frankly.

[metalhead72]

I've just purchase April's Home Cinema Choice and want to subscribe to the offer (card in Mag)

Free QED HDMI Cable blah blah, It says that you can subscribe online by going to the following URL

www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/qedcable

The problem is that when I go to this site, I can't find this offer (QED Cable) anywhere ?

[eaglemmoomin]

Shocked the OP went with What HIFI to be honest I started reading it in 96ish and over about a two years noticed all of the complaints leveled at it by the other posters. Load of old cods that thing. The only good thing is Clare Newsome quite fit looking

Is Hifi Choice still going, as that was always a worthwhile publication.

[khismet]

Originally Posted by norliss

No, but they should do, frankly.

These are pretty silly comments, quite frankly. There is an ongoing arms race within the HiFi and AV industries, and quite often, one mfr makes some improvement that they roll out across their range.

Now, WHF has a number of faults - not least their ludicrous B0ll0cks about the HDMI cables that give better black levels on TVs - but they're not a Sony franchise, any more than they've been an Arcam or Naim or Denon apologist in the past.

Coincidentally, the latest issue has fairly scathing reviews of two Sony Blueray players, and their favourite midrange AV amps are now Onkyo rather than Sony.

[jb-portsmouth]

Im going with What Hi Fi, thats my preference, but why dont just get both every month, I bet we all do!

[alchemistkevin]

I've been a subscriber of a few mags, to be honest can't recall any names at the moment, but the only one I've ever liked and still like is Home Cinema Choice. Uncomparable to any other UK AV Mag in my view.

[norliss]

Originally Posted by norliss

No, but they should do, frankly.

Originally Posted by khismet

These are pretty silly comments, quite frankly. There is an ongoing arms race within the HiFi and AV industries, and quite often, one mfr makes some improvement that they roll out across their range.

Now, WHF has a number of faults - not least their ludicrous B0ll0cks about the HDMI cables that give better black levels on TVs - but they're not a Sony franchise, any more than they've been an Arcam or Naim or Denon apologist in the past.

Coincidentally, the latest issue has fairly scathing reviews of two Sony Blueray players, and their favourite midrange AV amps are now Onkyo rather than Sony.

You may think they are silly comments, alas I (and many others) would beg to differ; the Sony bias in What HiFi was something picked up by more than just me (see my other thread here: What HiFi - love Sony long time ).

The fact that they have recently given Sony less than stellar reviews says to me that they are now receiving less/no advertising money from them rather than anything else.

[Cliff]

They are both good reads BUT technically they are sometimes weak and misleading. Of course the reviews are written by journo's who spout on about all sorts of nonsense - HDMI cables that enhance image clarity and dynamics, mains leads with better timing, etc etc.

I prefer HCC because they do get their Tech labs to check things. But even then the result can be puzzling.

For instance in the Nov HCC receiver Megatest they looked at Denon Onkyo Sony, Panasonic and Yamaha midprice receivers. Nearly all gave good results with a fidelity firewall of 0.06% distortion

The Panasonic results were the exception -they were dreadful. It was rated at 130w but in fact could only manage a measly 40w at 0.5% distortion. (It was the only class D design which is not the best for HiFi anyway )

Guess what- it won!!!!

[Avi]

Originally Posted by Kopacabana

I prefer reading reviews and the testing of new equipment. I find What Hi Fi's regular slots of comparing the 5 leading products within a particular category rather interesting and useful.

Personally I wouldn't buy anything based on What HiFi? assesment/review. Their material is often more disinformation than fact.

Save your money of if you like fairy stories borrow something from the library.

AVI

[BazzerJ]

What HiFi is for millionaires . Home cinema choice isn't that much better, but at least they cater to HC below 1k. I enjoy reading HCC more, I always get annoyed when I have to make do with WHF on a train or plane journey.

[leven]

Another vote here for Home Cinema Choice.

[IAN P]

UK-Home Cinema Choice

US-Widescreen Review