Scan and NVIDIA Gaming Tournament
Saturday, June 1st

What better way can there be to celebrate the 1st of June and arrival of our long-awaited British summer by joining Scan and NVIDIA for a day of gaming tournaments at our Bolton showroom?

Experience for the first time in the UK and get a hands on demo on an NVIDIA Shield, an Android-based games console that can also stream games from your PC into the palm of your hand. Clever eh? Scan and NVIDIA staff will also be hand throughout the day to talk about the greatest hobby in the world, including some great footage of upcoming games and technology.

The day will kick off at 10.40am with rounds of CS:G0 (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) deathmatch. Each round will last 20 minutes – the winners will then compete against each other at 4:40pm in a final round to win a grand prize of £1,000.

Register Now

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4K for £4K from Sony
4K continues to be the buzz for 2013 and Sony recently added fuel to the fire with the announcement of two new UltraHD TVs. At present there are three 4K TVs available to buy from Sony, LG and Samsung. All three are 85 inch screens and will set you back £20,000 to £35,000 for the privilege of being an early adopter.

So it was with surprise that at the NAB show in Las Vegas word first emerged that Sony were going to release a 4K TV for £4K. 
This has now been confirmed with the X9's available to pre-order online at sony.co.uk, and they will arrive in UK stores including Sony Centres, John Lewis and Currys from mid-June. The 55 inch will carry a recommended retail price of £4,000 whilst the 65 inch will set you back £6,000. Sure, it's still a lot of money but not as much as some might have expected.  Is this the psychological tipping point for early adopters to jump on board at these price levels? 4K is most definitely here.

THX Video Calibration Next Month

is proud to present
for the third year running, the

THX Video Calibration course

The training is open to all industry professionals and enthusiasts who want to learn the art of video calibration and become THX certified calibration experts. The course is unique by offering full hands-on training and experience so students not only understand the theory behind calibration, but also have the skills to put that theory into use right away.

The course will be held at JVC House in North London from the 25th to the 27th of June.
Book now to avoid disappointment.

[ More information ]

Audio Technica’s flagship in-ears are a little different from the rest of the pack

In the recent tidal wave of new earphones hitting the market, it can be hard to tell the newcomers from more long standing brands who have simply been enjoying a lower profile until we suddenly all decided that that we weren’t going to listen to freebies any more. It's hard to tell because some brands have been quite adept at creating really convincing backstories as to why they have suddenly started making earphones while some of the companies that have been at it for years haven’t gone to the same lengths to tell people that they’ve been doing just that.

The latter is the case with Audio Technica. The Japanese company which straddles the domestic and professional categories has been in business for over fifty years. Headphones became a product category in the seventies and the company has also been producing in-ear designs for many years as well. Despite this, in the short time I’ve had their flagship ATH-CKS90, a fair few people have expressed surprise at their existence. With literally dozens of brands to choose from at the £120 asking price of the ATH-CKS90, is the Audio Technica worth seeking out?

[ Read the review ]

Coming Soon for Review

Home Cinema News from Mark Hodgkinson

More home cinema news

Do you collect movie memorabilia?

I'm a big fan of the collectible figures, but some of the AVForums members' collections are remarkable.

Check them out in our movie memorabilia forum.

If you like movie artwork, and like me are a big Star Wars fan, then check out this artwork featuring episodes IV, V and VI created for the AVForums home cinema. It's available to own in a number of sizes from Movie Art Prints.

Django Unchained Blu-ray Review
Written by Cas Harlow

Effortlessly combining classic spaghetti Western stylisation with blaxploitation sentiments; infusing period language with trademark wit; and crafting another often iconic, always memorable slice of genre pulp fiction, Tarantino’s latest is his best work in years.

Indeed it would appear that the acclaimed writer/director has only matured over the last 20 years. Having peaked early with a seminal debut in Reservoir Dogs and a standout, one-of-the-greatest-films-of-all-time contender; his sophomore masterpiece Pulp Fiction, he set the bar pretty high, even for himself. However, there is evidence - both in the slightly disjointed last effort, Inglourious Basterds, and this sort-of follow-up entry (potentially the middle chapter in Tarantino's 'period' trilogy) - that even his consistently stylish, star-studded, sharply-scripted and simply never-less-than-utterly-entertaining movies can also have some noteworthy depth to them.

Set on the eve of the American Civil War, in antebellum-era Deep South, the story follows the character of Dr. King Schultz, a bounty hunter who is looking for a black slave – one particular black slave – a man who will help him identify his latest quarry. However, after finding just the man for the task – Django – and taking out the targets, Schultz decides to consider a longer partnership for the two of them; one which, if successful, will eventually lead Django to his own ultimate prize: his long-lost slave wife.

[ Read more ]

Star Trek PS3 Review
Written By Mark Botwright

It’s the perfect time for a Star Trek game: the latest movie has just hit cinemas, the big-budget PR machine is in full flow and the gaming schedule of mid-to-late spring is so bereft of quality as to potentially make a reasonable movie license tie-in look half appealing. Coming from Canada’s Digital Extremes - who scored a pretty big hit with The Darkness II last year - and boasting voice acting from the cast of the films as well as an original canonical story that slots in between JJ Abrams’ reboot and its sequel, Star Trek starts to sound a touch promising.

As with any sensible movie-based tie-in, the route taken is third-person action adventure, allowing gamers to get a full sense of the characters and their story whilst keeping it cinematic. The slight twist here being the game’s skew towards co-op play. You choose to control either Kirk or Spock, and can then opt to utilise AI or another player (set to “private” for friends only or “public” for anyone to drop in and lend a hand) for your companion.

The scene is set well, with fitting scripting and voice acting surprisingly not being phoned in (though the writing of Kirk’s frat-boy schtick still makes him eminently punchable, an annoyance saved by Zachary Quinto’s Spock). Character models too - at least facially - look great.

[ Read more ]