Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

Quite possibly the best sounding Blu-Ray player at the moment, and you’ll think so too after reading about this “blighty”-fied masterpiece.

The Samsung BD-C8500M is a 3D Blu-Ray player with everything and I mean everything you could possibly want or need in a media playing marvel. Not only will it play your Blu-Rays but inside it has a DVB-T2 tuner, yes thats right a “FREEVIEW HD READY TUNER.” Not only that it’s also packing a 500MB HDD to record it all onto and with the World Cup coming soon there’s no better way to get yourself ready for it with this.

Wait there’s more!! It also can connect to the Internet@TV platform. This allows the user to use an on-demand service including BBC iPlayer and that lovely LoveFilm movie streaming service. One can also stream media straight from your desktop,laptop or server(whichever you have) as it has Wi-Fi and is DLNA certified.

Coming Soon, around April/May time we don’t have a price on it yet but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this despite the fact it should have a hefty price tag to match the weight of spec.

The 3D revolution is now in full swing with companies such as Sony future-proofing and readying its new AV tech ready for our 3D future. We’ve seen the up-coming Bravia TV’s that Sony are coming our way, well now we have some Blu-Ray players to match them.

The BDP-S470 and BDP-S570 will both be 3D compatible the first requiring a future software update and the latter will be compatible straight out the box. Both will achieve this with Active Shutter 3D technology delivering full 1080P HD quality 3D images to your peepers.

Also designed much like its new line of Bravia TVs, these black beauties will be internet enabled. The S470, the obvious entry-level one, will connect via ethernet or can go Wi-Fi with the help of a Sony wireless dongle. The S-570 will do this all by itself. Once connected they can hook up to the Bravia Internet Video service we’ve spoke of before, allowing catch-up TV playback like BBC iPlayer, YouTube  or stream from LoveFilm’s new service. Both can play media from USB but S-570 is DLNA compatible for home network streaming.

Both are arriving sometime this month the BDP-S470 is currently on the US Sony store for $199.99 and the S570 for $249.99.

The D241H Display+ is a new monitor with what i can only describe as bizarre features for a monitor. I’m not saying their bad features by any means just strange. In a world where most people own mobile phones or PMPs which can do your social networking, emails and photos, why not have a monitor that can do it independently of your desktop PC.

This 1080P Full HD panel with a 2ms response time, HDMI and DVI port, it’s your standard fairly decent LCD monitor for your desktop, What makes it stand out though is its ability to connect via Wi-Fi(or ethernet) to the net when your desktop is powered off. Once connected it’s widgets can check your email(Gmail and Yahoo! mail) collect RSS feeds from your favourite MightyGadget blog, and other assorted web feeds.

You can also plug in an SD card or USB dongle and playback your pictures turning the monitor into an oversized picture frame. What’s cool is you can have three widgets working at once too. It also comes with a remote with a slide out QWERTY keyboard making it easy to write your emails or messages from a comfortable distance.

No pictures of the screen yet but it’s believed to be available in May and pricing is still TBC.

Taiwanese giants Asus have recently announced this monstrous new 27” monitor with 3D support. Asus seem to be embracing the new future of 3D tech already with a 3D supported laptop out on the market and it seems to continue here with this super monitor.

Design wise it’s not the best looking monitor in the world but Asus can please aesthetically if they want. Quality is the name of the game here though, 27” screen with NVIDIA 3D vision support, will also be available in a smaller 23”(MG236 and VG236H) and 23.6”(PG246)(but why would you want that when you can get 27?). It has dual link DVI allows for full 1080p HD quality images at a staggering 60fps so when you slap on your 3D specs, the image is smooth and jerk free.

Due out later in the year, we don’t have any price available as of yet so keep your eye out for that. It is believed however that the smaller model will be available before the gargantuan one.

I never found TV tuner cards for your PC that appealing and never heard any that were really outstanding from anyone i knew, but this little number caught my attention and seems to do away with the need for a card in your PC at all. Basically a networked Tuner card. Plug your external or i guess internal aerial (if you’ve got one of those good ones) into the back and it can send out the Freeview love to any PC or Mac on your network.

“Well what else does it do?” you might ask. Once connected to your aerial, connect it to your router whether it be a standard ethernet router or wireless (Elgato recommend a standard N Router for efficient usage) then the TV signal can be picked up on any computer hooked up to it. Then like Sky+, you can pause it as you watch or record onto the computers HDD and watched at a later date all whilst someone else can watch a different channel in a different location on the network.

Available this week in the UK it’s priced at £229.95

Freeview HD is still in it’s first steps. Although the signal is being broadcast in some regions, the sheer lack of set top boxes available to catch the signal seems to be hindering it hitting the mainstream. Sony though have announced that new lines of TVs incorporating the subscription-free Freeview HD tuners will be launched this week.

The NX803 will be available in 40”- 52” screen sizes capable of LED backlit 200Hz images and future-proofed with 3D support. With built in Wi-Fi this model can stream media from your PC but also incorporates the Sony/LoveFilm widget, allowing subscribed users to stream movies from the DVD rental people(when it gets launched)and Skype and Bravia Internet Video(a TV catch-up service).

Also for the more budget/eco conscious, there’s the HX803 and Bravia Essential EX703. The HX803 same as the above but minus the networking options and the EX703 will have the networking options only a less responsive 100Hz screen and energy saving features. Both the latter models will be available in 40” and 46”

As you may have guessed (despite the recent flurry of mobiles on our blog) we love a good telly and this one looks like a great one coming from those super-relaxed Dutch folk at Philips. This is a contrast ratio beast.

The 2 models will both have Full HD capabilities, available in 32”, 40” and 46”(9000 series) and 37”, 40”, 46”and 52”(8000 series) both have a 0.5ms response time and a staggering 10million : 1 dynamic contrast ratio thanks to those lovely little LED's showering the screen in light.  The 9000 also dishes a super fast 400Hz refresh rate whilst the 8000 a lesser 200Hz(you say lesser but it’s still great) Both series also pack Wi-Fi which can stream video direct from a DLNA enabled PC.

What else makes these great is that both series of TV will be ready for the 3D revolution. However this function wont be given as standard with the initial release. If you want it, you’ll have to upgrade with a a pack containing a wireless transmitter and “Active Shutter” glasses.

The launch has happened today in Spain so details of a UK release and price are still unavailable at the moment but should be around soon.

StorE TV, the next-generation of media centre , another product recently posted by Toshiba. The little black box will come in various storage sizes, sit under your telly and play all the media you want whether it be movies, music or pictures.

Currently in pre-production, Toshiba outed a first draft if you will of the StorE TV and boy does it look interesting. It will be available in 3 storage sizes, starting at 1TB, 1.5TB and then 2TB. With built in Wi-Fi it can stream media wirelessly to your TV via it’s HDMI out, from a networked PC and other UPnP devices. HD videos, mp3s, jpegs. You name it it’ll show it. Also you can plug in USB sticks, external hard drives even an external DVD drive. It also sports a card reader for image or camcorder playback.

The software running it is still in development stage and therefore doesn’t give the full potential that may be offered by the StorE TV. Suggestions of “internet services” amongst other things could well be on the way so we’ll keep an eye out if things progress and it still looks like a nifty gadget in the future towards release which Toshiba is hoping for the Autumn time of this year.