A cinema in your home

Eyeing up the latest flat-screen TVs is an addictive business but there’s another, more cinematic way to get HD into your front room. Projectors are smaller and lighter than a TV and can put an image measuring over 300in on your wall. In fact, more often than not you’re likely to run out of screen or wall space to project the image onto before the projector’s optics reach their limit.

Sony’s commitment to HD is obvious with its VPL-VW50 and VPL-VW100 projectors. Packed with features such as high contrast ratio of up to 15,000:1, and support for full 1080p resolution, the VPL-VW50 brings entertainment to life.

The All Range Crisp Focus (ARC-F) lens, Real Colour Processor (RCP) enhance colours and images, while an ultra-quiet fan and an improved lamp life help to create the cinema experience in the comfort of your own home.

At the higher end of the HD spectrum is the VPL-VW100. With a contrast ratio up to 15,000:1 and 1080p resolution, HD content looks the best it possibly can. The high-quality Sony 400W Pure Xenon Lamp provides equal brightness output for each of the primary colours – red, green and blue, which are used to produce the trillions of colours displayed on screen.

The projector’s Advanced Iris technology also helps to improve images by constantly adjusting the iris diameter, so images in bright scenes are crisp and clear while black levels in dark scenes are deep and detailed. The VPL-VW100 is also designed to be ultra quiet, boasting an output of just 22dB.

PlayStation 3 redefines home gaming
Since its launch in 1994, the PlayStation’s success has been remarkable and it changed the face of console gaming. Twelve years later and Sony is about to push the limit of gaming again with the PlayStation 3 (PS3).

Due out in early 2007, this next-generation console won’t just wow people with high-definition graphics and hi-fidelity sound but will also install a Blu-ray player into the home of every owner. This fact alone is exciting enough, but what other features does it have up its sleeve?

The PlayStation 3 has a network port for direct broadband connection that will allow multiplayer gaming and access to PS3-specific content. There’s also a Bluetooth adapter, which is used to talk to the brand new controllers.

For that pure HD experience there’s an HDMI output and a digital optical output for connecting to a surround-sound decoder. The PS3 can output video up to 1080p, currently the highest form of HD.

Two models will be available, both with a Blu-ray player and the same processor, graphics and sound options. The 60GB model will come with a memory card reader and Wifi. The 20GB will be cheaper but will lack the memory card slots and Wifi (a USB memory card slot can be added).

The iconic controller retains the same shape and design but now includes an extra ‘PS’ button for returning to the home menu and turning the PS3 on or off. Motion-sensing technology enables six axes of control and there are also trigger-style L2 and R2 buttons.

The new wireless controllers can be charged directly from the PS3 by using the USB connectors. Finally, the port indicator shows when the controller is assigned to one of the PS3’s seven ports.
Game-wise the PS3 will have new titles to choose from including Warhawk, Eye of Judgement and Heavenly Sword. It’s also backwards compatible with older PlayStation and PS2 titles.

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