Blu-ray players might be common now in the UK but so far no one has opted to combine Blu-ray playback and recording with HDD recorders. Until now, that is. Hot on the heels of launching a raft of new Viera LCD and plasma TVs, Panasonic has released details of its DMR-B𔞊, which will feature a 500GB hard drive alongside a Blu-ray player and recorder. There will also be a smaller version, the 250GB B𔜦. Both machines will utilise Panasonic’s PHL Reference Chroma Processor and the players will support BD-Live and BonusView. The new models sport twin Freesat HD tuners meaning you should - barring any copyright issues - be able to record HD broadcasts from the BBC and ITV. There’s DV connections for transferring camcorder video, alongside SD Card and USB slots so that you can archive or playback AVCHD HD video. Both will offer support for Viera Cast, which is Panasonic’s new Internet content delivery service, allowing viewers to access sites like Eurosport and YouTube. No price nor launch date for the new machines yet but we’ll keep you posted.-Martin Lynch [Trustedreviews] blu-ray HDD

Panasonic has set out its LCD stall for 2009 with 13 new LCD TVs, ranging in size from 19in to 37in. You may ask where are all the bigger 42in and larger TVs but it seems that Panasonic is targeting those segments with its plasma TVs. Topping the line is the ↢ Series, a slim Full HD TV boasting Panasonic’s 100Hz Intelligent Frame Creation technology and supporting Viera Cast, the company’s European-wide service that lets viewers access Internet sites like YouTube and Eurosport. Philips is doing something similar with its Net TV service on new models. The ↢ also supports Viera Link, Image Viewer and DLNA, the latter for streaming photos and video from networked devices. The series comprises 32in and 37in models. A step down is the 37in ᯋ which sports most of the same functionality, including Viera Cast, but has a different stand. The ᯆ series comes in 32in and 37in sizes, which use IPS Alpha panels with a wider aperture to deliver clearer pictures, a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and wide colour viewing angle. They support Image Viewer and Link facilities, but not Viera Cast. The entry level offering is the ⁶ Series of Full HD tellys, ranging in size from 32in to 42in, and supporting Viera Link and Image Viewer. Again, no Viera Cast but these TVs are expected to be more gentle on your wallet. . The new X15 and X10 models now boast a new 19in model, to go with the 26in and 32in products while there’s also the C10 series of TVs with Eco modes designed to reduce your electricity bill. There’s no prices yet but the TVs are launching in the coming months.-Martin Lynch TV HDTV

Sony has pulled off some brilliant TV ads to advertise its Bravia HDTVs, from the bouncing balls in San Francisco to the exploding paint bombs in a Scottish block of flats. The latest though is quite special for different reasons because it features the world’s largest Zoetrope, as verified by the good people at the Guinness Book Of Records. The last few months have seen some clips appearing online about its construction in the town of Venaria near Turin, in northern Italy but here’s the finished product. The ad features still images of footballer Kaká which, when viewed through the slits of the fast-spinning Zoetrope, look like smooth animation. Rotating at up to 50kph, the impression of smooth action is designed to convey the message about the Bravia’s new 200Hz MotionFlow image processing technology which, according to early reviews, makes all those fast-action sports run without any ‘ghosting’ or motion blur. All of the previous ads concentrated on pushing Bravia’s colour abilities. We still prefer the bouncing balls and exploding paint ads though.-Martin Lynch [CR Blog] Bouncing Balls news TV HDTV

Blu-ray has yet to shine as the HD movie format of choice for many consumers but according to market watcher Futuresource Consulting, HD fans around the globe will buy more than 100m of them within the year. Despite the recession, increased sales of HDTVs combined with cheaper Blu-ray players will drive sales of Blu-ray movies in Western Europe, the US and Japan. The UK already leads the way as the largest Blu-ray disc market in Europe, racking up 3.5m sales in 2008 - a whopping 40% of the European total. Worldwide, The Dark Knight led the Blu crusade with massive sales. “In the USA, BD has moved from early adopter phase through to early majority, with the format gaining real traction in the marketplace,” says Mai Hoang, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “Last year in the US alone, BD video retail sales increased by a whopping 320% to 24 million units; and we’re going to see momentum continuing in 2009, with over 80 million disc sales forecast.” She added: “The UK is the largest market for BD in Western Europe. With sales of more than 3.5 million units in 2008, it represented over 40% of the West European total. BD also benefited from a number of UK television campaigns during the critical fourth quarter of 2008, considerably raising consumer awareness. Factor in Sky’s high profile approach to marketing its HD service, and to a lesser extent the BBC/ITV joint venture, Freesat, and the cumulative effect has made a substantial impact upon the marketplace.” Even though HD movie downloads are on the horizon, Futuresource does not see it threatening the overall uptake of Blu-ray. “Looking at the hardware, retail prices are declining fast and we’ll see BD players become ‘impulse buys’ very soon, powering the format’s momentum through the diffusion curve,” says Alison Casey, Head of Global Content at Futuresource. “Although movie downloads are making noises in the marketplace, mainstream adoption will be a much more gradual process, with our projections showing that 12% of US consumer expenditure on home video will originate from online in 2012, with a slightly lower proportion in Europe.” Still, it will be years before DVD is dethroned as the dominant movie disc format. According to Futuresource, by 2012 around 50% of US and 35% of Western European video disc retail sale volumes will be Blu-ray.-Martin Lynch blu-ray movies

Microsoft may be moving the crosshairs from motion capture specialists 3DV onto another likely candidate, provided its claims can be backed up at next week’s CeBit. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications have announced the iPoint 3D, which allegedly offers gesture control for 3D TVs by responding to hand movements. The system uses a keyboard-sized control device that’s supposed to be suspended from the ceiling or built into a coffee table and has two built-in cameras to detect movement and send it to a computer for processing. Researcher Paul Chojecki explains that “The system responds instantly, as soon as someone in front of the screen moves their hands. No physical contact or special markers are involved. The small device is equipped with two FireWire cameras - inexpensive, off-the-shelf video cameras that are easy to install.” Gaming is of course a big potential market but it has also been considered for hospitals, offices or as suggested “Someone kneading pastry in the kitchen, whose hands are covered in dough, can turn down the boiling potatoes by waving a finger without leaving sticky marks on the stove.” This all sounds rather ambitious to us and there are obvious comparisons to be drawn between the iPoint and Sci-Fi movies like Star Wars, Minority Report and ‘Sylar′ off Heroes. We’ll take a sceptical stance though and wonder how it could accurately work out that you’re trying to change the channel or volume and know to ignore other movements and hand gestures that you might naturally be making. Regardless, we’ll keep a sharp eye on CeBit to see if the iPoint 3D turns out to be nearly as cool as it sounds.- Paul Lester [Fraunhofer] CeBit iPoint 3D 3D TV

Without a doubt, Philips certainly knows how to shake up the TV market. From stunning AmbiLight to Aurea TVs and now with the odd-looking ultra-wide 21:9 TV, Philips likes to do things differently. The new 21:9 was announced officially a few weeks ago but now we have a UK launch window and a price that will stretch more than your movies. The 56in 21 :9 Cinema LCD is expected to hit our shores in June with a £3,500 price tag. Not recession friendly but then anyone in the market for a 56in TV right now isn’t exactly counting the pennies. The 21:9 is novel and gimmicky and while the company claims that it will let you watch movies exactly as they were intended - without annoying black bars on the top - it’s a lot of money for regular TV shoppers to stump up. Probably too much for this to be a big mainstream success. However, along with the jaw-dropping movie playback, the TV sports a very generous 5 HDMI slots for just about all of your HD devices and, UK viewers will also be able to access Philips new Internet-based TV service, Net TV. This will allow viewers to access Web sites like YouTube, eBay, Funspot and TomTom among others via the remote. The service is also coming on the new Philips 8000 and 9000 series of TVs with the 9000 series offering in-built Wi-Fi. We have yet to hear if the 21:9 TV will have a wireless or wired connection to Net TV but for £3,500 we’re bloody well expecting Wi-Fi. Watch a video of the 21:9 in action here.-Martin Lynch TV HDTV

Despite the fact that most modern surround sound setups are pretty stylishly designed to coordinate with a flashy TV, they’re not for everyone. If you’re taking a minimalist approach to your home cinema arrangement then the idea of combining some of the essentials with other furniture seems like an interesting alternative, and was the motivation behind these concept speakers from two Polish designers. They are called the ’soundshelf’ and are intended to double up as other household items, specifically in this case a DVD rack and a bookshelf.Sure, these things are likely to pale in comparison with a dedicated setup acoustically, but for the casual user who just wants a bit more punch than your average TV speakers can offer could suit quite well. If they ever do get made and don′t command a ridiculously high price due to their innovative nature we reckon they could amass a tidy little niche following. - Paul Lester [Technabob] speakers home cinema audio

It seems like a dash of common sense mixed with a healthy dose of facts and figures has put an end to all of this ‘ban plasmas’ talk, but that hasn′t stopped efforts to make massive flatscreen TVs more economical. Sony’s new Bravia series, the WE5, seems particularly well kitted out in this area, claiming to be the ‘greenest ever’ BRAVIA LCD line-up. It consumes 20-30% less power than last year’s models thanks partly to something called a micro-tubular Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (HCFL) which makes it more efficient without affecting picture quality. What’s more interesting though is the intelligent presence sensor, which uses a combination of movement and body-heat detection to switch the picture into standby mode if you leave the room to make a cup of tea or answer the door.Quite how well this will work is anyone’s guess. I’ve dated girls whose circulation is akin to Frosty the Snowman and brushing against them when they are not wearing fourteen woollen outer layers is like a brush with death itself, so if the new Bravia can detect subtle heat on this level I’ll be impressed. There’s a bunch of other image processing technology crammed in just to reassure people that Sony hasn′t forgot about the essentials in the light of this wacky new technology, including the new BRAVIA Engine 3 to optimise images and Motionflow 100Hz to sharpen up fast-moving scenes. The new WE5 ‘Eco TV’ range are 1080p screens available in 40″ and 46″ sizes and will be released in the Spring, with prices yet to be confirmed. - Paul Lester [Sony] Sony ecological HDTV

If you’ve already got Sky HD but have been rather disappointed by how comparatively poor your average episode of The Simpsons looks, you might have noticed a touch more gloss to proceedings if you saw last night’s episode. It was the first to be shown in proper HD and had a new title sequence to celebrate, which included an HDTV in the Simpsons’ home, Bart writing “HDTV is worth every cent″ on the blackboard and rather unnervingly, a flatscreen falling off the wall. Unfortunately this doesn’t appear to be a permanent move; since the dysfunctional family will be returned to regular old SD in the next episode. If you missed it though, you can catch it again on the 27th of February. - Paul Lester [TVB] Pirate Bay ̢P torrents

There’s more talk of 3D today, following Sky’s recent trials of 3D TV. Panasonic is looking to bring the technology to the optical disc, announcing a new 3D authoring laboratory at its Hollywood offices in California. This will boast a full home theatre system with a 3D-ready projector offering a 380″ screen. A 3D plasma display, digital projector and MPEG4 decoder are in the works and it is in talks with major studios to make ‘3D Full HD′ Blu-ray formats an established standard, which it plans to launch next year. Managing Director Eisuke Tsuyuzaki enthuses about the new setup and outlines its plans for the future: “Panasonic recognizes that for 3D FHD to succeed, just like Blu-ray, collaboration on research, development and production with studios and content providers is absolutely essential” he stated. “The creation of the new PHL Authoring Center will enable Hollywood to start trial production and ultimately create commercially available 3D FHD titles to realize a new window into reality, and elevate the level of High Definition entertainment that consumers can enjoy in their own homes.” - Paul Lester [HDTVOrg] Panasonic 3D Blu-ray|