According to figures released by Ofcom, 89.2% of UK households watch digital TV through a digital TV receiver or a separate box.

The Ofcom report says that there are five million Sky+ viewers, 2.6 million freeview recorder viewers and 1.2 million viewers using either Virgin Medias V+ box, BT Vision or Top Up TV.

Of the secondary sets in kitchens and bedrooms, Ofcom reckons as much as 61% of these are capable of receiving digital TV. Freeview box sales have dropped by 28% due to TVs with integrated digtal tuners available, in particular LCD TVs, which incidentally have sales of nearly 20 million so far.

Despite these figures, Ofcom thinks there are still 27% of TV sets in the UK which can still only receive analogue signals.

Have you made the digital switch? If so, how do you view your digital channels?

Source: What HiFi

Following on from their music download service, Virgin Media will launch PictureBox – a movie on demand service from July this year, in collation with Universal Pictures with many films available in high definition.

To view the vast selection of recent and library films, virgin subscribers will only need to pay an additional £5 a month, and according to Virgin many of the films to choose from have not yet been seen on free-to-air television.

Although PictureBox has been available through BT Vision for some time, this will mark the first time for the PictureBox service being offered in HD format in the UK.

Katherine Burns, the executive director of content acquisition at Virgin Media said “Our customers love movies on demand and they’re watching millions of films every year. The addition of PictureBox means Virgin Media is the perfect choice for film fans, with a fantastic HD line-up and even more films to choose from, all at great value for money.”

The movies available at launch will include Hot Fuzz, Children of Men, The Holiday, Bourne Ultimatum with classics like The Nutty Professor, Total Recall and Scarface thrown into the HD mix. 28 movies should be available to access at any one time with 7 new films to be added each Friday.

LG seem to be on a innovative roll and following on from the news that they have released their first OLED LCD TV set, they have now announced the release of their high end LED backlit televisions.

The 55 inch TVs are said by LG to have been “designed specifically to target the high-end segment and offer unmatched quality and design” – and at only 24.8mm thick they certainly got the design aspect spot on. LG hope to extend the LED TV sizes available by releasing the slightly thicker in design 4inch 2 and 47 inch LED models by the end of the year.

Working on the prediction that 5 million LED TVs will be sold in 2010, LG are expecting that as much as 40% of the current LCD TV market will shift to LED by 2011.

Simon Kang, the LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company President and CEO said “These new models will change the LED LCD TV market landscape and we expect these devices to reinforce the premium image of LCD TVs in general.”

Source: Home Cinema Choice

The long awaited Blu-ray releases of Gladiator and Braveheart in September followed by Forrest Gump in November, mark the introduction of a new Sapphire Blu-ray disc series by Paramount Pictures in honour of their most celebrated movies.

The Sapphire series capitalises on the high definition picture and sound quality available with blu-ray and each Sapphire release will consist of two discs with extensive never-seen-before special features to appease the most demanding of movie fans.

The Sapphire release of Gladiator will be packed to the brim with special features including a cinematic and directors cut with commentary for both versions, the option to ‘tag’ moments of interest throughout the film creating a shopping list of topics to learn about on the second disc, a 200 minute documentary entitled Strength and Honor, a documentary on Gladiator games and much more – and all in glorious high definition!

Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures said “It’s absolutely fitting that we’re presenting the best films in the Paramount library on the finest home entertainment format available. Because of Blu-ray’s phenomenal capabilities, the Sapphire Series will deliver the best pictures in the best picture.”

Giant Buyer have an extensive range of Blu-ray players available for you to start enjoying your favourite movies in high definition.

In an attempt to show the versatility of Blu-ray, Sony Picture Home Entertainment announced last week a new application called MovieIQ which is part of their BD Live feature.

This handy feature has been described as “wikipedia for movies” and is a database that provides on demand information regarding anything in the movie being watched from actors to background music. This is guaranteed to appeal to all movie lovers.

In order to access this information, an internet connection and a BD Live enabled blu-ray disc are required to enjoy continuously updated information such as trivia and more. Upcoming blu-ray disc titles released in September including Angels & Demons, Easy Rider, The Quick and the Dead will feature the MovieIQ technology.

Lexine Wong, Senior Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment said "….We know many people interrupt their movie-watching experience to look up the filmography of an actor or to find out more about a song playing in the background. Now through MovieIQ, movie lovers can dive into constantly-updated information about the movie they are watching without leaving their sofa, further enhancing the experience of watching movies in this always-connected age."

Source & Picture: Engadget

It seems that a teenagers life may have been saved thanks to her iPod diverting a bolt of lightning that hit a tree she was sheltering under during a recent thunder storm.

The teenager passed out at the time, as the electrical current travelled through her iPod headphones receiving minor burns to her chest and stomach.

The teenagers Mother said “The doctors say her iPod saved her. Her nan only bought it a few days ago. Luckily, she wasn’t actually wearing the headphones. If she had been, she might not be here today.”

A top weather forecaster said it was likely that the metal in the iPod served as a conductor. The teenager does not remember much about the incident, but is said to be upset by her destroyed iPod!

Home entertainment technology is continually evolving, and now it seems that very soon sales of polarised lenses will be on the increase as 3D TV can be enjoyed in your very own front room! 

LG Electronics will release their first 3D LCD TV with a substantially sized 47 inch screen to the Korean market next month, armed with confidence that demand for 3DTV will be high, in fact LG estimates the 3D television market will exceed 30 million units by 2012.

Regardless of the distance or direction of the viewer, apparently the 3D affect will not be compromised, the only slight downside however, is at present in order to enjoy the full eye popping 3D content it seems likely that a PC will be required.

As of yet, there is no news as to when the UK will be graced with such forward thinking innovation. But needless to say, we shall be following this trend with great interest.

What are you thoughts on this – would you purchase a LCD 3DTV?

LED sets offering better black levels and improved colour fidelity have breathed new life into LCD TV sales according to iSuppli, with the units sold said to escalate to 90 million in 2013 which compares to just 438,000 units circulated in 2008.

It is predicted that by 2013 the LED sales will account for a considerable 39% of all LCD TVs sold. There used to be a significant price difference between LED and traditional CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps) lit televisions, but it is believed the price burden is expected to drop and analysts are expecting that the next wave of LED LCD TV models will be significantly cheaper than current offerings.

Improved refresh rates with LCD TV screens are also contributing to booming rates according to rival research company DisplaySearch, apparently screens offering double and quadruple frame rates will top the 22.5 million mark this year.

Panasonic have launched new two Full HD Compact Cameras and have proudly proclaimed them to be the ‘worlds lightest’.

Despite their small size, weighing in at less than 230g, both the HDC-SD10 and HDC-TM10 are loaded with impressive technological features.

The DS10 and TM10 HD camcorders differ only with their recording format – the SD10 records to SD/SDHC Memory Card, while the TM10 offers 8GB built in memory and SD/SDHC Memory Card recording.

Both have 16x optical zoom, an auto exposure tracking feature, automatic scene mode capability, face detection, intelligent contrast control and optical image stabilisation, useful for when in motion.

Panasonic say both of these HD Camcorders will automatically power on in 1.9 seconds after the LCD is flipped so events can be captured as they happen. There is also the Pre-Rec function which continuously records 3 seconds of images onto the internal buffer so you don’t miss any action – perfect for eliminating those moments when the record button is pressed too late.

These compact HD Camcorders are light, fit easily in a handbag or palm without causing fatigue and have the requirements to produce top quality images. However, with the constant advancement in technology today, how long will Panasonic be able to hold on to claim of producing the ‘worlds lightest’ camcorder? 

The Panasonic HDC-SD10 and HDC-TM10 will be available in the UK from June 2009.

There is no denying that Sony are amongst the market leaders of LCD TV manufacturers and they are showing no signs of relaxing on their laurels. Yet again Sony have come up trumps with a top performing LCD TV which recently received a glowing 5 out of 5 review by What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision.

The Sony KDL-32V5500 32 inch LCD TV has the perfect mix of cool, sleek styling with forward thinking technology and, as is standard with Sony, it’s packed to the brim with key features to further enhance the viewing pleasure.

There are 4 HDMI inputs, a USB connection and DLNA networking available, providing ample connection options on the Sony KDL-32V5500 32 inch LCD TV for your blu-ray player or games console, HD camcorder and more!

The picture quality in particular is what receives the most praise. What Hi-Fi say “The ’V5500 gets off to a real flyer in terms of picture performance thanks to its Freeview tuner. There’s plenty of detail, edges are crisp, and there’s virtually no sign of any noise” and is described as “sharp, punchy, detailed and with an impressive feeling of depth and texture”.

You can buy the Sony KDL-32V5500 here at Giant Buyer at the low price of £537.00 – for further information on this top rated 32 inch LCD TV click here.