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Home Theater

Dune Media Players Go Pro

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Dune HD PRoDune HD reveals the Dune HD Pro media player at CES 2012-- a modular unit carrying technology from THX and Sigma Designs, as well as a streaming content partnership with VUDU.

An honoree in the International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Awards, the Dune HD Pro has 3 modular components-- universal media player (powered by a Sigma Designs 8910 media processor), expansion chassis for a Blu-ray loader and hot swappable HDD expansion drive bay, and a Media Server Gateway complete with 7" touchscreen and x4 hot swappable HDD expansion drive bays.

The system carries a HDMI 1.4 VXP video processor and THX Media Director, as well as IPTV, VOD and OTT streaming service support. Dune says it handles "every possible file format" and should hit the market soon.

Go Dune HD Players

Cineak Motorises the Headrest

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Cineak Cineak says the key to comfort in movie watching while sitting in a reclined or inclined position is a motorised headrest, providing proper neck support while viewing the screen.

Most Cineak seating products already have articulated headsets, but now the company offers the feature as a motorised option-- allowing the viewer to adjust the headrest forward or backwards at the push of a button.

The motorised headrest is available on Nero and Fortuny seats, with a control button in either black or silver.

Go Cineak Home Theatre Seating

Watch Cineak Motorised Headrest

Netflix Officially Official in UK, Ireland

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It has been a long time coming-- Netflix is now available in the UK and Ireland, with a catalog of video-on-demand content for PCs, tablets and mobile devices.

NetflixSupported devices include PCs, game consoles, LG internet-enabled Blu-ray players, iOS devices, Samsung Smart TVs, Philips, WD and Roku STBs and Android devices. Content comes from sources such as All3Media, the BBC, CBS, Channel 4's 4oD, Disney UK & Ireland, ITV, Lionsgate UK, MGM, Miramax, Momentum Pictures, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox and Viacom International Media Networks.

Users can also integrate Netflix accounts with Facebook, making it easier to show off exactly what they're watching.

The service is available now for the price of £5.99/€6.99 monthly. Now one only wonders when the service will be available for the rest of the continent...

Go Netflix Launches in UK, Ireland Today

A Server for the Biggest Collections

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Even customers with the biggest of movie collections will find it difficult to fill up the FilmoScope DX-- a server with a disk capacity expandable to a maximum of 256 terabytes.

Filmoscope DX ServerThe server comes with standard storage of 14TB to store movies and albums as a single collection, and is compatible with DUNE, TWIX, Xtreamer and Popcorn Hour media players as well as players from FilmoScope Lab itself.

FilmoScope also provides DX-series servers with optional built-in 4 or 6 TI multi-zone audio, handling up to x4 audio streams. Multiroom functionality can be either independent (in combination with an 8-12 channel amp) or part of a Russound or Nuvo system.

TI audio functionality also allows for server control via wall panels or iPhone/iPad apps.

Go FilmoScope Labs DX Server

What's the Dirtiest Device of Them All?

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"That" time of the year is back-- soon enough (if not already!) people start getting sick, as germs and viruses run amok with immune systems everywhere. But how does one prevent microbe attack? According to Keeping it Kleen, one needs to wipe... their devices.

Dirty RemoteIf one is to believe the organisation, a lot of devices are, well, filthy. And full of bacteria. Keyboards, apparently, are 5x dirtier than a toilet seat (and carry 150x the "acceptable limit for bacteria limits") while 16% of mobile phones "were found to have poop on them." Eek! Switches, microwave buttons and even door handles are also found to be germ havens.

But what's the dirtiest device in the home? You'd be surprised-- it's the humble remote. Far from being a convenience of the modern era, the TV remote is a "hotbed for contagious germs and viruses." Oh dear.

It gets even worse when away from home, since the typical hotel room remote "is considered dirtier than the toilet, sink handles, door handles and even the infamous bedspread." It makes one want to never touch anything again, ever.

Other germ-harbouring devices including tablets, laptops, media players and game controllers.

The solution? Wiping, preferably with either clorox wipes or rubbing alcohol. And here's an opportunity-- start offering UV light cleaners to your customers. Either way, breathing on a device before wiping with a tissue just doesn't appear to be enough any more.

So, remember to wipe... and keep that those electronics clean!

Go Tech Germs Infographic (Keeping it Kleen)

Lenovo Packs PC in Home Theatre Package

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Lenovo Q180Lenovo claims the IdeaCentre Q180 is one of the smallest HTPCs out there-- with a casing just 22mm thick packing a 2.13GHz Intel Atom dual-core processor, up to 4GB DDR3 RAM and either a 750GB HDD or 128GB SSD for storage.

A Radeon HD 6450A graphics card handles 1080p video output, with Blu-ray drive, 7.1 channel surround sound and DirectX 11 support. Video connections come through VGA and HDMi, as well as S/PDIF for HDTVs and sound systems.

A VESA mount allows one to fit the PC anywhere in the home, and it is also compatible with the Lenovo wireless handheld keyboard range via Bluetooth and wifi connections.

Go Lenovo IdeaCentre Q180

Roku to Cross the Pond

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Roku announces it is moving towards our side of the pond, and will start selling Roku streaming players in the UK from "early 2012" before expanding the platform to support region-specific channels.

RokuThe announcement follows news of Netflix's expansion towards Europe (the UK and Spain specifically) early next year.

First launched as a Netflix streaming player in 2008, Roku now handles over 350 channels of streaming content in the US (including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora and HBO Go) as well as infamous bird-slinging time waster Angry Birds.

The Roku STB currently comes in 4 flavours of Roku 2-- HD, XD, XS and LT-- with prices ranging from $50 to $100.

Go Roku Announces International Expansion