Decide what to buy: the Reevoo.com blog

If you’re heart’s still in the eighties with jelly shoes and hypercolour t-shirts, then you might be a little disappointed by this announcement.

Classics like The Goonies, Gremlins and Beetlejuice are about to be Blu-rayed up and re-released. It all sounds great until you think about it. Some of the best bits about those films are the grey and fuzziness. So we’ll either be able to see just how badly they were filmed in the first place or it’ll ruin the fuzzy magic.

But I do like the fact that it’s made me want to dig out all my old video tapes and watch them again. Who knew that Mikey Walsh would turn out to be a tiny hairy man a few years later…

If you are actually really excited about seeing your old faves in high-definition, get yourself a Blu-ray player but read all the Blu-ray player reviews before you do.

There are 15 days to go before the Beijing Olympic games and this year will be the first time we can watch them in HD in the UK. Pretty exciting stuff. For those of you who don’t know, HD is high-definition and it’s all about more pixels and much clearer pictures for our TV sets.  It makes watching sports events, wildlife programmes - well, anything really - way better.

We’ve looked at all the full HD TV reviews over on Reevoo to find the best ones. TVs are rated on their design, sound quality, image quality and value for money. People are then asked if they would recommend the TV set.

Here’s the top five:

1.    Sony Bravia KDL40X2000 - £999
2.    Panasonic TX-32LZD80 - £724
3.    Samsung LE37A656A - £679
4.    Panasonic TH42PZ80 - £724
5.    Panasonic TH42PZ85B - £864

And here’s how we got there:

So top of the list was the Sony Bravia KDL40X2000 but interestingly, it lost out to the Panasonic TH42PZ80 for image quality and the Samsung LE37A656A for design.

If you’re looking for a top all-rounder, the Sony is obviously the one to go for but it’s also the most expensive. The Panasonic TH42PZ80 leads the pack for image quality, which should be one of the top considerations when buying an HD TV. It’s also over £200 cheaper and it’s been recommended by 96% of the people who bought it. This would be my choice.

If you’re not convinced about HD, there are lots of other TVs around. You can check out all of the TV reviews over on Reevoo.

Hi Everyone,

We’ve entered a gadget competition this week to discover the best gadget. This week we’ve entered the bendy tripods we featured last week.

We’d be extra grateful if you could vote for us. Bendy tripods reallly are the best!

The competition is being held over on Coolest Gadgets. All you need to do is click on the circle next to ‘Bendy tripods’ in the voting section, under all of the gadgets in the running.

Thanks!

DWTB team

News just in that those clever chaps over at Pioneer have managed to produce the first 16-layer optical disk with a whopping 400GB capacity. Each layer adds 25GB to this spectacular plastic sandwich. Unfortunately they’re are read-only at the moment but they’ve all got their heads down to develop recordable versions.

If you’re wondering whether these disks will be compatible with existing Blu-ray gear, Pioneer insist they will. These prototypes will be on show on 13th July at the International Symposium on Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage 2008 in Hawaii, so we’ll hopefully know more then. We’ll keep you posted.

[CrunchGear]

Loewe’s new Connect line of do-everything TVs is just the thing for your minimalist high-tech bachelor pad.

As reported by Gizmodo, they’re Full HD (1080p) with Freeview tuners, a built-in PVR (hard disk recorder), and ethernet, WiFi and USB connections to let you play content from a computer or external disk. There are three screen sizes available: 32", 37" and 42". As you might expect from Loewe, they’re not cheap, either: the prices go from £1,949 up.

You could achieve the same functionality today with a PC running Windows Media Center or MythTV software plugged into your TV, but with a lot more cables and fuss — and I say this as a MythTV user myself. So maybe that additional cost isn’t all so bad after all. And, unlike these complicated computer-based solutions, it should be a lot easier for other members of the household to watch the TV.

It’s starting at the high end of the market, but, as hard disks and WiFi get cheaper, and home networks become ubiquitous, we’ll inevitably see more manufacturers beginning to produce this kind of integrated television — at more affordable prices, with luck.

Getting lost. We don’t have time for it anymore. Satellite navigation has solved the problem when driving but in the age of healthy living and global warming, what about the humble walker?

Nokia have come to the rescue. Their new Maps 2.0 series will still guide your car around but no longer will you be bound to it as the new ‘walk’ feature enables you to navigate even the most complex of cities on foot.

Just think of the possibilities for tourism. No more struggling with the map that refuses to be re-folded and no more arguments about directions.

This stroke of genius will be available for Series 60 handsets immediately with Series 40 support to follow.

According to Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo “it will become as desired on the mobile phone as voice capability”.

With Nokia expecting to sell 35 million mobile phones equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) in 2008, we suggest you use your paper maps for the last time to locate your nearest supplier before they all run out!

For more info about the software and downloads, take a look at the Symbian Freaks’ guide.