LATEST ADDITIONS

When you relax into a cinema chair for that long-awaited blockbuster, icy drink in cup holder and bag of popcorn balanced on lap, it’s a fair bet that the last thing on your mind will be a shape of the big white screen in front of you. Chances are that your movie will be shown in one of two commonly used aspect ratios – 1.85:1 or 2.39:1, typically referred to in the filmmaking world as flat and CinemaScope respectively. But you might witness something a little more unusual – 2.0.1 or a retro-tinged 1.37:1. And turn the clock back sixty years and it would have been a different situation entirely.

After what seems like an age of speculation, 4K Ultra HD BD is finally here, and the Panasonic DMP-UB900 stands as its early champion. Positioned above Samsung’s rival UBD-K8500 in both price and spec, this a player designed to serve the AV enthusiast – it’s the first source component we’ve seen to get THX 4K Source certification, which implies some rigorous performance testing – without entirely pricing itself beyond the 4K curious.

While it's not unusual to see loft spaces repurposed as dedicated home cinemas – why use your attic to store a legacy VHS collection when you can be watching Blu-rays in there instead? – this professional install is actually located in the roof space of a double garage. Designed by London's Automated Smart Homes, it finds space for six luxurious Fortress recliners and a discreet 7.2-channel speaker system.

Issue #262 of Home Cinema Choice is on sale today – and as usual it's packed with AV goodness...