Home Cinema Media Sources
Home Cinema Media Sources
We are able to supply all sorts of Video Sources to view through your home cinema system.
In general Home Cinema Media sources have become categorised as one of a small number of different types:
- DVD
- Blu-Ray – including 4K UHD Blu-Ray
- Broadcast receiver (Freeview or Satellite) – some incorporate 4K UHD playback
- Media Server (Home PC, Apple TV, Games console etc.) including 4K UHD playback
- Home Movie
There are other Home Cinema Media formats out there, but they tend to be either based around legacy sources (VHS etc) with poor quality, or on commercial systems, which are outside of our regular remit.
For most purposes I have included digital downloads, home movies and computer generated home cinema media within the Media Server category.
DVD and Blu-Ray Home Cinema Media Sources
The UHD / 4K Blu-Ray player has become the backbone Home Cinema Media Source, with superb quality, and frequently including streaming playback apps too. Virtually all UHD Blu-Ray players are backwards compatible and also play back regular Blu-Ray, DVD and CDs too. There are of course a wide range of manufacturers to choose from, however, through experience we have limited ourselves to only a few:
Panasonic – 
One of the regular high street brands, have a superb range of products at all price points. We particularly like their combination Blu-Ray recorders where you can record your favourite HD TV programmes and save them onto Blu-Ray. Great for those that want to limit their electronics boxes, and don’t want Sky.
Terrestrial TV / Satellite as a Source
In the UK many people have a satellite receiver (FreeSat or Sky) as one of their main Home Cinema Media sources. These are particularly good for sporting events and concerts, as live broadcasts to get you into the action, though it is important to understand the limitations on quality (e.g. Sky only transmits 4K on key channels and this is compressed to fit over the satellite link)
The broadcast receiver can either be a dedicated unit for the home cinema system, or it can be shared amongst other displays around the house as part of a multi-room system. This case is useful if for example you use it for recording broadcasts to watch later, and may want to watch it on any TV.
We use the following suppliers:
Sky – We have chosen not to be a sky dealer, and refer customers direct to Sky for their contracts, however most of our systems incorporate Sky Boxes, and we are well used to dealing with these.
Humax – Freesat and Freeview tuners and recorders
Panasonic – Freesat and Freeview tuners and recorders
Movie Server Home Cinema Media Sources
Kaleidescape
One of the big names in Home Cinema Media Servers is Kaleidescape. They specialise in movie servers, and rather than take a windows, Unix or Apple based device and call it a movie server, they have designed their products from the ground up, including writing their own operating system KaOS. The result is a super stable, reliable system that has become the benchmark for others to be measured by. In addition, Kaleidescape are the ONLY video server manufacturer to have negotiated deals with Movie Studios to permit storage and playback of movies.
Older Kaleidescape systems permit the import (rip) of DVDs and Blu-Ray disks, whilst newer systems can only import movies via download. Kaleidescape are one of the few sources of UHD (ultra high definition) movies with a growing number of UHD movies available to buy.
Home Computer
The Computer has become a popular Home Cinema Media source: most modern computers use HDMI as the display interface, and of course generate HD resolution images relatively well. Many people use their laptop to access internet based content as the flexibility of computers allows a non-specific platform for the very wide range of internet based content, both downloadable and streamed. This is particularly useful for catch-up TV services, though many of these are now available as “Apps” on other machines.
Apple TV
The Apple revolution has included the apple TV, which is worth mentioning here because many of our customers have and use them. At <£200 they are one of the lowest cost Home Cinema Media sources we regularly connect to, and in terms of value for money and convenience they are hard to beat. Plays downloaded movies from the iTunes, plus local content from connected NAS drives. Airplay makes this a great interface device to connect to the Home Cinema, and share iPad activities too.
BT have launched Ultra HD playback including their own UHD sports broadcasts and include 4K Netflix playback in the box.
Games Consoles
The growth in the games console market, means that people are frequently connecting X-Boxes, Playstations and other games consoles into Home Cinema systems. These usually have great video and sound outputs, and frequently also play downloadable movies and local NAS based source material too.
Playstation
Home Movie Home Cinema Source
To watch Home Movies, it can be as simple as plugging your DV Camcorder into the AV amplifier, or for more sophisticated movie creators, playing a home movie off a server, in which case we’re back into the Home Computer category. This has been a rapidly growing area, and a popular way of recording family life, and personal adventures.
Modern DV Camcorders, have become spectacularly good, and there are a number of near broadcast quality cameras out there.
Most Home Cinema surround processors and AV Receivers have enough inputs to cater for the vast majority of installation requirements we get. However for more complex systems there are HDMI Switches that we can use to boost the number of devices it is possible to connect to a home cinema.