So it’s 2009 and, perhaps a little later then we’d have anticipated, there are finally some great affordable players on the market. Our favourite definitely has to be the Sony BDPS350 (yeah trying saying that a few times) with it’s great features, price and quality (heck it’s a Sony product after all). Now is the time to get into HD.

Let’s get all the geeky bits over and done with, the Sony BDPS350 sports the following:

• 1080p output at 24fps
• HDMI and component video connections
• PhotoTV HD
• BRAVIA Sync
• Network Update
• BD-Live
• 7.1 Channel HD
• BD-ROM/R/RE, DVD-+Video/R/RW, CD Playback, AVCHD Playback

Now with that out of the way we’ll summarise that for you – this Blu-ray player is upgradeable via it’s network updates, supports the highest HD output, looks stylish and has amazing audio. Inside the box you’ll find a remote control, the player itself, instruction manuals and disc for your PC. Batteries are included for the remote control but you’ll need to source your own HDMI and ethernet cable to connect it up to your system.

Plugging in and connecting up via HDMI was easy and with one cable you get both video and audio sent down it. HDMI truly is an amazing way to cut down on clutter behind the TV. Upon powering on the setup routine takes you through a few questions with the defaults being more than sufficient. With all that done the first thing we did was to upgrade the device via the network update. Downloading the update was painless and applying it took about 10 minutes. Sadly there was no progress bar output on the TV but the front the device said ‘VUP 1/9′ and progressed through that.

The menu system (XrossMediaBar) is similar to that of other Sony products and quite clutter free. Most of the time you’ll never need to bother with it as simply slotting in a disc starts the movie. If you’ve never seen HD before then you’ll be blown away by the quality of Blu-ray movies. There’s no comparison between DVD with scenes being crisp and clear. Colours were extremely vivid giving you that ‘Wow!’ moment.

Of course all of the new Blu-ray features are there with inline menus and video that you can access whilst the movie is playing. This can include things like directors commentary which can pop up while watching. BD-Live support is in there too letting you enjoy additional content (such as extra scenes, games etc) when connected to the Internet. This does require a USB flash disc which you can insert at the back of the player.

And don’t about all your existing DVD movies as the BDPS350 ‘upscales’ existing DVDs so you get a better picture quality. Of course it’s no substitute to HD but definitely gives your old DVDs a new lease on life.

The player itself is finished to a high quality and decently sized. Still think it could be a little bit smaller but hey no doubt the next few models will fix that. It’s whisper quiet (yeah can’t imagine what it must have been like to watch HD DVDs on the xbox360!) and does not take too long to load discs, probably averaging around 6 to 7 seconds. Our one gripe will be the blue light on the front of the player which we found to be a bit distracting. No doubt after using it for a while you’ll get used to it, but why do they design it like that?

The remote control fits nicely in your hand and has all the options you need. We tested the player on a Toshiba 1080p LCD TV and between the two they decided they could talk to one another over ‘Regza Link’. This mean we could control the player via the TV remote. Very handy and it looks like this is support on other devices too. Hey if we can do away with one more remote control then why not.

Now the best part about this Blu-ray player must be the price. Very affordable at $289.99 / £149 and you’ll be able to grab it from Amazon. Check out out the reviews there and you’ll see that everyone is raving about it.

Final verdict : If you’re looking to get into Blu-ray and have been holding out then go on and splash out on the BDPS350. It’s not going to break the bank, is from a reputable brand and is packed with features and quality. Enjoy!

In the words of infomercials worldwide, “But wait, there’s more!”, and indeed there is. Some network cameras such as the Panasonic BL-C131 that we tried include motion and sensor detection. With this the minute movement is trigger the camera can email or upload files to a location of your choice. This way you’re in the know when it comes to the state of your home.

Installation of the Panasonic BL-C131 was extremely easy, simply plug it into your network where (for us anyway) it grabbed an address of 192.168.1.253 where there’s a web interface to set things up. Security (and at the end of the day your privacy since this *is* a camera into your life) is important and after heading into the web interface for the first time you’re asked to set up a login name and password. Nice one Panasonic.

Click on the ’single’ tab at the top and be wowed as you see what the camera is pointing to. Controls on the left let you alter the refresh rate, image format and quality, white balance, brightness and, what must be one of the best features, pan and tilt! Yes sir, you’ve got full control and can move the camera left/right and up/down. I can’t even begin to explain how cool this is, just like in the spy movies hehe.

It seems that some companies (yes that’s you Panasonic) are still designing some features exclusively for Internet Explorer and 1 way audio from the camera is just that. Open up the administration interface in IE and you’ll be prompted to install an ActiveX control after which you’ll be able to listen in on what’s going on. Poor form on Panasonic for not managing to do this without an ActiveX control though.

The camera is quite configurable and you’re able to setup 5 different triggers. These can include motion, sensor and timer with activation output being email (including attaching one image per email), http post and ftp. We’ve been running it for over a month now with image upload via FTP for sensor and motion detection and notifications (sans attachments) being emailed through. Stability seems to be no issue with the camera and it’s not locked up once.

Files get uploaded with a prefix of your choosing as well as having the date and time added onto it. The timer option lets you perform whatever action you like (ftp, email, http etc) at a frequency of either 1 second, 1 minute or 1 hour. We’d have liked to have seen a few more options here (perhaps say every 15 minutes) or letting the user decide on the frequency.

Video streaming via RTSP and RTP are available but we’ve not yet been able to get it to work. Probably just requires a bit more fiddling but once it’s done you’ll be able to view a live video stream right from your mobile phone.

The BL-C131 can also operate in wireless mode where it advertises itself with it’s own SSID so comes across as a different network that you can connect to. We’ve stuck to Ethernet connectivity since the router was right where we wanted the camera placed.

Now onto the price, we purchased this in the UK for £186 but were considering cheaper ones. As the saying goes you get what you pay for and this is certainly no exception. The last thing you want to worry about are instability of the device (i.e requiring constant rebooting) and false positives on the detection routines. The Panasonic BL-C131 performed flawlessly and we’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking to keep an eye on their home/office. We do wish Panasonic would update the web-based GUI (we’re not in 1999 anymore) as it feels a bit dated but then it’s no worse than the Netgear systems that still use frames *sigh*.

While this all sounds great you’ve got to carefully balance up what you need from your potential purchase as there are many devices out there each with their pro’s and con’s. Tech Gift Guide have tried out quite a few and would definitely pick the Acer Aspire One A150 due to it’s power, flexibility, excellent keyboard and brilliant screen.

First things first we’ll let you know that it does lack bluetooth which might be a deal breaker for some. But really now, when was the last time that you used it huh? Exactly, yeah just as we thought so this really is not an issue. The things that make or break a netbook are it’s keyboard and screen. Let’s go through these in turn.

The keyboard on the Acer Aspire One A150 is’, quite simply, one of the best we’ve seen on the market. Feedback is great and we were touch typing in about 30 minutes. Acer really put a lot of effort into the keyboard and it shows as the right shift key is nice and large. Perfect for replying to emails or blogging (in fact this review was composed on it while on the train). Do yourself a favour and get on down to a computer store and try out the netbooks on offer. You’ll feel right at home typing on the Acer Aspire One.

Now onto the screen… Most will be in the range of 8.9” to 10.2” and running at a native resolution of 1200×600. While that does sound like an odd number it is indeed widescreen and for most applications there is plenty of screen to go around. It’s crisp and clear and can tilt back quite far. Great for trying to get the perfect viewing angle when using it in strange places. We found the screen to crisp and clear and had no issues using everyday applications on it. The only niggle we have (and everyone has their own opinion on this) is that the display can be, at times, too reflective. If you’ve got a bright light source shining on it it can prove to be difficult to read. No choice on a matte option. But of course it’s a lightweight netbook so go on and move!

The Acer Apsire One comes in various flavours depending on the amount of memory (512MB or 1GB), storage via SSD or HDD and it’s size and then operating system. You’ve got a choice between either Linux or Windows and while we did try out the Linux version we quickly wiped it off in favour of Windows XP. Don’t flame us, it’s a personal choice but for the average user I’d definitely recommend against the Linux version.

While day-to-day tasks were okay in Linpus nothing felt extremely polished. Everything is there from Firefox for browsing to OpenOffice for document editing but the general lack of cohesion definitely let it down. Of course going over to Windows meant that we did lose out on the ultra fast boot time of Linpus which was a bit of a shame.

Now when it comes to value for money we’d suggest getting the Acer Aspire One A150 which comes bundled with a 120GB HDD and 512MB of RAM. You’ll only then need to decide whether it’s Windows or Linux. A personal choice indeed so we’ll leave that one entirely in your hands.

Whatever netbook you chose it really will make the ultimate gift due to their versatility, portability and extreme “I just want to quickly look something up online”ness. The perfect accompaniment to your desktop and wonderful to carry around for when you have time to kill and want to get emails done.

Things are no doubt a bit manic on your hard drive what with all those videos and mp3s floating around which only seem to be on the increase from the likes of iTunes Store and Amazon. And our ever increasing desire for high-definition quality does not help either. But fret not as we’ve got a wonderful little device to make your data storage issues fly away.

We’re going to admit right now that this is definitely not the cheapest storage system out there. But don’t click away yet, gather around to at least give us a chance to explain why Drobo rocks. Other than the fancy blinking lights and cool robotic technology it makes data storage a snap. No longer will you need to worry about backups and hard drive failures. Adding more storage is as simple as slotting in a newer, higher capacity drive, and waiting for the robots inside to work their stuff.  There’s no worrying about RAID, multiple drives, syncing or the headache involved in expanding the storage.

So with that under the belt hopefully it gives you a few reasons to read on. Connectivity to your system is achieved via either Firewire 800 or  USB2.0 and Ethernet via the optional DroboShare device. Certainly the greatest feature of Drobo is that you connect it to your PC or Mac and slot in hard drives. Drobo then quietly formats the drive and expands the available storage capacity. You don’t need to fiddle with anything and you’re kept informed with lights on the front of the device indicating what it’s up to. The traffic light systems show the health of your Drobo unit with green for ok, yellow for time to add a more storage (85% full) and red for it’s full up and needs a new drive <strong>now</strong>. There are also a few blue LED’s at the bottom which slowly edge up as your data usage increases.

Drobo is unique in that it’s BeyondRAID feature means you’re able to add new drives without having to match their storage capacity. This means that you can slot in any sized drive and have the storage available. Quite a blessing over the complexity that RAID would bring about. In total you’re able to shove in 16TB worth of drives, more than enough for most needs. Drives are easily slotted in without the need for carriers or screws. So simple even your mum could attempt it.

Tech Gift Guide would definitely recommend Drobo to take the pain out of storage. Yes it’s a bit of an investment but it pays for itself in no time. And of course whoever you get this for (even yourself!) will love and adore you forever. The best prices are definitely from Amazon and you’ll find more details, including free shipping for USA / UK

The Nintendo DS Lite is all about entertainment with the games being really fun. Just ask Andrew but I don’t often get hooked on games as they’re all so serious these days. But this little device packs games that are ultra fun and addictive (no way you’re getting me away from Super Mario Bros!).

And if you’re more intellectuality inclined then there are some great puzzle and brain training games. Oh and of course you can even use it to plan your dinner with Cooking Guide. You also have access to the vast library of GameBoy Advance games.

There have been a few design improvements with the d-pad and buttons are raised up over the first generation counterpart and the dual screens are definitely brighter. The DS Lite really shines by being so intuitive and fun. What more can you ask for out of a gaming device? WiFi is built in so look forward to multiplayer action when you’ve got some friends around. Heh now if there were others with the DS Lite on the train with you then it could definitely get interesting

Our only niggle with this is that due to the smaller design GameBoy Advance games result in the cartridges not sitting flush with the device. Oh and make sure you get a carry case to keep it in it’s pristine condition. Young or old will appreciate this due to the variety of games so grab one now from Amazon USA / UK

Inside the stylish packaging you’ll find the Apple TV unit itself, power cable, remote control and quick start guide. We’re not sure if Apple is expecting you to already have cables in place but they don’t include either an HDMI or component video out cables. Something you’ll need to grab at the checkout along with the Apple TV. Perhaps it’s to keep the cost down but it’s very annoying indeed. Not quite the all-in-one experience we were hoping for.

But aside from that connecting the unit up was a breeze especially if you’re using HDMI. Apple was able to fit the power supply into the device so you’ll be pleased to know that there won’t be another brick to add to the mess by the plug! Connection to your home network is done either via WiFi or Ethernet. Now usually we’d be somewhat worried about streaming over WiFi like other devices but the Apple TV features a hard drive and sync’s content from iTunes thus avoiding any potential stuttering issues.

Once you’ve gone through the initial setup and paired your Apple TV with iTunes on either the Mac or PC you’re set to go. Anything in your library, including video, music, podcasts and photos will be available form the comfort of your living room. Even your grandmother will be able to operate the remote control as, in the usual Apple way, it’s simple. You’ve got your play/pause, volume and menu buttons.

The Apple iTunes store features all the content you could want. From the latest music to TV series such as Lost. These can either be purchase, or in the case of movies, rented for cheaper than going out to the video store. Now whenever you’re in the mood for the movie you can watch it. What could be better than that? YouTube and flickr feature some amazing videos and pictures, perhaps you’ve even uploaded some yourself. Now gather the family around to gaze at these and more.

Apple TV truly is a revolutionary product and will fit in perfect alongside your TV. There is nothing better than being able to access all your digital media from your PC on your TV. We at Tech Gift Guide (TGG) definitely recommend this for people of all ages. Grab one now, with free delivery, from Amazon USA / UK

Better still get a few of these together and evening pool parties will be a blast. The perfect Secret Santa gift for this time of the year. Any excuse to convince someone to get into the tub with you. Head on over to Firebox to grab one now.

Ever since the iPhone, with it’s awesome touchscreen interface, was released people were wondering how Apple were going to apply this to the iPod lineup. The announcement came in the form of the iPod Touch which is now in it’s second generation and even thinner than before.

The iPod Touch features a stainless steel design and comes with either 8, 16 or 32GB or storage for your music, videos, photos and games. From the moment you grab hold you’ll marvel at how wonderful the iPod Touch feels in your hand and the inviting touchscreen interface works flawlessly.

Whilst there are hardware volume control buttons on the side (a new feature for the second generation model) you’ll control all aspects of the iPod with your finger. Tap to select music and then browse around by flicking through the cover art. This is no doubt the ultimate way to experience your music.

By using iTunes you can sync your music, videos and photos across to the device as well as purchase new content from the iTunes Store. This works equally well on both PC and Mac. The iPod Touch is also an extremely capable games device with purchases from the iTunes Store. From racing to golf you’ll no doubt find something you like (our favourite being Crash Bandicoot). Many games make use of the accelerometer so you’ll be tilting the iPod Touch this way and that to control your character.

Sound quality of the included earphones was okay but if you’re really serious about your music we suggest you get another higher quality pair. Another must is a cover or ’sock’ to protect the iPod Touch from scratches on the touchscreen and stainless steel body.

And if all this was not enough the iPod Touch is a capable personal information manager with access to Safari for web, Mail for home/office email and iCal for calendaring. Not to mention the maps, stocks and weather applications as well. Of course all this can be expanded upon with many great (and free!) applications such as Facebook available from iTunes.

Certainly a stocking filler this Christmas and you can get the best deal, with free shipping, buy purchasing this from Amazon USA / UK.

Tech Gift Guide ordered both a sun and moon and must admit that it makes for great accompaniment to the patio furniture. Don’t forget that they are waterproof so they’re able to battle the worst of the winter weather.

But inside or out the Sun Jar works well in many settings and it’s calming effect can’t be beaten. The best prices we’ve found for the Sun Jar are at Firebox so click to buy the Sun Jar (UK & USA) today.

Luna is finished to a very high quality and is extremely sturdy with looks to match. This clock radio looks perfect in the lounge or the bedroom and has a bright clear display with awesome sound pumping through the speakers. Although the device looks like it was designed by Apple the minute you begin the setup you realise that this does not contain the intuitive menu we’re all used to on the iPods. While the silver dials are twirled back and forth just like the iPod wheel they’re not as precise and do sometimes go the opposite way than you intended. But you’re not fiddling with those all the time and once you’re spent a few minutes setting the alarms and radio presets you’re done.

One of the great features of Luna is having two built in alarms. Great for when your other half has to get up earlier than you do. Another great touch is a ‘rampup’ setting for the music whereby the volume slowly increases over a preset time so you’re not blasted awake the second the alarm goes off. You’re also able to wake up to either AM/FM radio, iPod music, buzzer or an aux input.

Radio reception was more than adequate once you grab the external antenna cable, but tuning was another story. Luna lacks auto tune so you’re left twirling the dials moving slowly up the radio spectrum trying to locate your station. But as mentioned it’s not something that you need to do that often.

The supplied remote control lets you control all aspects of the device and is great for having next to your bed for hitting snooze. Although depending on your personality the ease of hitting snooze could be a bad thing! Otherwise you’ve got all the usuals and can control volume and flick back and forth between tracks and playlists.

Luna also has a battery backup in case of power failure, with two AA batteries included. But just in case, even the backup has a backup. A built-in feature will retain clock and alarm settings for up to five minutes without power, even if the batteries are dead or not properly installed. Now that’s smart.

Tech Gift Guide (TGG) tested Luna with the 2nd generation iPod Nano, iPod Touch and Apple iPhone all with excellent results. There is a bit of interference when using the iPhone at times but since it’s not designed for this we’re more than happy.

It’s all the small little extras that make Tech Gift Guide (TGG) recommend this. From stylish design to brightness control, volume ramping and excellent alarm choices – this will make the perfect dock for your iPod.

The best prices we’ve found for the Luna iPod Alarm Clock are at Amazon. Click to buy Luna iPod Clock Radio UK / Luna iPod Clock Radio US