10 brilliant buys for your digital home

[ganeshbala]

10 brilliant buys for your digital home

1. All three games consoles
Let's face it, for a modern digital home you need them all. The PS3 for its Blu-ray drive and Little Big Planet. An Xbox 360 for Xbox Live and Gears of War 2. And the Nintendo Wii for multi-player party gaming when you have a few friends round - extra Wii-motes required.

2. Sky HD
With the demise of TiVo in the UK, Sky+ is easily the next best thing. Sky HD takes the concept a step further, giving you access to Sky's high-def TV channels for HD entertainment, movies, sport and documentaries.

3. Philips 52PFL9632D HD TV
If you're going to get a big TV, get a REALLY big one. And they don't come much bigger and better than this Philips 9000-series 52PFL9632D, which provides the jaw-dropping picture quality you demand without the crazy light frame that ruined the Philips Aurea that I saw earlier this year.

4. InFocus IN80 projector
For a bigger screen experience, the gorgeous InFocus IN80 catches the eye. Owning a big-screen TV and a projector gives you the best of both worlds - the big TV for everyday telly watching, the impress-your-friends projector for Blu-ray movies (via the PS3) and any TV series shown on Sky HD.

5. Pioneer LX-01
There's little point having a big-ass TV and a state-of-the-art projector if you don't have a cracking sound system to polish up your audio. The Pioneer LX01 consists of a DVD/HDD recorder, a 400W sub-woofer receiver and four omnidirectional satellite speakers. It'll do nicely.

6. iPod touch or iPhone

While the iPod touch is predominantly a music player and the iPhone is, obviously, a phone, both make ideal web tablets for a digital home. The advantages? They're instant on devices; they allow you to browse full HTML web pages; they can even be networked to link up with your home's PC or Mac. I often find myself browsing the web using an iPhone rather than firing up a laptop.

7. Belkin N1 Vision

A next-generation digital home demands a next-generation wireless network. While we wait for the 802.11n standard to be officially rubber-stamped by the IEEE, the Belkin N1 Vision gives you the speed and range benefits today. It's an ideal replacement for an existing 802.llg router.

8. Devolo 200Mbps powerline modules

Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm an unashamed fan of powerline technology. It gives you all the benefits of CAT5 wiring without any messy home remodelling. I've recently upgraded my blue 85Mbps devices with the Devolo 200Mbps kit, networking an Xbox 360 to my router for a rock-solid gaming connection.


9. Apple iMac

For years I've been a devoted PC user, but every time I clap my eyes on Apple's beautiful iMac I'm tempted to buy one. Considering the rise of online video (think iTunes, catch-up TV via the BBC iPlayer, and so on), the iMac's glossy 24-inch screen is ideal for on-demand entertainment.

10. Crestron Total Home technology

I've always been a sucker for home automation. It's probably why I've dabbled regularly with X10 in a (cheap) attempt to recreate the sort of high-end Crestron systems I've seen at CEDIA get-togethers. But there's no substitute for a fully integrated Crestron system, capable of controlling your lights, gadgetry and heating via a touchscreen keypad. Yes, it's pricey, but this is a wishlist after all.