Bang & Olufsen have brought out the BeoSystem 3 Home Cinema Master Unit, with specifications as expansive as its title. I'm not worthy enough to own any B&O equipment, but it's always oozed quality, so this unit should be right up the street of any serious home cinema buff.
B&O helpfully tell us that to get the maximum experience, you should buy another piece of their kit - the BeoSystem 4 plasma TV. This allows some of the key display features to function as intended.
Features like their VisionClear technology that adjusts the TV picture based on the surrounding light (now that's neat).
BeoSystem 3 is a completely digital system - all analogue inputs are digitally optimised. “We describe BeoSystem 3 as ‘fully HD’, meaning we have gone beyond the requirements of the ‘HD ready’ standard,” explains Villy Hansen. “Colour rendition and noise reduction is improved and we can now selectively monitor and enhance the contrast for the actual picture content, creating an overall improvement in the perception of a ‘true to life’ picture.”
B&O claim picture improvement thanks to being able to handle 1 billion colours, whereas previous TV technology could only process around 16 million. BeoSystem is able to detect the type of B&O display connected to it, and adjust settings accordingly, even on-the-fly. Can you see a B&O connected home emerging here?
The system also cleverly allows the whole sound-stage to be shifted - so if you're lucky enough to have a plasma TV and a projector in different parts of the same room, the sound can be routed to different speakers depending on your viewing position.
Connecting up your HD equipment shouldn't be a problem either, with 4 HDMI ports, 6 x CVBS, 2 x Y/C, 3 x RGB, 2 x component, 1 x VGA, 6 x L/R, 6 x SPDIF. There's also 2 DVI-D outputs for connecting to plasma screen and projectors.
There's plenty of audio compatibility, too: Dolby Digital 5.1/6.1 EX, Dolby 7.1 EX, Dolby Pro-Logic ll/llx, DTS 5.1. DTS ES 6.1, DTS Neo:6.
Price and availability to be confirmed, but it probably ain't gonna be cheap.
Bang & Olufsen web site
