Home cinema: Top trends in 2011

Wednesday 09 March

What's getting you excited in the world of home cinema?

Like most areas of consumer tech, the world of home cinema never stands still. But with just about every TV now with full HD on board, and a limit to just how many screen inches and HDMI ports you can stretch to, just where is the next frontier for home cinema?

Here are a couple of hot trends you’re likely to see dominating the world of home cinema in the year ahead…

3D everything: home cinema has been in the grip of 3D for a while now, and there’s no sign of things changing anytime soon. For 2011, things have spread beyond just the TV, and we now have 3D Blu-ray being completely mainstream, plus 3D peripherals such as camcorders, while Samsung has promised that 3D movie streaming will be a reality this year too.

Streaming: and that leads us nicely to point number two. Streaming is becoming an integral part of home cinema, whether it’s the 3D streaming we mentioned above, or sharing between devices around the home. Because so many new TVs now come with internet connectivity, the world of home cinema streaming is advancing very rapidly indeed.

Apps: with that internet connectivity we’ve just mentioned, you’ll be hearing more and more about home cinema apps this year too. Movie rental services and the likes of YouTube are already regular sights on our TVs, but that’s just the start. The likes of Samsung’s Bada app store is now selling apps for Sammy TVs by the bucketload, and rival TV makers are all following suit.

Clever remotes: with today’s TVs doing so much more than just showing broadcast programming, the pressure on the poor remote control to be a jack of all trades has risen too. Many high-end TVs this year will ship with remotes that could easily be mistaken for premium smartphones, and indeed some TV makers have even launched apps for smartphones to enable them to function as remotes.

So are you looking to invest in some hot new home cinema gear this year? Just what is getting your pulse racing about 2011’s class of tech? Let us know in the comments below…