It’s seems like its been ages since Sony announced that they’d be bringing out a new range of Bravia LED TVs at CES2013. But we’ve finally got our hands on some of the new Sony W8 LED TVs and got one up and running in our Norwich store. And it’s been causing quite a stir. (#StoreStir)

The precise model we’ve been playing with is the KDL-47W805. The 47 means its got a 47 inch screen.

We’ve already given you a sneak preview of the W9, which, when its released will be Sony’s flagship LED. They are only currently only available to pre-order and are likely to be quite pricey. The 55 inch model will set you back well over £2,000 and the W8 has many of it’s features and gadgets anyway.

Obviously the picture quality is brilliant. We had the IPL cricket on yesterday afternoon and the colours were amazing, there was no blurring even when Chris Gayle was flaying the ball out of the ground. Sony are using X-Reality PRO technology to deliver a really sharp and crystal clear picture and Motionflow XR 400Hz makes the fastest of sports appear beautifully smooth.

Sound wise, the W8 TV is good. Here Sony are using Bass Reflex Box speakers that project sound right at you. You can always enhance the sound with a TV sound bar like the  Sonos PLAYBAR or Bose SOLO. They’ll take the sound quality to another level altogether.

Sony have been bigging up the design of the W8. They call it a “Sense of Quartz”. What that actually means is that there are a lot of cut glass edges and beveling going on . Which is very nice indeed.

The other design feature you might like is the round stand that emits a soft gentle light of differing colours depending on where the content you’re watching is coming from.

But if you use one word to describe these 2013 TVs from Sony then that word would be  “connected“. Connected because it uses NFC (Near Field Communication). So for example, bump your smart phone onto the remote and all your content, apps etc etc appear on the screen. When you enlarge something on your phone, it enlarges on the screen. When you open an app on your phone, it opens on the screen. And the picture quality is brilliant due to some clever rendering.

You’ve also got the ability to use Sony’s TV SideView Android app or Apple app which lets you use your phone as a remote and also gives you more information about the programme you’re watching and also what people are saying about the programme in real time on Twitter.

Plus you’ve got access to the Sony Entertainment Network which means access to more music than you can wave a stick at, exclusive channels and all the latest movies.

And you’ve obviously got the internet on there too – so this really is a TV that integrates and connects you to the rest of the world and your other devices.

The 2013 Sony W8 TV is sure to be extremely popular and we’ve already had a lot of enquiries about it. But there really is nothing like seeing it in action for yourself, so pop along to our store and you can have a go for yourself.

Back in 2002 Sonos set out to change the way people listened to music. They wanted to make it a brilliant experience, something that could be experienced in any room. And they wanted to make it incredibly easy to play the music you love and to find new music to fall in love with.

Well, in a little over 10 years Sonos have had a massive impact on the home audio market and their PLAYBAR is a great example of how they are achieving their goals of changing the way we experience music, one  home at a time.

Put simply, the Sonos PLAYBAR is a speaker that plugs into your flat screen TV to improve the quality of the sound. As we’ve highlighted before, as TVs get thinner and thinner the quality of the sound has dropped – so that is where sound bars like the Sonos and the Bose SOLO come in.

(Note: both Sonos and Bose seem to be fond of CAPITAL letters.)

But this Sonos PLAYBAR delivers much more than just hi fidelity Dolby digital sound through its 9 speaker rack.

First up, it is indeed very easy to install. You can fit it above or below a wall mounted flat screen or just place it on the stand your TV is on. It comes with just two cables – a power cable and an optical cable that plugs into the back of the TV.

When its plugged in – anything that is plugged into the TV will play through your Sonos PLAYBAR. Xbox, Blu-ray, DVD…anything.

Sonos claim that the PLAYBAR gives you access to “every song on the earth” – and that’s a pretty fair claim when you consider that you can stream music wirelessly to it from say, your iTunes library. But you can also stream from all of the major online music services like Spotify, last.fm and Pandora. All of which you can control by downloading free Sonos apps for Android, iPhone and iPad.

In fact, you don’t actually have to have a TV to use the PLAYBAR because it works as a standalone speaker should you want it to.

If you’re lucky enough to have other Sonos speakers around the house it will sync with them so you’ll be able to play  music in any room you want.

If this amazing full theatre sound is not enough then go mad and pair it up with Sonos SUB  for 3:1 bass that will have your house pounding with sound and even add Sonos PLAY:3 to the PLAYBAR and SUB to create the full on surround sound experience.

Sonos SUB and PLAY:3 both connect at the push of a button so again set up in simple.

Looking back to their goals in 2002, Sonos certainly appear to be ticking the boxes on all of them. They have successfully created an audio system that is easy to set up, controllable from your smartphone and capable of connecting you to any song, anywhere in the world whilst allowing you to play music in any room that has a Sonos speaker.

Oh and did we mention, the kit looks gorgeous and they’ve got Deadmau5 in their promo videos eating a large piece of cheese in his trademark and slight scarey mouse head.

Does it get any better? Take a look at the Sonos PLAYBAR video by clicking here.

(Gerald Giles, Norwich are authorised Sonos retailers. Come in or contact us to find out how you can transform your living room into a home cinema).

A decent tumble dryer can be a real help around the house especially if you’ve got kids running around getting muddy and dirty. Then add to that our British weather – having piles of damp washing draped over radiators and clothes horses can be a pain.

Tumble dryers not only get clothes dry but it is said that nothing fluffs up towels like a spin in a tumble dryer.

Basically there are two types of tumble dryers. Vented dryers and condenser dryers.

Vented dryers direct the warm moist air out of the machine and then outside via a hole in your wall or out through a window usually using a large bendy tube.

Condensers collect the water in a tray or container which is then emptied. The water is collected by driving the warm moist air out of the drum and over the a “condenser”. Because the “condenser” is cool the water forms into droplets and is collected in a reservoir or it can be pumped out automatically.

So what are the pros and cons of vented dryers as opposed to condensers?

Well, positioning is often an issue with vented dryers because the air needs to get out of of the house some how. However they do tend to use less electricity than a condenser.

With a condenser you can have it anywhere in the house, it doesn’t need to be near a window or have a hole built into the wall.

However, you don’t want to be constantly emptying out the reservoir – so if you’re doing a lot of washing and drying, then go for one that automatically pumps the water out for you.

Other things to consider would be what size of drum you need, the bigger the drum, the more washing you’ll be able to dry in one load. We have some compact 6kg models, perfect for small families and some larger 8kg models.

As ever with kitchen appliances, you really do get what you pay for. We’ve got a range of really good Bosch and Miele machines ranging from a little over £300 to some amazing machines for around a £1,000.

Some of the Miele vented dryers have a unique honeycomb venting systems that protects and cares for the clothes.

So there you have it, the difference between vented and condenser tumble dryers.

It’s really up to you which type you go for and if you need any more information give us a call on 01603 621772, send us an email or drop in and see at our Norwich kitchen appliance showroom and we’ll take through all the options.

In one of our earlier blogs (The Best of CES2013) we spoke a lot about Samsung and how they are one of the most innovative manufacturers around. At CES2013 they unveiled bendy phones, curved screen TVs and fridges with iPad style display panels. That was impressive enough.

They also began showcasing their new range of 4K Ultra HD TVs which they said would be ready for pre-order at the end of March. Samsung are calling these TVs their S9 range and they had the UN85S9 model on display.

So being in the end of March, we checked the Samsung site and it wasn’t on there yet. These dates are probably for Korean and US customers only. They’ve indicated that the TV will be available in the UK mid 2013. But we’ll keep checking.

Although there is very limited information on their site, what we do know is that the entry level model of the S9 range, the UN85S9, will set you back a stonking $40,000. That’s around £26,250 based on current exchange rates.

That is a lot of money for a TV. So what do you get for that rather large investment?

Firstly, a huge 85 inch screen that delivers a picture in UHD  4x the resolution of current full HD TVs.

But the biggest wow factor comes from the actual design on the TV. The screen is mounted in a frame a bit like a painters easel or one of those rotating white boards your teachers used to have. The picture above explains it better. Samsung say that this frame design allows the screen to be tilted and gives the impression that the screen actual “floats”.

At CES2013 there was a mixed reception for the design – however, we think that it really works. But obviously you can make up your own mind.

One of the reasons we love this design is that the speakers are housed in the frame itself and this allows the beast to deliver a whopping 120 watts of sound to give you the full cinema experience.

Obviously its packed with the very latest tech – a quad core processor, Smart View (stream content from your mobile to the TV) and an up scaling engine that will up convert HD and full HD to UHD quality giving the best and most vivid picture quality on the market. They’re doing this because UHD transmissions are extremely limited at the moment. (Ed: Just a note here, you’ll also see TVs with 4K screen resolutions. Well 4K and UHD are the same thing).

Samsung have also improved the their Smart Hub technology so that you can now control or manage all your other Samsung gear from your sofa  – what that means is you can track and control your washing machine, cooker, air conditioning and so on right from your sofa.

So in summary this is one hell of a TV, 85 inches of fantastic picture quality, 120 watts of sound delivered from a stunning and unique design. However, do you need an UHD TV right now?

Probably not as there are very few broadcasts supporting UHD (hence the up scaling engine) and the Blu Ray people are still working on UHD. But UHD will come – it’s just a matter of time.

In the mean time however, we’d suggest taking a look at the current Samsung full HD TVs – like their UE55ES8 which has a 55 inch screen is 3D and at a little over £2,000 is a 13th of the price of the S9. And it has a lovely stand too.