Audio Video News

KEF
What if you could get the same digital surround sound from a speaker system without running all of those wires across the floor of your home theater? If that's your wish, then KEF's new Instant Theatre, or KIT100, is right up your alley. The system—which features two compact front speakers, a hideaway subwoofer, and a DVD/receiver unit with an AM/FM tuner—utilizes NXT's flat-panel technology to produce surround sound from just two speakers. Each die-cast aluminum speaker is designed to minimize cabinet vibrations and features a 4-inch Uni-Q driver array with a 0.6-inch tweeter. It's nearly impossible to mess up the setup process, as the four supplied cables are shaped for their respective fittings. The progressive-scan DVD player is compatible with CD-Rs/-RWs and MP3-encoded CDs, and the unit includes Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, and DTS decoding. The Instant Theatre is all yours for $1,500.
KEF
(732) 683-2356
www.kef.com

Panasonic
You only want the best for your home theater, so check out Panasonic's DVR/DVD recorder, the DMR-E100H. The built-in 120-gigabyte hard drive is one of the industry's largest. You can record on either a DVD-RAM or DVD-R disc and store up to 160 hours of video on the product's hard drive. The DMR-E100H can record MPEG-4 image data while recording MPEG-2 data to the hard disk. In EP mode, recording is a quick 12x to a DVD-RAM or 24x to DVD-R. With the Chasing Playback feature, you can view a live program's recorded portion and continue recording the program until it's completed. The DMR-E100H features progressive scanning, rewritability up to 100,000 times, and a price tag of $1,200.
Panasonic
(800) 211-7262
www.panasonic.com