New Products

Mitsubishi At only 5 inches thick but with a 30-inch (diagonal) screen, Mitsubishi's LT-3050 LCD television proves that less is more when it comes to flat-panel TVs. The widescreen monitor has a 1,280 x 768-pixel resolution and is equipped with VGA, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), and two component-video inputs - all of which accept high-def signals. (The DVI connector supports the HDCP copy-protection scheme.) Once you've hooked up an outboard HDTV tuner, you'll soon be a high-def snob, saying things like, "Oh, we can't watch the game at Joe's - he's still analog." You can also satisfy your micromanager urges with PerfectColor technology, which gives you independent control over six colors. The stand shown is included. Price: $5,299. www.mitsubishi-tv.com, 949-465-6000 Reason Do your home videos often turn into action movies? The next time a party turns into a cake-throwing contest, you'll be able to capture the nuances of every splatter with Reason Products' Surround Sound Microphone (SSM). Plugged into your camcorder's microphone input, the SSM will record sound from all around via its three individual mikes. When the recording is played back over a system with Dolby Pro Logic processing, those flying plates will feel like they're whizzing by you. It runs on a single lithium-ion battery, and the built-in "foot" securely mounts to the auxiliary shoe on top of most cams. Price: $49. www.reasonproducts.com, 415-901-1600 ZVOX Dorm dwellers, all hail ZVOX - a single-speaker answer to the question, "How can I get big sound when I don't have the room for big speakers?" Said to produce room-filling sound and virtual surround effects from stereo audio, the ZVOX 315 cabinet actually houses three separate speakers as well as a ported subwoofer. The center speaker reproduces both channels of a stereo signal, while the outer ones use proprietary virtual surround sound processing to create the illusion that sound is coming from outside the box. At 17 inches wide, the ZVOX will stack nicely with your other gear or on top of the TV - it's not like you've got room for it anywhere else. Price: $200. www.zvoxaudio.com, 866-367-9869 Faroudja If you're ready for a home theater with a big emphasis on "theater," Faroudja's FDP-DILA3 Digital Projector Package will create images to command your attention. It uses three LCD chips to render a widescreen picture with a resolution of 1,400 x 1,050 pixels - enough for high-definition TV. You have two options for the video processor: the NRS-DVI, which converts all sources to DVI format at the projector's native resolution, or the DVP1500, which adds a built-in DVD player, three AES/EBU digital audio outputs, and fully independent audio and video circuits. Price: $25,995 with NRS-DVI; $31,995 with DVP1500. www.faroudja.com, 408-635-4200