New Products

NAD No one said home theater has to be complicated. Certainly not NAD, whose L 53 integrated DVD player/receiver combines two key components into a single, simple package. Made for places where surround speakers aren't an option, the L 53 has a stereo amplifier rated to deliver 50 watts to each channel and uses SRS virtual surround sound processing to add dimension to movie soundtracks. There's an optical digital audio output in case you want to connect an external Dolby Digital or DTS decoder. The player/receiver has a progressive-scan video output and comes with a backlit learning remote. Price: $599. nadelectronics.com, 781-784-8586

Cambridge SoundWorks Plug-and-play satellite radio tuners can shuttle between your car and your home system, but if you still want to listen when you're not close to either, a transportable boombox like Cambridge SoundWorks' PlayDockXM will ensure you're never parted from your heavenly streams. The player acts as a docking station exclusively for XM radio's Roady and Roady2 tuners. Outdoors, the high-gain antenna attached to the 13-pound boombox should do just fine, but 20 feet of antenna cable is supplied in case you can't get a clear line of sight to the satellite. You can set the speaker drivers to Wide mode for a more spacious stereo image, and a 4-inch woofer helps take things down low. The built-in rechargeable battery is said to last 10 hours. Price: $200. cambridgesoundworks.com, 800-367-4434

Sonos Turn your home computer network into a home music network with the Sonos Digital Music System. All you need is a ZonePlayer for every room you want music in plus a handheld Controller (right). Each ZonePlayer can access music on your PC or Mac via an Ethernet connection - playing MP3, WMA, AAC, and WAV files as well as Internet radio stations. You browse songs on the Controller's 3 1/2 -inch color LCD screen with the iPod-inspired scroll wheel, selecting the ones you want to hear. It communicates to the players wirelessly, and it even works through walls. Each player has amplifiers to deliver 50 watts per channel to a pair of speakers, plus line-level inputs/outputs and a subwoofer output. Prices: ZonePlayer, $499; Controller, $399; package with two ZonePlayers plus Controller, $1,199. sonos.com, 800-680-2345

Verbatim New dual-layer DVD+R discs from Verbatim unleash the full potential of DVD. Putting data on two layers expands disc capacity from 4.7 gigabytes to 8.5 gigabytes. Of course, you'll need a DVD burner in your computer that can record on the discs - no standalone recorders can burn dual-layer DVDs yet. To ease your transition to dual-layer media, Verbatim offers a Solution Kit that includes one dual-layer DVD+R disc, eight single-layer DVD+R discs for high-speed (8x) recording, and one 4x rewritable DVD+RW disc. Price: $30. verbatim.com, 800-538-8589