OTHER TECH

Still, spring is a relevant time for A/V gear re-birth. During these post-vernal-equinox months, electronics manufacturers introduce new product lines - TVs in particular - which you'll generally see in stores this fall (some, much sooner).

Below, we offer our spring product line guide, one maker at a time (or maybe two or three - depends on our mood). Check back here every so often to see who's new to the list. We'll give you quick wrap-ups on this page, plus links to our product photo galleries for the specifics.

And remember: Give your hydrangea plenty of sun and water; keep your plasmas dark and dry.

How about some nice, home-made high-def video to go with these of-the-moment HDTVs? A lot of compact cameras crank out some first-rate digital video and 16:9 stills. Check out this story from PopPhoto: • Top Cameras For Your HDTV

Denon By Brent Butterworth Lately, we consumer electronics journalist types have come to expect gloom and doom from the audio industry. Execs put on hangdog faces as they report meager sales and wonder aloud where the market's going. But the press crew assembled for a late May Denon line show at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point, CA, caught a whole different mood as senior VP of sales and marketing Joe Stinziano announced 10 new A/V receivers, a new line of lifestyle two-channel products, a set of noise-canceling headphones, a new Blu-ray player . . . and news that - according to market research firm NPD - Denon had achieved number-one market share in A/V receivers for the first time ever.

The one new product we don't have a photo of is the $749 DVD-1800BD Blu-ray player - but the sample on display was just an empty box, anyway. It's the company's least-expensive Blu-ray player yet, but director of product development Jeff Talmadge says it delivers the same picture quality as the company's past players. Shipping in October, the DVD-1800BD is a Profile 1.1 player with HDMI 1.3a, Deep Color support, HD audio bitstream output, an SD card slot, and HDMI CEC (the first Denon player with this feature). Click on the "Denon" header to see the product gallery.

Pioneer By Leslie Shapiro On a sunny spring day in New York, Pioneer showed off their latest offerings, including some exciting new products that should please the custom-installation crowd, with new KURO video displays, an exciting line-up of receivers, new Blu-ray disc players, and even a new projector. The Pioneer philosophy is to present products with the best possible performance instead of settling for better prices and sales volume. They also talked about a new venture with Best Buy to create a dedicated space separate from the Magnolia specialty shop within the Best Buy stores to feature Pioneer products, in an effort to set them apart from the best of the rest. Click on the "Pioneer" header to see the product gallery.

Mitsubishi By Brent Butterworth Imagine the anticipation: We're surrounded by translucent columns illuminated with images of flickering flames. We're told we're about to witness the birth of a revolutionary TV technology. Curtains rise, and we walk through a fog on which video images are projected. We see three of the new TVs lined up on the wall in front of us. And then we're told we can't write about them.

Reporters attending last Friday's Mitsubishi 2008 line show in Huntington Beach, CA, had to sign a non-disclosure agreement banning them from disclosing certain facts until June 30. So I'm going to tell you as much as I can while minimizing my risk of facing a team of merciless Mitsubishi lawyers in some hellish Orange County courthouse (and even worse, having to take the 405 freeway to get there). Click on the "Mitsubishi" header to see the product gallery.

Panasonic By Michael Trei With some of their bread-and-butter offerings at CES getting overshadowed by the company's 150-inch LifeScreen plasma, Panasonic decided to hold an event at Manhattan's chic Hudson Hotel focusing on its real-world TV models. Panasonic has decided to use the Viera brand name across all its plasma and LCD model lines, and the 2008 lineup offers improved contrast ratios, shatter resistant plasma screen glass (attention Wiimote users), plus a bunch of other improvements. Click on the "Panasonic" header to see the product gallery.