LATEST ADDITIONS

With its eye-catching design and seamless integration with the iTunes Music Store download service, Apple's iPod has taken the portable-music market by storm. But once you get beyond the iPod's distinctive, sexy styling and crack open its case, you'll find a collection of off-the-shelf components not all that different from those used in other personal media players.

As a performer, you've done everything. Do you prefer TV, movies, singing, or the stage? I would say the Broadway theater - it's so much at the heart of things. But I just signed on to do a new sitcom on NBC, Twenty Good Years, and it's incredibly fun. We're going to have a ball on that show. It's a real treat to vary my diet.

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<LI>Price: $5,749</LI>
<LI>Output channels: 7.3-channels (seven main channels, three subwoofers), single-ended</LI>
<LI>Decoding: DD, DD EX, ProLogic IIx, DTS, DTS-ES Discrete/Matrix/Neo:6</LI>
<LI>Ins and outs: Five coax and two toslink digital audio, five HDMI three component video, one 7.1-channel analog, MM phono, RS-232, 12V trigger</LI>
<LI>Highlights: THX Ultra2, damped Acousteel "Full Metal Jacket" chassis, HDMI and component video switching, multi-source/multi-zone, programmable backlit learning remote </LI>
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<LI>Price: $4,699</LI>
<LI>Output channels: 7.1-channels, single-ended and balanced</LI>
<LI>Decoding: DD, DD EX, ProLogic IIx, DTS, DTS-ES Discrete/Matrix/Neo:6</LI>
<LI>Ins and outs: Seven coax and three toslink digital audio, one AES/EBU, four HDMI and four component video, one 5.1-channel analog, RS-232, eight S-Video, three 12V triggers</LI>
<LI>Highlights: HDMI switching with Gennum video processing with transcoding of composite and S-Video and component video to HDMI, 24/96 A-D and 24/192 D-A conversion, automated setup and EQ with integrated microphone, AV sync delay, multi-source/multi-zone, learning remote (not backlit!).</LI>
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