Niles
The kids finally came through this year and gave you a brand-new, wall-mounted plasma instead of another tie with dancing Santas. Life would be perfect if you didn't have to stare at a couple of nonaesthetically pleasing loudspeakers on either side of your new toy. Niles' new DS6500AT in-ceiling loudspeaker is just the ticket. The DS speaker line features a pivoting driver system that lets you pivot the woofer up to 15 degrees and the tweeter up to 17 degrees in any direction. This action ensures that the speaker can accurately direct the sound where it needs to go. The DS6500AT has a rated power handling of up to 200 watts and uses a carbon and glass fiber woofer with a 1-inch aluminum tweeter. The speaker will only set you back $625.
Niles Audio
(305) 238-4373 www.nilesaudio.com
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended DVD Edition—New Line
Video: 5
Audio: 5
Extras: 5
Pity the unfortunate middle child: I used up most of my superlatives on the extended Fellowship of the Ring last year, and The Return of the King is still to come, so I must tread lightly on The Two Towers. Seamlessly rendering the blockbuster theatrical epic even bigger, this expansion is downright sprawling yet still dramatically taut.
HDTV is permanently on the map with its own annual high-level convention. This year's inaugural event, HDTV Forum: Enabling HDTV from the Factory to the Home, took place in Marina del Rey, California, in mid-November, and drew attendees from a wide range of related industries. Sponsored by international research firms DisplaySearch and Insight Media, and by the Consumer Electronics Association, the sold-out event included over 40 presentations and panel discussions, covering the creation and distribution of HDTV content, all TV display and electronics technologies, experiences and challenges in online and retail channels, and market forecasts.
Sony Electronics long dominated the market for high-quality televisions sets. The company's distinguished array of direct-view sets - both the Trinitron and XBR series - set the standard for more than two decades. The advent of flat-panel televisions - LCD and plasma display panels (PDPs) - took Sony somewhat by surprise, causing it to drop from its traditional #1 spot as it yielded to more innovative competitors Samsung and Sharp.
As the line between action movies and videogames continues to blur, so does the line between videogames and home theater. The games reviewed here really kick it up a notch when you play them on a movie system. Featuring cutting-edge graphics, thrilling surround sound, and movie-like play action, they show that more than just DVDs belong up on your big screen.
Photos by Tony Cordoza Now that you know what the hottest games are, why are you still playing them on a small screen using the TV's anemic speakers? Jacking your game console into your home theater is a no-brainer that will take your gaming to the next level. Using a big screen draws you into the action, and the surround sound totally envelopes you.
Photo by Tony Cordoza The success of DVD is so colossal, so rampant, so relentless that anyone discussing the format is almost obligated to gush about its astounding features and many victories in the electronics arena. For a change of pace, I think it's time to admit a dark secret: a lot of people hated the format when it first came out.
Photo illustration by John Wilkes This year's Sound & Vision Reviewer's Choice Awards feature a number of home- entertainment firsts, including JVC's GR-HD1 high-definition camcorder, Sony's RDR-GX7 DVD recorder, which supports both the DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW formats, and Yamaha's MusicCAST, the first Wi-Fi music system from a m