You're a newbie to this audio game, and are just putting together your first home theater. Or perhaps you're making your first major upgrade. You're pouring over the spec sheets, looking for the best AV receiver for the cheapest price.
Introduction
Shopping for an AVR you're going to be confronted with sheer tonnage of surround sound decoding options. You don't really have to pick and choose among them since they're all included, but we thought that you might want to know what you're buying in all those little logos that appear on your AVR's front panel, and also get a basic primer on surround sound in general.
The 2007 TVs and HDMI 1.3 devices are showing up to market, and the hype machine is running full tilt. New TVs with wider color gamuts and far greater bit depths, and the ability to display as many as 68 billion colors! And if you can name all those colors, I'll buy you a cigar.
Members of the Consumer Electronics Association will support the transition to digital television with timely delivery of digital-to-analog set-top convertors, the head of the organization says in response to a public challenge from the National Association of Broadcasters.
By chance last night I downloaded firmware version 1.8 for the Sony PlayStation3 and took some time to see if any new significant video features were added (a gamer I'm not). Lo and behold, two very significant updates were indeed found in the menus: the PS3 can now upconvert DVDs, and it offers 24p output.
Can a brand that has made its biggest mark in television also muster credible music players? Whether or not you've noticed, RCA has been doing that for several years. The 2007 line includes three flavors: the Jet, the Opal, and the Pearl. I got hold of the 1GB version of the Pearl for review. It plays both music and Audible e-books. With its modest size and rounded shape, this is a player you can easily shove in a pocket before getting on with your mobile life.
