New Products

Fujitsu It's a whole new look for Fujitsu's Plasmavision. The 42-inch P42VHA20 has a lighter silver finish than previous models and front-panel controls discreetly located in the bottom righthand corner. It's also just 3 inches thick. The monitor accepts 1080i-, 720p-, 480p-, and 480i-format signals for display on its 852 x 480-pixel enhanced-definition TV (EDTV) screen. Video connections include two component-video and one VGA-style RGB input, plus there's a DVI input that complies with HDCP copy protection. An Advanced Video Movement processor is said to eliminate motion artifacts and flicker, and the contrast ratio is rated as 3,000:1. The set has built-in speakers powered by a 10-watt stereo amplifier. Price: $4,999. www.fujitsu.com, 888-888-3424

PhilipsThe beauty of flash memory is that it allows you to do so much with so little. Consider the Philips KEY003 Key Ring MP3 player: it measures only 1/2 x 2 1/4 x 1/2 inch but has room for 64 megabytes of memory, enough to hold about an hour of music encoded at 128 kilobits per second (kbps). You take off the cap from the end of the Key Ring to connect it directly to your computer's USB port. The player weighs only about 6 ounces, and the internal battery is said to be good for about 6 hours of playback, but you can supplement it with a supplied external AAA battery pack that'll give the Key Ring another 10 hours. Now just try not to misplace it. Price: $99. www.philips.com, 800-531-0039

Marantz Videotape is getting a new lease on life by entering the high-definition world. Marantz's new D-VHS VCR, the MV8300, can record 720p- and 1080i-format HDTV broadcasts via its FireWire port. You can vary compression to store between 4 and 24 hours on a single D-VHS cassette. Two other FireWire ports allow connection of digital camcorders, and there are two sets of composite/S-video inputs, one set of outputs, a component-video output, and an optical digital audio output. The MV8300 will also play HDTV movies released in the D-Theater format. And don't worry about that flashing "12:00"-the clock automatically sets itself once the deck is plugged in. There's VCR Plus+ for easy time-shifting, and talk about backward compatibility: the MV8300 is also a fully functional Super VHS, S-VHS ET, and standard VHS VCR. Price: $1,599. www.marantz.com, 630-741-0300

PSB The new Platinum Series from PSB comprises the T8 and T6 tower speakers ($6,500 and $4,700 a pair), the M2 Mini Monitor ($1,700 a pair), the C4 and C2 center speakers ($2,000 and $1,200), the S2 bipolar surround ($2,300 a pair), and the SubSonic10 subwoofer ($2,000). The flagship T8 (center back in photo) is 46 1/2 inches tall and has three 8-inch woofers, two 4 1/2-inch midrange drivers, and two 1-inch tweeters (one rear-firing). Its frequency response is rated as 30 Hz to 20 kHz ±1.5 dB. On the C4 center speaker (middle of photo), a pair of 3 1/2-inch midranges and 6 1/2-inch woofers flank a 1-inch tweeter. All Platinum speakers are magnetically shielded and have woofers and midrange drivers made of woven fiberglass. With a pair of 12-inch drivers and 1,500-watt amplifier, the SubSonic10 (far left) is rated down to 22 Hz. The series is available in black ash or cherry real-wood veneers with die-cast aluminum end caps. www.psbspeakers.com, 888-772-0000

JVC Is the difference in quality between your camcorder footage and the high-def programs you watch on your new HDTV set starting to bother you? Now you can bridge the gap with the world's first high-definition camcorder, the JVC GR-HD1. The star of the show is its 1.18-megapixel progressive-scan image sensor, which can capture high-def 720p (progressive) video. MPEG-2 compression lets you store recordings on a MiniDV cassette, and you can also record in a 525p mode or standard DV for 480i (interlaced) images. The aspect ratio is 4:3 for interlaced video and 16:9 for progressive. The FireWire (also called i.Link) connection lets you transfer your footage to a computer or a recorder with a FireWire port (such as a DVD recorder or D-VHS VCR). The camcorder can convert 720p, 525p, or 480i footage to 1080i format for display on HDTV screens as well as downconvert high-def recordings for standard TVs. Price: $3,500. www.jvc.com, 800-526-5308

Sony Navigating the sea of recordable DVD formats can lead you to incompatible waters, but Sony's multiformat recorder aims to keep you on course. Pick your favorite format-DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, or DVD+RW-the RDR-GX7 can record them all. How much you can vary the bit rate depends on format, but generally a single disc can hold 1 hour of video at highest quality and 6 hours at the lowest. There's also a one-touch recording feature for easy dubbing of camcorder footage via the FireWire (a.k.a. i.Link) port, and the progressive-scan video output will let your recordings be shown with enhanced quality. The deck has a built-in NTSC tuner, two composite- and two S-video inputs, an RF connector, and optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. Price: $800. www.sonystyle.com, 800-222-7669

Accuphase Rated to deliver 100 watts into 8 ohms for each of six channels, Accuphase's PX-600 power amp has got your home theater covered-even if it has a back surround speaker. Each channel has an independent power supply, and you can bridge the six channels into three pairs rated at 300 watts into 8 ohms. Maximum total harmonic distortion at rated output is given as 0.1% for six channels or 0.05% in bridged mode. Analog level meters on the front panel add a touch of style, and they can be switched to show readings from any three channels at a time. The rear panel has both RCA and balanced-XLR inputs and binding-post speaker outputs. Price: $7,500. www.accuphase.com, 310-329-0187

B&W Don't be shy about wanting big bass for your listening room, because there's absolutely nothing shy about B&W's ASW-850 subwoofer. The imposing sub measures 20 1/8 x 22 7/8 x 20 5/8 inches, and its sealed enclosure houses a 15-inch driver made of Kevlar-reinforced paper. Frequency response is rated down to the infrasonic 18 Hz (±3 dB), with useful output down to a lease-breaking 14 Hz (-6 dB). Crossover is variable from 31 to 110 Hz. The onboard amp is rated to deliver 1,000 watts of continuous power, and there are two sets of line-level inputs, low-pass-filtered and crossover-bypass, as well as line outputs. The sub comes in black ash, light cherry, or dark cherry real-wood veneers, with a black cloth grille. Don't be shy about asking for help lifting the thing, either-the ASW-850 weighs 99 pounds. Price: $3,000. www.bwspeakers.com, 800-370-3740 MartinLogan The perforated electrostatic transducers unique to MartinLogan speakers get an upgrade with the Clarity, which uses a second-generation electrostatic panel with smaller, more plentiful holes. This not only gves it a more transparent look but also improves efficiency, the company says. The enclosure on the bottom part of the speaker fills in the bass with an 8-inch aluminum long-throw woofer. In addition, a defeatable 1-inch tweeter on top of the enclosure is said to improve off-axis treble performance. Frequency response is rated as 46 Hz to 22 kHz ±3 dB and sensitivity as 89 dB. The cabinet comes in cherry, mahogany, and black finishes. The Clarity stands 53 inches tall and has a footprint of 10 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches. Price: $2,695 a pair. www.martinlogan.com, 785-749-0133