CES 2009

The world of Blu-ray just keeps getting bigger and better. This time around, Samsung has introduced the first Blu-ray-equipped soundbar, the HT-BD8200. Designed to coordinate with the Touch of Color series of flat panels, Samsung’s innovative soundbar features a sleek design to complement its virtual surround sound technology. But what sets this one apart is its integrated Blu-ray player.

Now that Blu-ray players have dramatically decreased in price, DVD is making a slow exit out of the consumer electronics industry. But Pioneer’s newest upconverting DVD player caters to those who are still holding on, and offers a few innovative features for the Blu-ray-converted group too.

There are two new members of Pioneer's premier speaker family. The S-4EX-W, the smaller bookshelf model in the photo, and the smaller center channel,the S-8EX-W. (The two floor standers and the subwoofer are not shown here.) The Pioneer rep on hand seemed a bit fuzzy on the prices, but $4,000/pair for the bookshelves and $2100 for the center was his story. All of the speakers, and corresponding in-walls, employ a unique magnesium cone woofer with an integral, coaxially mounted beryllium-dome tweeter. Shipping now.

This is the disc drive of Denon's universal player. It is entirely a Denon creation, not sourced from another company. So now you get more of an idea of what your $3800 pays for. But wait, there's still more.

By the way, iThing is my lonely protest against having to type both iPod and iPhone in blog after blog. The Marantz IS301 is a wireless Bluetooth dock package consisting of four pieces: dock, cradle, receiving station, and card remote. You can detach the wireless dock from the cradle, with your iThing in it, and wield them as though they were a remote control. The cradle is hardwired via dual CAT5 (one for audio, one for video) to the receiving station which has the usual jacks to connect to a receiver.