Forget about DLP vs. LCoS or Blu-ray vs. HD DVD. The biggest battle heating up in the home-entertainment world right now is over who's going to rule the next generation of gaming. And Microsoft just launched the first strike - 100 megatons worth of silicon known as Xbox 360.
With HDTV, 6.1-channel digital audio, and streaming audio and video files now theoretically at our fingertips, we truly have a bonanza of entertainment options! But let's face it - more often than not it's the fingertip part that becomes a system's Achilles' heel.
•30 GB, $299 ($399 with 60 GB) •23/8 x 41/8 x 3/8 in (1/2-in depth with 60 GB) •43/4 oz (51/2 oz with 60 GB) •320 x 240-pixel, 21/2-in LCD screen •Plays AAC, MP3, Audible, WAV, and
Stepping up to the Red Octane Ignition dance pad hooked up to the Dance Dance Revolution game on an Xbox at the entrance to Best Buy's San Francisco store, I'm drawn into a pleasure palace of electronic entertainment. In the center aisle, rows of CDs fan back to the left, facing identical rows of DVDs on the right.
Ticket prices at the box office may be at an all-time high, but the cost of admission for good home theater continues to plummet. Case in point: the three home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems gathered here. While enthusiasts might find one of these nice for a bedroom or summer home, they're just the ticket for those getting in the game.
Let's face it: compared with lust-inducing gear like big-screen plasma TVs, feature-filled digital surround receivers, and 7.1-channel speaker systems, power accessories are about as sexy as dentistry. But if your house should ever get hit with a huge voltage surge, you might find having a tooth or two pulled a lot less painful than replacing your gear.
All the biggest news about the latest trends and products used to come out of the Consumer Electronics Show - no more. Intimate compared with the vastness of CES, the CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) Expo gives companies a chance to push some products into the spotlight that might get lost in CES's Vegas glare.
Hardly a week passes when we don't receive one or more letters from readers who seem to be in a panic about the difference between 1080i and 1080p HDTVs. All of their concerns arise from the desire, sometimes bordering on the obsessive, to get the best possible resolution from their sets.
First, the good news: when you turn on your analog TV at 11:59 p.m. on April 6, 2009, you'll get pictures and sound. And now the bad news: at midnight and forever after, your TV will never receive a signal again.
