Peter Pachal

Peter Pachal  |  Nov 07, 2006

LIGHT TOUCH Ever get that feeling that you're about to live out a horror movie when you come home at night to a dark house? Lutron's AuroRA kit puts those fears to rest. When you pull up in your car, just tap the portable wireless controller to immediately turn on up to five lights in your house.

Peter Pachal  |  Nov 07, 2006

ULTRA COOL If you think it's hard to believe an in-ceiling speaker could sound top-notch, THX would like a word with you. Polk's RTS100 is the first in-ceiling model to earn THX Ultra2 status, thanks in part to its driver array.

Peter Pachal  |  Nov 07, 2006

WINDOWS 1080P If you loved Legos as a kid, a Media Center PC will fulfill your need to build stuff in a grown-up, home theater kind of way. Niveus's Rainier, an "entry-level" model in the Summit series, gives you unprecedented tools: an HD DVD drive and an HDMI output capable of feeding your display 1080p video.

Peter Pachal  |  Nov 07, 2006

CLIMBING THE LADDER Now in its second generation, Toshiba's flagship HD DVD player can finally provide 1080p video output - the top dog among HDTV formats. The HD-XA2's state-of-the-art HDMI 1.3 output can send both video and digital sound, including the new lossless Dolby and DTS formats, straight to your HDTV or receiver over one perfectly convenient cable.

Peter Pachal  |  Nov 07, 2006

SOUND COUNTS It's tough to pick the perfect home theater gear: You want something that'll impress your A/V-junkie friends but still be easy enough for your girlfriend to use. Cambridge Audio's Azur 640R receiver comes at you with serious audiophile cred - seven discrete 100-watt amps, all well-isolated from the digital processor and input stages.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006

ALL ABOARD Now that your PC is full of photos, music, and videos (all legally downloaded, of course), they need a place to be appreciated. HP's MediaSmart LCD TV lets them bust out on its 37-inch display, streaming all your PC goodies through your home network or a Wi-Fi connection.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006

SINGULAR SOUND Ever thought you'd see the day when you could harness the sound of a home theater from a single box? That day is today if you have the ZVOX 325, which crams an entire speaker system - amps, drivers, and sound processing - into one 17-inch-wide component.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006

SHAKING IT ALL Ah, subwoofers ... love the boom, hate the bulk. You can get your sub out of sight with Artison's RCC 600 in-wall model, which boldly promises bass performance as good as that of a 12-inch floor-standing model.

Peter Pachal  |  Oct 04, 2006

BAR NONE You can't stand black bars on your screen, but you still want to watch movies as the directors intended. DVDO's VP20 video processor might offer you a decent compromise, as its Precision Video Scaling II can scale the horizontal and vertical aspects of the picture independently.

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