Editorial Review

This 60-inch plasma HDTV monitor uses groundbreaking display technology to deliver superior image clarity, color, and brightness in large-format television that's less than 4 inches thick. Its 1,280 x 720p resolution produces extremely detailed imagery, and its super-sharp (550:1) contrast ratio delivers rich colors and deep blacks. High brightness (500 cd/m2) gives you an incredibly bright picture, even in well-lit areas.

Aspect Ratio Correction intelligently resizes video and computer images to 16:9 widescreen or 4:3 conventional formats, while Zenith's Intelligent Image Scaling uses a Faroudja/Sage scan converter to seamlessly convert TV video data to PC formats without distortion or cropping of images (in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio).

Editorial Review

Early Adopters Pick: May 2003. This is the first DVD player with a built-in hard drive recorder, allowing you to record all your favorite shows onto digital disk as well as watch DVDs.

Talk about "all in one"--the Panasonic DMR-E80HS not only records DVDs and stores more than 100 hours of audio/video programming on its built-in memory; it's also a progressive-scan DVD player (for use with high-definition or HD-ready TVs) that also handles your DVDs, CDs, and MP3 recordable discs. With the DMR-E80HS's 80 GB hard drive, it provides up to 104 hours of recording time, plus up to 6 hours on a removable 4.7 GB DVD-RAM disc (in Extended Play mode in each case). The DMR-E80HS offers the flexibility of recording on both DVD-RAM--perfect for instant chapter access and for multiple rerecordings--as well as DVD-R, widely regarded as the most widely compatible of the many DVD formats (great for sharing camcorder footage with loved ones).

Panasonic's Time Slip feature lets you use your DVD recorder like a personal video recorder, or PVR. Because of DVD-RAM's extremely fast transfer rate, you can view the recorded portion of an ongoing program from the beginning, while still recording the program in progress. In addition to recording new video content, the DMR-E80HS lets you transfer your favorite VHS recordings to durable, space-saving discs. Personal movie libraries and family videos can be archived, preserved, and easily cataloged and accessed. Picture-enhancing technologies include 3D noise reduction, block noise reduction, and mosquito noise reduction.

Editorial Review

Early Adopters Pick: November 2002. The only digital video recorder with a content ranking system, Season Pass program recording, and WishList program recording.

TiVo's Series2 DVR delivers more recording capacity at a lower cost and also offers the latest in networked home entertainment. TiVo DVRs record television programming directly to a digital hard drive, eliminating the hassles of videotape. The TiVo Series2 offers up to 80 hours of recording time in TiVo's small, sleek chassis (15 inches wide by 11.5 inches deep and 3 inches high).

TiVo automatically records your favorite shows.

The TiVo DVR Series2 is compatible with virtually every television available. It also works with VCRs, TV antennas, cable systems, and satellite systems. A patented remote control simplifies program recording and controls multiple TiVos within the home (two devices can share your existing phone line). Connections include three video inputs and outputs (S-video, composite-video, and RF coaxial), one set of stereo RCA analog audio inputs, and two sets of stereo audio outputs. A standard female RJ-11 telephone jack is the channel by which the Series2 accesses the TiVo service.

TiVo subscribers can pay $12.95 per month or a one-time product lifetime fee of $299. Benefits of TiVo service include, but are not limited to, Season Pass (TiVo automatically finds and records every episode of a series all season long, even if the network schedule changes); WishList (TiVo finds and records programs that feature your favorite actor, director, team, or even topic); Smart Recording (TiVo detects lineup changes for you and suggests programs to match your interests, if desired); and Showcases (exclusive entertainment plus recording shortcuts from some of the most popular networks on TV).

Editorial Review

Note: Toshiba 65H83 65" HDTV Projection TV is no longer being manufactured. You may want to consider purchasing the newerToshiba 65H84 65" HD-Ready Rear-Projection TV with HDMI Input instead.

Boasting one of the biggest home-theater screens available, widescreen or otherwise, Toshiba's 65-inch 65H83 projection television is loaded with the goods to deliver vivid, smooth, and detailed video signals from DVD players, digital TV set-top boxes, digital satellite systems, cable television boxes--you name it. It even comes with its own cabinet, which conveniently splits in two for easy installation.

The set's TruView feature combines several enhancements (black level expansion, fine white, flesh tone correction, and color detail enhancer) to automatically display accurate picture and color details. Also automated, HD Dynamic Contrast continually analyzes picture information and sharpens and deepens those parts of the picture with the most detailed information.

And since not everything you watch will be high-definition in origin (wouldn't that be nice), CrystalScan HDSC upconverts all video signals (including 480i/p) to 1080i HD. This significantly reduces jagged-line artifacts for a smoother, more natural image. (Selectable 540p, for those who want a progressive-scan image from a progressive-scan source, is available through the onscreen menu.) CableClear DNR+ Digital Noise Reduction circuitry optimizes poor NTSC signals from antenna or cable by eliminating video noise (snow).

Meanwhile, DFine high-speed velocity-scan modulation improves the definition at picture edges, creating sharper images by slowing the CRT (cathode-ray tube) beam's horizontal scanning during demanding work--say, when rendering transitions from light to dark parts of an image--and speeding it up when scanning easily rendered sections, like broad dark areas.

A 3D Y/C (4 MB, 10-bit) digital comb filter with Vertical Contour Correction processes RF and composite-video signals for a sharp, clean picture. This advanced filter significantly reduces detail noise, seen as shimmering or flicker, in complex or intricate scenes. The TouchFocus digital convergence system creates perfect corner-to-corner focus at the press of a button.

Cinema Mode (3:2 pulldown) circuitry identifies film-based content from DVDs and reassembles the frame sequence to more accurately reproduce a movie's original 24-frame rate. This process eliminates artifacts and gives you sharp, accurate full-frame progressive images.

Finally, the set's TheaterFine HD super fine-pitch screen uses a 0.52 mm design to reduce the space between lines on the lenticular screen, thereby sharpening the image. With convenient direct video input selection, you can choose specific inputs right from the remote's numbered keypad--no more scrolling through all the inputs to find the one you want.

The 65H83 is loaded with connections of all stripes, including a DVI HDTV input, which gives you a pure, uncompressed video connection with your DTV receiver or set-top box (not included).

For audio, the 20-watts-per-channel 65H83 offers SRS WOW, combining SRS 3D (which creates a wide three-dimensional sound field), TruBass (which boosts bass frequency perception for dramatic low-frequency effects), and Focus (which raises the perceived sound image vertically to clarify voices) to greatly enhance your home-theater sound. StableSound maintains television volume within a preset range regardless of the source signal, and Toshiba's Sub Bass System (SBS) boosts a program's low-end audio for heightened dramatic impact.

The supplied illuminated universal remote also controls most manufacturers' VCRs and DVD players.

Editorial Review

Enjoy high-definition quality from DVDs and set-top HDTV decoders with this affordable projection set. Custom-tailored for widescreen presentations, the GB65HD09W offers compatibility with 1080i and 720p HD signals as well as with DVD's 480p progressive-scan outputs (for use with compatible DVD players). A progressive-scan DVD player output, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts.

The GB65HD09W also offers 3:2 pulldown correction, a handy feature when using DVD players that lack 3:2 pulldown in their progressive-scan video signals. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture. Velocity-scan modulation improves the definition at picture edges, creating sharper images by slowing the CRT (cathode-ray tube) beam's horizontal scanning during demanding work--say, when rendering transitions from light to dark parts of an image--and speeding it up when scanning easily rendered sections, like broad dark areas. The GB65HD09W's 3D Y/C comb filter further enhances resolution by removing blurred edges between colors and reducing dot crawl (tiny, moving dots of color along a sharp color separation in a vertical line, as in a depiction of a character's striped T-shirt), while the dual-tuner PIP (picture-in-picture) features include PIP Swap as well as the ability to show four sub-box PIP images in your main viewing screen.

Editorial Review

The AV-65WP74 rear-projection HDTV monitor, a member of the acclaimed I'Art Pro family of monitors, incorporates JVC's D.I.S.T. (Digital Image Scaling Technology) 1080i, which upconverts and displays all signals in full 1080i resolution. That means more you'll view everything with more than a thousand horizontal scan lines--more than double the number from DVD players. An outboard ATSC digital tuner or set-top box is needed for DTV reception, but with or without a true high-definition source component, this set offers a bevy of high technologies--many of them proprietary--to ensure stellar images from any source.

JVC has updated its DSD (Digital Super Detail) circuitry with new 75 MHz HD DSD edge correction, and the company's unique Natural Progressive picture improvement technologies optimize signal quality just before the picture is displayed on the screen. The 10.95 million-pixel Natural Progressive technology doubles the image data in each field and uses 3D interpolation to display a solid image with no noticeable scanning lines, eliminating jagged edge noise and image trails. Other enhancements include TheaterPro 6500K color temperature, Digital Noise Clear circuitry, Natural Cinema 3:2 pulldown (with on/off capability) for all telecine sources, selectable velocity scan modulation, white-character correction circuitry, and convenient front-panel-access auto convergence.

Editorial Review

Sony's DFS601 CD Walkman screams "excitement," from its snazzy S2 Sports design to its ergonomic joystick operation and great sound. Ultimate Skip-Free G-Protection technology and a three-way control key on the grip together permit use while jogging or participating in other activities, while a supplied hand strap makes it easier to carry. Though it's not designed for immersion, the Walkman does offer a water-resistant design with rubber gaskets, bushings, and water-resistant seals that help keep out water, moisture, and dirt.

Keep it moving in style with the DFS601

The DFS601 puts the best of the broadcast world at your fingertips, too, with its FM/AM/TV/weather-band digital tuner. Using its 51-station preset memory (seven for TV, four for weather, 30 FM, and 10 AM), favorite stations are never more than a button away. You can even call up stations directly by their frequencies. Sony's Ultimate Skip-Free G-Protection technology boosts the laser pickup's shock protection to minimize read errors that would otherwise interrupt music, providing quick recovery from both horizontal and vertical shocks--up to 10 times faster than conventional systems.