If you're ready
to worship at the video altar, it's time for wide-screen. The 57-inch Sony
KP-57WV700 ($3,500) is the choice of champions. Despite the glamour-free model
number, this rear-projection TV is all about turning your living room into
ground zero for major entertainment. HD resolution, the new 16:9 screen ratio,
and the Micro-Focus lens system mean some of the crispest, brightest,
contrast-filled images you've ever seen in a rear-projection set.
Now that you've got your eyes fixed, it's time to work on those ears.
Garage-sale those 80-pound '70s speakers and update to something sleek. Sony's
DAV-C990 DVD Dream System ($1,000) sounds like a better-than-average home-theater-in-a-box
setup, and it has looks, four little silver spire-like speakers for full
surround sound, and a progressive-scan five-disc DVD changer. If you prefer
function over form, the Denon HTIB DHT700DV ($1,000) is a great choice for the
price. It includes a DVD player, a receiver, five surround speakers, and a
subwoofer.
Time to toss the VHS and bring your recording up-to-date. The current choice
of TV addicts is still TiVo, the magic black box that records shows onto a hard
drive. The company has just released the TiVo Series 2 in 60-hour ($299) and
80-hour ($349) models. If you really love your TV, try the ReplayTV 5160
($499), a competitor to TiVo that gives you a whopping 160 hours of recording
time as well as the ability to send shows to other ReplayTV units using a
broadband connection. What about your permanent archive, though? DVDs are about
to become the new videotape thanks to the Panasonic DMR-E30K DVD Recorder
($700), a device that actually lets you burn DVDs from TV using the company's
Time Slip function.
And feel free to take your home theater on the road with the Samsung
DVD-L100 ($1,299), a beauty of a portable DVD player if ever we saw one. It's
great if you're obsessed with films and stuck living an airport-to-airport
lifestyle. Or if you're grounded at home, maybe you'd just like to enjoy a
little Oprah while you're searching for that last frozen waffle with the LG
Appliances Multimedia Refrigerator ($8,000). But maybe that's just going a
little too far. Or not.
