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While you might want to start with a budget model if you're looking for your first DVD recorder, there are good reasons to explore the higher end of the price range. Up there, you'll find models that make it easier to do time-shift recording and that provide storage and editing options not found on starter units.

Although flat-panel LCD TVs have been hanging around even longer than plasma models, their small-size screens have garnered less attention. But things changed in the past year: LCD TVs started zooming up in size, undoing the myth that the technology is good only for small displays in the kitchen, bedroom, or office.

The hottest-selling HDTVs right now are big-screen rear-projection sets, a category that's still dominated by the relatively cheap, time-tested cathode-ray tube (CRT). But the new "microdisplay" TVs are gaining fast.