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Tech Trends 2013: Video
S&V's video experts explain this season's hottest trends in TV
Tech Trends 2013: Audio
S&V's speaker measurement guy reports on this spring's hottest trends in speakers, headphones, turntables, and more.
Show Report: New York Audio Show, Part I
NY-area audiophiles gather for sumptuous sound and scintillating seminars.
Sony's new 2013 home audio products
New receivers, new soundbar, new HTiBs

What's New

Right On!

Plasma-friendly on-wall speaker systems from Atlantic Technology, Klipsch, and Magnepan
- By Daniel Kumin
- Posted April 6, 2005
Santa squeezed an awful lot of flat-panel TVs down an awful lot of chimneys last year. (He bends the space-time continuum, that's how.) And as those lucky households recover from holiday bills, thoughts are turning to sleek on-wall speaker systems to finish the job.

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Super-Size HDTV

4 LCD projectors that deliver the big picture
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 1, 2005
Here's a question to wrap your mind around: What's the best home-entertainment deal going? If you answered, "a Windows Media Center PC," you're way off track. If you thought, "a $49 progressive-scan DVD player," you're closer, but still no cigar. But if you blurted out, "an LCD front projector," you're absolutely right.

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Big-Screen Megabargains

Front projectors you can buy for less than $1,500!
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 1, 2005
Here's a message if you spend time squinting at a small TV: big screens are better for watching movies and most everything else. And I don't mean those puny 50-inch sets most folks consider "big screen." I'm talking about pictures that make you feel like you're actually in a movie theater - pictures 100 inches or larger!

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Mirage Nanosat Home Theater Speaker System
- By Rich Warren
- Posted March 1, 2005
While the satellite speakers in Mirage's Nanosat system aren't actually made with cutting-edge nanotechnology, they are extremely small by any ordinary standard - less than 6 inches high and just over 4 inches wide and deep.

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Traditional Values

You can get a great picture /and/ save a bundle with a classic three-tube HDTV
- By David Katzmaier
- Posted February 25, 2005
Big-screen, rear-projection HDTVs based on traditional CRT (cathode-ray tube) technology are inexpensive enough - and good enough - to warrant consideration by just about every shopper. But they aren't all that sexy.

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Boston Acoustics Plasma Series Home Theater Speakers
- By Daniel Kumin
- Posted February 24, 2005
Until some enterprising soul invents a software-defined virtual speaker, designers of real speakers will keep trying to make them less obtrusive. That's certainly the idea behind Boston Acoustics' P400, star of the company's Plasma Series.

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Hitachi 42HDT51 42-inch Plasma HDTV
- By Al Griffin
- Posted February 16, 2005
With LCD TVs nipping at their heels, plasma sets have quickly abandoned their industrial heritage and evolved to become a user-friendly centerpiece for your home theater. Basically, they've grown bigger - screen sizes will soon hit 70 inches - and accrued tons of cool features.

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Sony DVP-NS975V DVD/SACD Player
- By Al Griffin
- Posted February 6, 2005
There's no question that a DVD will look great on a widescreen HDTV, especially if your player happens to be a progressive-scan model. But with razor-sharp high-definition movies regularly showing on cable, satellite, and even broadcast TV, DVD has started to lose a bit of its luster.

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DVD Diversity

Decks from Sony, Philips, and JVC do much more than just record DVDs
- By David Ranada
- Posted February 3, 2005
While I was working on this review, my friend Rob - a filmmaker who has a day job as a video editor at MTV - asked if I could recommend a DVD recorder to help him get rid of his bulky collection of VHS tapes. In true New York style, I started my reply with, "Have I got a deal for you . . .

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JVC HD-52Z575 52-inch Rear-Projection HDTV
- By Brian C. Fenton
- Posted January 27, 2005
The venerable CRT - a fixture of TV since its first days - is now being edged out by brighter, lighter, thinner technologies like plasma and LCD panels. There are also front- and rear-projection TVs with light engines that magnify images from LCD and DLP microdisplays.

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Mordaunt-Short Genie Home Theater Speaker System
- By Al Griffin
- Posted January 12, 2005
Not long ago, someone figured out it was possible to get good sound from small, inexpensively made speakers - and ever since, the home theater scene has been dominated by compact six-piece rigs that sell for a thousand bucks or less.

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LG DU-60PY10 60-inch Plasma HDTV
- By David Katzmaier
- Posted January 5, 2005
With a 60-inch (diagonal) screen and a cabinet only 5 inches deep, LG's largest plasma HDTV, the DU-60PY10, has the kind of measurements both home theater buffs and interior designers will find enticing. But unlike many of its industrial-style plasma counterparts, this panel is very much a traditional, self-contained TV.

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