LATEST ADDITIONS

Toshiba announced that it will add Dolby Volume as a feature in its 2009 Regza line of LCD televisions. Dolby Volume delivers a consistent volume level by automatically bringing down the volume of louder stations or commercials or
raising the volume of lower channels or commercials to maintain the desired listening
level. It's a welcome feature since loud commercials can be very annoying.

Which would you rather have, more content options streamed from the Internet or wireless speaker connectivity? LG Electronics thinks you should have both and has introduced three Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater Systems featuring content-on-demand options through alliances with CinemaNow, YouTube and HD titles from Netflix as well as wireless speaker connectivity. The speakers are designed by Mark Levinson, well known in the arena of high-end audio. This introduction follows on the heels of the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray player shown at CEDIA 2008. The LHB979 system is shown in the photo above and is scheduled to be available in the second quarter of 2009. A price was not available at the time of the announcement.

Toshiba reps had a lot to say in their press conference today, including several new features and models the company's upscale Regza line of LCD TVs. Perhaps most impressive is Resolution+, the new name for what had been known as SRT (Super Resolution Technology), which can even upconvert 1080p to 4K when displays of that resolution become available. Another LCD theme being pursued by Toshiba is 240Hz scanning, which combines 120Hz refresh rate with backlight flashing. None of the new sets is fully operational yet, and they were not showing any video images at the press conference, but the 52ZV650U pictured here diffracted the spotlights to create a cool rainbow effect.