The problem with a moniker like Picture Porter Elite, classy sounding or not, is that it conjures up notions of a digital bucket of sorts, compatible primarily with still photos. That is far from true for this well-rounded portable media player. Its roots are in the realm of the memory-card reader, which began its life as a PC accessory and later became a freestanding device with its own onboard data storage. You could insert cards while out in the field and safely archive their contents onto the unit's built-in hard drive, thereby freeing up the precious removable media real estate so you could snap new pictures and/or lens new video. A small LCD let you interface with your multimedia content. To expedite the transfers, it displayed file names, file types, and so on. The Piture Porter Elite uses a bigger color screen and has the necessary decoding so you can view your images and movies. Throw in music playback just because everyone everywhere is listening to MP3s, and you begin to formulate a sense of what this device can do. It also connects to a video source and records content to play back on the go later. Or you can park the Picture Porter Elite next to an audio/video system, patch it in with the included cables, and view all of the content on your TV. You can zoom, pan, and rotate your photos or easily print them via a simple USB connection to a PictBridge-compliant printer. The FM radio has a bold, clever graphic user interface and is a nice bonus. (The included headphones serve double duty as an antenna.) There's even a voice recorder with an embedded microphone and a pre-loaded game: It's Tetris, even though they call it Matrix.
Sony may not have invented the Home Theater in a Box, but it's certainly gone a long way in perfecting the concept. Where most companies make just a couple of HTiBs, Sony has close to a dozen ranging from a cute "1000-Watt" system with a five-disc changer and bookshelf speakers costing $299 all the way up to a 780-Watt $1,999 package that includes floorstanding front speakers, wireless rear speakers, and a DVD/ CD/SACD player. With so many choices, we wondered, what could we get from Sony for five hundred bucks? They answered the question by sending us the DAV-HDX500 BRAVIA Theater System.
SXSW always opens "officially" with a keynote talk by a big-name artist. In past years, speakers have included the likes of Little Richard, Ray Davies, and Lucinda Williams.
In the last 5 years, more than 50 companies have introduced home-network-ready receivers that connect your computer with your TV and audio system so you can stream music, TV shows, movies, and photos from the home office to your home theater. As place-shifting devices go, Apple TV - the slickest media receiver yet - is decidedly late to the game.
With summer just around the corner, there's no better time to upgrade your digital camera. CASIO's Exilim EX-Z75 ($230; casio.com) is perfect for a day trip or an extended vacation. I used mine for some basic around-the-house stuff, but this 7.2 megapixel would be a great travel companion.
Despite the widespread installation of Wi-Fi both at home and on the street, downloading of music to portable players has largely remained a corded affair, with the device wired to a computer. But if you're keeping up with the times, you may have noticed that Wi-Fi now beckons anyone sporting earbuds.
The Home Entertainment Show 2007 held May 11-13, 2007, at the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel in New York City, will be remembered by exhibitors, consumers, and visiting media as a well-attended showcase of some of the finest home-entertainment products available.
