Geoffrey Morrison

I've recently noticed that most video companies have names that begin with letters at the end of the alphabet and most audio companies have names that start with letters at the beginning of the alphabet. Most of my theories on this are far-fetched (some involve mind control) and get me "the look" from other people whenever I share them. My need to get out more notwithstanding, perhaps it has something to do with the word "video" starting with a "V" and the word "audio" starting with an "A." If that's the case, then Vidikron not only starts with a "V," but it shares its first three letters with the word "video."

It's quite impressive what $1,300 will get you nowadays. In many ways, the Home 10+ looks the most like a home theater projector of those in our Face Off. The smooth, pearlescent case looks a lot like a Chiclet on steroids, and this was the only projector with a dedicated component video input, in addition to RGB.

Digital Light Processing is finally getting the recognition it deserves. It's not as hot a technology as plasma, but people are beginning to realize that it's an appetizing alternative—especially since it offers many of the strengths and few of the weaknesses of other digital display technologies. Texas Instruments is the creator and sole manufacturer of DLP chips, and their latest offering is the HD2+ (or Mustang) chip. But it all started long before the arrival of HD2+.

For a display to be called an HDTV, it has to have a built-in ATSC tuner. Many of the RPTVs in last month's Face Off were so equipped, but Pioneer's Elite PRO-1110HD is the first plasma we've reviewed that has one. It seems so simple, especially when you consider that this plasma (like others) has an external box for all of its inputs. How hard could it be to stick a tuner in there? Shoehorns are cheap. In fact, Pioneer has included ATSC tuners in all four of their new plasma sets.