HT Staff

Décor-conscious movie buffs dismayed by big, black rear projector sets have something new to look at. Marantz has come up with the PD4290D widescreen plasma monitor--it's only 3.5-inches deep, but offers wide-angle viewing from its 42-inch diagonal screen. Mounted on a wall (with cables hidden) or on its tabletop stand, the $14,999 PD4290D makes an unequivocal statement about melding technology with high style.

Home theater fans looking for one component that will do everything should look no further than Denon’s new AVR-5800 receiver. With seven channels of high-wattage amplification, a subwoofer output, and high-resolution internal digital-to-analog converters, the AVR-5800 is also the first home theater product designed to accommodate DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, the recently-announced surround sound format from acoustic effects pioneer Digital Theater Systems.

Not too long ago you had to fork over a grand or more for a high-performance DVD player. Pioneer has just sliced that ticket by more than half with their new DV-525, a player sporting 10-bit video processing and internal 24-bit/96-kilohertz digital-to-analog converters. The $425 player is said to offer "twice the picture quality of a VCR" and options "usually reserved for players costing much more."

Are stratospheric equipment prices bumming you out? Onkyo has something guaranteed to cheer you up: a new home theater receiver with multiple inputs, Dolby and DTS surround processing, five channels of high-current power, and an incredibly low price. How low? Try $330.