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Pioneer has no new A/V receivers at the show, but it did announce that several Elite AVRs are now THX-certified. What's the big deal about that, you ask? These are the first products with Class D digital amplifiers to receive such certification. Also newly THX-certified is the BDP-09 Blu-ray player.

The continued flattening of video displays makes bulky premium HDMI cable look ever more like an anachronism. That's why Monster Cable has introduced the SuperThin HDMI cable. It's 75 percent thinner than Monster's usual HDMIs. A sexy swivel adapter further enhances its flexibility -- and, by the way, Monster's flat-panel screen mounts are now less than a half-inch thick. Another Monster product is billed as the world's fastest HDMI cable, carrying 21Gbps up to 50 feet, with the help of active circuitry from Gennum. Monster's Noel Lee: "Consumers need to be freed from the fear of obsolescence." After all, with analog cables, "you never had to worry about your cables expiring." More Monster news covered uninterruptible power supplies, powerline conditioners, high-end Turbine earbuds, and other headphone lines. They don't call this company Monster for nothing. Ever the party animal, Monster always throws a party at major shows, and this year's CEDIA party will be called "The Recession's Almost Over Party." That's the kind of attitude we like.

Look closely at the upper righthand corner of the Integra DTR-80.1 receiver back panel and you'll see a VGA input for your PC, a relative rarity. With nine amp channels (and 11 sets of binding posts) it's armed for bear. You might use those extra channels for width or height speakers, thanks to Audyssey DSX, or for height via Dolby Pro Logic IIz. Also shown were two other receivers and two preamp-processors. Integra products are sold through custom integrators only. See press release for pricing and further details.

JVC surprised me with the intro of a 3D-capable LCD TV. The 46-inch GD-463D10 uses circular polarization and passive polarized glasses to achieve the 3D effect, which uses alternate lines on the screen for each eye, effectively cutting the vertical resolution in half. It can also display 1080p at full resolution in 2D. The GD-463D10 is available now for $8995. I thought the demo looked pretty good, but not good enough to change my mind about preferring a good 2D image.