LATEST ADDITIONS

Right in front, next to Dolby, in the South Hall was a new kid on the block, called XStreamHD. While they were making a big splash at the show, the service won't go live until later this year, sometime in the summer.

Next up the ladder is Toshiba's ZV650 series, which will be available in April in 42-, 47-, and 55-inch sizes. At this level, you get ClearScan 240 (120Hz frame interpolation with backlight flashing), USB and SD card slots for media stored thereon, and Dolby Volume, which keeps the volume consistent between shows, commercials, and channels. Oddly, they also have Audyssey Dynamic EQ, but they decided not to use Audyssey Dynamic Volume, which does much the same thing.

Sharp has two new Blu-ray players, the BD-HP16U ($279, lower left) and 22U ($299, lower right). Both are BD-Live capable, and the 22U comes with 2GB of memory—I got conflicting stories as to whether that memory is internal or an included memory stick. Both also implement Aquos Pure Mode, which automatically sets things like aspect ratio depending on the content in current and future Sharp TVs.