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Before premium cable channels like HBO began appearing 30 years ago, you were more likely to have a bowl of waxed fruit atop your TV than a black box that changed channels.

V, Inc.'s Bravo D1 was the first inexpensive ($199) DVI-equipped DVD player on the market. The D2 is V, Inc.'s response to a little competition from some bigger names in the field, but nobody can beat the D2's price: $249. If you're still not hip to what DVI is, it's probably because you don't have a DVI input on your TV or projector. Simply put, the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) keeps the video signal in the digital domain all the way from the disc to your TV. And if you're the owner of a new plasma or LCD panel, or a DLP or LCD front or rear projector with a DVI input, you should be very excited indeed.

If you've been following the plasma marketplace, you've surely figured out that there's a lot of product re-selling and "private labeling" these days. It's not unusual for five or more companies to be selling the same 42- or 50-inch plasma panel, albeit with different-colored trim plates and bezels. Some re-sellers even go so far as to put their own processing electronics inside, but these days, that's largely the exception to the rule. There's no end to the companies who are offering plasmas for sale, but only a handful of them actually make the things.

Most power amplifiers are primarily differentiated by their size and color. Eventually, even an amplifier fetishist grows weary of digging for the minute variations that make each amplifier special. Perhaps that's why it's so refreshing to discover an amp that embraces some truly unique new technology. Bel Canto, a small company located in darkest Minnesota, has managed to find a way to manufacture a digital amplifier, dubbed the eVo2, whose performance rivals that of more conventional analog designs.