LATEST ADDITIONS

After unwrapping the gifts, polishing off the last drops from near-empty bottles of champagne, and sweeping up the streamers and confetti left from SIM2 Multimedia's 10-year anniversary party, those still standing announced a trio of new high-definition displays being added to the SIM2 USA product line: the HTL40 LINK LCD flat-panel monitor, the DOMINO 55M rear-projection monitor, and the C3X front-projection monitor.

Despite tumbling prices on flat-panel LCD TVs, especially in the U.S. and Europe (great for us consumers, awful for Sony stockholders), Sony is forging ahead and bringing out a pair of new additions to its "S" series line of LCD HDTVs. The new sets add larger screen sizes - 32 inches (KLV-S32A10) and 26 inches (KLV-S26A10) - to the existing lineup which already includes LCD flat-panels from 15 to 23 inches in diagonal.

<I>Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, Japanese), Dolby Surround (French, Spanish, Portuguese). 126 minutes. 2004. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 05503. PG-13. $49.95.</I>

The first projector in SIM2's new Multimedia Grand Cinema C3X series was demonstrated to the press last week at the Italian Trade Council's New York City headquarters. SIM2 invested $5 million developing the new C3X projector. The few 3-chip DLP designs that have been introduced to the consumer market so far are large, heavy, and expensive. SIM2 appears to have solved the large and heavy issues. At a svelte 19 pounds, the C3X is not much more massive than the company's 1-chip models, and only about twice their compact size.