LATEST ADDITIONS

After a brief flirtation with LCoS, Thomson has chosen Texas Instruments' DLP for their high-end RCA Scenium line of rear-projection televisions. Even CRT fans must admit that DLP has some advantages. It usually produces a sharper, brighter image than any but the best, most expensive CRT designs. Big-screen DLP models are smaller and weigh less than their tube-based counterparts. And it's even possible to build DLP sets that are almost as shallow as plasmas. Thomson plans to introduce such thin DLP models this fall.

I probably don't need to convince you that HDTV is a spectacular viewing experience, with astonishingly lifelike images. But to enjoy all the benefits of HDTV and DVD, you need a multichannel surround sound system.

You wouldn't know it to talk to most home theater purists, but there's a market for simplified, easy-to-implement surround sound systems: college students in cramped dorms, for example, or vacationers in summer homes.

The annual Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo is increasingly <I>the</I> debut venue for manufacturers of home theater equipment.