OTHER TECH

I remember the first video camera I bought back in the '80s. It was about 2 feet long, I had to perch it on my shoulder, and it shot grainy VHS footage. Suffice it to say that consumer camcorders have come a very long way since then. The HITACHI DZHS500A DVD/HDD hybrid camcorder ($600, hitachi.us/tv) is an amazing little unit, even in the current flooded market.

In-wall speakers have come a long way since the first models, which were essentially re-purposed car-stereo speakers. That dramatic improvement over the past decade is due largely to the boom in "architectural" audio products driven by the advent of flat-panel TVs, any-room home theater systems, and whole-house audio.

In a basement in 1975, back when turntables were big business and Linda Ronstadt ruled the airwaves, three friends started Definitive Audio (definitive.com, 206-524-6633). In its early days, the high-end store sold two-channel gear by the likes of Mark Levinson and Magnepan. There was no video.

Although I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, I was a high-school A/V geek. Some kids go out for track or baseball, others for student theater. But I, along with my (still) best friend Burt, found my haven in a small interior office full of rolling TV carts and overhead projectors.

The 21st century is giving us numerous ways to listen to and control our music. Not only can we now distribute tunes around our homes with the touch of a button, but the wonder of metadata feedback actually lets us know what's playing as well.

Now that cable operators are required to separate access and security from the tuner(s) in new set-top boxes, you have the opportunity to buy a digital video recorder that's potentially more stylish and capable than the one you might be leasing.

In the time since I wrote about the installation in my Telluride home for the September issue (Rocky Mountain Picture Show), I've updated the screening room with Sony's new VPL-VW200 1080p SXRD projector ($15,000).