Other Tech

About 73% of the country is watching cable TV these days. And as HDTV has caught on with this crowd, so have digital cable boxes that include TiVo-like hard-disk recorders for high-def programming. But these boxes, built almost exclusively by either Scientific-Atlanta or Motorola, have drawbacks: limited capacity, a less-than-elegant user interface, and, of course, a monthly lease.

At last year's CES, Sony previewed an 11-inch, 3mm-deep OLED TV prototype that made other flat-panel sets at the show look positively obese. That same model showed up in finished form at the company's press conference Sunday, rising up Vegas showbiz-style from beneath the stage in a maneuver reminiscent of the Stonehenge scene from Spinal Tap.

Sony's new 55-inch, 1080p SXRD rear-projection HDTV is 30 percent thinner than earlier models.

Regular readers know I'm a nut for media servers, especially ones capable of managing and streaming DVD movies around the home. Not too long ago, if you wanted to enjoy this awesomeness, you were pretty much limited to the pricey Kaleidescape system.

2008 was pretty remarkable - in home-entertainment as well as in the world at large. For instance, this is the first time we've ever given the Product of the Year award to essentially the same piece of gear twice in a row. Why? Because in 2007 we concluded that the Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-110FD was the best TV ever made, and this year Pioneer surprised everybody by making it even better.

Every day, in audio/video superstores across this great land, the same scenario plays out with frightening regularity. Someone, lusting after high-definition TV, spends thousands of dollars on the set of his dreams. And then, having been turned on to surround sound by hearing his buddy's home theater, he asks the salesman to recommend a speaker system.