New Products

PADDED ROOMS Inspired by control panels on kitchen gadgets, the keypads in NuVo's Grand Concerto whole-house system have no pushbuttons. Instead, the panel responds when something - a fingertip, usually - disrupts the electrical field underneath a button icon, so nothing can get stuck.

MEDIA À LA MOD Out of the thousands of products, hundreds of pimped-out vehicles, and dozens of partially clad... um, booth models at the annual SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas in November, VizuaLogic's VMOD stood out from all the hubbub.

HDTV FEAST If you give your TV a workout every time you turn it on - throwing everything from HD shows to discs to games at it - has Olevia got the TV for you. The 742i 42-inch LCD panel is equipped with a slew of high-def inputs, including a pair of HDMI ports, as well as two (count 'em!) HDTV tuners. The Olevia showcases it all in 1080p, the Rolls-Royce of HD formats.

NEVER COMPROMISE Going with an HTiB system generally means settling for convenience over performance, but Onkyo's HT-S990THX bites off a chunk of both. Not only is the included receiver rated to deliver an impressive 110 watts to each channel, but the speakers have big enough woofers (5-inchers) to actually do something with that power.

MULTITASKER Although described as a "multimedia" projector, Canon's REALiS SX60 has a Home Cinema mode for when you want images to pop. Its rated 2,000:1 contrast ratio means nice, deep blacks, and the 1,400 x 1,050-pixel resolution is more than enough for 720p HDTV.