HT Staff

As a service to our readers, HomeTheater.com publishes selected manufacturer-supplied announcements and press releases for products that we think might interest you.

Décor-conscious movie buffs dismayed by big, black rear projector sets have something new to look at. Marantz has come up with the PD4290D widescreen plasma monitor--it's only 3.5-inches deep, but offers wide-angle viewing from its 42-inch diagonal screen. Mounted on a wall (with cables hidden) or on its tabletop stand, the $14,999 PD4290D makes an unequivocal statement about melding technology with high style.

Sunfire Corporation has introduced the third generation of its Theater Grand surround sound processors. The new Theater Grand III supports all current surround formats, including Dolby Digital 7.1 Surround EX, and is software upgradeable via a watermarked CD.

Introduction
Shopping for an AVR you're going to be confronted with sheer tonnage of surround sound decoding options. You don't really have to pick and choose among them since they're all included, but we thought that you might want to know what you're buying in all those little logos that appear on your AVR's front panel, and also get a basic primer on surround sound in general.