Ending months and months of speculation, Microsoft finally made an official announcement for its external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 gaming console. The drive will cost $199.99 and will be available in North America in mid-November and will come bundled with a copy of the HD DVD of Peter Jackson's <I>King Kong</I>.

The amount of news relevant to home theater enthusiasts that came from last week's E3 gaming trade show is striking evidence that whether we want it or not, some form of convergence is happening. As <I>UAV</I> <A HREF="http://ultimateavmag.com/news/051406ps3">reported earlier</A> , Sony announced pricing and availability for its eagerly anticipated PlayStation3 gaming console, and Microsoft followed suit in its own way by announcing that its HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 will be available in time for Christmas this year. Although no pricing or dates are yet established, the rumors are flying.

Mitsubishi announced its 2007 lineup of DLP rear projection and LCD flat panel TVs before the gathered press Monday in New York. The message was clear- Mits is hanging its TV hat on premium LCD and large screen DLP rear projectors.

CEDIA 2006 was something of a riches to rags story. We saw many three-chip 1080p DLP projectors announced at prices that were ridiculous and embarrassing, stretching into the many tens of thousands of dollars. And they were introduced with straight faces. Granted, these are high light output designs that can drive enormous screens. But I didn't find these many of these designs particularly interesting. Too many recently announced projectors appear to be aimed at the ultra-wealthy sliver of the market, and don't back up their high prices by offering technical innovation that can't be found in more reasonably priced models. About the only things these announcements did was to make the $15-20K single-chip DLPs seem like they aren't quite as hideously over priced!