If things keep going the way they have been Toshiba's HD DVD format just might win the format war by forfeit. Reports began circulating around the web Friday that Sony's BDP-S1 standalone Blu-ray player would not only miss its scheduled debut on October 25th, but wouldn't appear until early December. Sure enough, the SonyStyle web site that is taking pre-orders for the players now shows its targeted availability as "on or about December 4, 2006."

Sony took official ownership of CEDIA 2006 on Day 1 when it officially announced the VPL-VW50 SXRD front projector. Sony had previously lit the world on fire with the VPL-VW100<A HREF="http://ultimateavmag.com/videoprojectors/1205sony/">"Ruby"</A>, a fully outfitted three-chip 1080p SXRD projector with a retail of $10K, which was significantly less money than the premium single-chip 720p DLPs that ruled the day when it was released in Fall 2005 (not to mention that is a full two-thirds cheaper than Sony's first SXRD front pro, the <A HREF="http://ultimateavmag.com/videoprojectors/504sony/">Qualia 004</A>).

According to the Hollywood Reporter on November 7th, HBO Video will release <I>The Sopranos: Season 6</I> day and date on DVD and HD DVD, making the critically acclaimed HBO series the first TV series to appear in high-definition on disc. According the article, a Blu-ray release is being planned for 2007.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/UAV_POTY_250.jpg" WIDTH=250 HEIGHT=281 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Drum roll, please! This is more than an award feature, and more than a list of components. We get to experience the best components in the most controlled settings, in our own reference systems. And yes, we love our job! These are the top components in each product category we've reviewed this year. We're exprienced and we're hard to please, and this is a tough list to crack. The components that made the cut here are truly the best of the best.