Mark Fleischmann

Just when I was about to ship my four-year-old Sharp LC-32D4U to my parents, who are still using an analog TV, the 32-inch TV's speakers went silent. According to this guy, the problem is "a design flaw by Sharp in which the silicon grease they used to cool the audio IC tends to break down and melt after a couple years, shorting out the audio." I've spent this week reviewing a JVC sound bar, so at least I didn't have to do without my local 10 o'clock newscast--the TV's analog line output still worked well enough to feed a signal to the bar. But I wanted to fix the TV before it went off to its new home. My parents have been good to me. I didn't want to send them a less than fully functional TV.

The originator of the MP3 audio file format is backing a new version that would embed extra features into the file.

Price: $400 At A Glance: Flagship of Sony’s standard receiver line • Strong aesthetics and user interface, well-designed remote • Compatible with Sony wireless speakers using optional card

Slick but Affordable

The process of getting music into, and out of, an A/V receiver is changing. An increasing number of receivers come with Ethernet jacks to pull music out of a network-connected PC. Against this background, Sony—thinking for itself, as always—has built a totally different form of networking into the STR-DN1000 A/V receiver.

Up to now admission to most TV-on-internet websites has been free. But one of the category's major sites, Hulu, may soon start charging for online viewing of some shows.