Scott Wilkinson

Toshiba's press conference revealed many new models of LCD TVs—in fact, the company admitted that its product cycle is now closer to six months than one year in order to get new technology to market sooner and to remain cost-competitive for the key holiday selling season. Among the new sets in the upscale REGZA line is the XV series, which sports a "double-skin" cabinet with a cool 3D look and Pixel Pure 4G processing. Also new is Super Resolution Technology (SRT), which is said to upscale standard-def material to HD resolution far better than what is available in most TVs. Another new feature is AutoView, which dynamically adjusts all settings according to an ambient light sensor and detects film-based content.

A new projector company appeared at CEDIA this year. Wolf Cinema is dedicated to the custom-installation market with a variety of models based on 3-chip DLP technology. Using xenon lamps, these projectors ain't cheap, starting at $60,000 and going up to $117,000 (custom faceplate $2000 extra). For all that money, you get a complete system, including anamorphic lens, thermal-management system, 14-bit processor, and your choice of primary lens.

The new XBR7 line is all over the map feature-wise from one model to the next. Of most interest to me was the KDL-52XBR7, the world's first LCD TV with 240Hz operation and frame interpolation. Is it twice as good as 120Hz? We'll see when I get one for review.

The latest budget projector from Sony is the VPL-HW10, which should be available in the fall for $3500. It boasts a dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1.