From Robert Silva,
Your Guide to Home Theater.
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Continued From Page 1

On the previous page I discussed three hot home theater products for this holiday season: Blu-ray and HD-DVD players, LCD TVs, DVD Recorders. On this page I discuss three more hot home theater products: Home Theater-In-A-Box Systems, Video Projectors, and HD-Compatible Standard DVD players.

4. Home Theater-In-A-Box Systems

Want to have a home theater system, but skip all the hassle of buying everything and figuring out how to install it? Then a home theater system-in-a-box may be just for you. Granted, these are not high-end systems, but in a price range from $200 to $2,000, there is a system out there that will fill basic needs, whether in an apartment, meeting room, or moderately-sized living room, that can fill the bill.

There are several types of configurations, but the majority of systems come packaged with everything you need to get your own basic home theater started including a DVD player/AV receiver (combination or separate components), all the speakers, including the subwoofer, a remote control, and, the best of all, all the wire you need to connect it all together, including standard AV cables to connect to your TV. A pretty good deal, especially if you are buying a home theater-in-a-box system as a gift.

For information on what you need to know before you buy, as well as some suggestions, check out my article Home Theater Easy and Inexpensive - Home Theaetr-In-A-Box and my current Home Theater-In-A-Box Top Picks.

5. Video Projectors

How can one capture the same "magic" as a trip to the movie theater? You can come very close with your own home theater projection setup. Of course, such units have been around for some time, but they were big, bulky, power hogs, and very, very, expensive; definitely out of reach for the average consumer.

However, as an outgrowth, in recent years, of the need for compact, affordable, portable multi-media projection units for use in business presentations, new technological developments in image processing have made this once out-of-reach option more affordable for use in home theater by more and more consumers.

Although there are high performance video projectors that are still out of reach for most consumers, there are now video projectors for the bargain hunter, with prices starting around $999 for basic home theater projectors. There also a increasing number of 1080p-capable video projecters priced less than 3,000. With continued strides in compactness, quality, bulb life, brightness, lower price points, the video projector in making definite inroads at both the retail and consumer level. Keep in mind the additional cost for a screen.

For information on what you need to know before you buy, as well as some suggestions, check out my articles, Before You Buy a Video Projector, Before You Buy a Video Projection Screen, and my current Video Projector Top Picks List.

6. Upscaling DVD Players

If you own an HDTV, especially a flat panel or DLP projection type, then an HD-Compatible DVD player is THE Hot product for you.

An Upscaling DVD player (not to be confused with Blu-ray or HD-DVD true high definition disc player discussed on page 1) is a standard DVD player that is equipped with either a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) or HDMI (High Definition Multi-media Interface) connection. This connection can transfer the video signal from the DVD player to an HDTV, that has the same type of video connections, in pure digital form. In addition, this type of DVD player also has an what is referred to as "upscaling capability".

Upscaling is a process that mathematically matches the pixel count of the output of the DVD signal to the physical pixel count on an HDTV, which is typically 1280x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080i).

The upscaling process does a good job of matching the upscaled pixel output of a DVD player to the native pixel display resolution of an HDTV capable television, resulting in better detail and color consistency.

Keep in mind that upscaling cannot convert standard DVD images into true high-definition images, but is a close approximation - especially when you consider the much lower cost for an upscaling DVD player as oppossed to a Blu-ray or HD-DVD Player. Upscaling works well with fixed pixel displays, such as Plasma and LCD televisions, but results are not always consistent on CRT-based high definition televisions.

For more information on what you need to know before you buy an HD-compatible DVD Player read my FAQ What Is Meant By An HD-Compatible DVD Player?.

In addition, check out some of Upscaling DVD players included in my Standard and Upscaling DVD Player Picks, as well as my Universal DVD/SACD/DVD-Audio Player Picks.

Proceed To Page 3 - What's Hot For The Holidays - XM-Enabled Home Theater Receivers