Gear

by Tony Kilcollins
October 2000

AOLTV

AOLTV combines television and the Internet with the on-line world of AOL. The AOLTV set-top box manufactured by Philips Electronics lets you find what you want on TV or online. It alerts you when you receive e-mail and reminds you when your favorite show is about to begin. AOLTV will organize all of your favorite channels into categories such as news, sports and movies. The AOLTV package includes a set-top box with 56K modem, infrared keyboard and remote, cables, phone line and splitter and a set-up manual and video.
(800) 810-4665
www.aoltv.com
Suggested retail price: $249 (AOL members’ service is $14.95 monthly and $24.95 for non-members)

Sony TiVo

The SVR-2000 is Sony’s first digital network recorder integrating TiVo technology. The SVR-2000 has a 30GB hard drive that can record up to 30 hours of programming. The system allows you to play, pause, fast forward and rewind live television. Sony designed it to work with standard television broadcasts, as well as digital satellite and cable systems. The TiVo service automatically finds and records the programs you want every time they’re on, regardless of schedule changes. TiVo also regularly upgrades your receiver with new features and content.

(800) 222-7669
www.sel.sony.com
Suggested retail price: $399 (TiVo monthly subscription $9.95)

DISH it Out

The EchoStar DISH DVD 5422 is a combination satellite receiver and DVD player. DISH DVD includes DVD-specific controls such as multiple foreign language and subtitles, multiple angles and title and chapter navigation. The player also has four fast forward and rewind speeds and a four-device remote control. The system comes with a DISH 500 satellite dish, which receives signals from two different satellites and over 500 channels.
(800) 333-DISH
www.dishnetwork.com
Suggested retail price: $399

RAM Recorder

The Panasonic DMR-E10 DVD-RAM recorder allows digital recording onto a removable DVD-RAM disk (Panasonic has a 4.7GB disk available for $35). The DVD-RAM recorder offers high-resolution video, large storage capacity, rewritability and playback of DVD video disks, DVD-RAM disks and video and audio CDs. There is also a Direct Navigator function that shows a list of recording dates, times, channels and user-entered titles on screen. The Playlist function allows cut-in and cut-out points for up to 999 scenes to be marked and displayed as on-screen thumbnails to create a playlist.

(800) 211-7262
www.panasonic.com
Suggested retail price: $4,000

Mitsubishi DVD

Mitsubishi has two new DVD players in its lineup, the DD-4001 and the DD-6000. Both units feature three slow speeds, multiple language and subtitles, search by time, title or chapter, digital
still and frame advance and parental lock and controls. The DD-6000 has digital video noise reduction, a built-in Dolby digital processor with six audio output channels and an HDCD digital audio decoder.
(800) 332-2119
www.mitsubishi-tv.com
Suggested retail price: $275 DD-4001 and $775 DD-6000

New Cable Tronix Modulator

The new CTARM modulator from Cable Tronix enables you to watch the output of up to four video devices from any television in your home. The modulator creates a separate TV channel for each device and combines the new channels with cable or broadcast TV channels and then sends the output to other TVs in your home using existing cable outlets. The UHF channel range is from 14 to 69 and the cable TV range is 65 to 94 and 100 to 135.
(800) 688-9282
www.cabletronix.com
Suggested retail price: $190

Build a Better Mouse

The GyroMouse Presenter from Gyrations, Inc. is a cordless mouse that you can use on or off the desktop. A standard mouse ball tracks its movements on the desktop and its built-in solid-state gyroscopes automatically track your hand movements in the air. The base plugs into the computer serial or mouse port and needs no special drivers. With a range of 60 feet, GyroMouse Presenter supports DOS and Win3.1, 95, 98 and NT. It includes GyroTools’ effects software and spare battery with standby charger.
(800) 316-5432
www.gyration.com
Suggested retail price: $189

Play Time!

Sony’s new PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system supports current PlayStation software (more than 800 titles), audio CD and DVD-Video formats. According to Sony, more than 50 software titles specifically for PlayStation 2 are scheduled for release by the end of this year. Optional features include an 8MB memory card and a Multi Tap adapter that can be used to increase the number of controllers and memory cards that can be connected. Sometime next year Sony plans to release an "expansion unit" made to plug into the PlayStation 2. This will bring Internet access and a hard drive to the PlayStation 2.

(800) 345-SONY
www.playstation.com
Suggested retail price: $299

More Power To Ya!

Cyberlink’s PowerVCR II software turns a desktop computer into a digital video center. It captures video from any video source in real-time MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats. The time-shifting playback function lets you watch a program while it is recording. With the video "cut and merge" feature you can cut, trim and merge parts of your recorded video footage. PowerVCR II also allows you to convert .avi files into MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats.
(510) 668-0118
www.gocyberlink.com
Suggested retail price: $129

Hooked on Phonex

Phonex Broadband Corporation has a product that will be helpful to consumers with DVRs, Net Top Boxes, PCTVs or Satellite services that require a telephone line. The Phonex Wireless Jack for Modems is a phone extension system that turns an electrical outlet into a telephone jack. Plug it into any AC outlet and it transmits voice and data signals using your home’s 110-volt power line.
(800) 437-0101
www.phonex.com
Suggested retail price: $100

New on NUON

Toshiba introduces its first DVD player with NUON-enhanced technology. The SD2300 features expanded video capabilities such as picture-in-graphic displays, slow motion and special effects and a 16x-pixel zoom function.The unit offers compatibility with NUON-enhanced DVD movies and NUON-encoded video game software. For playback of CDs, the SD2300 has a Virtual Light Machine mode that displays visuals and graphics that pulse to the beat of the music.
(800) 631-3811
www.toshiba.com/tacp
Suggested retail price: $399

You’ve Been Eco-Zapped!

The ZapMedia Ecosystem consists of the ZapStation Media Player, Zapmedia Engine, ZapMedia.com Portal and ZapAccess. The ZapStation Universal Media Player features an MP3 player and jukebox, audio/video player, CD/DVD player, storage for up to 10,000 songs or up to 20 hours of digital video. It plugs into the TV, stereo and the Internet for downloading, streaming, storing and access to video and music files from the Web. The ZapStation will be available holiday season 2000 at major electronics stores.
(678) 420-2700
www.zapmedia.com
Suggested retail price: $599

Size DOES Matter

Case Logic introduces the DVA-40 high-capacity storage binder for DVDs. The three-ring binder holds and protects 40 DVDs. Each of the dual pocket pages holds a title and chapter note, while the back page holds the DVD in a protected sleeve. The DVA-40 also features a spine label for indexing and is expandable to hold 50 DVDs with the DVD-10 refill pack.
(800) 925-8111
www.caselogic.com
Suggested retail price: $45 (DVP-10 refill pack: $12)

Universal Commander

Sony’s Universal Remote Commander remote control gives you control of up to 12 components in your home theater system or other systems from a single remote. The RM-AV2100 allows you to create a macro for control of more than one appliance at a time, with a single button. You can program up to 15 macros for up to 16 consecutive operations at four different speeds. The controller features an LCD touch panel and can operate most major brands of TVs, VCRs, DVD players, satellite receivers and cable boxes.
(800) 222-SONY
www.sony.com
Suggested retail price: $180