New Gear

by Tony Kilcollins
Summer 2001

TeleCruzin' with Zenith
Zenith's new 27-inch Internet television incorporates the TeleCruz System technology for Internet browsing and e-mail. It has a two-tuner picture-in-picture feature that provides simultaneous Web and channel surfing. Other features include a flat, color picture tube, three-line digital comb filter, built-in modem and infrared remote and keyboard.
(847) 391-7000
[www.zenith.com]
Suggested retail price: $599

Make a Selection
The ADS 1000 Digital Optical Selector Switch from Recoton Accessories allows connection of up to three digital optical home or portable components with optical outputs. For example, you could hook up a DVD player, satellite receiver and CD player to a single optical input of your home theater system.
(800) 732-6866
[www.recoton.com]
Suggested retail price: $40

Excite Your Senses
JVC's HM-DH30000U is a D-VHS video cassette recorder that records digital high definition and standard definition broadcasts. It also has the ability to record and play back VHS and S-VHS tapes. For high definition recording the unit has a high-speed mode that delivers the digital bandwidth needed to record feature-length high definition programs.
(800) 252-5722
[www.jvc.com]
Suggested retail price: $2,000

Direct HDTV
Panasonic's TU-HDS20 is a DirecTV-enabled HDTV receiver capable of receiving all 18 ATSC digital television broadcast formats as well as current (NTSC) analog signals, plus it receives DirecTV and DirecTV HD satellite transmissions. The TU-HDS20 has multiple input sources, an advanced program guide and the V-chip parental control system.
(800) 211-PANA
[www.panasonic.com]
Suggested retail price: $1,099 (optional DirecTV satellite dish $200)

Nifty Shifty Software
ShowShifter is a new software product from Home Media Networks Limited that integrates broadcast TV, recorded video, DVD and MP3 with your PC. It is available as a download from the ShowShifter Web site. ShowShifter requires a video capture card and soundcard. Minimum system requirements are a Pentium II 300MHz, 64MB RAM system, with 30MB hard disk free space on Windows 98 or Me operating systems. (Windows 2000 users should refer to the Web site).
[www.showshifter.com]
Suggested retail price: $30 registration fee

More Performance-Less Hardware
According to EchoStar Communications, the DISH Network PRO 301 receiver offers faster screen navigation, television interactivity, a space-saving design and less installation hardware than earlier models. Other features include an enhanced event timer, increased channel storage in four "favorites" lists, V-chip type parental control and one-touch pay-per-view ordering via the remote.
(800) 333-3474
[www.dishnetwork.com]
Suggested retail price: $199 (basic programming package $21.99 monthly)

Extending the Internet
Panja's BMP-100 broadband music player lets you select and listen to streaming MP3-based music through a broadband Internet connection without using a PC. The BMP-100 allows you to access MP3.com's half-million-song library, store your own CDs online, play music saved on your PC and manage your entire music collection.
(800) 222-0193
[www.panja.com]
Suggested retail price: $400

Game Enhancing Gizmo
The VGE (Video Game Enhancer) 101 from NUWAVE Technologies is a five-by-seven-inch box that is designed to improve the appearance of video game graphics by enhancing the video resolution of an ordinary television monitor. With one button, it automatically adjusts brightness, clarity and color. It is compatible with PlayStation 2, Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast.
(973) 882-8810
[www.nuwaveinc.com]
Suggested retail price: $40

Doing the Wave
The WaveMaster 20 from TERK Technologies uses a 2.4GHz frequency band to transmit video and stereo audio signals from a PC, TV or entertainment center anywhere in the home, up to one hundred feet away. You can add up to three additional receiver modules to expand the system for multi-room functionality.
(631) 543-1900
[www.terk.com]
Suggested retail price: $100 (additional receiver modules are $60 each)

What's on the Mac Tonight?
ProTV from Formac, is a TV tuner and video capture card made for Macintosh systems running Mac OS 7.6 or higher. ProTV turns your Mac into a TV and VCR that can capture stills and QuickTime movies. ProTV receives up to 125 channels and includes Teletext software and closed captioning.
(877) 436-7622
[www.formac.com]
Suggested retail price: $139

I'll Have the Combo
The Panasonic PV-SS2710 combines a 27-inch Panasonic PanaBlack television with a 30-hour hard disk-based Personal Video Recorder. The PV-SS2710 uses an internal hard drive and MPEG-2 compression - the same video recording technology as the Panasonic ShowStopper hard disk recorder. A free, lifetime subscription to the ReplayTV Service is included in the purchase price.
(800) 211-PANA
[www.panasonic.com]
Suggested retail price: $900

All-in-One Remote
Rotel's new tabletop remote control, the RR-1090, replaces up to eight separate remote controls. Users select components via 12 menu command buttons and can program the remote to activate up to 48 individual commands for each device or system component. Four macro keys activate a stream of up to 10 pre-programmed commands. The RR-1090 also provides password protection to system functions.
(978) 664-3820
[www.rotel.com]
Suggested retail price: $299

Marantz Universal Touch Screen
With the ability to control TVs, VCRs, A/V Receivers, DVD players, cable TV boxes, DSS systems and more, the Marantz RC500 universal remote with touch screen LCD can be set up from a PC. The unit is programmable for use with most brands of IR remote controls.
(800) 270-4533
[www.marantzamerica.com]
Suggested retail price: $499