How well do the new compression schemes from Dolby and DTS stack up against uncompressed audio? We buff up our golden ears to audition and compare the latest Blu-ray audio codecs, in the design labs that developed them.

Compared to DVD, the tremendous increase in storage capacity of the Blu-ray disc format, necessary to carry the increased high definition video data payload, also provides for expanded audio options, including the ability to carry so-called lossless audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

Which is better, or more precisely, which isn't worse

It's not that I hated Time Warner Cable. In fact, in a lot of ways I kind of liked them. For several years, I had the Scientific Atlanta 8000HD DVR box, which, after many updates, was a pretty decent piece of equipment. Then, after my second one died (as hard-drive based equipment is bound to do), they gave me the 8300HDC. This is the worst consumer electronics product I've ever used, and my days with TWC were numbered. And along came AT&T.

Your Vinyl Answer

USB turntables are nothing new, but have previously required a computer to do their analog-to-digital thing. Converting vinyl into MP3s is a wonderfully liberating feat. But who keeps a computer next to his stereo stack or has the room for a turntable (and accompanying record collection) in the office?

Enter Denon's DP-200USB turntable, fully equipped to provide the user experience we old-timers are used to, while introducing the iPod set to the magic of LPs.

Can't Afford a new Rolls? How about this instead?

Hyundai is trying to be Toyota. And Honda. And why not, they're both some of the most respected and successful car makers out there. With the Genesis, Hyundai aims right in the middle of the luxury sports sedan market.

To help them with that image, they enlisted Lexicon to design the audio system. The only other car with a Lexicon audio system is the Rolls-Royce Phantom. So it's in good company.

With claims of decreased motion blur, better detail, world peace, and smoother motion, LCD manufacturers are drastically increasing refresh rates. But why?

First it was 120 Hz. Now it’s 240 Hz. Already manufacturers are talking about 480 Hz. I mean, 60 Hz is so 20th century. Are there really any advantages to these faster refresh rates? If so, how do they work?

The King is dead. Long live the King!

No one at Panasonic seemed to care that Pioneer left the plasma TV market. Then again, maybe they did. It would have been easy, perhaps expected, for Panasonic to put out a gussied-up version of their last generation plasma now that the direct picture quality competition has fled the market. But that's not how it played out.

The G10 is a significant step forward in picture quality for the company best known for value and consistency more than outright picture quality.

Slide and Hide

If your cramped urban dwelling is forcing you to choose between designated sleeping quarters and a full-on media room, fret no more.

You can have both with Zoom-Room, an electronic version of the Murphy bed.

“When it comes out of the wall everyone says, ‘Wow!’” says company owner Peter Medvin.

Heavy Performer

Right now, you can get Blu-ray players for less than $200.

Well, you can, but do those players offer you onboard decoding of all the audio formats, upconverting of the 8-bit video to 16-bit, Marvell Qdeo processing, eight Wolfson DACS, tank-like build quality and pretty much everything else you can think of to eke out every last bit of performance?

That was a rhetorical question.