Home Theater Week in Review, January 7, 2008 - January 11, 2008

by Oliver Amnuayphol

This week Las Vegas played host to the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the industry's chosen venue for showcasing any new hotness that is home theater. It seemed manufacturers all over the place had cutting-edge, flat panel TVs, including Pioneer, who wowed crowds and stole the show with their prototype 9mm thin, 50-inch, Kuro Concept flat panel TV. And yes, you read that right--it's thinner than an iPhone! What's more, the proto-Kuro had astonishingly better black levels in comparison to current-gen (and still state of the art) Kuros and excellent color saturation to boot. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a while until this super-slim plasma becomes available (read: not this year), but if you don't mind drooling all over yourself for the foreseeable future, check out a video of the Kuro's svelte form here.

Not wanting to be completely outdone by the pioneering folks at Pioneer, Samsung and Sony both showed prototypes of their own super-slim panel TVs incorporating Organic Light-Emitting Diode technology, or OLED. Samsung won the "bigger is better" competition over Sony by displaying 31 and 14 inch TVs, while Sony showed humbler 27 and 11 inch versions. The larger models from both manufacturers of course feature 1080p and excellent contrast ratios.

And speaking of cutting-edge technology, Mitsubishi showed a promising new laser RPTV with super-vibrant colors on a large, 65 inch screen. While still not quite ready for production, the laser technology is said to have much higher picture quality potential than either LCD or plasma and reportedly looks pretty darn comparable to the best TVs currently available. And who knows? Maybe the weapon of choice for Dr. Evil and comic-book villians the world over can also soon be used for your home theater viewing pleasure.

Also slangin' his wares at CES was none other than Dr. Dre (of NWA, the Chronic, and 40 oh-zee fame), who was representin' his new set of premium headphones, aptly named Beats. A joint venture with Monster Cable and Interscope Records' Jimmy Iovine, Dre's new cans are "Engineered to accurately reproduce the best of today's pop music" and come with a special carrying case, anti-microbial cleaning cloths, and an adaptor for the iPhone. MSRP will be $399, and you can pick yourself up a pair in spring of this year.

Movie Releases for Next Week.

DVD: The Ten, Good Luck Chuck, Mr. Woodcock, Breaker Morant, Suburban Girl, When Harry Met Sally--Collector's Edition, He was a Quiet Man, Persuasion, Extras--The Complete Series.

Blu-ray: Good Luck Chuck, Mr. Woodcock, Breaker Morant, Suburban Girl.

HD DVD: The Lawless.