By Philip Wong
30/12/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/others/0,39037627,62049646,00.htm

What an exciting year we've had to date. 2008 will be best remembered for its galore of full-HD flat-panels TV, sleek Blu-ray players and studio-grade surround sound A/V receivers. What's even better, the sticker prices of these once-premium products have nose-dived thanks to maturing technologies and the intense competition. At the recent Sitex computer show, the latest 1080p 42-inchers and Blu-ray players were going for a song, as low as S$1,319 and S$399, respectively. Furthermore, the older models are also available at steep discounts during clearance and warehouse sales as well.

Price aside, here's a roundup of the high flyers from their respective home A/V categories. These products have gotten our stamp of approval for their performance, versatility, aesthetics, etc. Without further ado, let us present you folks our top 10 candidates in no particular order.

Plasma TV

Pioneer Kuro KRP-500A

The new 9G Kuro sets the bar for delivering deep lustrous blacks that beat the competition hands down. This full-HD plasma is also a must-have for videophiles, enthusiasts or anyone with an eye for no-holds-barred picture quality. Best of all, you don't have to rob a bank for one now that it’s a lot more affordable than its predecessor. Psst. It's also priced lower than some of the new LED-backlit 46-incher LCDs. That's four extra inches of screen estate for less.

LCD TV

Samsung LA46950

This Samsung flagship LCD TV is the Swiss army knife-equivalent in the HDTV world. It comes with Web connectivity for news feeds and weather updates, network multimedia streaming, digital TV tuner for HD broadcasts, built-in memory for edutainment content, etc., out-of-the-box. As for performance, it's equipped with the latest LED-backlighting which bridges black levels between an LCD and plasma. The panel is also a stunning all rounder featuring the Korean company's "Touch of color" design.

Home theater projector

JVC DLA-HD750

For true theatrical effect, you can't go wrong with a high-performance home theater projector. Among all the current full-HD entries, the JVC DLA-HD750 stood out from the crowd with its unadulterated 50,000:1 native contrast. This is about the highest you can get in the market that guarantees absolute blacks and reveals shadow details. Additionally, its powerful 2x zoom and motorized lens shift functions are handy for no-fuss installation, while an enthusiast-grade HQV video processor provides top-notch DVD upscaling.

Sound bar

Philips Ambisound HTS8140

Not all sound bars are created equal. Take the HTS8140 for example. This two-piece kit is one of the rare gems with integrated 1080p upscaling DVD player, iPod dock, radio tuner and a high-performance Faroudja DCDi processor. It lacks the wireless capability of the Samsung HT-X810, but rocks when it comes to performance with convincing virtual surround, deep bass thanks to its bundled subwoofer and fantastic visuals output via HDMI. Lastly, it's handsome and is great with music as well.

Home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB)

Panasonic SC-PT865W

You won't settle for anything less than a proper home cinema kit, but still demand minimal cable clutter? The Panasonic SC-PT865W HTIB will fit in nicely with its wireless rear speakers. These will save you the hassle of routing cables all around the room, while an efficient 1,250W digital amplifier serves out clean power for the set's tall-boy speakers. To top it off, onboard auto audio calibration takes care of the surround sound setup to ensure optimum performance without any user guesswork.

Blu-ray player

Sony PlayStation 3

As a Blu-ray player, the PS3 is hard to beat in terms of value, capabilities and performance. At S$599, it also doubles as a HD gaming console, wireless multimedia streamer, CD/DVD player and more. Thanks to frequent Sony firmware upgrades, the console is also updated with most of the latest Blu-ray bells and whistles ranging from BD-Live advanced interactivity to onboard HD surround sound decoding. There's also little to nitpick on its 1080p24 picture quality which is on par with most standalone players.

Gaming console

Nintendo Wii

The current sales figures and global market demand speaks volume for the famed Nintendo Wii console. Despite its humble A/V credentials, the Wii wowed children to the elderly with its blend of affordability and motion-sensing gaming capability. Unlike on the PS3, the latter is tightly integrated into Wii games which add a new dimension to the overall experience. To enhance realism, there's also a wide selection of accessories and controllers including the unique Wii Balance Board.

A/V Receiver

Onkyo TX-SR606

Though the competition has intensified with comparable entries from Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, etc., Onkyo has upped the ante for the entry-level TX-SR606 with four HDMI 1.3 inputs. This is one more than the competition and a handy addition for users who own a battery of A/V boxes. The main proposition, however, is still its Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding capability. This kit is one of the most affordable A/V receivers in the market that support these studio-grade surround soundtracks.

Universal remote

Logitech Harmony One

This universal learning remote control scores with a balanced mixture of aesthetics, ergonomics, features and user-friendliness. More importantly, it offers the best of both worlds: A color touchscreen for selection menu flexibility and physical buttons to facilitate commonly used functions such as volume adjustments. The chance of encountering a snag during setup is also lower with an up-to-date database and web-based setup, though you can always manually program the remote via its learning function.

Wireless multimedia streamer

Linksys DMA2200

This Media Center Extender features dual-band Draft-N wireless networking for streaming multimedia content off your computer. The formats supported include regular MP3 and JPEG to high-definition WMV clips. The DMA220 also doubles as a 1080p-upscaling DVD player so you'll have your existing movie library covered without investing in another separate box. Best of all, this Linksys is also incredibly easy to set up and ships with a learning remote control as standard.