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Polk Audio has taken the wraps off the I-Sonic Entertainment System 2, the follow-up to the company's impressive 2006 tabletop AV system. The new ES2 model gets the iPod dock that was missing from the original I-Sonic, but it loses the Swiss-Army-knife luster of that all-in-one model: gone are CD/DVD player and XM satellite radio support (though an auxiliary line-in port lets you connect any external device of your choosing). Video output (for the increasingly burgeoning number of video-capable iPods) remains, as does the dual alarm clock and HD Radio tuner. And it's the interaction between the HD Radio and the iPod where the new I-Sonic debuts a first-of-its-kind feature called iTunes Tagging.

(Credit: Sony)

Usually when we hear about mega-disc changers we're reminded of Sony's older behemoths, which always seemed like a great idea but were often more trouble than they were worth. Sony's been in the changer business for a long time, but the new HES-V1000 looks completely different than the company's previous offerings and offers some truly cutting-edge features. With its rectangular, tower-like design, the HES-V1000 is a 200-disc changer that can play and record to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. With only about 300 total Blu-ray discs on the market, that might be overkill, but you can fill the gaps with your existing CD and DVD collection. The Blu-ray changer is impressive enough as is--it's the first giant Blu-ray changer we've seen--but Sony has gone the extra step of including a 500GB internal hard drive that Sony claims can hold "137 hours of video, 40,000 songs, or 20,000 digital photos".

One of our biggest knocks against Sony's older DVD changers was that disc information usually had to be added manually, which involved connected a PC keyboard to the changer and tediously entering the disc title, song names, etc. The HES-V1000 avoids this by coming equipped with an Ethernet port that pulls CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc information off the Internet, so you don't have to enter the info yourself. The Ethernet port also allows the HES-V1000 to communicate with other DLNA-certified devices on your network, so you can, for instance, stream music off the HES-V1000 to your PlayStation 3.

Another good sign for the HES-V1000 is the inclusion of Sony's XrossMediaBar (XMB) menu system, as seen on the PlayStation 3 and Sony STR-DA5300ES. Despite the annoying name, we've generally found the XMB menu system to be easy to use and easy on our eyes.

Rear panel of the HES-V1000

(Credit: Sony)

Taking a look at the back panel, you'll note the standard connections for a Blu-ray player, with the addition of A/V inputs, which opens up the possibility of the HES-V1000 offering DVR functionality. Sony hasn't said anything about this yet, but it would be a great addition to this do-it-all media center. In addition to the connectivity on the back panel, the HES-V1000 also has Memory Stick, Secure Digital, CompactFlash, and xD-Picture Card readers, so you can easily load up your digital images.

As you might guess, the HES-V1000 won't be cheap when it comes out in October, with a retail price of about $3,500.

Top-down look at the HES-V1000

(Credit: Sony)

When it hits stores in a few days, the TH-42PZ77 will be the cheapest 1080p plasma.

(Credit: Panasonic)

Despite the fact that the benefits of 1080p native resolution are difficult to discern at the 50-inch screen size, let alone 42 inches, Panasonic has to keep up with the LCD competition if it wants to maintain spec-sheet parity in the eyes of comparison shoppers. That's probably the main reason why the plasma powerhouse announced two new, lower-priced 1080p models today at CEDIA in Denver: the 42-inch TH-42PZ77 ($1799) and the 50-inch TH-50PZ77 ($2799).

These sets trim $200 off the list prices of the formerly least-expensive 1080p Panasonic plasmas, the excellent 42-inch TH-42PZ700U and the ever-popular TH-50PZ700U, making them the most affordable 1080p plasmas on the market, and strongly price-competitive with similarly sized 1080p LCDs. Here are some more items from the press release:

Panasonic TH-PZ77 series key features

• 1080p native resolution
• Two HDMI inputs
• Antiglare screen coating
• SD memory card slot
• September release date

Toshiba's new LCD: note the extra-thin bezel around the screen.

(Credit: Toshiba)

Yesterday at the CEDIA show in Denver, Toshiba added to its strangely named "Regza" line of LCDs with a pair of models designed to maximize the amount of front-panel real estate devoted to the screen. Badged with the even stranger moniker "SNB," for "Super Narrow Bezel," the 40-inch 40RF350U ($1,899) and 46-inch 46RF350U ($2,499) indeed have some narrow-looking bezels. In fact, when we compared the 46-inch member of the Sharp LC-D64U series (the thinnest-bezeled LCDs we've seen yet) to its SNB competitor, the Toshiba's panel was narrower by all of 1.22 inches in width and 1.53 inches in height, although the Sharp was less deep by 1.56 inches. So when the Toshiba press release uses the phrase World's Thinnest LCD TV Bezel, we believe it. Other highlights include:

Toshiba RF350U series key features

• 1080p native resolution
• Three HDMI 1.3 inputs
• VGA-style PC input with up to 1366x768/1280x1024 resolution
• 10-bit panel with xvYCC color support
• Dimensions of 46-inch model (panel only, WHD): 42.1 by 25.9 by 5.3 inches
• Dimensions of 40-inch model (panel only, WHD): 36.7 by 22.8 by 5.1 inches
• September release date

Pioneer BDP-95FD

(Credit: Pioneer)

The going rate for high-end, late-2007 Blu-ray players seems to have settled in at $1,000, with at least one exception, and Pioneer's latest, the BDP-95FD, follows that trend. The new player, expected to be available mid-October, replaces the company's BDP-94HD and BDP-HD1 players, offering the same 1080p/24 playback and Home Media Gallery, plus expanded support for high-resolution audio formats. Here's the nitty gritty:

Pioneer BDP-95FD's key features

• 1080p output at 24 frames per second
• Internal decoding of Dolby Digital Plus
• Bitstream output for Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master
• HDMI 1.3 output, with xvYCC support
• Home Media Gallery video, audio, and photo streaming
• Ethernet port
• $1,000 list price, mid-October release date

Sharp's new Blu-ray player, the BD-HP20U.

(Credit: Sharp)

There are a whole bunch of Blu-ray players being announced at CEDIA, but for the most part, there's not too much to differentiate them. Sharp's new Blu-ray player, the BD-HP20U, is its first-ever, but is still mostly the same as other players. Yet the company's press release claims that the BD-HP20U will load Blu-ray discs in 10 seconds. For those of you not used to the sluggish speeds of high-definition media, that's very fast--we're used to most high-definition players taking from 40 seconds to well over a minute to load discs.

Sharp BD-HP20U's key features:

• 1080p output at 24 frames per second;
• Onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD;
• Quick Start mode, which can load discs in less than 10 seconds;
• HDMI output (version not specified);
• Possibly analog, 5.1 multichannel outputs (according to photos from AV Magazine.it);
• $550 retail, available in September.

The Sharp BD-HP20U back.

(Credit: Sharp)

We definitely love the Quick Start mode, but we're disappointed that the BD-HP20U doesn't offer bit-stream output for DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. On the other hand, the $550 price tag is pretty attractive, considering the only other $500 standalone Blu-ray player we've reviewed--the Sony BDP-S300--was extremely sluggish.

Sources: AV Magazine.it, Sharp press release

The Sony BDP-S2000ES.

(Credit: Sony)

Editors' note: Neither the BDP-S2000ES nor the BDP-S500 offer DTS-HD Master Audio compatibility, either via bitstream or onboard decoding. We originally speculated that it should be able to output DTS-HD Master Audio using its bitstream output, but have received confirmation from Sony that neither player can.

Over the summer, Sony introduced the cheapest standalone Blu-ray player yet, the BDP-S300; now it's filling out its product line with two higher-end models: the BDP-S500 ($700) and the BDP-S2000ES ($1,300), both coming this fall. According to the company press release, the two models are largely the same, sharing the following features:

BDP-S500 and BDP-S2000ES key features:

• 1080p at 24-frames per second output;
• Onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus;
• Bit-stream output for DTS-HD High Resolution, but not DTS-HD Master Audio;
• HDMI 1.3 port;
• Support for AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color.

The Sony BDP-S500.

(Credit: Sony)

The step-up features for the BDP-S2000ES are mostly related to build quality, with Sony touting "dual-shield construction," to prevent dust from getting inside the player, and "a rigid-drive bracket" which supposedly minimizes vibrations. There is also greater separation between video and audio boards, which Sony claims can deliver better quality. With many people getting both their video and audio from the digital HDMI output, we're a little skeptical that there will be any real-world audio and video performance improvements.

While the BDP-S500 looks to have a solid combination of features, Toshiba's HD-A35 will be released in October with the same key features and a list price of $500. The high price of hardware has been a problem for the Blu-ray camp, and these new players don't help.

(Credit: Samsung)

Editors' note: Toshiba has officially announced that it will stop producing HD DVD products, bringing an end to the format war. For that reason, CNET recommends that consumers should avoid buying this player for high-definition movie playback, as very few HD DVD discs will be produced in the future.

We've already known most of the details about the upcoming Samsung BD-UP5000 HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player for a while, but today at CEDIA they announced a few more nuggets of info. Here's a summary of what we know:

BD-UP5000's key features

• 1080p output at 24 frames per second on Blu-ray and HD DVD
• HQV video processing
• Onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD
• Firmware upgradeable for DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio onboard decoding (see this blog for more information)
• HDMI 1.3 port
• Ethernet port
• $1,000 MSRP, available Q4 2007

The spec sheet we got from Samsung also mentioned "stereo and 5.1/7.1-channel audio outputs", but we have not yet been able to confirm if that refers to multichannel analog outputs (as we suspect) or the ability to output multichannel audio via HDMI. We've also inquired to see exactly how Samsung plans to implement its support for DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio--whether by onboarding decoding or by enabling bitstream output. Note that if they enable DTS-HD support by enabling bitstream output, you will need a newer receiver with onboard DTS-HD Master Audio decoding to take advantage of the lossless high resolution soundtrack.

Overall, we have to admit we're pretty impressed with the BD-UP5000 compared to LG's combo player, the BH200. The inclusion of HQV video processing at the same price point is a nice upgrade, since HQV can improve performance on both standard DVD and high-def discs. Samsung's decision to support high-resolution audio, albeit by a firmware update, is also a plus over the BH200 which has currently only announced support for bitstream output. Of course, both combo players still have to face the fact that you can buy both a PlayStation 3 and Toshiba HD-A2 for less.

(Credit: Samsung)

LG's new combo player

(Credit: LG)

Update: This post has been updated to reflect that LG has confirmed that the BH200 can output DTS-HD Master Audio in bitstream format, that it fully supports Blu-ray profile 1.1 and has only stereo analog outputs.

LG was the first company to come out with an HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player--the LG BH100--which made a big splash at CES 2007 and won CNET's "Best in Show" award. At CEDIA today, LG announced its second combo player, the BH200, which looks to improve on many of the shortcomings of the BH100. The most significant failing of the BH100 was its limited support for the interactive features available on HD DVD discs, also known as HDi. According to the press release, the BH200 will support HDi functionality, along with network-enhanced HD DVD features, available on some discs such as Blood Diamond. On the Blu-ray side, it should also support BD-Java functionality (as seen on the newer Pirates of Caribbean discs), as well as picture-in-picture functionality. (While picture-in-picture functionality is standard on all HD DVD players, it is not required on Blu-ray players until October 31.)

LG BH200's key features

• Full HDi support on HD DVD discs
• Picture-in-picture support for both HD DVD and Blu-ray (fully Blu-ray profile 1.1 compliant)
• 1080p output at 24 frames per second
• Onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD
• Bitstream output for DTS-HD Master Audio
• HDMI 1.3 output, with Deep Color support
• Ethernet port
• $1,000 list price, mid-October release date