Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV -- with its 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a ridiculous 3mm thin enclosure -- has been unboxed over at TV Snob. Next to all of its accessories, the XEL-1 looks rather less appealing when compared to the clean press shots. In particular, we're left a little confused as to what the deal is with that ugly external power brick: isn't that what the big box underneath the screen was for?

LCD and plasma TVs are far more reliable than older rear-projection types, according to a report by Consumer Reports. On average, only 3% of flat panel TVs need repairs, with the majority of those repairs being free thanks to warranties. Rear projection TVs had a far higher repair rate of 18%, probably due to the limited life of the bulbs contained in these TVs. When flat panels TVs did need an out of warranty repair, they cost around $260 for LCDs, and nearly $400 for plasmas, with rear projection TV repairs costing around $300. The report also called out expensive extended warranties, saying that they're only worth it if you're particularly paranoid and they're cheaper than any possible repairs.

When they say "competition's good," they obviously meant "competition means cheap HD DVD players": Wal-Mart's $198 Toshiba HD-A2 has been copied by Circuit City, which is now selling the same player for $197.99 online. Add it to your cart, and see for yourself. As one tipster said, with deals like this popping up this early, signs are looking good for one helluva Black Friday.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

Even if it's not the first as LG is claiming it is, the 32PC5RV 32-inch plasma TV recently announced by the company is the smallest plasma TV to get a decent production run. Launching in Brazil this month and then worldwide in November, the 32PC5RV intends to muscle in on the most popular LCD TV size. The television will come with a relatively low price tag to lure buyers in at between $1,000 and $1,100: probably not low enough to beat lesser brands selling 42-inch 1080p plasmas at around that mark, and definitely not high enough specification to beat equivalently branded 32-inch LCDs what with the 32PC5RV featuring an abysmal 852x480 resolution, 550 lumen brightness, and a 1,800:1 contrast ratio. LG, you're gonna have to do better than that.

[Via Newswire Korea]

JVC showed off a handclap and gesture recognition TV at CEATEC last week, designed to replace the bog standard remote control with hand movements and claps. Using a microphone and a video camera, the TV can pick up claps to change volume, and recognize a pointing finger to control elements on the screen (apparently you bend your finger to "click".) Frankly, the whole "having to lift your hand" element isn't the JVC TV's strongest suit: perhaps a better option would be to fit an accelerometer inside a standard remote. That way couch potatoes can sloppily jerk their arm to make changes. The lazier the better when it comes to TV.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

As much as audiophiles may hate all-in-one "sound projection" boxes that simulate multiple speakers, as long as consumers have limited space in their apartments -- or remain unwilling to chuck cables all over the place -- there will be a market for such devices. The Yamaha YSP-500 has dimensions of 610 x 120 x 220mm, and pumps out a rather dismal 62W over sixteen (!) 28mm, and two 8mm loudspeakers. It supports a variety of different surround sound formats, but if you really care about them you probably shouldn't be looking at this set, which is launching late this month in Japan. No word yet on pricing, or a US launch.

Although the humble subwoofer is probably the least likely to require placement inside a space that's beyond cable reach -- or concealment -- thanks to its non-directional sound frequencies, JBL and Infinity have teamed up to solve the problem anyway. The PS212W is a 12-inch $679 400W sub with an included 2.4GHz wireless transmitter / receiver bundled: yes, that's 2.4GHz, the same frequency nearly all your other wireless kit uses. JBL's Cinema Sound CSS10W also uses this overused frequency for its wireless, but it's only 10-inch and 300W, and will retail at the lower price of $559 when it launches in January next year.

[Via Audio Junkies]

Just a quick announcement about our home theater contest: we're extending the deadline until a minute before midnight tonight. Turns out the overwhelming response happened to overwhelm our email server, and maxed out our storage limit. Don't worry, we've sorted the problem -- just make sure to resubmit before 11:59PM EDT tonight if your email bounced. We're sorry for the inconvenience. If you haven't entered yet, check out the details here, first making sure to read the rules here. Good luck!

As if two different high definition DVD standards weren't enough for the world, China has gone ahead and said "actually, it is, at least for the western portion of it." The Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center has announced CH-DVD, a high definition DVD standard based on the DVD Forum's HD DVD, but with additional Chinese-owned technology tacked on. This additional technology takes the form of advanced copy protection designed to prevent the spread of pirated content. A new foundation called the China High Definition DVD Industry Association will be promoting the format, with the aim of launching a hardware player in 2008, and getting content producers on board before that.

[Thanks, cullen and JL]

Netstreams has announced an IP streaming home theater system called the CinemaLinX, which does exactly as it says on the tin: it streams audio to IP speakers dotted around your house. Demoing the home theater box for the first time at CEDIA, the CinemaLinX accepts Dolby or DTS signals, but not higher quality standards like Dolby TrueHD or DTS MA. The benefit for IP speakers over regular dumb speakers is that it provides more parameters -- just what the audiophile market craves -- like auto calibrated equalizers and far simpler multi-room support: Netstreams's solution has thankfully tackled the usual latency issues with IP speaker setups by building the CinemaLinX with lags of around 1ms. No word on ship dates or prices yet, but we'll let you know as soon as there is.

Already, new peripherals are popping up to take advantage of the new features in Apple's updated iPod line-up, with Polk Audio's I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 packing a poor man's equivalent of the Starbucks song purchase feature over in-store WiFi. When songs are playing over the built-in HD Radio, users can press a tag button, which creates a custom playlist on docked iPods, allowing songs to be purchased later when at a computer. The ES2 also features XM Connect & Play capability, a CD/DVD drive for audio playback, an alarm clock mode, and 360-degree sound, whatever the hell that is. The ES2 hits next month for $499.

Inventing the dual layer DVD-RW standard may seem like an extreme example of too little too late in the days of 15GB+ HD DVD and 25GB+ Blu-ray, but JVC has gone ahead and done it anyway. Hitting up the same 8.5GB capacity as regular double layer DVD-RWs and dual layer DVD-RWs, the JVC discs come with a specially hardened coating which is apparently "150 times" more effective than the coating on plain old DVDs. Unfortunately, the new format requires entirely new burners, is only available at 2x write speeds, and no shipping dates or details are available. Sounds like JVC's got a winner on its hands ... yeah.

The Democratic Senator for Arkansas -- Mark Pryor is his name -- wants to expand on the "V-chip" video content blocking program, and create a tracking system that could enable parents to censor content on platforms including TV, DVD, and the internet. A new bill proposed by Senator Pryor calls for the FCC to look into ways of blocking "indecent and objectionable programming, as determined by the parent" on basically all platforms capable of displaying images. As always, the devil is in the details: how exactly the FCC is going to figure out a method for precisely tracking obscenities on a "platform blind" basis remains to be seen, and the issue of classification of content is always sure to cause controversy. What politicos like Pryor always seem to miss is the fact that parental filters are already in place, albeit in messy meatspace form.

Toshiba is running a short, promotional sale by selling its HD A2 HD DVD player for $99 with three HD DVD movies over at the Home Media Expo in Las Vegas. You may be thinking this is great news: but wait, there's a catch. Only attendees of the show will be able to take advantage of the deal, and with ticket prices of between $100 and $500, the deal isn't as great once you get in. Toshiba, maybe you should focus on reducing the prices for general consumers rather than running these awkward "promotions." The fact that you're trying to sell players at a conference reeks of desperation, which is weird since it looks like you've got nothing to worry about.

[Thanks, Judith]

Update: Toshiba, probably inundated with requests, wanted to make sure everyone realized "The $99 player is an accommodation price only for attendees of the Home Media Expo's EMA trade show this week and is being offered by the HD DVD Promotional Group. It is not in any way connected with a broader consumer offer from Toshiba." So yeah, don't expect to snag one at your local Best Buy or anything, ok?

A thread over at the AVS Forums has highlighted a potential problem with the coating of Blu-ray discs, described by many as "disc rot" due to the mould-like spots that have made several owner's Blu-ray discs unplayable. The five page thread has reports from dozens of forum members, many of them discovering spots which can't be rubbed off on Blu-ray versions of "The Prestige." It's impossible to judge how widespread the problem is from a single forum thread, although it's not unheard of to see a product recall after a problem is discovered by users on a forum. It's also worth noting that for every user that has reported the spots, there's one or more people with discs that have no problem. If you've encountered the same issue, your best policy is to try and get a refund / replacement disc from the place where you originally bought it from. If enough people are reporting a problem, then retailers will be a much stronger voice than a bunch of consumers sounding off in the echo chamber that is "the internet."