At long, long last, we've finally picked a winner for our biggest (and most time consuming) HD contest ever. It took us a while, but after poring over almost 3,000 entries we believe we've finally unearthed our favorite sad setup around. The honor (or dishonor?) goes to reader Samuel Goldstein -- congrats! We know it's hard to imagine that our + $5,000 worth of gear will match up to his 19-inch Zenith Space Command TV, RCA VCR from 1995, recycled car speakers, or the "picture-in-picture" that is a Citizen portable television, but we think he'll manage. Watch the video "tour" of the winner's "system" after the break, and be sure to check out all the other painful entrants in the gallery below.

In a move just short of sending Xzibit over with a copy of Windows Media Center, Microsoft is encouraging customer installers to show just how much they can do and how well they can integrate media center into a home theater setup. Sure, anyone can run a few wires here and there, or bring a boxed solution to the table, but we get the feeling they're looking for some extra flash. In return, the winning company gets a trip for one to CEDIA 2008, trip for two to Microsoft HQ in Redmond, a photo shoot of the winning install and a "technology pack" including an Xbox 360 Elite, games, Zune and AV cables. Head over to the site to check out the rules before the deadline hits August 1, and don't be too shy to slide us pics of your potentially Xbox-winning setup, we'd like to see what you play CoD4 on.

You know, this last week we closed up two contests where you'd have the chance to win an HDTV (among other things), but we were feeling a little magnanimous and decided to leave them open through this weekend. Just remember, you can enter both contests one time, but you can't enter either contest more than once. Check out all the details and rules below:

Read - Win a Philips 42PFL5603D 42-inch 1080p HDTV
Read - Win an LCD HDTV, Xbox 360, and plenty of Old Spice

Judging from previous contests, you probably aren't likely to miss out on your chance to snag a slick new Philips HDTV, and the 42PFL5603D 42-incher we're giving away is as sexy as they come. Check out the specs below, and Philips's video here.

• 42-inch 1080p display
• 29,000:1 contrast, 500cd/m2 brightness
• (4) HDMI v1.3 (including CEC), (2) component / S-Video, USB
• 8ms pixel response, 3/2 and 2/2 pulldown, Pixel Plus 3

Read the rules and get in your entries!

• Leave a comment below. You know the drill!
  
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
  
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Winner will be chosen randomly. That winner will get a Philips 42PFL5603D, value of $1,399.
  
• Entries can be submitted until Sunday, February 24th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.
  

Oh, and don't forget our HDTV + Xbox 360 combo Old Spice contest, too. Don't be shy about entering both. Good luck!

Look, if you're going to sit around the house watching HDTV and playing Xbox 360, you might consider taking yourself a damn shower every once in a while and get out the musky smell; -- and that's where Old Spice fits in. They're hooking up one lucky Engadget reader with a 32-inch 720p HDTV, Xbox 360 (and some MadCatz peripherals), and a year supply of the scented stuff, so hit up the rules and best of luck cleaning up your act.

• Leave a comment below. You know the drill!
  
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
  
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Winner will be chosen randomly. That winner will get a Dynex 32-inch LCD HDTV ($600), Xbox 360 ($350), Mad Catz Xbox Racing Wheel ($100), Mad Catz Xbox Arcade Stick ($50), and a one year supply Old Spice products ($180), total value of $1,280.
  
• Entries can be submitted until Sunday, February 24th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Ok everybody, here goes round thirteen. This time we've got a Slingbox Pro + HD Connect Cable. Ready? Here's the deal.

Some big ticket gadgets we'll leave open through the weekend, but the rest we'll put and you can only enter it until the next gadget lands (usually within a couple of hours). If you miss your shot, sorry, we're moving on to the next gadget. Good luck!

Oh, and don't forget the rules. (Yeah, there are always rules.)

• Leave a comment below. That's it! Who loves you, baby.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) You can enter different giveaways in today's Black Friday giveaways, but you can only enter this one once.
  
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers or US contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Winners will be chosen randomly.
• Entries can be submitted until Sunday, November 25th, 11:59PM EDT. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

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!

Here we go -- you ready to take home an Insignia NS-LCD37 37-inch LCD HDTV (courtesy of Best Buy) as a grand prize in our hundred gadget giveaway? Follow the rules below, and hope for the best.

The rules (yeah, there are always rules):

• Leave a comment below. You know the drill.
  
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) In other words, be careful when commenting and if you submit more than once, only activate one comment, ok?
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory.
  
• Contest is open to anyone worldwide!
• Winner will be chosen randomly.
• Entries can be submitted until Sunday, September 16th, 11:59PM EDT. After that we're all done. Good luck!

As if moving over 100,000 units wasn't enough, those involved with the making of The Departed have yet another reason to celebrate -- right alongside the equally successful crew involved with 007: Casino Royale, of course. At the first Entertainment Merchants Association's Home Entertainment Awards to hand out honors for high-definition titles, Scorsese's latest gem managed to take home the awards for HD DVD Title of the Year as well as DVD Rental Title of the Year, while the latest in the Bond series took home Blu-ray Title of the Year. Unfortunately, these two films (Casablanca notwithstanding, which nabbed the Hall of Fame Award) were the only notable winners residing on an HD format, but we'll be interested to see how all that changes on the next go 'round.

[Via HighDefDigest]

We don't get out much, so Discovery HD Theater's Sunrise Earth is one of the best ways to connect with the outside world. The show makes it easy to wake up at 7 a.m. and catch a sunrise over a stunning vista instead of an annoying clouded-over glare reflected on an LCD monitor. This year, they've decided to let viewers submit suggestions on what locations to shoot. If you think the world must see sun come up in 1080i over one particular spot that only you know about, check out MyPerfectSunriseEarth.com for info on how to submit it, for a list that will be whittled to 20 locations. Those 20 will be narrowed down to five by a viewer vote, and someone will win a trip to one of them to shoot their own sunrise alongside the show's producer.

[Via PR Web]

We know we're a little late getting this one out the door, but believe it or not we still have two more HDTVs to give away before we get bum rushed by the holiday season. First, let's do up the overdue winner sof the last Samsung HL-S5679W and Philips 42PF9631D plasma: Aaron B and J Hofman, you guys are taking those things home! So the (last) HDTV we're giving away today is a Samsung HL-S5679W DLP, a hugemongous display sure to make that living room or den glow in the warmth of a massive LED backlit screen. For the record, here are the specs on today's prize:

• 56-inch LED backlit 1080p display
• DNIe video enhancer and Cinema Smooth light engine
• 4,000:1 contrast ratio
• Built-in NTSC / ATSC tuners with PIP
• 2 HDMI, 2 component, 3 composite, and 2 S-Video inputs
• We're also throwing in a 6-foot HDMI cable from eHDMI

To be entered to win this sick piece of screen, just leave us a comment telling us which next-gen console(s) you plan on using it with. Seriously, that's all you have to do to get a chance to win a 56-inch Samsung HDTV. You'll have until next Monday (the 27th), then we'll pick the winner at random, assuming s/he follows the rules:

• You may enter other Engadget contests, however...
• You may only enter this contest once; if you enter more than once on this particular contest post you'll be automatically disqualified and barred from all future giveaways. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) You may enter future Engadget relaunch giveaway contests though!
  
• You can only win once. (If you win and then try to go for a second prize during our relaunch giveaways, you'll be automatically disqualified, etc.)
• This contest is open to the US only, sorry!
• You will be shipped your HDTV in a few weeks when all our contests are over. Thanks for your patience!
Ok everybody, good luck!

What, you didn't think the only thing we cared about on Engadget HD is HDTVs, right? In addition to the Philips 42PF9631D 42-inch plasma we're currently giving away, we thought we'd hook someone up with a NeoDigits Helios X3000 networked upscaling DVD player. This thing does it all: up to 1080p playing back DviX (HD), XviD (HD), WMV, VC-1 (WMV-HD), MPEG-1/2/4, and all your favorite audio formats over your wired or 802.11g wireless network. We're also throwing in a PowerSquid black Surge3000 for the winner to make sure you've got enough juice and plugs for your console, HDTV, etc., courtesy of our pals at Flexity. You'll have until Thursday the 20th to enter; we'll pick somebody at random who tells us in the comments which their preferred method of media streaming is currently. Of course, they too will have to follow the other rules:

• You may enter other Engadget contests, however...
• You may only enter this contest once; if you enter more than once on this particular contest post you'll be automatically disqualified and barred from all future giveaways. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) You may enter future Engadget relaunch giveaway contests though!
  
• You can only win once. (If you win and then try to go for a second prize during our relaunch giveaways, you'll be automatically disqualified, etc.)
• Contest is open to everybody worldwide! (This is a US unit, however.)
• You will be shipped your Helios when all the contests are up, so sit tight!

Good luck, and be sure you've entered our other contests, as well!

• The final Nikon S7c digital camera!
• Fourth shot at a Zune
• Win a VidaBox SLIM for the best Halloween costume!
• Seriously, you can win a Philips 42PF9631D 42-inch plasma
• Win yourself a Slingbox PRO
• Xbox 360 Premium Pack here!

It's finally time to find out who won that Philips 42-inch plasma from last time on Engadget HD -- so without further delay, will Mike M please stand up! (Actually, we've already emailed Mike, so if you're a Mike M and haven't heard from us, well, good luck this week!) So today's HDTV we're giving away is a Samsung HL-S5679W DLP, a hugemongous display sure to make that living room or den glow in the warmth of a massive LED backlit screen. For the record, here are the specs on today's prize:

• 56-inch LED backlit 1080p display
• DNIe video enhancer and Cinema Smooth light engine
• 4,000:1 contrast ratio
• Built-in NTSC / ATSC tuners with PIP
• 2 HDMI, 2 component, 3 composite, and 2 S-Video inputs
• We're also throwing in a 6-foot HDMI cable from eHDMI

The winner of this fine television will be chosen randomly; just leave us a comment below telling us your current (or preferred) method of HD delivery -- be it ATSC or satellite or otherwise -- and you'll be entered in the running. Please make sure to get your entries in by Tuesday the 10th (of this month). Oh, and do be sure to mind the other rules:

• You may enter other Engadget contests, however...
• You may only enter this contest once; if you enter more than once on this particular contest post you'll be automatically disqualified and barred from all future giveaways. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) You may enter future Engadget relaunch giveaway contests though!
  
• You can only win once. (If you win and then try to go for a second prize during our relaunch giveaways, you'll be automatically disqualified, etc.)
• This contest is open to the US only, sorry!
• You will be shipped your HDTV in a few weeks when all our contests are over. Thanks for your patience!

Good luck, and be sure you've entered our other contests, as well!

• Hows about an Xbox 360 Premium pack?
• We've got the new Slingbox Tuner!
• Second shot at a Nikon S7c WiFi cam!
• Got a third chance on a Zune!

P.S. -Are you as totally stoked about Lost tonight as we are? Our guess: probably.

If the high price of the new Series3 TiVo has you down and you're not lucky enough to win a HDTV in our contest, you might just want to head over and register to win a Series3 from American Airlines. If you don't win the Series3 you might be able to pick up some of the other prizes including a Pioneer 50-inch HD television or an 80-hour TiVo with lifetime subscription or even a Zune Zen.

[Via PVRwire.com]

No better way to announce Engadget HD than to give away some HDTVs! We've got a number of HDTVs ready to give away, but we're giving Philips the first shot. They've hooked us up with a couple of 42PF9631D 42-inch plasmas -- one of which we're giving away right now! Indulge yourself in some specs:

• 42-inch 1024 x 768p display with Pixel Plus 3 picture enhancement
• 1500cd/m2 brightness
• 10,000:1 contrast ratio
• 160° viewing angle (vertical and horizontal)
• Ambilight technology
• 480i 480p 720p and 1080i support
• ATSC, NTSC, and QAM tuning
• (2) HDMI, (3) composite, (2) component, (3) S-Video, and USB inputs
• We're also throwing in a 6-foot HDMI cable from eHDMI.com

To be entered to win this fine piece of gear, just leave us a comment with your favorite high definition television show or Blu-ray or HD DVD title that's currently on the market. Seriously, that's all you have to do to get a chance to win a 42-inch Philips plasma HDTV. You'll have until next Wednesday (the 27th), then we'll pick the winner at random, assuming s/he follows the rules:

• You may enter other Engadget contests, however...
• You may only enter this once; if you enter more than once on this particular contest post you'll be automatically disqualified and barred from all future giveaways. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) You may enter future Engadget relaunch giveaway contests if you don't win this one!
  
• You can only win once. (If you win and go for a second prize for our relaunch giveaways, you'll be automatically disqualified, etc.)
• Contest is open to US only. Sorry, everybody, we promise we'll do some international gear soon!
• You will be shipped your HDTV in a few weeks when all our contests are over. Thanks for your patience!

Ok everybody, good luck! Oh, by the way, check out our other contests going on right now!

• Be the first to win a Zune!
• We got two Slingboxes for ya, too!