Yamaha earlier this week rolled out a new DVD player to go along with the top-of-the-line A/V receiver recently unveiled. The DVD-S1800 is expected this month for around $450.

The Yamaha DVD-S1800 offers among its high end features 1080p HDMI output as well as DVD-Audio and SACD support. There’s also upconverting to 1080p, 216MHz/12-bit video DAC, 5.1 channel output and integrated bass management.

Here’s what looks to be a hearty new media server which can serve up HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc in multiple rooms. The MediaMax HD, constructed by Axonix, runs between $3,500 and $6,000 depending upon configuration.

The MediaMax HD offers the ability to have playback of media stored on its MediaServer component including: HD and SD DVD movies, CD, MP3 and WAV music, photos and downloaded movies and music. This media can be played across a network simultaneously in any room. Axonix says its media server is the first to play via cover art or metadata both next generation optical disc formats.

Boston Acoustics is targeting those who want simplicity in their television entertainment area with the unveiling of the Tvee Model Two. This new two piece speaker system is priced at around $400 and should be available in September.

The Boston Acoustics TVee Model Two consists of a slim soundbar placed above or below the television and a matching wireless woofer which can be placed anywhere in the room. The soundbar features four 2.5-inch mid bass drivers and two .5-inch dome tweeters, while the woofer offers a six-inch down firing bass driver. Total system output is put at over 100 watts.

TG Daily found this newer version of the Slingbox Pro from Sling Media getting its approval on the FCC web site. The new device which could end up being the “Slingbox HD” shows a new look (hopefully this isn’t final or there will be some options) and most significantly has built-in component video inputs which rids us of the need for the HD dongle needed with the current Pro model.

In a recent Revision3 interview with Sling Media’s CEO, the Slingbox HD name came out after a little prying along with a release date of January, (not specific on the year). Obviously we’re still a little bit early for complete specs and pricing but if Sling Media wants to get this out the door by the beginning of next year we should expect to hear more …

Onkyo announced yesterday plans to shortly launch its first HD DVD player. The new DV-HD805 is priced at around $900 and should debut this fall.

The Onkyo DV-HD805, said its manufacturer, is one of the first HD DVD players to take advantage of high-bit-rate audio streaming via HDMI version 1.3a. This latest HDMI version also offers technology to reportedly improve color tones and achieve finer color gradation. You’ll also get support for lossless surround sound formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

Polk Audio today said it was adding a 51-inch model today to its SurroundBar family of single surround sound speakers. The SurroundBar50 will be priced at around $1100 and should be available in October.

The Polk Audio SurroundBar50 is designed to match the width of 50-inch plasmas and LCD TVs. It is a slim, front-mounted speaker which lets one enjoy surround sound without the need for additional speakers. This speaker uses special image enhancing technology to enhance and produce a large stereo soundfield from a two-channel source. It also offers new drivers, a crossover design and larger enclosure for better bass.

Yamaha is getting ready to drop in the laps of audiophiles just in time for Christmas a hard core A/V receiver with THX Ultra2 Plus certification. The Yamaha RX-Z11 will cost you though, at around $5,500.

The Yamaha RX-Z11 is designed for the HD era, says Yamaha, and it definitely shows with the huge bounty of features on this 11.2-channel monster. It uses something called Cinema DSP HD3 processing to create what Yamaha feels is “3-D surround sound height realism.” There’s also support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, 30/36bit Deep Color, xvYCC, 120 and 24Hz refresh rates and Auto Lip-sync.

Oppo Digital came out this week with a new universal DVD player with 7.1 channel audio and 1080p up-conversion. The Oppo DV-980H is available now for around $170.

The Oppo DV-980H is, according to Oppo, the “world’s first to offer 7.1-channel audio output and 1080p video up-conversion in a DVD player.” The player offers support for Dolby Digital Surround EX decoding and HDMI 1.2a output. Like many other DVD players on today’s market the DV-980H provides multiple HD output formats, including 1080p/1080i/720p/480p/480i. It is compatible with DVD-Audio/Video, SACD, DivX, WMV9, WMA, Kodak Picture CD and a variety of other formats.

Trends Audio, a consumer electronics brand out of Hong Kong, announced plans to begin selling a USB device which will act as a bridge between a computer and a home entertainment system. The new Trends UD-10.1 USB Audio Converter is priced at around $120.

The Trends UD-10.1 USB Audio Converter can link a Windows or Mac machine with coaxial, optical and standard AES/EBU(110 Ohm via XLR) and S/PDIF (75 Ohm via RCA or BNC). This permits a computer, said Trends Audio, to act as a high-end digital-playback device for passing digitally encoded signals into a receiver or signal pre-processor/pre-amplifier for high-end audiophile applications.

HDMI-enabled devices are one of the hot things in consumer electronics devices right now. You probably have more HDMI devices than HDMI ports on the back of your television though. Iogear thinks it may have the answer to your clutter of HDMI cables with its 4-Port Automatic HDMI Switch.

The Iogear 4-Port Automatic HDMI Switch supports connecting up to four HDMI devices to a single HDMI port on your television or other end device. You can connect devices like Apple TV, DVD players, video game consoles and media servers. This HDMI switch is is High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) compliant and supports 1080p resolution. LEDs on the front panel display the HDMI device that is currently in use.

These little round Podz speakers allow you to extend your home stereo or MP3 listening range to parts of your house or yard that may be difficult to reach with wired speakers. The Podz are wireless speakers with internal, rechargeable batteries that can pick receive a signal up to 150 feet away.

The system comes with a base station, two speakers and two Mini base chargers. Connect the base station to your home stereo, your iPod or any other MP3 player through the headphone jack and it will transmit the sound to the speakers through walls and floors to the remote Podz speakers. The 3″ drivers in the speakers will create a good sound for over two hours off of one charge and can grace your home with their presence for $150.

Consumer electronics company Helios announced today a low cost DVD player which upscales both regular DVDs and also video files in a variety of formats. The new Helios H2000 is set to appear in August for $99.

The Helios H2000 upscales to 1080i resolution DVDs as well as MPEG-4, XviD, DivX and MPEG-2 via component, HDMI and VGA connectivity. The player can also output an unprocessed 480i/576i video signal and allow a TV or external video scaler to do the upscaling. It even includes support for the VobSub subtitle format in case you like to download and play foreign films.

Here’s an iPod dock that took the design path a little less traveled and it appears the results have turned out nicely. The Shanling MC-30 iPod Music Center combines a CD player, AM/FM tuner, iPod dock and a tube power amp into a compact and sharp looking brushed aluminum frame.

The music center runs by an included remote control but also has volume and input selector knobs concealed in the top of the front leg columns. A blue LED light shows off the disc player and an LCD panel on the front displays current settings. The stereo includes quality components from the likes of Philips and Burr-Brown to put out 3 watts per channel from a tube power amplifier.

If you’re looking for a home stereo that centers on your iPod you’ll probably be the only one on the block with one of these, but …

InFocus has long been known as a high end name in the projection market. While focused mainly on business, it has also unveiled over time some consumer products. The newest announced today looks to be the most interesting yet.

The InFocus Play Big IN82 is what InFocus is billing as the its first 1080p DLP home theater projector. It’s the highest performing, single-chip projector of its type in the company’s history, according to InFocus. There’s plenty of great home theatre technology here to keep video projection movie hounds happy, including Texas Instruments DarkChip 3 technology and a contrast ratio which can be adjusted as desired from 4000:1 to 12000:1. Nice!

Denon’s launched a new surround sound speaker system that they say will produce great quality surround sound without having to run speaker wire through your walls or resort to so-so quality wireless systems.

The Denon DHT-FS3 X-SPACE Surround Bar is a single bar that puts out 150 watts using six speaker drivers and seven digital amplifiers along with a matching shiny black subwoofer to put out the additional base that the bar alone doesn’t. TechDigest is also reporting that Denon will be launching another piece in September to bring WiFi audio streaming to the speaker system, but until then you can get the X-SPACE surround bar for a little over $1400.

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