Philips has announced its expanded home theater lineup for 2009, with the HTS8160B Soundbar. The compact home theater setup includes a Blu-ray disc player with DVD and CD playback support, built-in speakers and a separate subwoofer.

The soundbar also supports Dolby True HD audio format and 7.1 channel surround sound. You’ll also get an iPod/iPhone dock and a touchscreen remote control. It will cost you around $1,500 and is currently available in Singapore. We don’t know if or when it will hit North America.

I have seen soundbars for home theater sets ups that provide good sound and a clean install look. They place speakers inside a long, slender box that is designed to sit under the TV in your living room rather than boxy speakers that are designed to stand beside the TV.

iLuv has introduced a new 2.1 speaker set for PC that looks like a soundbar. The long and slender device has a pair of speakers inside with a subwoofer. The system uses SRS-XT technology to simulate surround sound for movies and games.