To read our complete reviews of these products, click on the product name.

Exclusive, Yet Inclusive
Arcam's Solo 5.1 Movie DVD player/receiver has all the cachet of the brand's other high-end gear, yet it also has a mass appeal few elite audio products can attain. Its slim package swathes a DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-Audio player, a 5.1-channel surround-sound processor, five 50-watt amplifiers, a video scaler with 720p or 1080i HDMI output, and an AM/FM tuner—all under the command of a single, stylish remote. Just add speakers and a TV.

Half-Moon Rising
With the Meridian-Ferrari F80, Meridian became the first company to produce a high-end tabletop entertainment system. Given that Bose's sales alone in this category total more than a billion dollars, it's surprising that no one thought of it before. Given the F80's truly unbelievable performance, it's possible that no one will dare attempt it hence. The F80 combines a DVD/CD player, an AM/FM tuner, an optional iPod dock, and three digitally amplified speakers in a stylish semicircular chassis.

1080p For Pennies
Even video veterans are amazed at how quickly the price of 1080p video monitors has dropped only two years after their introduction. The Mitsubishi HC5000 projector has been at the vanguard of this trend, delivering crisp high-definition images for $4,495 at a time when most 1080p competitors cost at least double that. Reviewer David Birch-Jones says it's no "cheapie," though, thanks to "motorized optics and one of the top 'super deinterlacer' chips, the Silicon Optix Realta HQV."

Comeback of the CD
With the SACD and DVD-Audio music formats near death, high-end manufacturers are returning their attention to the humble CD player. But the Nagra CDC is anything but humble. This unique player is styled like the storied Nagra tape recorders used for film-sound recording; the large rotary switch that controls the tape recorder's mechanism now commands the CD transport. Reviewer Steve Guttenberg calls it, "the best CD player I have ever had the pleasure of listening to at home."

500 Rooms? No Problem
Until NetStreams came along, all multiroom audio systems had a firm limit on the number of rooms they could handle. NetStreams' IP-based digital technology creates, in essence, a miniature entertainment Internet for your home, so if your home grows, your installer can just keep adding on. Early versions of this system were rather limited, but new interface components and the addition of video capability have made NetStreams the world's most advanced multiroom entertainment system.

Game On
In 2007, the most versatile, useful audio/video source device you can buy is a video game system: Sony PlayStation 3. Some of our equipment reviewers use it as the primary source device in their home theaters, and we know high-end custom installers who put it into their finest theaters. There's still no significantly better Blu-ray player out there, and Sony is adding more online music and movie entertainment options. We've heard it plays games, too.

Yellow, But Not Mellow
It's rare that a speaker can deliver the delicacy that our resident audio fussbudget Steve Guttenberg craves, while providing the high-volume, distortion-free output that editor Brent Butterworth demands. The Sunfire XT series speakers can, thanks in part to their unusual yellow folded ribbon tweeters. And they're compact enough to slip inconspicuously into practically any domestic environment. Add Sunfire's True Subwoofer Junior and you have a high-powered system that could fit into the trunk of a Mazda Miata.

Doubling Down
Flat-panel LCD TVs are taking over American homes, but they still suffer a reputation for image lag and smearing. The Toshiba 46LX177 46-inch LCD is one of the first to combat this problem using a 120-hertz refresh rate instead of the usual 60-hertz rate. This feature, combined with Toshiba's Film Stabilization mode and the most accurate and consistent gray-scale performance we have ever measured, prompts David Birch-Jones to give this set his "most enthusiastic recommendation."

Powerhouse Projector
With its 1.2-kilowatt xenon lamp—four to five times the illumination power of a standard projector bulb—the Vidikron Vision Model 150 projector can light up any imaginable home screen, even one that stretches 30 feet across. Vidikron custom-configures the projector as your installer chooses; we strongly recommend you go for the CineWide with AutoScope option, which lets you use a screen with the ultra-wide 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the same as that used for most blockbuster movies.

The Future of Video?
Normally, the Vudu Internet-based video-on-demand box wouldn't qualify for this year's awards because it didn't appear in a 2007 issue. But the review that appears in this issue also appeared on our website back in October, only a day after reviewer Dennis Burger finished the text, because Vudu's magic got us so excited. With 5,000 movies available immediately at a touch, Vudu is vastly faster and more convenient than rental, NetFlix, and other video-on-demand services.