The Best Digital SLR Cameras

Its the picture that remains as the DSLr compete for the showdown. 

1) Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi Digital SLR Camera
The 12.2-megapixel EOS Digital Rebel XSi boasts great image quality and a strong set of features. In our PC World Test Center evaluations, the XSi produced evenly exposed shots, with excellent sharpness. Various preset and manual controls are chief among the strengths of the XSi, which costs about $899 with kit lens. Though navigating through the camera's deep menu options can be daunting, its useful My Menu tool can help you organize the settings you use frequently into a single shortcut screen. Another boon to folks who are accustomed to compact cameras is the A-Dep feature, which optimizes images of small groups of people by adjusting the depth of field so that all of the image's subjects are in focus.

2) Sony Alpha DSLR-A300 Digital SLR Camera
The Sony Alpha DSLR-A300K is one of the first sub-$1,000 digital SLRs we've evaluated to have Live View mode. Live View lets you compose an image within the camera's LCD just as you would with a compact point-and-shoot camera. Live View has been making its way into digital SLRs steadily over the past year. Live View mode in the Sony Alpha works particularly smoothly compared with competing implementations of the feature. The Sony Alpha A300k uses two imaging sensors, one to preview the image on the LCD in real time and another to capture the image. Sony's uncommon approach to Live View results in a speedy, highly responsive mechanism. In our PC World Test Center tests, the Sony Alpha earned a score of Superior for its overall image quality, including its excellent flash exposures. This camera, which costs about $700 with a kit lens, has a tilting LCD screen that lets you take pictures at unusual angles without having to perform any gymnastic feats. In general, the A300K is an uncomplicated and fun-to-use digital SLR.

3) Olympus Evolt E-510 Digital SLR Camera
Unlike some digital SLRs in its class, the Olympus Evolt E-510 has a great many features built in. For example, in addition to offering exposure bracketing -- the ability to take multiple versions of a picture at different settings, thereby increasing your chances of capturing a properly exposed image under difficult lighting conditions -- this model can bracket shots for flash and white balance. You also get two levels of image stabilization to minimize camera shake, a depth-of-field preview button, multiple metering modes (including a spot meter), and a dust-removal feature that vibrates the sensor when you turn the camera on. At lower ISO ranges, the Evolt E-510's images show very little noise; as you reach and exceed ISO 800, color noise begins to appear, though it's no worse than on other cameras in the price range of this $600 model.

4) Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
If you want to step up from an entry-level digital SLR, you have to get something that has at least a little extra oomph. The Canon EOS 40D delivers outstanding image quality at a price ($1,300 body only, or $1,500 with a 28mm to 135mm lens, as of November 2, 2007) that's within the reach of photo enthusiasts and professionals alike.

The EOS 40D received a score of Superior for image quality in our PC World Test Center tests. Images were well balanced, with good color saturation and accuracy under both flash and natural light.

One of the EOS 40D's advantages is that it has enough high-powered features to appeal to enthusiasts as well as to professionals seeking a second camera. It has many of the same capabilities, in fact, as its higher-end cousin, the $4,500 Canon 1D Mark III, which the company introduced in the spring. The two models share a 3-inch, live-view, 230,000-pixel LCD; Canon's Digic III image processor; highlight tone priority for preserving the details in bright areas of an image; and similar menus and controls.

On the whole, this is a powerful, scalable, 10.1-megapixel camera. If you're moving up from a Rebel-series digital SLR, you'll appreciate this model's versatility, which will help the camera grow along with you. And if you're a more advanced shooter or a pro looking for something smaller and less costly than Canon's top-tier cameras (the 1D and 5D series), the EOS 40D is perfect for you.

5) Olympus E3 Digital SLR Camera
The Olympus E3 is a big, heavy, 10.1-megapixel digital SLR with extensive advanced controls. The E3's flexibility starts with its bright, 2.5-inch color LCD, which swings away from the camera body and swivels. The E3 also has highly customizable controls. Dual selector dials -- one on the back, one on the front -- are now commonplace on digital SLRs. But you can reassign the E3's dials in a number of useful ways. You can, for example, set one of the dials to adjust the f-stop and the other to change the shutter speed.

You have to be serious about your photography, though -- and have plenty of arm strength, too -- because the bulky E3 body alone costs about $1,700 and weighs just under 2 pounds. Adding the lenses adds to both the cost of the base camera ($1,700 or so) and the heft: The 12mm-to-60mm (24mm-to-120mm, 35mm equivalent) zoom I received with the E3 costs around $900, and the body and lens together tip the scales at an arm-fatiguing 3.25 pounds.

Overall, the E3 feels comfortable to hold, and its magnesium body looks and feels durable -- and ready for extensive time in the field. Operating the controls is quick and efficient. And unlike with many cameras, I could read the color LCD even while wearing dark sunglasses.

Gear of the Year

Forget boring tech: Here are some of the most innovative, interesting products we’ve seen (or are waiting to see) this year.

HP Mini 1000 (Vivienne Tam Edition)

In this year of the netbook, few will be as stylish as the Vivienne Tam–designed HP Mini 1000, with designer handbag looks — and a price tag to match ($700). Basic black versions running XP Home or HP’s own Mobile Internet (Mi) interface built on top of Ubuntu Linux start at $360. All three 2.5-pound base models feature surprisingly spacious keyboards, 9-inch screens and up to 16GB of solid-state storage or 60GB hard drives. One option lets you access high-speed 3G wireless networks.

Available: Now

Price: $360+

Palm Pre

The Palm Pre smartphone — which will mark the long-awaited debut of the new Palm operating system called webOS — emerged as one of the most talked-about items unveiled at January's 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Slick looking, with an ergonomic curved body, a slide-out vertical QWERTY keyboard, and a multitouch screen, the Pre (which will roll out first on Sprint's EvDO network) could pose a major threat to both the iPhone and T-Mobile's G1 (which is based on Google's Android OS). Palm's webOS can handle full multitasking — something that the iPhone can't do — and the Pre can save pages for offline viewing on the Webkit-based browser, another feature that competing smartphones lack.

Available: By midyear

Price: To be determined

Sony VAIO P Series

Even more petite — yet more powerful — than HP's offerings, the Sony VAIO P not-quite-a-netbook defies simple definition. The whole thing measures 11 by 7.9 by 0.9 inches — think an overstuffed business envelope — and weighs a mere 1.5 pounds. But inside there's an Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 60GB hard disk drive. Even its tiny 8.9-inch screen (with a native resolution of 1600 by 768 pixels) is surprisingly crisp for Web browsing. But the $900-plus price tag might discourage some window shoppers.

Available: February

Price: Starts at $900

HTC s743

Is even a netbook too hefty for your high-flying lifestyle? Try this Windows Mobile smartphone on for size. The HTC s743 packs more features into its slim 4.6-by-1.7-inch frame than most full-size notebooks offer. In fact, you get two of nearly everything. Two keyboards, for instance: a 12-key pad for making calls and a slide-out QWERTY unit for two-handed texting. And two cameras: a 3.2-megapixel CCD for still images plus one with VGA resolution for video calls. Also, the s743's Wi-Fi and 3G antennas give you two ways to connect.

Available: First quarter

Price: $500-$600 (unsubsidized)

D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685

Is it a Wi-Fi router, a network-attached storage device or a digital photo frame? It's all three at once, and a lot more. D-Link throws everything but the kitchen sink into its next-generation DIR-685 802.11n router. Plug a 2.5-inch drive into the DIR-685's open slot, and it's a NAS device that lets you access files from anywhere on your home network or on the Internet, thanks to D-Link's FTP server software. Plug a printer or a hard drive into one of its USB ports, and you can share that device across your home network. The 3.2-inch LCD doubles as a status gauge and as a digital photo frame that supports FrameChannel, so you can display RSS feeds, weather or news headlines, or online photos from services like Flickr and Picasa.

Available: First quarter

Price: To be determined

Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio

Move over Sonos. Linksys by Cisco enters the Wi-Fi hi-fi business with its Wireless Home Audio system, which lets you distribute high-quality music in two rooms for less than $1,000. It uses your existing 802.11n network to transfer the music, whether you’re using the Conductor (second from left, a stand-alone player with a CD slot and built-in speakers), the Director (third from left, a 50-watt amp that connects your speakers), or the Player (far left, streams digital music to an existing stereo). The Controller (far right) lets you pick which music you want to hear in what room.

Available: First quarter

Price: $1,000 (for a kit with Director, Controller and two IR remotes)

Novatel Wireless MiFi

Why hunt for a hotspot when you can carry one in your pocket? Novatel's slender, cigarette-case-size MiFi lets you build a portable Wi-Fi network around a high-speed 3G cellular connection. You can share a single mobile broadband account among multiple users and/or devices, whether you're at home, in a hotel room or in some dark region of the world where even a Starbucks hotspot can't be found. (You will, however, have to supply your own lattes.) Available for EvDO Rev A and HSPA (GSM) networks from selected wireless carriers, as yet unannounced.

Available: By midyear

SanDisk Sansa SlotRadio

You can pay 99 cents a track for music -- or you can get the player and 1,000 songs for $100 with Sandisk's 1.5-inch-square Sansa SlotRadio. The catch? Someone else picks the songs, not you. But with artists like Keith Urban, The Killers and U2 on the bill, there is sure to be something for everyone.

The SlotRadio takes fingernail-size, high-capacity memory cards; the base model ships with a card that contains 1,000 songs handpicked from Billboard charts in six genres (alternative, country, urban), or grouped by theme (“chillout” or “workout”). Additional 1,000-song slot cards will be available later this year for $40 apiece.

The device’s touch-screen and side buttons enable you to jump between genres and skip songs you don’t like; or you can tune in the built-in FM radio.

Available: Early this year.

Price: $100

Ipevo Kaleido R7

More than just another pretty picture holder, Ipevo's Wi-Fi–enabled 7-inch digital frame displays Flickr photo streams, blogs and other Web sites via a built-in RSS feed reader. Install Ipevo's EyeStage software on your iPhone or your Windows smartphone, and you can snap pix with your cell and beam them directly to the frame. Buttons on the bottom let you choose the source of photos and launch them in your PC's browser. Flip the screen 90 degrees to view images in landscape or portrait mode. Use a USB cable to add pictures to its 512MB of internal memory or plug in the usual variety of memory cards. Or just place it on the shelf with the power switched off; it looks good all by itself.

Available: March

Price: $199

Location-Based Technologies PocketFinder

Locate your luggage, your pets and/or people anywhere on the planet with these cookie-size GPS devices. Just hook one to your cat's collar, a suitcase or your child's keychain; then log on to the Web or dial a number to find out where they are, within 30 feet of their location. The PocketFinder can tell you how fast your leadfoot teenagers are driving and send you a text message when they enter or leave predesignated areas (like the school library or the mall). Batteries run for seven days on a single charge, and you get a text message when the juice is running low.

Available: March

Price: $129, plus $13 a month for locator service

Microvision Show WX

Tired of squinting at videos on a tiny handset? Connect your phone or laptop to Microvision's pocket-size projector to display photos, movies and more on the wall — at image widths of six to 100 inches. Roughly 4.5 inches by 2 inches and just 0.5 inch thick, the Show WX is a fraction of the size of most business projectors, yet it can project DVD-quality images in wide-screen format. Road warriors can take their dog-and-pony shows anywhere — without feeling like a pack mule. Still just a prototype, but expected to go into production this spring.

Available: Second half of the year

Price: $300 to $500

Silicon Mountain Allio High-Definition LCD TV

It's like having a big-box store in a single box. The Silicon Mountain Allio combines a big-screen HDTV with a Blu-ray/DVD player, an integrated DVR and a Vista PC. The flagship 42-inch model features an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor, 4GB of memory, a terabyte of storage, a wireless keyboard and 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium for around $2,800. A 32-inch LCD set with less hefty specs starts at $1,699. Picture-in-picture and split-screen features allow you to integrate Internet content with broadcasts and disc-based entertainment, so you can watch NFL games while scanning stats at NFL.com, or keep up with a game while you watch a Blu-ray disc.

Available: First quarter

Price: $1,699 to $2,799

Samsung 8000 Series LCD TV

How green is your TV? Because they use low-power LEDs for backlighting instead of fluorescent lamps, models in this line of Samsung HDTVs use 40 percent less energy than equivalent LCD sets. LEDs also offer greater contrast ratio, deeper blacks and crisper colors. The 8000 series adds a 240-MHz refresh rate — four times the rate of standard LCDs — for blur-free fast-motion scenes. An Ethernet port lets you hook the set to your home network and access content from Yahoo, YouTube or Flickr (selected via widgets at the bottom of the screen). And did we mention that it's barely more than an inch thick?

Available: First half of the year

Price: To be determined

IOGear Wireless USB Audio/Video Kit

Looking for an easy way to watch YouTube on the boob tube? Iogear's Wireless USB Audio/Video Kit lets you transmit the wealth of media content stored on your PC's hard drive — or pulled from the Net — to any display located up to 30 feet away. Connect the Wireless USB Host to your PC, and the audio and VGA adapters to your display; it will transmit stereo sound and video of up to 720p in resolution. Now you can listen to Pandora and watch Hulu without having to strap your laptop to the idiot box.

Available: March

Price: $350

Gefen Wireless for HDMI Extender

For years vendors have been promising (but not delivering) wireless high-definition streaming. Now Gefen has finally cut the cord. Its HDMI Extender uses ultrawide-band (UWB) technology to beam 1080p HD video and 7.1 surround sound audio from any HDMI device to high-def displays up to 30 feet away — without interference from Wi-Fi, cordless phones or other wireless signals. No need to run cables behind the walls or to squeeze your DVR, Blu-ray player, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 into an overcrowded component console. And if you want to move your player or screen, you won't have to tear it all out and start from scratch.

Available: Now

Price: $999

Olympus Stylus Tough-8000

This rugged 12-megapixel camera takes a licking and keeps on clicking. Go ahead: Knock it off the table, or sit on it. The T-8000 can withstand six-foot drops and 220 pounds of pressure. Accidentally drop it in the drink? No sweat. The T-8000's interior rubber gaskets seal out sea water down to 33 feet, while its water-repellent coating keeps droplets from forming on the lens. Take it snowboarding — the T-8000 operates at temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Even if your hands are shaking from the cold, your photos won't show it, thanks to the camera's dual image stabilization.

Available: February

Price: $400

Acoustic Research ARW51

Despite the hype about surround-sound home theater, most people never connect all five (or more) speakers because they don't want to run wires all over the room. Acoustic Research's modular wireless speaker conversion system fixes that (and unlike most competitors, does so for all speakers and subwoofer, not just the rear ones). Connect the ARW51's transmitter to your A/V receiver and wireless receivers to each speaker and subwoofer, and then place them wherever you want; a 60-watt digital amp in each receiver gives plenty of audio oomph. The transmitter's circuitry avoids interference from other devices.

Available: First quarter

Price: $599

Psyko 5.1 Gaming Headset

In online games, sometimes the only difference between nailing a perfect kill shot and being a stain on the pavement is a few milliseconds of latency. Psyko Audio Labs claims that its gaming headset delivers "instant positional awareness," so you can hear your opponent's movements moments before he or she hears yours. The secret? The company's proprietary psychoacoustic technology simulates 5.1 surround sound without the use of digital signal processors, reducing delays to almost nothing and permitting real-time game play. So go ahead, kill or be killed — it's up to you.

Available: First quarter

Price: $299

Innergie mCube90G

Tired of schlepping separate AC adapters for each cell phone, media player, camera, laptop and every other portable gizmo you own? So are we. That's the reason we're so excited about the Innergie mCube90g, which promises to be the first one-plug-fits-all solution for gadgets. The mCube converts electricity from wall outlets (65 to 240 volts) to the DC power your device requires. It even adapts to DC power sources such as those in cars and commercial airliners. The caveat? Devices must support the Greentalk protocol; at launch, qualifying products will include some HP TouchSmart PCs, NEC laptops, Panasonic cordless phones, Ricoh cameras, Canon printers, iPods and iPhones. Could be more, but a good start.

Available: Second quarter

Price: Under $100

Pioneer AVIC-F500BT

It's not the destination; it's how you get there that counts. Pioneer's first dash-mounted navigation and entertainment system gets you there in style — without your having to rip out your factory-installed stereo. Just connect it to your car radio's auxiliary port; the F500BT gives you voice control over your cell phone and an Apple iPod via Bluetooth connections. A 5.8-inch touch-panel display offers big, easy-to-read maps, along with turn-by-turn directions and all of the other things you expect from a world-class GPS device.

Available: Now

Price: $600

Telenav Shotgun

This two-way GPS device with built-in SIM card for its connected GSM service is for strangers in strange lands — or at least business travelers in unfamiliar cities. A browser plug-in lets you grab addresses off the Web and send them to the device. The Telenav Connected Service also displays the cheapest local gas prices and reviews of local restaurants and hotels, and lets you rate the businesses yourself.

Available: Now

Price: $299 plus $10-$12 a month for the Telenav Connected Service

7 Home Theaters for a Wide Range of Budgets

These seven setups offer true surround sound and a DVD or Blu-ray player to turn your existing TV into an irresistible cultural and technological oasis -- maybe. And the price limit for these makeovers ranges from $400 to $3,000.

Under $500

• Sony Bravia Theater System DAV-HDX576WF HTiB with DVD player: $400 street (as of Nov. 17, 2008)

Thanks to its use of wireless technology, the DAV-HDX576WF home-theater starter kit eliminates the need to run wires from the amplifier to the surround speakers.

This kit's built-in five-disc DVD player can upscale DVD video to 720p or 1080p high definition before sending the video to your HDTV over HDMI. Not sure of the best way to calibrate your sound system? The DAV-HDX576WF can do the whole thing for you. Simply place the bundled microphone where you would normally sit, and the system will adjust itself.

Of course, the DAV-HDX576WF isn't perfect. In an Amazon review, a user complained that the subwoofer lacked the oomph needed to deliver suitable sound for today's action movies. And this HTiB can't perform DTS decoding, so you won't get the best soundtracks on many DVDs -- much less a true Blu-ray audio experience -- out of this Sony player. But for its price, this system still has plenty of features to love.

Under $750: Great Picture

• Yamaha YHT-390BL HTiB: $350 (as of Nov. 18, 2008)
• Philips BDP7200 Blu-ray Player: $230 (as of Nov. 18, 2008)

When you're on a budget, you have to prioritize. So what's more important to you: a great picture or great sound?

If you voted for great picture, you should spend a bit less on the speakers and amp, and instead spring for a reasonably priced Blu-ray player, such as the Philips BDP7200 (pictured, top). This player, which earned high marks last spring, is especially notable for its standout image quality. The BDP7200 also supports Blu-ray's Bonus View, which lets you play back the picture-in-picture features available with some movie titles.

How can you buy a Blu-ray player and a surround-sound audio system for less than $750 total? You pick the Yamaha YHT-390BL home theater in a box (bottom). Despite its low price, this 5.1 system sends up to 100 watts to each of its five satellite speakers. And the 8-inch subwoofer should be powerful enough to shake your floor.

Under $750: Great Sound

• Denon DHT-589BA HTiB: $508 (as of Nov. 18, 2008)
• Pioneer DV-410V-K DVD player: $95 (as of Nov. 18, 2008)

If you want your DVDs to sound as good as your budget will allow, and your budget won't allow all that much, put off purchasing a Blu-ray player and concentrate instead on the audio.

Known primarily for high-end gear, Denon proves with the DHT-589BA home theater in a box (bottom) that it can handle midrange acoustics as well. Dynamic automated volume and equalizer adjustment, 75-watt reduced-baffle-diffraction speakers, and a down-firing 8-inch subwoofer (promising more bass at less expenditure of power) should add up to an exceptional audio experience.

The DHT-589BA supports Dolby Digital and DTS, but not higher-definition standards specific to Blu-ray such as Dolby TrueHD. And in case you get tired of watching TV, the Denon HTiB supports Sirius Satellite Radio as well.

If you want a good DVD player to go with the strong audio system, try Pioneer's DV-410V-K (top). It upscales video to 1080p and has a USB port for watching home videos and photos stored on a flash drive or external hard drive.

Under $1,000

• Samsung HTS-BD2ST 7.1 Home Theater System with Blu-ray Player: $984 (as of Nov. 18, 2008)

Samsung sells what may be the only home theater in a box to include a Blu-ray player (built into the amplifier unit), and it's priced just under our four-digit cutoff.

The HTS-BD2ST doesn't just play Blu-ray discs; it makes them sound good, too. Unlike the less expensive systems recommended in this slide show, the HTS-BD2ST supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio. And rather than being a 5.1 audio system, it's a 7.1 system, with four surround speakers instead of the usual two. (Few programs take advantage of 7.1 sound yet, but you'll be ready for when it becomes more common.) The system outputs a total of 1,100 watts to those speakers.

What else can it do? Upscale your DVDs, play MP3s and display JPEG images. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a USB port, an SD Card slot or a network connection. Consequently you have to burn your music and photos onto a disc to enjoy them through the HTS-BD2ST.

Under $1,500

• Onkyo HT-S9100THX HTiB: $900 (as of Nov. 21, 2008)
• Sony PlayStation 3 (80GB) Blu-ray player and game console: $400 (as of Nov. 11, 2008)

Besides offering convenience and a relatively low price, home theaters in a box have another possible advantage: The entire sound system can be THX-certified to work properly all of a piece. The Onkyo HT-S9100THX (bottom) is, as of Thanksgiving 2008, the only THX-certified HTiB on the market.

Onkyo worked with THX on the HT-S9100THX to ensure that the 7.1 speakers would take full advantage of the amplifier's enhanced capabilities (such as a THX preamp front end). The speakers include 130-watt satellites and a 12-inch subwoofer capable of 20-Hz performance. The HT-S9100THX supports Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio formats, as well as Dolby Digital Surround EX and DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 -- and of course, 7.1 surround sound.

What Blu-ray player should you buy to go with the HT-S9100THX? I recommend the Sony PlayStation 3 (top); a great game console that doubles as a great Blu-ray player. After all, your games -- like your movies -- deserve to be heard in THX sound.

Under $2,000

• Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver: $350 (as of Nov. 19, 2008)
• KEF KHT2005.2 speakers: $1,199 (as of Nov. 19, 2008)
• Samsung BD-2500 Blu-Ray player: $300 (as of Nov. 19, 2008)

With their parabolic, egglike shape and their big, black, eyeball-like cones, KEF's KHT2005.2 speakers (top, right) look like something animated by Pixar. You expect one to hop over to you and want to be loved -- or maybe mutate into a higher-stage Pokemon. Their odd shape reduces the speakers' distortion, effectively increasing their dynamic range. The 10-inch subwoofer, surprisingly enough under the circumstances, looks like a normal subwoofer.

I would power the KHT2005 with the Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (top, left). Churning out 90 watts per channel, it can't quite push those 100-watt eggs to their power limit, but it comes close enough for full audience enjoyment. The TX-SR606 is ready for Sirius Satellite Radio as well, and it supports Dolby True HD and DTS-HD.

For Blu-ray-playback, go with the Samsung BD-2500 (bottom). It supports BD-Live 2.0 and Internet connectivity. In fact, it even supports Netflix downloads.

Under $3,000

• Yamaha RX-V863 amplifier: $900 (as of Nov. 19, 2008)
• Klipsch RF-10 Home Theater System Speakers: $1,450 (as of Nov. 19, 2008)
• Denon DVD-1800BD Blu-ray player: $600 (as of Nov. 19, 2008)

Few speakers can surpass Klipsch's Reference series, but to keep the total below $3,000, I'll recommend the least expensive entry in this pricey product line: the RF-10 Home Theater System (left). This is a hefty 5.1 set of speakers. The left and right speakers are tall floor-standing models that list for $518 each when sold separately. Everything else is similarly massive -- even the surrounds are more than a foot wide each.

Power these monsters with the Yamaha RX-V863 (top, right). This 7.2-channel system can send 110 watts to each speaker, it upscales standard definition video to 1080p, and it has three HDMI inputs with one HDMI output. It supports just about everything you'd want it to work with, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, XM Satellite Radio, and a feature called Silent Cinema that creates a surround-sound experience through conventional headphones.

A fancy system deserves a fancy Blu-ray player, like Denon's DVD-1800BD (bottom, right). This $750 player comes with Bonus View support; detailed image controls for brightness, contrast and other settings; the latest DivX 6 codec for home movie viewing; and an SD Card slot for playing media from your PC

Power HDTVs

These nine HDTVs -- representing a mix of plasma and 120-Hz LCD models -- are generally powerful enough to keep up with the fastest action on your screen.

Vizio SV420XVT

Vizio's TVs often lead in price and image quality, and this model is no exception: The SV420XVT is the least-expensive ($1,049.99) 120-Hz LCD we've seen, and it finished ahead of competing 42-inch models in our performance tests, too.

While the SV420XVT earned top scores in image quality, it does have some drawbacks. It's difficult to set up, and it lacks a number of useful features, such as a quick menu for frequently altered settings or a USB port or SD Card slot for photos and music.

Still, if you're looking for the best HDTV picture for the price, you may be inclined to overlook these issues.

LG Electronics 42PG25

LG Electronics' 42PG25 boasts an attractive price ($1,299.95)and impressive features, including eight inputs (four HDMI, two composite and two component), S-Video and two optical outputs, plus a USB port for viewing your photos and listening to your MP3s.

This 42-inch plasma HDTV also produced good-looking images, though it struggled a bit with fast-motion video -- more so than several 42-inch 120-Hz LCD models that we matched it against. Despite these image quirks, however, our jury rated its images Good overall; at least one juror rated them Very Good when motion wasn't an issue.

Though not the fanciest HDTV you can buy, nor the one with the best image quality, the 42PG25 is an attractive set -- and its low price enhances its appeal.

LG Electronics 50PG30

The LG 50PG30 HDTV is a 50-inch plasma set with stylish looks and a low cost for its size ($2,099.95). Its design and range of inputs (including three HDMI ports) will attract attention, but its image quality is only average.

It looked quite good when viewed at an angle -- as you'd expect from a plasma TV. And some thought the 50PG30 did a very good job with foreground and background detail. But when viewing a NASCAR clip, we observed some motion blur and fuzziness.

The 50PG30 is easy to install, with conveniently placed inputs and a setup wizard that asks whether to optimize for home use or store use. But the 50PG30 is a bit short on extras -- it has no picture-in-picture, and no USB or SD Card multimedia capabilities.

LG Electronics 52LG70

Though it closely resembles its plasma sibling (the LG 50PG30), the LG 52LG70 LCD HDTV ($2,599.95) is clearly the more advanced (and pricier) model. Unlike with the plasma set, you can plug a flash drive into the 52LG70 to view photos and listen to MP3s. It packs four HDMI ports and two optical audio outputs into its 52-inch frame, but it lacks a picture-in-picture mode.

The LG 52LG70's image quality as average, noting pixelation and other artifacts in various tests, especially during fast action and dissolves. Some images in our tests seemed a bit soft, too, but in general we found the image quality pleasing.

The 52LG70 is a very good HDTV at an acceptable price. However, you can find some pretty good ones that are less expensive.

Samsung LN46A650

Samsung's LN46A650 is a joy to use from the moment you turn it on for the first time. It's well designed, and packs in an array of features, such as a side-mounted USB port that supports playing back music and photos from any USB storage device. It also comes with an Ethernet port for use with Samsung's InfoLink RSS service, which delivers news, weather, sports and financial information from USA Today to the television.

Its image quality was only average , though. This 46-inch model's 120-Hz technology is meant to help with fast motion and panning, but we noticed pixelation and garbling in scrolling text.

Still, the LN46A650 ($2,099.99) is a fine HDTV. Its stellar design and ease of use make it just the thing for viewers who appreciate both form and function.

Sharp LC-52D85U

Design is not the Sharp LC-52D85U HDTV's strong point. The on-screen menus, the remote, and even the manual could have used some friendliness training.

But this 52-inch LCD model does well on the most important criterion, image quality.Even so, we noticed pixelation, and found many scenes excessively bright. And though this set has a 120-Hz refresh rate, we saw no evidence that the faster refresh helped smooth out motion in our NASCAR clip.

This model does not support picture-in-picture and does not have any multimedia capabilities via USB, SD Card or Ethernet. Still, the LC-52D85U ($2,299.99) provides the best picture for its price among the big sets.

Vizio SV470XVT

The Vizio SV470XVT produces good (albeit at times dark) images, but it lacks some of the design conveniences of certain other HDTVs in its category.

Surprisingly, the SV470XVT ($1,399.99) occasionally struggled to keep moving objects clear. But this model did far better on our NASCAR test than any other new TV we tested. Because it is fast-moving and was shot in 60-Hz high definition, the NASCAR test tends to show a well-executed 120-Hz set's refresh rate to advantage.

The SV470XVT comes with picture-in-picture and freeze-frame features, but no multimedia capabilities. The absence of a USB port or SD Card slot means that you can't look at your photos or listen to your music through the TV.

Still, this 47-inch LCD HDTV costs less than some of its competitors and produces images rivaling the best we've seen in this size class.

Samsung PN50A760

Samsung's PN50A760 HDTV ($2,799.99) combines cool multimedia capabilities and great image quality. This 50-inch Samsung plasma HDTV was the only model in its size category to earn a rating of Very Good for image quality.

The PN50A760 is well-designed, and it has a host of slick multimedia capabilities, too. Press the remote's Content button to get a full screen of options, including scenic photos, recipes, exercises and children's activities -- all built into the TV's flash memory (but not updatable).

The Samsung PN50A760 is pricey. Still, you get what you pay for in image quality and extra features.

Toshiba 42XV545U

Toshiba's 42-inch, 120-Hz 42XV545U HDTV delivers solid image quality, finishing second overall in our performance tests, close behind the Vizio SV420XVT. Despite its high scores, however, some jurors had a mixed reaction to this LCD set.

Contrast was excessive, and we often noticed that faces appeared either too yellow or too red. This model is the only one we've tested in its category that lacks primary color adjustments -- so, if you, too, find faces off-color, you won't be able to fine-tune the hues to your liking.

Nor is the 42XV545U particularly easy or versatile to use. The main on-screen menu is big and opaque, and it occupies the middle of the screen, blocking too much of the picture. The 42XV545U lacks a number of extras, too: You can't freeze the image, view a picture inside another picture or use the set to view photos or listen to MP3s.

The Toshiba 42XV545U is expensive ($1,699.99) for a 42-inch LCD HDTV, and it's hard to come up with a compelling reason to buy this model over a less expensive, more full-featured one.

10 Cool New Technologies to Check Out

Presto: Instant-on for Any PC

You’ve probably heard about PCs like the HP Voodoo Envy133 and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10e that can start almost immediately, booting into a Linux OS so you can check e-mail or play some music. But so far, such instant-on capabilities have been embedded in a PC’s BIOS, meaning that if your PC didn’t ship with this trick built in, you were out of luck. Presto is a similar instant-on system that you can install on an existing laptop or desktop. Made by Xandros, makers of a popular Linux distribution, Presto should be available as a free beta on March 16.

Xmarks: Bookmark Collective

Xmarks is created by the same people who make Foxmarks, a browser add-on that synchronizes bookmarks for 3 million computer users. That user base provides the service with information on 600 million bookmarked pages. Xmarks is a way to make all that information useful to other users.

You can interact with Xmarks in two ways. If you go to xmarks.com, you can enter a site name, and Xmarks will let you know what other people think of it. A rating scale tells you how often it's bookmarked, Xmarks users can review the site, and Xmarks will tell you about related sites.

You can also install the Xmarks browser add-on (if you already have Foxmarks installed, the update will be pushed out to you soon). When you search at Google, Yahoo or Microsoft's Live Search, Xmarks will look at the results and offer additional information about the three links per page that have the highest score -- a combination of how many people have bookmarked the site, plus its "bookmark velocity," or how quickly people are adding the site to their bookmarks. That information looks like it could be pretty handy in finding the most useful sites in your list of search results.

Project Guru: Computer Help From Afar

Symantec has developed a way for geeks to reach out to friends and family over the Internet and fix their computers. With Project Guru, computer-savvy techies can invite people to join their Guru network, where they can remotely troubleshoot and repair PCs.

Symantec is developing a handful of tools for the service right now: a remote desktop, security and malware scans, performance tests and error logs. Guru is not yet available -- the service is being tested in a small pilot program -- but Symantec plans to release a public beta later this year. The company hasn't yet worked out whether Guru will be free.

SmartyCard: Educational Baksheesh

Any parent who’s struggled with a kid whose grades just aren’t what they should be learns that sometimes a little bribery helps. Consider SmartyCard, which is, yes, a bribery facilitator. Parents set up accounts that provide rewards in the form of CDs, toys, video games and books. Kids have to take tests on content that’s appropriate to their grade level (the site currently serves kids in grades 3 through 6). When your little Einstein aces a quiz, he earn points toward his next reward.

Home-Account.com: Fire your Mortgage Broker

Home-Account.com aims to demystify the mortgage process and make it easy to refinance your home without a mortgage broker.

The system asks you a series of questions about your financial situation, checks your credit report, then gives you a list of offers for home loans you can choose from. The company says it doesn't get any commissions for matching consumers with loan companies. It argues that means consumers will get the best deals: Lenders would rather get a customer through Home-Account than pay a commission to a mortgage broker, so they'll give the best prices to Home-Account customers. Joining Home-Account costs $9.95 per month.

Pixetell: Facilitating Design by E-mail

As more and more businesses depend on staff located all over the world, communication about things that are essentially visual -- the design of a Web page or the layout of a new store, for instance -- is becoming increasingly difficult. Plain e-mails make it too difficult to describe what you want, and video conferences can be hard to schedule.

Pixetell hopes to solve the problem by letting people send e-mails that can include text, video, images and audio in one message. You can send a blueprint of a new store, with your scribbles on it, and talk about what you're hoping to see in the next design. Recipients can reply with their own audio and video and their own marked-up images.

The service is in private beta now. Its final price hasn't yet been determined.

Gazaro: Your Bargain Hunter

A number of services already search the Web for good deals on your behalf. Gazaro looks like it could be a solid addition by offering not just deals, but an analysis of just how good those deals are.

Gazaro, which is free and open to all, analyzes the price history of a product and tells you whether the price a site is offering is a really good deal or not, based on how prices have been in the past. In other words, $1,200 for a particular flat-screen TV may be the best deal you can get now, but it's not a very good deal if the same TV was $1,000 a month ago. With that kind of information, you may decide to wait for the price to go down again.

Touch Book: It’s a Netbook, It’s a Tablet

A Menlo Park, Calif., company called Always Innovating says its Touch Book will be a netbook that turns into a tablet PC when you pull the screen away from the keyboard. The company also says the Touch Book's battery will last 12-15 hours on a charge.

The Touch Book uses an ARM processor, which means it won't require a fan and won't need much power. But company officials also say that it'll be powerful enough to play video and, even though it comes running Linux, that it can run other operating systems as well. It may be significant, though, that the other OS they mentioned as an example was Android, not Vista. ARM processors are far from the most powerful chips on the planet.

The Touch Book is supposed to sell for no more than your average netbook, $299 as a tablet PC only without a keyboard and $399 with a keyboard. The company's Web site says the product is supposed to ship "in May or June 2009."

Vue: No-Fuss Webcams

If you want to keep an eye on things at home, but you don’t want to string wires all over the place, Avaak Vue webcams could be just the ticket. These palm-sized cameras need no wires, attach to anchors you stick to a wall and can operate for as long as a year on one battery. They communicate with a gateway you connect to your router and voilà, you can see your cat’s latest follies through any browser.

The system appears to be super-easy, but not super-cheap. A kit with two cameras, one gateway and four mounts is priced at $300. The company promises to ship the Vue in early summer.

7 Billion People: Personalized Shopping

7 Billion People hopes to make shopping a more personal experience. The developers of 7 Billion People say they use linguistic and behavioral psychology to analyze what you do on the Web and from that data figure out what kind of shopper you are.

Their demo showed the service running on top of Amazon.com (though they noted that Amazon is not a customer). One company exec went into the site and immediately drilled down to the specs of a camera he was looking for, ignoring all reviews by other customers and recommendations of other popular products. When he returned to the site, his experience was tailored to him -- specs were front-and-center, while most information about reviews and recommendations by other shoppers was buried.

His colleague went to the same pages, but clicked first on user reviews and information like "Other people who looked at this product also looked at ...." When he went to an Amazon page for another product, the site immediately opened up the user reviews page, figuring he would probably be interested.

If 7 Billion People can get this complicated artificial intelligence right, the service could actually make online shopping more efficient for everyone.