Philips may be dodging the North American sector with its flashiest of products, but it's still showing the Yanks in attendance a little love on the home entertainment front. Today in a meeting in NYC, the outfit revealed US pricing and availability for its entire 2009 family, most of which was quietly introduced in January. Starting things off are the 6000 and 7000 Series of HDTVs, which just so happen to pick right up where the previous models left off in 2008. The 6000 Series will arrive in 32-, 42- and 47-inch flavors for $799, $1,399 and $1,699, respectively, while the 7000 Series goes 42-, 47- and 52-inch for $1,499, $1,799 and $2,299, also respectively.

While checking these very sets out, we noticed that the factory settings left the colors a bit blown out and overly sharp -- though, this practice is far too common in HDTV companies anyway. Nothing like wowing those Best Buy shoppers at first, only to sear their retinas at home, right? All kidding aside, the panels looked superb, and the A-B comparison mode made tweaking the settings a breeze. Hop on past the break for the rest of the details, and give our gallery a glance for a closer look at the whole lot.

Considering that Epson's highest-end HTIB is nearly two years old now, we'd say an update was definitely in order. Today, the outfit has just taken the wraps off of its next-generation Ensemble HD Home Cinema, which gets updated by way of including the PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 or Home Cinema 6500 UB. As with the prior kit, these two also include a motorized 100-inch screen, integrated surround sound, AV controller with built-in DVD player, universal remote and all virtually components needed for installation. The only thing that's glaringly absent is a Blu-ray player, which -- at this point -- is completely and utterly inexcusable. At any rate, those content with treating themselves to upscaled DVD can fork out $4,999 for the Ensemble HD Home Cinema 720p, $6,499 for the Ensemble HD Home Cinema 6100 and $7,999 for the Ensemble HD Home Cinema 6500 UB.

Hope you didn't just pull the trigger on a BDP-S350, 'cause we get the feeling Sony's two newest standalone BD decks are going to make you yearn for the next best thing. Here in Las Vegas, the company has just come clean with the Profile 2.0 BDP-S360 and BDP-S560, the latter of which includes integrated WiFi for tapping into BD-Live content and downloading future firmware updates sans an Ethernet cable. Also, the unit is fully DLNA-ready, handles DVD upscaling, bit-streams audio via HDMI, decodes Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio and plays nice with external media loaded up on a USB drive. As predicted, the lower-end BDP-S360 is essentially the same player sans WiFi.

Moving on, we've got a new pair of 5.1-channel Blu-ray HTIB systems: the BDV-E300 and BDV-E500W. Both bundles include a BD-Live-capable (Profile 2.0) Blu-ray player, while the BDV-E500W sports integrated S-AIR wireless audio capabilities. In other words, your rear speakers will get their signal sans cabling, and those who opt for the BDV-E300 are getting a kit that's S-AIR-ready, meaning that you can add modules in the future to get the same wireless support. Both sets also include Sony's Digital Media Port for controlling peripherals like Apple's iPod and Sony's own Walkman line, and the BRAVIA Sync technology ensures that HDMI-CEC lovers are taken care of. The models also bring along the firm's Xross Media Bar (XMB) interface, a USB port for loading up media and an easy-to-follow setup DVD. As for pricing and availability, we've broken all that down below.

• BDP-S360 Blu-ray player: shipping this summer for around $300
• BDP-S560 Blu-ray player: shipping this summer for around $350
• HT-SS360 component home theater system : shipping in May for around $350
• BDV-E300 Blu-ray HTIB: shipping in June for around $600
• BDV-E500W Blu-ray HTIB: shipping in June for around $800
  

Catch the release in full just after the break.

Samsung's comin' at us hot and heavy from the desert, and if those two BD players already got your ears perked up, here's a little more for your future home theater. Up first is the HT-BD8200 Blu-ray soundbar, which -- as the name implies -- is actually a soundbar with a Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player baked right in. The bundle also includes a wireless subwoofer and promises 5.1-like sound despite being just 2.6-inches deep. Moving on, we've got the 2.1-channel HT-BD2700 and 5.1-channel HT-BD1250 Blu-ray HTIB systems, which offer up 400- and 1,000-watts of power, respectively along with WiFi support. Per usual, dollars and ship dates remain a mystery, but the more we look at those glossy black coats, the harder we find it to be patient.

Providing some audio punch to go along with all the video, Sharp's taking the wraps off of two new 5.1 HTIBs with Blu-ray included , the BD-MPC40 and BD-MPC30, plus two new 2.1 channel sound bars, the HT-SB300 and HT-SB200. Since no AV rollout is complete without an iPod dock, the DK-AP7N and DK-CL6N. Why, you ask, is only the soundbar pictured? To peek into the eye of the $799 piano black Blu-ray packing home theater units would be madness, ditto for the $99 - $129 iPod docks, ready to give you two channel audio (DK-CL6N) and 2.1 ESound processing, video out packing DK-AP7N. The theme here is convenience and quality in small packages, some hands and ears-on time should give us enough info to safely pass judgement.

JVC has loosed three 5.1-channel HTIBs and a fashionable 2.1-channel rig at CES. First up, the TH-G31, TH-G41 and TH-G51 are all based around upconverting DVD decks. The TH-G41 and TH-G51 models add a repeating HDMI input and iPod/iPhone connectivity -- complete with a display of the iPod/iPhone UI -- into the mix. Capping off the tippy-top of the line, the TH-G51 also sports wireless surround speakers. If your fashion sensibilities are even more stringent than wireless surrounds, you might be able to accept the move to the 2.1-channel, so slim it's wall-mountable NX-T10. Don't run away from the 2.1-channel spec just yet -- the speakers are omnidirectional, so you'll still get some sense of envelopment. Full details in the links.

[Read - 5.1-channel HTIBs]
[Read - NX-T10 HTIB]

The appearance of Blu-ray HTIB systems under a number of brands is an encouraging sign that the format is at least trying to move into the mainstream living room, and now JVC's thrown its hat into the ring with the 2.1-channel NX-BD3. Of course, simply pulling bits off of Blu-ray discs isn't enough entertainment value these days, so the system also sports DLNA support, a 200-Watt powered sub and a 4x55-Watt amplifier (leaving you two channels to grow into). At £799 ($1,465) for a 2.1-channel setup, you might expect to get the latest and greatest in Blu-ray tech, but Profile 2.0, DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD didn't make the cut -- let's hope some sort of "market adjustment" happens between the time this appears next month and when it crosses the pond.

[Via Electronista]

Sony continues its series of home theater updates today with a new HTIB, the HST-S100. Like some previous Sony packages, the HST-S100 doesn't feature a central receiver, instead integrating the 450W amplifier, 3 HDMI ports and Sony Digital Media Port right into the back of the sub. Furthering the stealth factor, the five speakers themselves are no bigger than strawberries -- which has us wondering about mid-range performance, but we'll withhold judgement until we actually hear 'em. You get some other mid-high-end goodies for your $700 as well, like S-AIR wireless speaker capability, Bravia SYNC for Theater, which simplifies operation with select Sony gear, and auto speaker calibration. Should be out in July, we're told.

Craving the custom install look, but not willing to tear down walls to get it? Sony has debuted the Sound Wall RHT-S10 stand for all your HT gear, and it's packing 5.1 surround sound to boot. The free-standing unit has a TV mount, amplifier and subwoofer all built in. Hang the display, route any wires behind the unit and plug everything together at the A/V rack in the base and you're all set. But hey, what about the rear channels in this 5.1 system? Those rear signals are mixed in with the fronts -- combined with Sony's S-Force Pro, they claim you don't need those pesky channels any more. We're skeptical, but they've packed in some good features: 350-Watts of digital amplification, 1080p24 passthrough, BRAVIA sync (CEC) and Sony's Digital Media Port for bringing your other media devices to the party.

The flood of product introductions from Philips continues on, this time with the Ambisound HTS6100 5.1-channel surround bar and HTS6515 home theater in a box. The HTS6100 is essentially a lower-end repackaging of last year's HTS8100, only this time with iPod dock and $599 pricetag -- $200 less than the HTS8100 -- and the HTS6515 is the $499 baby brother version of last year's $599 HTS6600. Of course, it wouldn't be a Philips product if it didn't come with some recklessly insane hyperbole, and those ready to get their Ambisound on should be ready to "lose themselves in an immersive cinematic experience" as "the joint performance of sound and video pulls you away from reality." Why, you ask? Because "there is no risk of cluttered space or tangled speaker wires," of course. Ah, no wonder we've been trapped this hellish reality for so long. Check the HTS6600 after the break.

We got a chance to tackle and photograph the new bar of 5.1 sound that Philips is delivering, and while we can't attest to great sound quality (it wasn't on), we can say that it's got a unified design that is pretty sweet, and the integrated DVD player coupled with a slew of ports will probably please even the most discerning home theater fan -- though this clearly isn't aimed at the high-end folks. Check the gallery and experience the long-view sound system yourself.

It was but a few days ago that Harman Kardon brought a trio of new Home Theater in a Box systems to the table, but Samsung's out to make that offering look like child's play. There's a lot to digest in this one, so we'll wait no more -- first off, let's pore over the April-bound HT-X810 ($699):

• 2.1-channel self-contained home theater speaker system
  
• Wall-mountable home theater sound bar with piano black design
• Integrated progressive-scan, 1080p upconverting DVD player
  
• 280-watt, 2.1-channel simulated surround sound with wireless subwoofer
  
• HDMI-CEC
• USB 2.0 port for connecting cameras, PMPs, etc.
• Bluetooth 2.1 for wireless integration with BT-enabled devices

Trust us, you haven't even seen the half of this one. Click on through for lots, lots more.