Tech Visionaries

We give awards to 17 hardware products setting the standard for ingenuity with unique qualities that distinguish them from the ho-hum.

That's entertainment (from top): Dell's W1700 with Intrigue Technologies' Harmony Remote SST-768, Pioneer's DVR-801H-S, and Pioneer's HTD-630DV with front- and rear-channel speakers, plus subwoofer.

The worlds of the PC and of consumer electronics have met head-on, and their interchange has created a flood of fresh, interesting products. As these hybrids grow more numerous, we've found ourselves admiring products that apply good old-fashioned computing power in innovative ways. Many of these entertainment-driven devices have PC-like functions, but they push the limits of technology.

Inspired by this, we recently scoured the Net, cruised the aisles of electronics stores, and looked at cool stuff we've reviewed over the year to identify the most ingenious and most inventive products. Of course, PC World never takes any product at face value, no matter how neat-looking the device, so we subjected the products to intensive hands-on evaluations. Our aim was to discover trendsetting devices and reward them for their progressive design and function.

After a careful search, we narrowed the field to 17 standouts, and bestowed on them our Next Gear Innovations Awards. Whether the selections are benchmark products that other companies copy or breakthrough products that have yet to be imitated, all of them are winners.

Nicer Networked Music Player

Lots of gadgets let you stream music from a PC to your stereo system via a home network--usually in a clumsy fashion. But the audio experts at Rockford did the job right: The $299 Omnifi DMS1 WiFi Home Digital Media Streamer is an intuitive stereo component, not a kludge. It not only plays MP3 and WMA tracks but also taps into online music services, including RealNetworks' Rhapsody (a PC World Best Buy; see "Online Music: New Hits and Misses"). And listen up, car-stereo buffs: The $599 Omnifi DMP1 mobile audio player and a $70 adapter let you download music to your car via Wi-Fi, providing up to 275 hours of entertainment for your next road trip.

Appealing LCD TV

Dell's 17-inch flat-panel monitor, the $699 W1700, has a built-in TV tuner and two distinctive features that separate it from other displays: First, the monitor uses advanced Faroudja video-processing technology, which helps it deliver a clean, smooth image in DVD movies and in broadcast TV. Second, it carries a $699 price, and for a wide-screen, HDTV-ready LCD, that's pretty darned inexpensive. Furthermore, the W1700's inputs for VGA, component, composite, and S-Video permit you to connect a PC, VCR, or digital video recorder.

Video Archiver, and TiVo, to Boot

The first digital video recorder to incorporate a DVD burner, the $1000 Pioneer DVR-810H-S allows you to archive your rapidly accumulating recorded shows in a matter of minutes. The DVR-810H-S is also the first DVR to include TiVo's basic service; its easy-to-use on-screen programming guide displays three days' worth of shows at a time (pay the monthly $13 fee, and you get the full-blown TiVo Plus service). The recorder automatically creates a menu on the DVD that resembles what you would see on TiVo, right down to the date of the recording, the series name, the episode title, and a description of the episode.

HDTV Gets Fun

With Roku's $500 HD1000 digital media player, high-definition television is not exclusively about sports broadcasts so crisp you can read the players' tattoos from the sofa. A set-top box for HDTV display owners, the sleek HD1000 shows photos in high-res glory and plays music; through built-in slots and ethernet, you can feed it content from standard-format memory cards or via a home network. Other ways to get the job done are much cheaper, but this box's HDTV support is unique--and a preview of the highly defined entertainment world to come.

Home Theater in a Box, With Wireless

Consisting of an all-in-one receiver/CD and DVD player/changer and six speakers, the $800 Pioneer HTD-630DV provides a complete surround-sound setup that doesn't take over your living room. The most interesting part: The system feeds the two rear channels via a 2.4-GHz wireless connection, which is particularly nice if you don't want wires crisscrossing your floor. It has plenty of power, and it sounds great, especially when playing DVD-Audio discs or Super Audio CDs in surround sound. You do have to settle for particle-board speaker enclosures, and controlling the system via a connection to a television is much easier than doing so with the on-board LED interface; even so, for the price it's a real bargain.

Smart Remote Control

The $299 Harmony Remote SST-768 from Intrigue Technologies brings the PC's flexibility and intelligence to the home theater. Instead of punching in cryptic button codes or enduring a protracted learning process, as you must with many other remote controls, you use an Internet browser-based wizard to program the SST-768. Once you've synced your configuration by attaching the remote to your PC with a USB cable, the remote learns all about your setup. An example of its exceptional smarts: Unlike other remotes, it can switch to your DVD player with the press of a single button, no matter which video input you're on.

Notebook Surround Sound

The $130 Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX external outboard sound card by Creative comes to the rescue of almost any notebook PC that suffers from weak audio by offering a unique, 24-bit, high-definition audio system that easily connects to the laptop via a USB port. Offering built-in support for up to 7.1-channel speaker systems, enhanced clarity for DVD-Audio discs, DirectSound 3D for games, and optical and coaxial outputs for digital sound, the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX also stands out thanks to included software that facilitates advanced sound mixing and audio boosting.

Wafer-Thin Camera With Everything

Packed inside the 0.8-inch-thick, $550 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1 are giant features we've never seen in a camera this thin and sleek: an extralarge 2.5-inch LCD, hefty 5-megapixel resolution, a 30-fps MPEG movie mode, speedy and smooth performance, and basic on-camera photo editing functions like image resizing and rotating. The brushed-metal DSC-T1 sports a sliding lens cover and a 3X optical zoom lens (38mm to 114mm in 35mm film equivalent). On top of that, Sony adds a 32MB Memory Stick Duo card and a rechargeable InfoLithium battery. The camera does have one main drawback, however: It lacks an optical viewfinder. (See our longer review in "Minicam Evolution.")

Record Radio Now, Listen Later

TV watchers have the ability to choose TiVo or ReplayTV to record shows for later viewing, but radio listeners haven't had many options for recording programs to listen to at another time. Enter the $200 PogoProducts Radio YourWay, a combination voice recorder, MP3 player, and programmable AM/FM recorder. About the size of a pack of cigarettes, this device holds 128MB of memory, capable of capturing up to 16 hours of radio or 2 hours of MP3 music. And its SD (Secure Digital) slot accepts up to 256MB more memory. For its remarkable versatility alone, the Radio YourWay is a one-of-a-kind product.

Handheld Games and a PDA, Too

A high-resolution LCD screen with a high refresh rate and the included Palm OS distinguish the $350 Tapwave Zodiac as an enjoyable and versatile handheld gaming device that can also function handily as a PDA. Its top-notch graphics are the best of any currently available handheld game console, and it comes with a few fun, addictive games. The unit fits in the hand ergonomically; and all its controls, including a simple-to-use directional pad, are easily accessible. Topping that are Bluetooth and infrared connectivity, as well as a built-in soft cover that protects the screen.

Portable Entertainment Center

While Windows XP Media Center was originally intended for desktop PCs, Toshiba integrated it into the handsome, 17-inch wide-screen, $2800 Satellite P25-S609 notebook, loaded with a 3-GHz Intel Pentium 4 desktop processor and 1GB of RAM. Other vendors, such as HP, have released similar notebooks, but none of them have integrated the Media Center features quite as well as Toshiba has. Using the included remote, you can switch to more leisurely pursuits, such as watching TV. A truly portable entertainment center--now that's a movable feast.

Games of Yesteryear, Available Now

Until recently Pac-Man and other classic arcade games appeared doomed to languish in dusty warehouses or antique collectors' garages. But Jakks Pacific has licensed a number of fondly remembered games and has released inexpensive, battery-operated joysticks with built-in games that you just plug into your television. Our favorite model, the $25 Namco TV Games, plays five hugely entertaining former quarter-eaters dating from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, including Pac-Man and Dig Dug. The $25 Atari TV Games model, whose look mimics that of Atari's black joystick, lets you play ten games from the famous, chunky, 1970s-era Atari 2600 game console. Both will entertain you for hours.

Tinier Than a Mini-DV Camcorder

This camcorder scoffs at comparatively bloated mini-DV camcorders: The $799 Panasonic D-snap SV-AV100 is about the size of a petite filet mignon and weighs a mere 6.5 ounces. The output quality is better than that of clips recorded on a digital still camera; but even at its top setting, the video it captures to an SD (Secure Digital) memory card doesn't look as good as what you'd get from a mini-DV camcorder. The included 512MB SD card holds only 11 minutes at its best setting, but that doesn't seem as important when you can carry the D-snap in a back jeans pocket.

Innovators That Keep Going and Going

Rather than resting on their laurels, the manufacturers of the following products continue to make improvements to them.

Elegant MP3 Player: Improved software and a sleek design, as well as the now Windows-friendly ITunes music service, help Apple's $399 IPod blaze a trail that other MP3 players follow.

Headphones That Prevent Noise: While noise-cancellation headphones have been around for years, Bose's $300 QuietComfort 2 model is the only one to integrate its battery box into the headset.

Multiformat Tabletop Radio: With the $400 Cambridge SoundWorks Radio CD 740, you get a versatile AM/FM radio that plays audio CDs and MP3-filled CD-R and CD-RW discs, as well. There is another plus, too: Artist names and song titles scroll across the front panel's backlit 32-character display.

Handy PDA/Phone Hybrid: The first cell phone based on the Palm 5 operating system, $499 PalmOne's svelte Treo 600 capably balances the often conflicting functions of a communications device and a personal digital assistant.