Definitive Technology has a new Mythos 10 ($899) center channel speaker to match the company's current Mythos ST ($1799 each). The Mythos 10 was on static display, but the Mythos STs were being played as a left and right 2-channel stereo pair, driven by a rack full of Theta electronics. The system sounded superb.

Samsung's new SP-A800 1080p projector, (under $10,000, available Q4 2007), was being demonstrated by video expert Joe Kane, who was heavily involved with Samsung in its development. It exhibited technically flawless color, crisp but natural detail across the entire screen, outstanding optics (I didn't sit close enough to judge for color fringing, but Joe said that superior optics to eliminate this aberration were a key element in the design), and excellent brightness on a 10-foot screen (a new Stewart Studiotek 130) screen using that company's new, fine-trained screen finish optimized for 1080p projection. It also has an iris with Light, Middle, Deep, and Auto settings (no word on how or how well the Auto iris function works, and Joe used the Middle and Light settings for the demo).

If it were just another iPod dock, Meridian could be forgiven. But the iRIS ($390) actually takes video off your iPod – yeah, the sub-standard definition 240x320 pixel package you paid $1.99 for so you could catch up on an episode of Heroes during your staff meeting today – and upconverts it to 1080p. There was some mention that the iRIS will also have an s-video input so you could, according to Bob Stuart of Meridian, pass your laserdisc player's s-video output into the iRIS to take advantage of the Marvell's Qdeo video processing, which might be an interesting option.

Digeo makes the Moxi family of media centers, including the Moxi Home Cinema Edition HD DMR. CableCARD ready, there are over 400,000 Moxi products out there. Both the Moxi DVR and non-DVR unit use Moxi's graphically attractive and, from what I saw, seemingly intuitive interface. The menu is now in available in high definition (either 720p or 1080i) and looks spectacular, taking advantage of every square inch of your screen.

This morning we got our first up close and personal look at Denons' upcoming Blu-ray Disc players- the DVD-3800BDCI ($1,999 December) and the DVD-2500BTCI ($1,199 December). And a chance to ask Denon's Jeff Talmadge (pictured above) more about the interactivity platforms of the players, and more.

There are trade show days that feature one knock out demo after another, but believe me- not all of them come up roses. We have so much to write about, and trade show demos present so many unknowns and variables that I'm not very quick to criticize based on what I see here let alone to take the time to write about it.

Harman Kardon has the new DMC-1000 Digital Media Center ($3499), with a built-in 250GB hard drive. It can store program material from an iPOD, record and store music from sources such CDs, and play back DVDs upconverted to 1080p. But it cannot record or play back high definition program material from a TV tuner, HD disc, or other source. The press release claims that it can deliver full high definition digital video, but DVDs upconverted to 1080p, which appears to be as close as it can get, are not high definition.