$300 - $500 Video Players and Recorders

The Bottom Line: The Oppo BDP-83 is an outstanding universal disc player with excellent performance on Blu-rays and DVDs and lightning-fast operational speed, but most home theater fans will balk at the high price.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution, Surround Sound, 11.2 lbs

The Bottom Line: While it's a bit pricey and far from perfect, the Netgear Digital Entertainer Elite EVA9150 offers an easy way to access the widest array of digital audio, photo, and, especially, video files for the do-it-yourself crowd.

Specs: Digital multimedia receiver, Stereo, Universal remote control

The Bottom Line: The Sony BDP-S550 offers excellent image quality and a solid feature set, but only consider it if you need the multichannel analog outputs.

Specs: Blu-Ray disc player, Tabletop, Remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Surround Sound, 7.3 lbs

The Bottom Line: The TiVo HD XL charges a hefty premium for its spacious recording capacity and THX certification, but most users will be content sticking to the all-but-identical standard TiVo HD DVR.

Specs: HD DVR, 16.5 in x 12.6 in x 3.4 in, 150 hour(s), 2, TiVo, Remote control

The Bottom Line: The Dish Network ViP622 and 722 are among the most fully featured and versatile high-def DVRs you can buy today.

Specs: Stereo, Remote control

The Bottom Line: CNET has not reviewed the Toshiba HD-A3, but we have reviewed the similar step-up model, the Toshiba HD-A30.

Specs: HD DVD player, Tabletop, Remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Stereo, 7.3 lbs

The Bottom Line: The Toshiba HD-A30 is a solid third-generation HD DVD player, but for most people it's not worth the extra dough.

Specs: HD DVD player, Tabletop, Universal remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Surround Sound, Black, 7.3 lbs

The Bottom Line: The Toshiba HD-A20 is a perfectly competent HD DVD player, but it's not worth the extra money when compared to the budget Toshiba HD-A2.

Specs: HD DVD player, Tabletop, Universal remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Stereo, 8.8 lbs

The Bottom Line: Offering most of the performance of more expensive players, the HD-A2 is an excellent value for budget-minded buyers looking to jump into HD DVD.

Specs: HD DVD player, Tabletop, Universal remote control, DTS decoder, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD decoder, Dolby Digital Plus, Stereo

The Bottom Line: While it's neither a must-have upgrade for existing 360 owners nor as feature-packed as the PS3, the Xbox 360 Elite's combination of top-notch gaming and digital media features make it the current game console of choice.

Specs: Xbox 360 Elite - Game console, DVD-ROM, 1 x IBM PowerPC 3 cores 3.2 GHz, 512 MB ( 512 MB ) GDDR3 SDRAM - Integrated, 1920 x 1080