(MONEY Magazine) – Best new TV. If $10 movie tickets have you weighing the merits of home theater, consider this 166-pound option: Philips' 34-inch digital widescreen TV/HDTV monitor (model No. 34PW9817). Sensors adjust the colors based on the light in the room; they also eliminate "judder," a Britishism that describes the blur on some digital TVs when fast movement appears on screen. You can display images from any aspect ratio (the usual 4:3 to a widescreen 21:9) with minimal distortion--in other words, the characters in spaghetti westerns will look like people, not pasta. And since the image is digital, you can zoom in 16 times (to see whether that foot really was in bounds) or use the picture-in-picture feature to freeze and replay the few seconds you missed while grabbing that Dagwood. At $3,500, this TV adds up to a whole lot of movie tickets, but the quality will astound you for years to come. --B.L.C.

Best new digital video camera. Whether you're an aspiring filmmaker or just want picture-perfect footage of the grandkid's first birthday, Sony's DCR-PC110 packs the latest and greatest features. How fabulous is this $1,800 camera? A built-in laser lets you beam video up to 26 feet away to a $50 link on your television. Image-stabilization technology helps you create steadier shots. And you can capture bright smiles up to 10 feet away in complete darkness with a feature called Super NightShot. This is the first Sony video camera that records in MPEG, which compresses moving images into Internet-friendly files for easier e-mailing. The memory stick that's included saves 4MB of video, or just two minutes' worth of footage, but you can buy a 128MB stick ($150) that saves around 80 minutes. --S.D.S.

Best new audio technology. Prepare to be blown away by a new digital music format called Super Audio CD. Developed by Sony and Philips, it gives music a crispness and clarity previously available only on vinyl LPs. Until now, SACD players sold for $1,700 or more. But this summer Sony released the DVP-NC650V, a $400 SACD unit that also plays regular CDs and DVDs. Does the new technology make a difference? Well, we heard the pop group Train's "Drops of Jupiter" from a CD on a $100,000 stereo system and it sounded pristine. But an SACD of the same piece on a $2,000 system was astonishing: Guitar strings plucked, drummers tapped their feet, voices cracked, strings on the bass reverberated. Only about 250 SACD titles are now available (around 60% of them jazz and classical works), but another 75 should be released before year's end--and more after that as the technology takes hold. SACDs cost $20 at most major music outlets. --B.L.C.

Best new mobile music machine. The 20GB Nomad Jukebox by Creative is about the size of a Walkman, but this rechargeable digital music player can store the contents of 500 compact disks. Yes, that's 500 CDs, or about 330 hours of music, probably your whole collection and then some. The $400 box is light enough to carry on a walk, though a bit heavy for jogging, and it connects to your computer with a USB port, allowing you to store, sort or delete songs ripped from CDs or downloaded off the Internet. Fully charged, the Nomad Jukebox can play up to four hours of MP3, WAV or Windows Media files. It comes with a pair of headphones, a carrying case and extra batteries. Add a three-speaker docking station ($200) and you can turn it into the ultimate boom box. --B.D.

Best new phone. It's easy to see why so many cell-phone fanatics--from investment bankers to monied mall rats--are snatching up the Sanyo SCP-5000. Selling for $500 (when you can find one), it's the first on the U.S. market with a color display panel that can act as a photo caller-ID system. You can download up to 20 images to match entries in your phone book--see Junior's picture next time he calls to ask for money--and a digital readout across the top of the device lets you know who's ringing without your having to flip open the phone. There's room for 500 phone numbers, 300 e-mail addresses, 100 dates like birthdays and anniversaries, 20 to-dos and 15 little reminder alarms. (Unfortunately, you can't transfer that information to your computer.) It all comes in a sleek 3.5-ounce package that's tinier than phones that deliver far less. For fun, you can upload as much as 100KB worth of music onto the phone and set your ringer to a snippet of anything from Janis Joplin to Jay-Z. --S.D.S.

Best new laptop. The latest iBook may well be the best all-around computer Apple has ever made. With programs like iMovie, iTunes and iDVD, this 4.9-pound machine is as fun as it is useful. It comes with a 500MHz G3 processor that's as fast as what's inside any topnotch PC. It's encased in heavy-duty white plastic--great protection against clumsy teenagers--and the improved screen resolution is a big jump up from the previous model's. This computer also comes with features unheard of on portables in this price range ($1,299 to $1,799), including a FireWire port to connect a digital video camera or an external hard drive. Buy one with an internal DVD drive and you can watch movies. --B.L.C.

Best new keyboard. For desk jockeys whose wrists are hurtin', the folks at Comfort have taken adjustable keyboards to new ergonomic heights. The $169 Ergo Magic board is in fact three discreet sections with adjustable bases: one for the left-hand (or QWERT) section of the keyboard, another for the right-hand set (YUIOP), the third for the numbers pad and arrow keys. Place them around the computer in any configuration you find comfortable. Order it from Keyboard Alternatives (800-953-9262 or www.keyalt.com), which also offers a try-before-you-buy rental of $35 for 21 days. --J.L.