I’ve had the pleasure of testing out the fourth-generation Yamaha surround sound bar, the YSP-4000. You know, the box that sits under a TV and projects 5 discrete beams of audio using Cold War directional sonar steering from submarines. This generation has had its trapezoid- shaped array turned into a more of a hexagon, and the chassis is more rigid. There are HDMI inputs, and upscalers for analog content. And there are DSP modes for stereo music sources that did not exist before. Does the fake surround work? Hell yes, better than ever.

Unlike past YSP setups, this fourth generation is so good, out of the dozen or so demonstrators, from sound engineers to casual listeners, all sorts of CEDIA audio nerds were satisfied by the directionality of the sound beams. Each is so discrete, even in the demo room’s open top and back, all that could be seen were the heads of the audience nodding in approval. I love this thing, and I’d even be willing to place the tallish speaker in front of my table-mounted LCD, blocking the bottom few inches of my picture. That’s a bit crazy, I know, but I’m impressed. For more details, hit our last post.

Fuze Media Systems unveiled their full home media system, which has several advantages over the pretty and fully competent Microsoft Windows Media Center. In a nutshell, it’s designed to be used throughout the entire house, with multiroom streaming. There are extenders called the Fuzemini that have HDMI out, DVD/CD drives, CableCARD. There’s even a touchscreen control panel, on top of the regular remote. But hold on: This Media Center PC isn’t actually a PC.

It’s built on an Intel platform. But you never have access to the desktop, for reliability reasons. (No internet access?) It does whole house audio, synced. And the UI in those screenshots have blue backgrounds, and familiar MCE menus, but they’re not.

Media can be sent to the rest of the house using Ethernet and the Fuzemini boxes. But using CAT-5 cables (via USB adapter) audio can also be sent to powered amp’d wall switches, complete with track controls (but no actual TCP-IP). And there are even powerline versions of this panel.

Hmm. Interesting. We’ll see how it plays, and how much it costs.[Fuze via CEPro]

It’s not just cost that deters some of us from diving into home theater systems, it’s also the hassle of negotiating all those wires through your living room. Polk Audio’s SurroundBar50 eliminates that problem by offering surround sound from a single speaker. It uses Polk’s SDA technology to simulate five-channel sound immersion. It doesn’t seem too intrusive either; sized to mate with 50-inch HDTV sets, it can be mounted on the wall or placed on a shelf or TV stand with the accompanying cradle. The SurroundBar50 will be available in October for $1100.

Product Page [via OhGizmo]

Netflix’s online movie-streaming service has been hacked by a Very Clever Personâ„¢. The tools: Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 11, FairUse4WM and Notepad. The method: finding and downloading the URL of the video file, getting the license key and stripping the DRM. Sounds simple enough. The catch: Only Netflix subscribers can do it. Logically, the rights management stripping only works on videos you have downloaded from their service. [Rorta via TV Squad]

Oh, now you’re interested in HD DVD. As a promotion to coincide with the Home Media Expo, Toshiba released this letter to attendees:

TOSHIBA HD DVD PLAYER for ONLY $99 PLUS 3 FREE HD DVD’s

For one week only, starting July 22, 2007, Toshiba will be offering the [$299] HD A2 player for only $99. With your purchase you will also receive 3 HD DVD’s.While we can’t tell if this is an offer than will be solely for influential retailers attending the show (which is what we’re guessing) or consumers unrelated to the show, the deal is still worth keeping an eye on if you want to up your DVD game a bit or if you were planning on buying a player before July 22nd. If it is true, we’re guessing Toshiba is promoting more of a liquidation sale than a permanent price drop.

Remember the $130 Meizu M6 SE PMP we told you about, sporting 8GB of video in a 7mm shell? Good. Meizu just announced more details the unit.

The M6 SE will handle MPEG4, MPEG2, WMV9, H263/264, RM(VB) videos running at 720×480 while pushing 30 frames a second—all of which can be spewed to TV via video out. Viewing angles are improved to 80 degrees from each direction (a hike of about 20 degrees). Battery power was confirmed for 30 hours music, 5 hours QVG or 3 hours VGA.

We’re really liking the looks of this updated Meizu M6, but word is there could be delays from its late summer target to sometime in Q4. – Mark Wilson

Meizu Spills More… [meizume]

Green PCs don’t come very often, so it’s no surprise enano’s new e2 caught our eye. Enano claims their new Ecossential PCs are 95% quieter, 80% more energy efficient, and 65% cooler than your typical desktop.

That doesn’t mean they’re wimpy, though. The e2s can still run with the big dogs, packing up to 4GB of RAM, a TV tuner and built-in wireless. If you want something with a little more oomph (meaning something with one of the new Core 2 Duo chips) you’re better off waiting for this bad boy. Otherwise, treehuggers can start lining up for the e2s now. Just don’t forget your plastic. They range from $1,100 to $1,800. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page

For those of you new to this application, it lets the Mac users out there get in on the music, photo and video streaming fun that Windows users have been experiencing on their Xbox 360’s for a while now.

This latest update, v3.0, not only lets your Mac properly connect to a 360 that has the latest Spring Update installed, but also has added codec support for H.264 and Mpeg-4 video, even in HD. Too bad it can’t decrypt iTunes DRM.

But it does make the idea of spending $300 for an AppleTV a little harder to swallow, especially if you already have a 360 and aren’t that into iTunes video downloads – Ben Longo

Product Page [Connect 360]-Link Fixed

For those unfamiliar with TVersity, it’s the app you run on your PC that lets you transcode just about any format into a format your Xbox 360 can understand. Essentially, this means you can watch DivX, XviD, and other media files on your consoles on the fly. Good news, because now it’s available for the PS3 and the Wii.

However, since the Wii and PS3 have limited format support already, TVersity transcodes into flash video (FLV) format in order to play back on these two consoles. But, you can also play back YouTube, Yahoo, and Google Video on your consoles now with TVersity. Now your grandmas can record and play back internet videos. The cycle is complete. – Jason Chen

Product Page [TVersity]

Panasonic’s new 1080p set is the best plasma ever.

That’s what Gizmodo friend Gary Merson of HD Guru says. The colors were the most accurate, the 1080p signals were processed at full bandwidth with no loss of data, the black levels so deep as to be untestable, and the contrast ratio amazing.

In conclusion, the Panasonic TH-50PZ750 is simply the best high definition display I have ever reviewed.

Doesn’t hurt that the Panny’s SD card slot can play back H.264 at high def. For Gary, this is the set to beat, and I’m not one to argue with a guy who’s been testing TVs longer than I’ve been out of junior high school.

The price? A MSRP of $3999, which is maybe why the just trounced Pioneer PRO-FHD1’s MSRP was dropped from $8000 to $5000 (without speakers BTW.) (Pioneer’s new sets, based on all new tech will debut this Summer, so look for a good fight then.) – Brian Lam

Exclusive- First Review of the Amazing Panasonic TH-50PZ750U Plasma [HD Guru, thanks Gary]
[Photo is of the 700 series Panasonic, but they should look similar.]