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Holiday Wish List 2005: Home Electronics Gift Ideas From "Special Presentation" episode DHWL05-S

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Home Theater System

SurroundWorks 200 Virtual Home Theater System

Normally to recreate the surround-sound of a movie theater at home you have to buy at least five speakers and run their wires all around a television room. Now there's a way to get that same enveloping sound at home without all the clutter. This kit is a full home theater package with all you need to turn your TV into a mini-movie theater. It contains the virtual surround speaker plus a DVD player/control center that also has an am/fm radio in it. This unit processes the soundtrack and makes this one speaker sound like five. The package also contains a subwoofer to give that booming bass in soundtracks as well as the roar of a jet, thunder of explosions or even a villain's deep voice.

Cambridge SoundWorks
100 Brickstone Square
Andover, MA 01810
Toll-free: 800-367-4434
Phone: 978-623-4400
Fax: 1-978-475-7265
Website: www.CambridgeSoundWorks.com

Headphones

Sennheiser Headphones

If you know somebody who might like to avoid loud surround sound at times. For instance, maybe they'd like to watch movies at night without waking the children. A pair of wireless headphones is a practical gift for this individual. Each pair come with transmitter antennae that plugs into your television or sound system and allows you to listen to the headphones anywhere in the room without being connected to any wires.

Sennheiser Electronic Corp.
1 Enterprise Dr.
Old Lyme, CT 06371
Toll-free: 877-736-6434
Phone: 860-434-9190
Fax: 860-434-1759
Website: www.sennheiserusa.com

Digital Camera

HP PhotoSmart R817 Digital Camera

This new digital camera from Hewlett-Packard is considered a point-and-shoot because it's easy for a beginner to use, but it also has some unique features that set it apart from some otherwise similar cameras on the market. The digital photos from this camera are rated at five megapixels, which is good enough quality to create your basic 4" x 6" prints and enlargements all the way up to poster-size. It has an electronic panorama mode that lets you take up to five images of the same scene and the camera will automatically stitch them together, creating a long 4" x 12" photo. It's also equipped with a video mode and after shooting some footage users can print stills directly from the video. This camera is part of the "photosmart" line, which means that it can be connected directly to a compatible printer to create hard copies without having to use a computer.

Hewlett-Packard Co.
3000 Hanover St.
Palo Alto, Ca 94304-1185
Toll-free: 800-752-0900
Phone: 650-857-1501
Fax: 650-857-5518
Website: www.hp.com

Photo Printer

HP PhotoSmart 475 GoGo Photo Printer

One such small, portable printer that would work with this digital camera, and many others, is this new model. It can run on batteries so it can be used almost anywhere. If you have a cousin who would like to print out photos of their child's soccer match and hand them out to the team before the game is over, or a friend who would start scrapbooking on the plane ride home from vacation, this item is perfect. Most portable printers are limited to only making the 4" x 6" prints, but this one can switch back and forth between that standard size and the slightly larger, and frame-worthy, 5" x 7" prints. It also prints panoramic shots.

Hewlett-Packard Co.
3000 Hanover St.
Palo Alto, Ca 94304-1185
Toll-free: 800-752-0900
Phone: 650-857-1501
Fax: 650-857-5518
Website: www.hp.com

Digital Camera Case

Lowepro Digital SLR Case

Many photographers who have graduated up from the beginner category are buying digital cameras that are almost as good as what professional photographers are using these days. They cost quite a bit of money, so if you know somebody who has one of these cameras, why not help them protect their investment? This novel camera case from Lowepro is made specifically for digital cameras with interchangeable lenses. Its padding offers plenty of protection, but the camera is only one step away from being ready to capture that unexpected action shot because of the unique design.

Lowepro
PO Box 6189
Santa Rosa, CA 95406 USA
Phone: 707-575-4363
Website: www.lowepro.com

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