Big Picture Big Sound

How does Sherwood stand out in a sea of receivers? By streaming content from the web.

We're seeing a lot of TVs and Blu-ray players add web content into the hardware mix, but Sherwood is going right to the main control hub of any home theater system -- adding these features into some of its latest receiver products.

First up is the new R-904N NetBoxx. This slick, compact 7.1 channel receiver includes HDMI 1.3, Dolby Volume, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio high-resolution audio format decoding, and seven channels of 100-watt "green" digital amplification.

That's all fine and dandy for your home collection. However, added web goodies will come from CinemaNow, YouTube, various TV channels, and SHOUTcast web radio. Of course, if you've got a PC connected yo your home network, you can also stream content from Hulu, Netflix, CBS, CNN, ESPN, Rhapsody and Amazon Video On Demand. That's a whole lot of fun for $649.95.

If you just want your existing A/V to sound good without all of the extras, the company also announced the R-972 and the R-774. Both are shipping this month.

The R-972 combines 100 watts RMS per channel to seven channels, Silicon Optix's REON video processor, and the advanced $13,000 Trinnov Optimizer Room Correction system in a $1,799.95 component. "The holy grail of audio has always been to effectively put the listener in the sound mixer's studio chair, so he or she can hear the music or film exactly as it sounded in the recording or post-production studio," says Jeffrey Hipps, Sherwood's senior VP of marketing and product development. "With the R-972 and Trinnov, that is now possible for the first time in the home. Listeners can place their speakers where they fit into the room and will still hear accurate three-dimensional spatial reproduction."

At $849.95, the R-774 provides the latest and greatest A/V processing, feeding 7.1 channels of 192 kHz/24 bit D to A converters for superb audio performance. Also included is Anchor Bay's ABT2010 video processing chip, which can convert any video signal to HDMI, and upscale to 1080p. Delivering 100 watts RMS to each of seven channels, the R-774 also features three HDMI 1.3 inputs, and inputs/outputs for component, composite and S-Video. Setup is also a SNAP -- thanks to the SNAP room equalization system, as well as Sherwood's automated setup.

The last receiver in this crop of announcements is the RD-8504. Shipping this month for $599.95, the RD-8504 provides Dolby aTrueHD and DTS-HD Master audio decoding, converts any video to 1080p through its HDMI output, and delivers 100 watts RMS for each of its seven channels. It also has three HDMI 1.3 repeater inputs, Anchor Bay's ABT2010 video processing chip, the SNAP room equalization system, and DualZone playback possibilities.

If you change your mind about the streaming, both the R-774 and the RD-8504 work with Sherwood's optional Sherwood BT-R7 Bluetooth receiver, which docks on the front panel of either unit for streaming audio from any Bluetooth A2DP source device.

For something a little different, Sherwood also announced the BDP-5004 Blu-ray player. Coming in October for just $199.95, this Profile 2.0 player can play discs at 1080i, 1080p60 and 1080p24, and also scale standard-def discs to 720p, 1080i or 1080p (via the HDMI 1.3 output). It also supports, BD-Live, Deep Color, XV Color, and support for the latest audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus.

For More Information:

• Sherwood America Home Page

Where to Buy:

• Sherwood receivers and more on Amazon.com