Go High-Tech for the Super Bowl

Feb. 04, 2005 — -- The Big Game is a big opportunity to ramp up your home theater and get a few gizmos that will make your Super Bowl party truly super. According to the National Retail Federation, consumers will buy an estimated 1.7 million new TV sets in the weeks leading up to the big game. Another survey from the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association puts total Super Bowl spending at $5.3 billion. Here are some gadgets and high-tech devices for all budgets to spruce up Super Bowl Sunday.

Sony Location-Free TV, 7-inch size, $800

Don't miss a second of the game -- even when you are in the bathroom. Sony has released two wireless LCD TVs in a 12.1-inch size and 7-inch size. Using a Wi-Fi network, you can roam around your home watching TV. For the big game, I'd station this TV in either the kitchen or the bathroom (but wash your hands if you move between the two).

For $800, this TV does a lot more than just allow you to watch wirelessly in your own home. It does something called location shifting -- basically you connect the base station to your TV source at home and you can connect the Location Free unit to the Internet anywhere in the world to access and watch the media on your home system.

Logitech Z-5450 Surround Sound Speakers, $500

Logitech has taken the biggest hassle of surround sound and made it simple by making wireless. The front three speakers for this 5:1 surround sound system are traditionally wired through the system's powerful subwoofer. But the back two need only to plug into a power outlet and they receive an audio signal wirelessly.

To date, wireless speakers have been sub-par, but when I tried these I was pleasantly surprised with their easy installation, sound quality and consistent performance without interference. Before you buy these, find out what kind of audio inputs and outputs you have. Will you need a receiver to manage all your devices and input/output issues?

Vizio P50HDM, 50-inch size for $2,500

Vizio, a three-year-old company founded by the people who built a very reputable monitor company, Princeton Graphics, is making its grab at the plasma landscape with a price-conscious, big-screen display that brings quality and affordability into the same sentence. The P50HDM does not have an HD tuner built in, it's HD-ready, but this shouldn't be a problem for the serious HD football fan. Most high-def pigskin buffs are using cable or satellite HD boxes that will flawlessly pump ABC's 720P high-def signal right into an HD-ready screen. Vizio sells its monitors at Sam's Club and Costco.