Which flat-screen HDTV is right for your living room? Miracle at St. Anna director Spike Lee tests the best.

CINEPHILE
Pioneer Elite Kuro HDTV PRO-111FD 50-inch Plasma $5,000
The Lowdown: Home theater obsessives swear by Pioneer’s best sets, which for years have produced deeper blacks than anybody else’s in the game. Well, hold your Criterion Collection—the new ’08 models make darks five times dark­er. An “optimum mode” uses light and sound sensors to automatically calibrate the brightness level and ambient light color in your porno lair, er, home theater.
Spike’s Take: “It’s not a scientific test, but obviously this set is gorgeous. Everybody knows about Pioneer Kuros. I have two of ’em in my offices.”

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It still amazes me that people will shell out big money for TVs that look amazing and then suffer through the crap-tastic audio that comes plopping out of wimpy, built-in speakers. Vizio's latest plasma comes with a wireless sub and two rear satellites, which turn the three speakers integrated into the panel into a Dolby Digital 5.1 system. It's a great idea and eliminates much of the set up and many of the ugly cords, which are most of the reason people aren't using surround sound in the first place. The rest of the specs include 3 HDMIs, 2 component hook-ups, a 15,000:1 contrast ratio and an estimated 27 years before it goes to half-brightness. It's obviously not designed for A/V nerds—it doesn't do 1080p, gasp!—but it's a solid solution for people looking to step up their movie-watching.

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