Sony's 3 New A/V Receivers: Very Nice

If you are in the market for a A/V receiver, Sony might be the place to look. Today Sony announced 3 receivers as a part of their "Elevated Standard" (ES) line. All three have ipod integration as well as Sony's Digital Media Port, which will allow features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and connection dock for Sony's Network Walkman line.

The receivers can upscale non-HD content up to 1080p with an HDMI connection and is Blu-Ray ready, and can handle 1080/60p and 24p video from other sources. The STR-DA3300ES is available in August with a price of $1000, the STR-DA5300ES is released in September for $1700 and the STR-DA4300ES is coming out in October for $1300.

Hit the jump to read more. [Sony Press Release via Crunchgear]

Tivo Series 3 Lite: $299

The one thing that I absolutely love about Tivo is the UI. The HD-DVR that the cable company stuck me with just plain out sucks! If you ever used Tivo you know how easy, user friendly, and just out right smarter than anything out there. But the only problem is that Tivo's Series 3 HD-DVR came out at an insane $799, which priced it's self right out of the market, especially when you could rent a HD-DVR for $10 a month from the cable company (no matter how bad it sucks).

So Tivo decided to lower the price to $499, which was a step in the right direction but still up there. The CEO of Tivo Tom Rogers agreed, and now Tivo's new Series 3 Lite has come out at a more reasonable $299. The TS3L has a 160GB HDD compared to the 250GB from the TS3, and it doesn't have the OLED display or THX certification, and they left out the nifty remote controller.

Sounds fair for the price. No word on the availability, but it should be soon.

Hit the jump for more of the deetz. [ARS Technica via Crunchgear]