"Interface Time"

That’s how potential home theater buffs feel when buying or installing a new HDTV or surround receiver. The picture is sharper than ever. Surround effects from a rented DVD can be just amazing. But while the technology itself is great, the means of implementing it is complicated, confusing, and sometimes just plain infuriating.

We’ve got too many jacks on the back panel, too many options in the menu, and too many stunted phrases in too many pages of instruction manuals. The average consumer feels unnerved and inadequate, as though running his own gear were like slicing open his own chest cavity.