The idea is simple: if you go flat, why keep all of the other home-theater clutter around? Many experts will tell you that the clutter is still necessary to peak out performance, and at 35 watts per channel the PX2 is not going to blow you away. But in a college dorm or cramped urban space, it'll give you all the movie sound and picture you need.

The system is a "universal" player — one of Sharp's first. That means that, in addition to DVD movies, CDs and CD-Rs full of MP3s, it can play DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD surround-sound discs. I tested Linkin Park's "Reanimation" DVD-A and several SACDs, including Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" and The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" remixes. The player recognized the different formats immediately, and they all sounded great. (It was even easy to switch from stereo to multichannel SACD quickly, something that other universal players have trouble with.)

The PX2 doesn't come with speakers, but that's probably a good thing, given the overall low quality of most sub-$1,000 home-theater-in-a-box audio. The set I tested with it is generally attached to a much more powerful amp (110 watts per channel), so it took everything the PX2 could give it with only a slightly tinny feel in the mid-range. The safe thing to do would be to talk to the speaker experts at better electronics stores, and see what advice they have for a match-up.

While the PX2 doesn't make sense for the big basement home theater, it is ideal for bedrooms and dens, where you want entertainment without all of the fuss. You can plug in the audio of a cable box and a VCR at the same time, and there's even a digital audio input for a second DVD player. The step-up products — the $1,199 SD-HX500 and the $1,499 SD-HX600 — both have 100 watts per channel. The HX600 also has the ability to act as an A/V switcher, so you can run other video equipment through it, keeping the sound and video synched up and ready to respond to one-touch commands.