Xmas Tech

News, discussion and questions about technology and computers, whether broadcast-related or not.

Postby PMC » Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:11 pm

Anybody going for specific tech toys for Christmas or for the Boxing Day blow ?

I am curious if many are buying the tech toys or if the funds are going to other forms of use.

An iPod or a quick trip to Hawaii being a sample of choice etc.
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Postby jon » Fri Dec 22, 2006 7:40 am

A few weeks ago, I received a small wireless mouse as part of my annual order of IBM logoware. Just before that, I bought Readerware's series of CD, DVD and book cataloguing software with the free CueCat barcode reader.

I just bought a LITE-ON LVW-5005 deck (i.e. - stand-alone, that hooks to your TV and stereo system) that records both DVDs and CDs. $99.95 unadvertised (not even on Web site last time I checked) at Best Buy. Wanted it as a backup to my TASCAM DP-01 digital audio recorder, including when I want to record two radio stations at the same time, for comparison purposes, but mostly if the DP-01 fails: certainly possible, since I just got it back after nearly 3 months of warranty repair.

But mainly, I wanted it for creating demos of TV voice-over work, so that I can create them from existing DVDs being played on my Pioneer DVD recorder. Yes, there are other ways to do that, but this made the most sense.

I also wanted to have a DVD recorder and player upstairs in my office/audio studio, other than the DVD-RW drive on my computer, so that I can watch or listen to DVDs in better quality on my computer monitor and/or sound system. And, finally, it will allow me to record two TV shows at the same time. Such as when TCM and AMC are both playing interesting movies when I'd rather be sleeping.

I have a fair size shopping list for the New Year, after I retire on Jan. 5th. Thermostat with remote sensor and remote control. New smoke/CO detectors to replace the ones that came with the house in my parents' and our houses.

I am also investigating my TV system, now that Shaw is apparently delivering ALL of the regular analogue channels as digital feeds. At the same time, I want to see whether I should replace my Shaw digital box as they are apparently offering full-price trade-ins on my existing box. I have a Motorola DCT2500 and have really noticed an improvement in picture quality (with my LCD TV) when switching to S-Video cables from the standard RCA composite cable. It has got me wondering if I should convert to RCA-style component cables (3 video cables carry the signal), but most Shaw boxes don't offer the connections for them. Worst than that, I've long noticed (even with my 20 year old TV) signal problems on the analogue channels through the composite cable from the Shaw box -- it looks significantly worse than a direct coax feed to my receiver, not going through the Shaw box!

And, believe it or not, a model railroad for the shelf over the front entrance closet. Shooting for an Old West steam engine and cars as I will have lots of choices of scenery: Old West desert, mountains or California greenery.

Somewhere down the line, I'm also going to get a 4800dpi scanner so I can finally do some original graphics on Web sites, and preserve family photos before giving the originals to relatives who are asking for them.

As you can see, kind of pent up demand from years of retirement anticipation.
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Postby sparky » Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:47 am

I'm hoping for some new batteries for my Sony Walkman.
"You get a bunch of clowns together and sooner or later you've got a circus"
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Postby sparky » Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:12 pm

sparky wrote: I'm hoping for some new batteries for my Sony Walkman.

I got 'em in my stocking!

Thank you Santa.
"You get a bunch of clowns together and sooner or later you've got a circus"
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Postby johnsykes » Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:29 pm

I lined up at our local Superstore and bought a DVD player for $9.95.....now I can watch JAG - the first season. Geez, I think I done good, eh!!!
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Postby Mike Cleaver » Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:01 pm

New Sony Home Theatre receiver and upconverting Sony DVD player.
Gotta love those dvds in 1080!
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Postby jon » Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:56 pm

johnsykes wrote: I lined up at our local Superstore and bought a DVD player for $9.95.....now I can watch JAG - the first season. Geez, I think I done good, eh!!!

Second best price I've heard of. Visions was selling DVD players for $1 at noon today, but only 150 nation-wide, spread across all stores, so you can bet on what little chance you'd have had to pick one up.

Nice to see that Superstore actually had them in stock. I hate shopping at Superstore, but I have to admit that they are fairly reasonable about sales (actually having decent amounts of stock) and returns. A couple of weeks ago, I returned an item that had been on special, a week after the 14 day limit and got my money back, no questions asked. Guess it helped that I glued the box back closed to make it look like I never opened it.

My BenQ DQ60 DVD-RW drive died, so I bought two Mad Dog brand NEC-rebadges for $29.02 each at Office Depot. Really nice drives, but waiting for a response from Mad Dog on the latest firmware as the program you download from their site asks for a BIN file, but the site doesn't supply one. The software is pretty crippled, too. You can get Nero or Roxio, depending on the Mad Dog model number. The Nero software seems to have Dolby disabled on the player, which makes it practically useless. Dunno for sure as I haven't tried it. But I do know that the Roxio only creates VCDs, not DVDs. I don't care that much as it works fine with the BenQ DQ60's uncrippled, same version of Nero.

On the upside, these drives are the fastest for CD I've ever seen. And scored a perfect 10 on Nero's test for accuracy of Digital Audio Extraction.

Finally, I was very disappointed with BenQ telephone support. Although you get to a real technical person immediately when you call, both calls have said -- try DVD+R before we'll listen to your complaint about DVD-R. When you add up the cost of media I'd have to buy (DL and regular DVD+R), and the shipping to return the drive, it would come pretty close to the $36 I paid for the BenQ in the first place. So, it is off to the eco Station.
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Postby jon » Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:10 pm

Mike Cleaver wrote: New Sony Home Theatre receiver and upconverting Sony DVD player.
Gotta love those dvds in 1080!

Actually, I was amazed at how good regular DVDs look when you pick the Wide Screen versions and play them on an HD TV, assuming your DVD player has Progressive Scan, 16:9 output capabilities and component cables.

I just wish the whole HD DVD format controversy would end, prices would fall on DVD recorders and players, and DVDs were generally available in that new format at the same price we are paying now for regular DVDs.

I'm not willing to shell out for a Shaw HD digital box, given the current selection of channels. But I shouldn't hold my breath as TCM (my favourite channel, by far) themselves doesn't even broadcast in HD, and has not announced any plans to.

On the up side, Shaw has begun feeding all of their regular channels in digital, in parallel with the analogue versions. Their new $98 digital box has no analogue capabilities, so they had to. Unfortunately, the new box only has coax and composite output. Not even S-VHS, let alone component or digital (HDMI, etc.). The forums says that you can get your older Shaw digital box to pickup the regular channels in digital, instead of analogue, but it is hard to find a Shaw person who will actually do it for you.
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Postby phukurnutz » Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:23 pm

Mike Cleaver wrote: New Sony Home Theatre receiver and upconverting Sony DVD player.
Gotta love those dvds in 1080!

Um... sorry to break it to you, but Sony is shit! Not the shit, but 100% pure digestive waste. You should have saved a few more pennies and bought a real amp like a Denon, Marantz or Onkyo. If you've ever listened to them side by side, you'd quickly realize how brutual sounding the Sony is.

Sony is all about distorting the signal to make sound, while the real names in audio use discreet amplification to create sound and not some cheap computer chip. Brands like Sony/Panasonic/Kenwood etc. make cheap crap hoping suckers like you will buy into the BS like 1000 watts total power. On their best day, these manure pieces couldn't generate 200 watts let alone a 1000.

Best thing you can do is return the crap and wait till a real sale comes along... you can get a decent amp for around $700.00.

I'm left to wonder what type of speakers you are powering with that killer Sony amp, probably some $99.99 Future Shop knock offs complete with passive sub.
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Postby Mike Cleaver » Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:57 pm

I live in an apartment where you can't crank up the sound anyway.
And besides, if you look inside the fancy cases of ANY consumer electronics - you'll see the same components.
Most tv audio is crap.
I have a compressor on the output of my Shaw digital box in an attempt to level out audio signals that are all over the scale.
My speakers aren't crap but aren't some audiophool ripoffs either.
The setup suits me fine for the limited time I use it.
I had a Sony 28 inch colour tv that lasted 25 years before I scrapped it for an LCD.
It still worked with just slightly degraded colour saturation.
For critical listening, I have much better professional gear, which I also use for producing quality audio voice overs.
TV and DVD sound is not something I worry too much about as long as I can understand what's being said.
To each his (or her) own.
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Postby jon » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:15 pm

There were some decent sales on higher end brands/gear this year, too. Future Shop had a pair of Polk tower speakers on again this year for $150 (for the pair). Not as good a model as the Polks I bought last year from them for the same price (when they used to offer free shipping), but certainly respectable. Newer series, lesser model.

I'm not into subwoofers, just plain ordinary two speaker stereo. But I was amazed at what a difference the Polks made at the low end. Over my 20 year old high end (for Sony) Sony speakers. We thought a UPS truck was pulling up outside, when, in fact, it was outside the studio where an interview for the Classic Albums DVD we were watching was recorded. That low rumble.

A few months later (Spring 2006) I bought another pair of Polks for upstairs in my "budget-built" audio studio, and find them very useful to detecting low frequency issues with the stuff I'm producing. Saved over $100 by buying from JR.com instead of the best price I could find locally, even after the $75 U.S. UPS shipping charges, which include border brokerage. And, unlike Future Shop, J&R boxed each speaker separately for extra protection.
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Postby phukurnutz » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:22 pm

Mike Cleaver wrote: I had a Sony 28 inch colour tv that lasted 25 years before I scrapped it for an LCD.

Sony made a 28" tv? I know the shipping materials use to come with different sizes on them for North American and Europian markets, are you sure it wasn't a 25" tv?

What brand of LCD did you buy? The foreign house-brand stuff from FS, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and the other big box stores is a headache waiting to happen. The lights tend to burn out within a couple of years... see these off priced brands crank up the lighting to compensate for low color and contrast levels and therefore they tend to burn out fairly quick. The repair to replace the lights is more than the set originally cost.

I don't even suggest buying an LCD TV anyway if you can avoid it. Go plasma young man. The cost of HD sets from brand name manufacturers crashed before Xmas and some can now be had for less than $1500.00.

But if you only need a small set, then I guess your options were limited to crt or lcd.
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