Weekly Site Roundup (08/02/04)
ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT
Top Picks - 27-Inch Analog and HD-Compatible Flat Tube Televisions
Although the trend these days is towards both HDTV and larger screen televisions, not all consumers have the space or the budget. The basic 27-inch Television is still highly desirable for a large number of consumers. However, there are growing number of 27-inch televisions that are now also HDTV-compatible, bringing the benefits of HDTV to a broader customer base. Check out my latest suggestions for 27-inch televisions that include both analog and HD-compatible units.
HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES
Sony Adds HD PVRs, New HDTVs (TWICE)
DVD Burning: Can You Be Sued For Doing It? (The Straits Times)
Polk Introduces New Home Theater Speaker Systems (Home Toys)
Recall Of TV/VCR Combos Announced (CPSC)
Sony Keeps Top Spot In Plasma Display Market (TWICE)
Prosecutors: Call Of The DVD Caused Fatal Crash (AP via The Detroit Free Press)
Music Pirate Sales Hit Record 1.1 Billion Discs (ProSound News)
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
Toshiba SD-3960 Budget DVD Player
This is an entry-level DVD player with a host of features: DVD, CD, MP3, WMA, and JPEG photoviewer compatibility. Other features include progressive scan with 3:2 pulldown for a more film-like look and virtual surround, which enables a surround sound effect when used with an ordinary two-channel stereo system. Of course 3960 has composite, S-video, and component video outputs, as well as digital optical and digital coaxial outputs for use with Dolby Digital/DTS AV Receivers.
FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
OmniMount
Save space show off your home theater components with the attractive racks and stands from Omnimount.
Featured in the Furniture/Media Storage H - O Category Page.
KRELL
Check out the ultimate in high end audio and home theater components from Krell.
Featured in the AV Receivers/Separates Manufacturers F - K Category Page.
FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
Plasma TV Forum
From SATIVA:
I own a 42" plasma monitor. I've experimented with a couple external TV tuners to turn the display monitor into a tv but have been let down by the lack of digital outputs from the tv tuner....I've tried AverMedia's TV Box 9, but with the RGB output the signal has a lot of noise....with the AverMedia Hotcha external tuner, the composite video out works better, but ideally I'd like an external tuner with a component video input and output.....do these exist?
Join in on the discussion.
ELSEWHERE ON ABOUT.COM
About Inventors - The Most Popular Inventors
Who is your most popular inventor? Mary Bellis, About Guide To Inventors and Inventors lists the most commonly known popular inventors.
FROM THE MAILBOX
From CL:
I have spent HOURS trying to figure out which companies manufacture DVD RECORDER/vcr combo units. Not just a DVD player but a DVD Recorder. Everywhere I go on the web takes me to DVD PLAYER/VCR combos. Can you steer me in the right direction to find what I'm looking for? After I find out this info, then I want to compare the units to each other.
From Your Guide:
DVD recorder/VCR combos have only been available for a very short time (since about last November) and so far there are less than a dozen available.
Here are some units you can check out:
JVC DRMV1S DVD/VCR Combo Recorder
http://erclk.about.com/?zi=5/Tma
The JVC JVC DRMV1S DVD recorder/VCR combo features dual tuners (this is only DVD recorder/VCR combo that has this feature at the time of this post - others could become available), enabling it to record two separate programs (one on the VCR and DVD recorder) at the same time. In addition, both the VCR and the DVD recorder share a single progressive scan video output; VHS tapes can be upscaled to 480p for better quality playback on that new HDTV! The DRMV1S records DVDs in the DVD-R/-RW/DVD-RAM formats, and the VCR section is four head HiFi Stereo. This unit also have both analog video and firewire inputs.
Panasonic DMR-E75S (past entire link into your browser)
http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=F&storeId=11251&catalogId=11005&itemId=70587&catGroupId=11058&modelNo=DMR-E75VS&surfModel=DMR-E75VS&ignoreRedirect=1
Go Video (two models)
http://www.govideo.com/Index.asp?GV=DVDRComboAll
Sansui (sold through SEARS)
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=ELEC&pid=05757103000
Zenith XBR413
Zenith
In addition, Pioneer will also be introducing a DVD recorder/VCR combo around September 2004 to sell for about $500.
Keep in mind that DVD recorder/VCR combos cannot be used to copy commercially made DVD movies to VHS or commercially made VHS movies to DVD, due to anti-copy encoding on about 90% of such products. You can use a DVD reccorder/VHS combo to dub and copy homemade recordings (such as camcorder tapes, television recordings, etc...)
Let me know if this info helps and if you need more specifics.
FINAL WORDS
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If you need more great info on home theater and audio, with an emphasis on the higher end, be sure to check out About.com's related partner sites:
Audio Video Interiors (The Connected Guide To The Digital Home).
Home Theater Magazine.
Stereophile Ultimate AV.
Stereophile Magazine.
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A Special Reminder: Although I update this site regularly, sometimes I miss broken links, this is especially a concern as old product listings expire and new ones have different link addresses. If you encounter any broken links in my articles or listings, just bring it to my attention so I can correct the address or delete it from the site if it has expired and can no longer be accessed.
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