Weekly Site Roundup (11/29/04)

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT

HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES Toshiba Announces The Next-Generation DVD Format Endorsement By Major Hollywood Studios (Widescreen Review)
Cambridge Professor Debuts New WEDGE LCD (Audioholics)

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
Sony KV-30HS420 16x9 HD-Compatible Flat Tube Television
Sony's KV-30HS420 shows that you don't need to spend a lot of money for an HDTV. This 30" 16x9 TV features a Flat Trinitron picture tube. Also included: progressive scan with 3-2 reverse pulldown for a more film-like image on DVDs and HDTV sources. This unit also has input and output options to complement your home theater including: A/V (Composite), S-Video, Component Video, Front A/V (Composite), Front S-Video, HDMI-HDCP, and standard audio outputs. Be sure to check out the Sony KV-30HS420.

FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
Optoma
Video display solutions for home and business. Includes a full line of DLP and LCD video projectors, as well as rear projection TVs.
Featured in the Television I-Q Category Page.

Hsu Research True Subwoofers
Check out the award-winning subwoofer lineup from Hsu Research.
Featured in the Loudspeakers F-J Category Page.

FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
...Making a DVD for Europe
From PC:
My son wants to make a DVD to send to someone in Lithuania of a wedding movie from a digital camcorder. I know just a little about regions and DVD players. Does he have to specify a region code when writing it or how does he make it so it is usable in Europe (Lithuania)?
Join in on the discussion.

ELSEWHERE ON ABOUT.COM
Top 5 Digital Camera Binoculars
If you are looking for a great gift this holiday season, check out a Digital Camera/Bincolar combination. Check out some great suggestions from Michael Carr, About Cameras Guide.

FROM THE MAILBOX
From Ricardo:
I recently purchased my first HTIB, an entry level Onkyo system. The system allows me to vary the "crossover" between 60 and 150 Hz. I have no idea what this means, let alone which setting is most appropriate for my speakers.

Would you kindly explain what crossover is; and, suggest a procedure I can follow to optimize the crossover setting?

From Your Guide:
The crossover is the frequency at which the system sends bass signals to the subwoofer. In other words, if the setting is set to 150HZ, this means that frequencies of 150HZ and below will be sent only to the subwoofer and frequencencies above witll only be sent to the main or satellite speakers -- by the same token, if the setting is set to 60HZ, then the frequencies of 60HZ and below are sent to subwoofer and not to the main or satellite speakers -- usually, in a home theater in a box system that uses smaller bookshelf or satellite speakers, it is best to use the 150HZ setting as smaller speakers typically don't reproduce frequencies below 150HZ very well. However, you can switch it to each setting to see what sounds best to you.

For more information on this, check out my article...:

Subwoofers - What You Need To Know.

FINAL WORDS

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User Submission Form.

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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with your questions and/or comments.