Weekly Site Roundup (06/23/03)
ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT
Who's Your PAL?
A relative living in the U.K. sends you a copy of a favorite BBC TV Show but the tape doesn't play correctly on your VCR. You are traveling in Eastern Europe and you can't view your Camcorder footage on the Hotel TV. You are a victim of differing video standards in use throughout the world. Why is this? Just read the above article for all the details. Newly updated for 2003.
HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES
DVD Pulls Ahead of VHS (Stereophile Guide To Home Theater)
'03 DTV Sales Top 1 Million Mark (TWICE)
Polk Audio Introduces the New RTi Series (Audio Revolution)
DVD-Audio Making Noise (Stereophile Magazine)
Sony's New Dual-Format Home DVD Recorder (Gizmodo/NY Times)
Sony Qualia Announced (Stereophile Magazine)
Circuit City Q1 Loss Soars To $44 Million (TWICE)
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
Sony RDR-GX7 DVD Recorder
Here is the long-awaited DVD recorder from Sony that takes video recording to the next level. What separates this DVD recorder from others currently on the market is that it can record in both the DVD+RW and DVD-R/-RW formats for maximum flexibility with almost all standard DVD players. In addition, it also has an iLink input for dubbing from digital camcorders and progressive scan outputs for optimum DVD playback capability. The suggested price is $799.
Manufacturer's Site
FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
SVS Subwoofers
Cjheck out the critically acclaimed lineup of subwoofers from SVS.
Featured in the Loudspeaker Subject Page.
Advent
Formerly a well-know name in loudspeakers, the Advent name is on a line of affordable high-performance televisions.
Featured in the Television Subject Page.
Stanley Furniture
Stanley offers a complete line of home and office furniture, with a few offerings tailored to the home theater enthusiast.
Featured in the Furniture Subject Page.
FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
Throwaway DVDs
From RR:
Oh, I love this.
(1) Buy cheap ($5) disposable DVD.
(2) Rip video off DVD with DeCSS decoder.
(3) Write decrypted video to cheap ($1) DVD-R with cheap ($150) DVD writer.
(4) Throw away disposable DVD.
It's better than rental, because it's an untraceable cash transaction. You'll be able to buy them in gas station checkout lines. And it gets funnier because the costs of items in step (3) are going to go lower and lower. I wouldn't be surprised if prices for DVD-R media and drives drop to $0.25 and $60 respectively within about 1 year.
Join in on the discussion.
ELSEWHERE ON ABOUT.COM
Product Review: Garmin Geko 201 Handheld GPS
If you expect to do a lot of outdoor traveling this Summer, make sure you don't get lost. Ric Manning, About Guide For Portable Entertainment has a review of the new Garmin Geko Handheld GPS Unit.
FROM THE MAILBOX
From Val:
PLEASE CLARIFY IF DVD RECORDERS WITH PROGRESSIVE SCAN WILL PLAY ON OLDER TYPES OF TV WHICH DO NOT HAVE A PROGRESSIVE SCAN. ALSO PLEASE CLARIFY IF DVD PLAYERS RECORDING ON DVD-RAM TYPE OF DISCS ARE ABLE TO PLAY THEM ALSO (I MEAN LESS EXPENSIVE MODELS LIKE PANASONIC DMR-E20)
REGARDS AND THANK YOU
From Your Guide:
In order to take advantage of the progressive scan function -- both the DVD player AND the TV must be progressive scan capable -- the reason being that the TV has to be able to read and display the progressive scan image. A regular analog TV without progressive scan cannot do this. However, all progressive scan DVD players and recorders can output a standard non-progressive scan signal as well.
Let me know if this info helps.
FINAL WORDS
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.
Home Theater Magazine.
Stereophile Guide To Home Theater.
Stereophile Magazine.
Lastly, I would like your feedback on this Weekly Site Update Page. If you have any comments, either positve or negative, just let me know.
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.
For a look at earlier Home Theater Nooz and Vewz Weekly Updates, CLICK HERE
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email me at hometheater.guide@about.com
with your questions and/or comments.
