Weekly Site Roundup (12/01/03)
ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT
Budget Projection Television
Your shopping for a big screen TV for the holidays, but those Plasma Televisions are just not in your budget. Why not consider a rear projection TV? OK, so you can't hang it on the wall, and the cabinet takes up more space, but for about one-half to one-third the price of a 42-50 inch Plasma TV, you can get a rear projection TV with the same screen size, and with the same features (many with HDTV upgradability) and, in many cases, better overall picture quality. With the money you save you can get a DVD player and modest home theater audio system to go with it! Check out some of my Budget Projection Television favorites updated for the Holidays.
HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES
U.S. Gov’t Imposes Antidumping Penalties (TWICE)
Pre-dawn Shoppers Visit Stores For Holiday Season's Best Deals (USA Today)
Pirate DVD Cash 'Going To al-Qaida' (Edinburgh Times Evening News)
New DVD Format Approved (ABC News)
China's EVD Spec Enters Digital Video Fray (EE Times)
Niche Flix Offers Multi-Region DVD & D-VHS Rentals (Widescreen Review)
First Delivery Of DVDPlus (Stereophile)
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
JVC LT-26WX84 26-inch LCD TV
Get in on the flat panel television craze with this new unit from JVC. The LT-26WX84 features a 26-inch 16x9 screen, built-in NTSC tuner, 1024x768 pixel resolution, HD-upgradability, 500:1 contrast ratio, progressive scan, and internal stereo amplifier with side mounted speakers. Although a lot more expensive than a traditional TV of this screen size, you still owe it to yourself to check out the space saving, stylish, and high performance that this LCD TV can deliver.
FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
UPREZ
Information on DTV and HDTV, including current news and informative articles on the topic of HDTV.
Featured in the Magazines/Ezines and Televisions/Displays Subject Pages.
FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
DVD REGION CODING/LOCK
From KATMOR1:
DVD coding drives me nuts! So does the NTSC & PAL stuff. It annoys me to know end when I want a DVD but I can't order it because it's not coded for North America. Unfortunately after I already bought my DVD player, I saw one advertised for both formats. Sorry, I'm not paying for another DVD player. There must have been a better way to stop coping of DVD's.
Join in on the discussion.
FROM THE MAILBOX
From Greg:
I hope you can help. I found your name on a google search. I have a Philips dvdr985 machine. It was working OK until I ran out of blank dvds purchased about a year ago.
I went to best buy today and first brought home dvd+r TDK discs. After about a minute of recording, the machine would stop recording, and I'd get weird error number codes on the display.
I returned the TDKs, thinking that since they were capable of 4X speed, they might be too new. So, I bought some Fuji dvd+r discs that weren't 4X. Same exact problem.
Is there an update to make the machine compatible with the new recordable discs? It seems strange to me that after only 2 years that philips machine would be totally incompatible with all new dvd media. Is that the case?
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
From Your Guide:
What is the exact error message? If it is AB F09B06 or AB FFDOE6, these are known bugs and can be resolved by ordering the latest firmware upgrade (ask for FF12T) from Philips directly by calling 1-800-531-0039 (7-days a week). It is a CD that you insert into the DVD recorder that upgrades the operating system to eliminate some of the bugs. The upgrade takes about 2-3 days by UPS or mail. BTW - the firmware upgrade is FREE.
Also, the same firmware upgrade also includes all the earlier upgrades -- including the one that allows for the use of 4X speed discs.
If you order the FF12T upgrade it will contain the contents of any previous upgrades that relate to your machine -- basically, when loaded, your 985 should have almost all the same operating specs as the newer DVDR75, including MP3-CD compatibility and the addition of two more recording speeds.
For more information on bugs an upgrades, check out the resources at:
Let me know if this info helps.
SPECIAL FOR THE HOLIDAYS:
Holiday Shopping Resource Index
Halloween is over, the Thanksgiving turkey is slow cooking in the oven. Dad's in the basement getting that old furnace started back up, and its time to get those winter clothes out of the closest. The winter holiday shopping crunch is now upon us. Buying decisions need to be made. Where do you start? Before heading out the door with newspapter AD in hand, check out my Holiday Shopping Resource Index. The index includes several important resources for a successful holiday shopping experience, includng: Shopping Survival Guide, What's Hot and Not, Before You
Buy information for a variety of products, and Home Theater Top Product Picks. This resource in the perfect jumping off point for every Home Theater or Gadget Holiday Shopper.
FINAL WORDS
Special Announcement: My homepage has a new look with daily news postings in addition to my weekly article postings. Be sure to check out the new look at: About Home Theater
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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with your questions and/or comments.
