Weekly Site Roundup (12/08/03)

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT - Holiday Special
Home Theater Gifts For Mom
The holiday shopping season is now in full swing, but you having trouble finding that "perfect" gift for Mom. For some great gift ideas that Mom might really enjoy, check out my list of favorite Home Theater Gifts for Mom.

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT - Holiday Special
Home Theater Gifts For Dad
Don't worry, I am not trying to leave out the Dads out there. If you are still undecided as to what to get Dad for the holidays, then check out a variety of home theater gifts for Dad in several price ranges.

HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES
So Farewell...Amp and Deck, as Buyers Ditch Hi-Fi In Favour Of DVD (Independent Digital - UK)
Sony Pares Back Specs For All-in-One PSX Console (USA Today)
Samsung Electronics Announces 57-Inch TFT-LCD Panel For HDTVs (Widescreen Review)
Electronics Prices Getting Lower At Greater Number Of Stores (Jewish World Review)
DTS Entertainment Earns Eight Nominations For The 2003 Surround Music Awards (Widescreen Review)
HDTV Sales Jump 50% (Home Theater Magazine)
Playboy To Launch Spice HDTV (TV Predictions)

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
Yamaha CDR-HD1300 CD Recorder - Hard Drive Combo
The CDR-HD1300 is a CD recorder/hard drive combo with a hard drive capacity of 80GB. This is enough space to store 120 CDs! You can also dub from external analog or digital audio sources to the HD or dub from CD to HD at 10x speed and then record from the HD to CDR at 8x or CDRW at 4x speed. You also have the option of playing music from either the hard drive or CD. The CD-1300 also has CD-Text capability.
Manufacturer's Site

FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
Litpics
Add real atmosphere to your home theater with customized marquees by Litpics

Wraith Loudspeakers
Check out the unusual flat panel loudspeakers and subwoofers from Wraith...and, they also sound great!

FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
Dolby 5.1 On The Cheap...
From HardcoreHK9:
Hi, all. I have a cheap bookshelf audio system that is supposedly able to process Dolby 5.1 audio. In order to really get the Dolby effect, though, you've got to plug into 5 discrete inputs, rather than the standard L/R pair for a stereo signal. I've never seen a DVD player or other component that's got 5 plugs coming out of it. Is there a decoder or something that needs to be in between in order to take advantage of the 5.1?
Join in on the discussion.

ELSEWHERE ON ABOUT.COM
Portable Entertainment: MP3 Players
Check out the latest top portable MP3-CD players

FROM THE MAILBOX
From Chris:
Your articles on televisions have been very helpful, but I do have a couple quick questions for you. I have a digital cable box in the room where I will eventually put a large screen television. My two biggest concerns are:

1) Will the picture on a widescreen television look "stretched out" because its not HDTV even though its hooked up to a digital cable box?

2) I have quite a few DVD's that I bought in full screen versions and want to know how they will look on a widescreen television.

Any information you could provide would be very helpful.

From Your Guide:
In both cases, full screen DVDs and regular TV signals on a widescreen TV will exhibit black bars on the left and right side of the image (unless you set it to the stretch mode yourself).

One note: if you buy a widescreen TV -- make sure it has "orbiting" or a function that vibrates the edges of the image where black lines and the image meet -- this will prevent screen burn-in (the vibration is not visible to your eye).

SPECIAL FOR THE HOLIDAYS:

Holiday Shopping Resource Index
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

Submit your own product review to home theater! Just use the new handy form and your review and name will be posted on my site!

User Submission Form.

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

Feel free to email me at hometheater.guide@about.com
with your questions and/or comments.