Weekly Site Roundup (01/05/04)
ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT
Home Theater 2003 - A Look Back - And A Peek At 2004
Although 2003 was a mixed year for CE retailing, that didn't stop manufacturers from introducing new products for the consumer. Despite the Iraq war and economic doom sayers, the U.S. economy proved itself resilient. As a result technology and product innovation continued unabated across all consumer electronics categories. Check out some of the newsworthy highlights from 2003 and preview of what may be ahead in 2004.
HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES
High-res Discs Miss The Holidays (Audio Revolution)
Digital TV Broadcasting Delay Becoming Costly (Korea Times)
Canon, Toshiba Seed Venture For SED Flat TVs (EE Times)
Gadgets To Garbage (The Christian Science Monitor)
Sharp To Invest 841 Million Dollars To Boost LCD production (Yahoo News)
HD Radio Goes Live (Stereophile)
CBS And Sony Electronics Team Up To Broadcast Super Bowl XXXVIII And AFC Playoffs In HDTV (Widescreen Review)
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
Yamaha YHT-100 Home Theater-In-A-Box
If you already have a DVD player, and are looking for basic home theater system below $300 that will add a little "spice" to your movie viewing, then check out the Yamaha YHT-100. Featuring a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital/DTS/Pro-Logic II AV receiver with 75WPC, digital and analog AV inputs, plus a 100 Watt powered subwoofer and all needed satellite speakers, this system is a great buy for the budget minded who have a smaller-than-average room for TV and home theater.
FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
CES (Consumer Electronics Show
The official web-site of the annual Consumer Electronics Show, held every January in Las Vegas.
Featured in the Consumer Resources Subject Page.
T.H.E. Show
The official website of T.H.E. (The Home Entertainment Show); a separate, audiophile-oriented trade show held parallel to the CES in Las Vegas every January.
Featured in the Consumer Resources Subject Page.
FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
Can Rabbit Ears Get HDTV?
From PBPERSSON:
My wife and I will be purchasing an HDTV set in the near future. The set we like the best has a built-in HDTV tuner. Can I just attach an indoor antenna and get an HDTV picture?
I have seen ads for special HDTV antennas but I am wondering how much of the signal an HDTV set needs to construct the picture? I have been trying out rabbit ears with a 13-inch analog set and on VHF and UHF I can get a picture that's fine to watch - but not perfect.
Also, when the HDTV signal fades, does the picture degrade like digital satellite where you can see some bits that are confused because the system doesn't know how to construct the picture? My impression of broadcast HDTV is that if any bits are missing the entire picture vanishes.
My fear is that if I cannot get PERFECT analog today in my location I will get ABSOLUTELY no HDTV. We are really buying this large TV to watch widescreen movies and to be ready for HDTV as the country converts. I don't want to fool with an outdoor antenna, I would rather wait until there is more HDTV on cable.
JOIN IN ON THE DISCUSSION!
FROM THE MAILBOX
From Russ:
I am considering purchasing a DVD recorder. Although I have read several of your articles, I am still not completely clear on a few points. Any answers you would share would be greatly appreciated.
1) Lets say I had just completed an edited version of my vacation and I wanted to send copies to several friends: Am I correct that the only way to know if they all could play what I send them is to know the format of their individual DVD player and send them my DVD in that format?
In order to be able to send them any format I would have to have a DVD recorder that records in all formats, and I find that only the Sony RDR-GX7 is capable of this. Is this correct? 2) Do DVD recorders record onto CDs as well? If so, could not a DVD you have recorded then be recorded onto a CD format and sent to everyone who has a CD player?
3) Several DVD recorders list a feature that enables you to record directly from your digital camera. I have an analog High 8 camcorder... can I record from it onto DVD as well? Or, would I have to record first to a VHS tape and then from a VCR to the DVD?
4) How could I record vinyl albums played on my turntable to CDs or DVDs using my DVD recorder?
5) Basically, I want to purchase a DVD recorder to do the following, listed in order of importance. What unit or units would you recommend, if possible under $750? Record existing VHS tapes to DVD or CD Create DVDs or CDs of vacations, events, etc. recorded with a digital camera, analog High 8 camcorder, and hopefully soon in the future a new digital camcorder. I could do the editing on my computer, but I do have access to a good friend's professional video studio for little cost. Record existing vinyl albums to DVD or CD. Use the DVD recorder like a VCR. Thank you for your time, and in advance for you answers.
From Your Guide:
Thank you for your questions:
1. Basically, all DVD players play the standard commercial DVD-Video format (DVD movies you buy at the store), however, DVD recorders intended for consumer use, record in some variant of this technology (the reasons which have to do with both political and technological considerations, which are too complex to be addressed here).
Just as outlined in my DVD FAQs there are five formats for consumer DVD recording. Whether or not a specific DVD you make is playable on a specific DVD player, loosely depends on the following:
A. The age of the DVD player -- most DVD players made 2001 and later can play most of the recordable DVD formats as they have incorporated the needed firmware to do so.
B. Whether or not the DVD player manufacturer has made the effort to obtain the needed firmware upgrades that allow the playing of one or more of consumer DVD recorder formats.
Just as a side note -- this issue also presents itself in CD players -- some can play back both CDRs and CDRWs just fine -- but some can't play CDRWs for instance, and few CD players can't play CDRs.
Most of the current DVD players on the market will list in their spec sheets, whether they can play a particular recordable DVD format, but most DVD players do not specifically list these capabilities -- it is trial and error -- as a rule, however, most DVD players are most compatible with DVD-R, which is the most commonly used consumer DVD recording format. If a DVD player cannot play DVD-R, chances are slim that it will be able to play the other formats.
One resource you can use to find out if a specific DVD player is compatible with the various recordable DVD formats is:
DVDRHelp http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers
Some additional notes on DVD player compatibility, check out the following resource:
2. As of this time standalone DVD recorders do not record on CDs, however, there are several DVD/CD writer combo drives available for home PCs. In other words, a standalone DVD recorder will not be able record video or audio onto a CD, however, all DVD recorders can play back music CDs, CDrs and CDRWs made on CD audio recorders or PC-CD writers. Some DVD recorders can also play back VCDs made on PCs as well.
3. Any DVD recorder can record from any analog video source, such as VCR or camcorder using standard AV inputs, just as would on a VCR. DVD recorders also have built-in tuners for recording TV programs.
However, some DVD recorders do have iLink or firewire inputs that enable direct digital video recording from a miniDV or Digital8 camcorder -- howeve, since digital camcorders also have standard analog video outputs, you can still record from them to a DVD recorder that does not have digital video inputs as well.
Some DVD recorders also have card slots to enable the download of still photos taken on a digital camera -- but you can connect the digital still camera directly to a DVD recorder, unless the digital camera also has an analog video connector (some do).
4. Recording onto DVD requires both a video and an audio signal to keep everything synchronized - You cannot use your DVD recorder to record vinyl records onto DVD, unless you set up some sort of companion video feed to piggyback the audio signal. Also, keep in mind that you can't play DVDs on CD players, so there is not advantage to do this. If you want to copy vinyl records onto CD, I would use a an audio-CD recorder or a PC-CD writer.
For examples of audio CD recorders - check out my current list:
http://hometheater.about.com/cs/toppicks/tp/aatpcdrecordera.htm
5. Subtracting the CD-recording capaibilities you are look for, there are many DVD recorder options available to you, with the Sony, indeed having the most format recording flexibility, however, there are other choices you can check out - here is my current list of favorites:
http://hometheater.about.com/cs/toppicks/tp/aatpdvdrecorder.htm
In addition, add the following to the list as well:
I hope this information has been helpful...
FINAL WORDS
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