Weekly Site Roundup (02/09/04)

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT
Power Mad! - How Much Amplifier Power Do You Really Need?
POWER! Its seems that power is the name of the game these days, in politics, business, relationships, and in home theater systems. You check out those ADs in the newspaper for a receiver or amplifier for your audio system and the one feature that sticks out is the Watts-Per-Channel rating. One receiver has 50 Watts-Per-Channel (WPC), another one has 75, and still another has 100. The more watts the better, right? Not Necessarily...

HOME ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NEWS HEADLINES
Circuit City Closing 19 Stores (TWICE)
Where Is ED WOOD? (Home Theater-About.com)
As Newcomers Swarm, Sony Girds for a Fight (NY Times)
TIVO Watchers Uneasy After Post-Super Bowl Reports (CNET)
Compromises Made in CD/DVD-Audio Dual Disc (Audio Revolution)
Pioneer To Acquire NEC Plasma Business (TWICE)
B&W Releases the Spherical Shaped PV1 Subwoofer (Audio Revolution)

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
Denon D-M71DVSXP Personal Home Theater System
Here is a great romantic home theater gift. The Denon D-M71DVSXP is no larger than a typical mini or micro-audio system, but combines a 20-watt-per-channel receiver with a progressive scan DVD player. In addition, the receiver includes Dolby Virtual Speaker technology, that allows the listener to experience 5.1 channel surround sound with just the two provided loudspeakers. As an added bonus, this unit also features Dolby Headphone, which also creates surround sound for private listening.

FEATURED LINKS THIS WEEK
Accell Cables
Manufacturer of cables and interconnects for audio, video, home theater, computers, and networking applications.
Featured in the Home Theater - Cables and Interconnects Subject Page.

FROM THE HOME THEATER FORUM
DLP Projectors
From ZILLIAN1:
I'm looking to buy a DLP projector for my apartment. The room it will be going in is approx. 20 x 12 with 9 foot ceilings. I don't have millions of dollars but would love to be able to do this for under $2000 and if I have to add improvements when I can afford. I have looked at a few on the web from Epson, Infocus, Sony, etc. I have read the articles here about projectors but it seems that not to many people use them. Infocus has one on there website selling for about $1200. The lumens of a projector seem to be very important. Would a 1000 lumens be enough to view video from a HDTV receiver and DVD player? Does the room have to be really dark to get a good picture?
Join in on the discussion.

ELSEWHERE ON ABOUT.COM
Top Romantic Movies On DVD/Video
Valentine's Day is coming up fast. Suprise your loved one with some great romantic films for the occasion, as chosen by Ivan Redwine, About Guide To Home Video/DVD

FROM THE MAILBOX
From ST:
If I record a DVD in USA - obviously NTSC system - will it be playable in Europe - PAL system? The User in Europe has a PAL system and I assume that a DVD recorded on a personal system here should be able to run on any system since the region coding should not exist on the DVD+R that we burn at home.... After all it is a series of "0's" and "1's" which any system should be capable of reading.... Is there anything else involved that would prevent the DVD to be played in Europe?!

From Your Guide:
If you record a DVD in the U.S. on an NTSC DVD recorder -- it will not play on a PAL DVD player -- along with 1's and 0's -- the code for NTSC or PAL is also included - which is a separate issue than region coding -- region coding only affects commercially made DVDs, but the PAL and NTSC compatibility is dependent on what video system is used in the country where the DVD is to be viewed no matter if it is commercially made or home made.

This is why when you buy most DVD movies, along with the region code information, the box should also have an NTSC or PAL label.

The only exception to this is if the DVD player has a built-in NTSC/PAL converter.

http://hometheater.about.com/cs/consumerresources/a/aawhosyourpala.htm

However, most DVD-ROM drive software for PCs allow NTSC or PAL selection, which can allow NTSC or PAL DVDs to be played on a PC and viewed on a PC monitor.

FINAL WORDS

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.