High Definition Blog

Plasma Glare?

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:19:23 +0000

Well to be brutally truthful the plasmas will have a great deal of glare. Here are a couple of photos of my S1 Panasonic to explain it better:

That is me sitting on my couch and the light in the room is supplied by a full length door window to the left of my entertainment center. There is not enough light in the room to read by.

Just to show the screen with a dark scene picture on it as you can see the glare is still very noticeable. Now on sports programming where the screen is brightly lit, there is no noticeable glare at all.

Now light walls won’t necessarily be bothersome unless in the reflections there is a dark contrasting area as well such as the picture frames in the above examples. That’s when it gets objectionable for me. If the reflection was just a white wall, it would only deteriorate the super black levels, but not cause you to be seeing something in the reflection. It may be possible for you to tilt a reflective TV where it looks good during the brightly lit times, but still have the superior blacks and picture in the dark. Here is an example of a G20 with a couple of bright reflections to illustrate the issue of the problem with contrasting reflections. Those bright areas would show up in any dark scene just as they do with a totally black screen.

Thanks to soderholmd for the above photo who posted it on highdefforum.com of his G20.

Now going to an LCD is not necessarily going to get you a glare free screen because most of the brands have a reflective screen these days. My daughter has a Sharp LED backlit LCD and it has about the same glare as my Panny plasma. You have to shop around for a glare free HDTV that also has a good picture.

So if you are going to watch in a brightly lit room you can expect some glare. On the other hand in the dark you can not beat the picture of a plasma with any LCD.

Digital Optical Coax to Analog Stereo RCA Audio Converter Adapter

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:06:06 +0000

You have purchased a new HDTV and find the only audio output available is the digital optical and you have an older surround system that only uses stereo RCA analog connections. What to do? You don’t want to replace your old surround system just yet so you need a solution that will convert the digital optical to the stereo RCA analog. The handy box to the left is just for that purpose.

ASUS O!Play - TV HD Media Player

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:39:49 +0000

While moderating one of my forums last week someone ask me about the ASUS O!Play - TV HD Media Player. I was not familiar with it so I went digging. After reading about it, I was convinced this was a player I should have so I ordered one. Man it was all that and a bag of chips…

Read my report on this unit here:
ASUS O!Play - TV HD Media Player

Breaking News: X-Box 360 Will Support U-verse Later This Year!

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:59:40 +0000

For those people, such as me, who would like their Media Center PCs to have an application where they could work as a set top box with U-verse, the idea has moved one step closer to a possibility.

Announced at CES 2010 was the tremendous news that later this year X-Box owners will be able to use their consoles as a set top box for U-verse!

Here is the engadget story:

Xbox 360 will support AT&T’s U-Verse TV later this year

Hauppauge 1212 HD PVR Update

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:27:15 +0000

I have updated the page to reflect the new software version. The update is at the bottom of the page.

See: Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR Video Capture device

Media Center CableCARDs freed from OEM requirement

admin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:54:21 +0000

EngadgetHD is reporting a new card will be available for your Media Center PC without needing to get it within a bundled package.Â This means you can “roll your own” and be able to get all scrambled cable channels by renting a cable card from your cable company.

See: Media Center CableCARDs freed from OEM requirement//

Plasma vs LCD - The Next Format War?

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:01:12 +0000

Ever noticed this seems to be Format War II? People post inquiries on forums about LCD sets and within minutes they get a reply suggesting the poster should get a plasmas instead. Then the threads are deluged with posts about why plasma is superior to LCDs. They quote how misleading statements and facts have tainted the plasmas. LCD proponents don’t seem to jump on plasma inquiries in the same manner. Maybe since LCDs are selling so well they don’t feel they have to proselytize like plasma proponents do.

For the complete story click here: Plasma vs LCD - The Next Format War?

Another PS3 Remote Control Possibility

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:49:33 +0000

You have purchased a PS3 with the intentions of using it for a combination game player and Blu-ray player only to get it home to discover there is a big problem. It wonâ€™t integrate into your home theater remote controller because you find out the PS3 uses a bluetooth remote and you need a PS3 IR Remote Control. A possibility for this delima is the new Logitech PS3 Adapter shown to the left. From the Amazon website:

Logitech Harmony Adapter for PLAYSTATION 3
Finally, control movies on your PS3 â€” drama-free

Wish you could control all your movies, music, games and entertainment gearâ€”including your PLAYSTATION3â€”with one remote? Wish granted. Add one-touch PS3 control to any Harmony remote with the new Logitech Harmony Adapter for PLAYSTATION3. Now your entire entertainment system and every PS3 command is at your fingertips. Want to watch a DVD or Blu-ray Disc movie? Play a game? Turn the console on or off? Easy. Just press one button on the remote to experience instant entertainment gratification.

PS3 IR Remote Control

Analog No More? Or is it?

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:03:26 +0000

Well the long awaited date has come and gone for the analog cutoff. I woke up this morning to find, as expected, my ATSC tuner saying “NO SIGNAL” because not only did the analog go away for the station I was tuned to, but because that particular station reverted their digital frequency to their prior analog frequency.

That is the reason everyone is saying to rescan your channels on your ATSC tuner.

So I did just that and to my surprise I have several new digital stations and several analog stations still broadcasting! One of the analog channels is our Houston NBC affiliate that chose to keep their digital UHF channel rather than revert back to channel 2. Thanks to PSIP information it really was not necessary as I still punch up channel 2 even though they actually broadcast on channel 35.

Channel 2 analog though is still broadcasting! It is running a continuous loop of information about converting to a ATSC tuner with a crawl that says you will need to do something to keep receiving TV signals. I don’t know how long they are going to keep this up, but it seems like a good service for those that ignored, perhaps through ignorance, the cutoff.

Also, there were several other analog channels still operational. None are major stations and I don’t know how long they will still be operating as analog. A bit interesting since I thought analog would be history.

Convert HD DVD to Blu-ray? No Problem for WB discs

admin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:43:52 +0000

Warner Brothers has a new service that allows people with WB HD DVDs to turn them into Blu-ray discs for a nominal fee.Â Costing just $4.95 plus shipping could be a deal for many.Â You keep your HD DVD discs, just send in the original cover art.Â A color copy could be made for your HD DVD case if you want to keep the disc case looking original.

For details click the banner above.