Custom Installation How-To

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David Ranada  |  Apr 05, 2005  |  0 comments

Most of the DVD recorders we test nowadays are pretty routine devices. They're great for displacing your aging VCR for time-shifting TV programs or making archival DVDs of precious and fragile camcorder footage.

Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 13, 2005  |  0 comments
Home theater in the World's Biggest Log Cabin
Al Griffin  |  Feb 05, 2005  |  0 comments

There's no question that a DVD will look great on a widescreen HDTV, especially if your player happens to be a progressive-scan model. But with razor-sharp high-definition movies regularly showing on cable, satellite, and even broadcast TV, DVD has started to lose a bit of its luster.

David Ranada  |  Feb 02, 2005  |  0 comments

While I was working on this review, my friend Rob - a filmmaker who has a day job as a video editor at MTV - asked if I could recommend a DVD recorder to help him get rid of his bulky collection of VHS tapes. In true New York style, I started my reply with, "Have I got a deal for you . . .

Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 01, 2005  |  0 comments
Lawrence, Kansas, about an hour's drive west of Kansas City, is an unlikely spot to start a loudspeaker company. But it's the home of Kansas University, and in 1979, former KU students Gayle Martin Sanders and Ron Logan Sutherland (now you know the origin of the MartinLogan name) teamed up to design and build electrostatic speakers.
Al Griffin  |  Dec 31, 2004  |  0 comments

Ever since "universal" DVD players first appeared, I've waited patiently for prices to come down and for the flood of Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio titles initially promised to arrive. Well, the flood never came - I've got Yes's Fragile on DVD-Audio and Miles Davis's Kind of Blue on SACD, but I'm still waiting on the Beatles' Sgt.

David Ranada  |  Dec 31, 2004  |  0 comments

One way to improve the performance you get out of your home theater is with a component that can be adjusted in so many ways, you can enhance the whole system just by setting it up right. That's what Denon's hyperadjustable DVD-3910 does for multichannel music and movie soundtracks.

David Ranada  |  Dec 21, 2004  |  0 comments

Yamaha's remarkably trim DVD-S1500 manages to go beyond most other "universal" players. Of course it plays DVD movies plus DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD music discs, most varie-ties of recordable DVDs, and CDs with standard audio, MP3 files, or JPEG-format still images. But it also plays DVDs in the European PAL format on a U.S.-standard TV.

David Ranada  |  Nov 10, 2004  |  0 comments

While you might want to start with a budget model if you're looking for your first DVD recorder, there are good reasons to explore the higher end of the price range. Up there, you'll find models that make it easier to do time-shift recording and that provide storage and editing options not found on starter units.

David Ranada  |  Oct 28, 2004  |  0 comments

Many video enthusiasts, al though they may have long wanted to destroy their cantankerous, tape-eating, low-resolution VHS machines, have collected large libraries of off-air programs or camcorder footage that they wouldn't want to be without. What better way to preserve your VHS library than to copy it to a far more robust and easy-to-use medium like recordable DVD?

Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 08, 2004  |  0 comments

Now's this for a cutting-edge shopping list: bread, milk, a dozen eggs, strawberries, zucchini, orange juice, chicken, sirloin, DVD player, spaghetti, ice cream, puppy chow. Yep, buying a DVD player these days can be as uneventful as picking up a quart of milk. And with low prices like $49, it is ridiculously tempting to pop one of 'em in your cart.

Al Griffin  |  Jul 29, 2004  |  0 comments
New technologies for time-shifting TV have been multiplying in recent years, making the VCR seem as old-fashioned as the Victrola. Most people know about TiVo and ReplayTV - hard-disk video recorders that seek out and store programs based on your viewing habits. But now there's also PC software like Snapstream's BeyondTV 3 that lets you capture shows on your computer hard drive.
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 09, 2004  |  0 comments

Sure, DVD players are a dime a dozen these days. And even at the cheapest of prices, you can expect perks that were reserved for high-end players just a couple of years ago, like a progressive-scan component-video output. Amazing. But what if you want to spin more than one disc?

David Ranada  |  May 27, 2004  |  0 comments

For a lot of reasons, a DVD recorder equipped with a hard-disk drive makes a lot of sense. Sharp's stylish DV-HR300, which contains a drive with an 80-gigabyte (GB) capacity, is a good example of the advantages of such an arrangement.

David Ranada  |  Apr 14, 2004  |  0 comments

The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming when I started working with Hitachi's DV-RX5000U - and not only because its DVD-RAM capabilities let me play a recording while it was still being made!

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