Custom Installation How-To

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Custom Installation How-To
Toshiba D-R1 DVD Recorder
David Ranada  |  Feb 16, 2004  | 

Equipment photos by Tony Cordoza

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Custom Installation How-To
Pioneer DVR-57H TiVo DVR/DVD Recorder
David Ranada  |  Jan 19, 2004  | 

Photos by Tony Cordoza Modern consumer electronics is so modular in design and construction that you could almost invent a new component category using the old Chinese-restaurant formula: choose one technology from column A and another from column B.

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Custom Installation How-To
Denon DVD-2200 Universal DVD/SACD Player
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Dec 29, 2003  | 

Photos by Tony Cordoza When the DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD formats were launched, critics bemoaned the start of yet another format war, knowing that when incompatible formats compete, consumers often don't buy either one. Instead, they wait to see which format is left standing.

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Custom Installation How-To
Hewlett-Packard dc3000 DVD Movie Writer
Michael Antonoff  |  Dec 01, 2003  | 

Ever since I got my DVD player and video hard-disk recorder, I've been itching to throw my VCR in the garbage. I haven't done it, though, since I have no other way to play my many VHS tapes - or even VHS-C tapes without using a camcorder.

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Custom Installation How-To
Samsung DVD-HD931 Upconverting DVD Player
David Ranada  |  Oct 26, 2003  | 
Photos by Tony Cordoza You can get a hint of what's up with Samsung's top-of-the-line DVD player from its model number. The "HD" in DVD-HD931 signifies that it has a special output for "upconverted" DVD video signals that closely match the capabilities of high-definition TVs.
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Custom Installation How-To
Tapeless Video Recorders
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Oct 20, 2003  | 
Photos by Tony Cordoza Not so long ago, the VCR reigned supreme. Much like the proverbial chicken in every pot, there was a VCR in every house. If you wanted to time-shift the soap opera that your job inconveniently caused you to miss, you programmed your VCR. If you wanted to watch a movie, you turned to your trusty VCR.
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Custom Installation How-To
Super Recorders
David Ranada  |  Sep 22, 2003  | 
Photos by Tony Cordoza You know a recording medium is going in or out of fashion when you can't find any blanks on the store shelves. Such a revelation hit me in the aisle for blank DVDs and CDs at a Best Buy here in New York City. There were shelf labels for all five recordable DVD formats - DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM - but precious few of the discs.
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Custom Installation How-To
Go-Video D2730 Networked DVD Player
Michael Antonoff  |  Sep 10, 2003  | 

Photos by Tony Cordoza Using a standalone DVD player in the connected home seems so inappropriately standoffish. Why live by disc alone? That's the thinking behind the Go-Video D2730, a richly featured DVD player that's also adept at playing music or videos, or displaying photos stored on a Windows-based computer.

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Custom Installation How-To
DVD Dimensions
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 10, 2003  | 

Opening photo, remotes, and back panels by JaymeThornton.com

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Custom Installation How-To
Bravo D1 Upconverting DVD Player
David Ranada  |  Apr 29, 2003  | 

Photos by Tony Cordoza Just when you thought you had mastered the intricacies of video connectivity-having sorted out composite video, S-video, and the two flavors of component video (interlaced and progressive-scan)-V Inc.'s Bravo D1 comes along to make life complicated again.

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Custom Installation How-To
Lighting for Dummies Home Theater Reviewers
Larry Houser  |  Apr 09, 2003  |  First Published: Apr 10, 2003  | 
Simple tools to create the ideal lighting environment for your home theater.

When you go to a movie theater, you get your first indication that the movie is about to begin when the lights turn off. So what's the big deal over lighting systems if we only plan to watch movies in the dark?

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Custom Installation How-To
Onkyo DV-SP800 Universal DVD/SACD Player
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 31, 2003  | 
Beginning as barely a trickle, it is now becoming a steady stream as more and more "universal" optical-disc players reach store shelves. The latest models can play DVD-Video discs (and home-burned DVD-R/RWs recorded in the DVD-Video format), DVD-Audio discs, CDs (including CD-R/RW discs and those with MP3 files), and Super Audio CDs.
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Custom Installation How-To
Samsung DVD-V2500 DVD Player/VCR
David Ranada  |  Mar 25, 2003  | 
Most of the Samsung DVD players we've tested have had something "different" about them. There were, for example, a couple of models with Nuon game-playing capability, and the last one we looked at could reproduce still pictures stored on Memory Stick flash-memory cards.
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Custom Installation How-To
Yamaha DVD-S2300 Universal DVD/SACD Player
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 18, 2003  | 
Photos by Tony Cordoza Not all that long ago, it seemed like the high-resolution DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD music formats were heading for a showdown. The two sides were entrenched on either side of no-man's-format land, and neither seemed willing to talk about a truce, let alone concede defeat.
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Custom Installation How-To
Toshiba SD-4800 DVD-Audio/Video Player
David Ranada  |  Jan 13, 2003  | 
Finding a product that performs better than its price would lead you to expect is always a pleasure for a reviewer. Toshiba's SD-4800 is just such a product-a relatively inexpensive DVD player that's packed with all the latest features. For example, it plays DVD-Audio discs through its multichannel analog outputs, which also serve for Dolby Digital playback.
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