LATEST ADDITIONS

While I'll be the first one to defend the importance of the independent dealer who can provide expert demonstrations and face-to-face advice, the reality is that these dealers are experiencing an increasingly diverse and difficult market. And in some parts of the country, they're hard if not impossible to find.

In my previous blog, "In the Black," I stated that the new Sony VPL-VW100 SXRD projector would not accept 1080p directly. That was the impression I obtained at its press introduction at last September's CEDIA. But I subsequently learned, in completing Part I of my review of that projector, which will be posted on this site tomorrow (Sunday, December 18, 2005), that it will indeed accept 1080p/60 at its HDMI and DVI inputs.

While we’re sitting around waiting for Blu-ray or HD-DVD high definition players and discs to hit the shelves, we can still do a little hi-def pickin’ and chosin’ on our own beyond switching hi-def channels. On Apple’s web site, you can find links to hi-def trailers that you can download and watch right now, like <A HREF="http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/x3/" TARGET="NEW"> <b> this one for <i> X3</i></b></A>. Of course, you need a home theater PC if you want to show it on your projector or hi-def set, but I was satisfied to watch it on my not too shabby IBM T42P laptop. Even though the 15” screen’s aspect ratio is an old school 1.33:1, the resolution is an eye-popping 1600 x 1200.