As promised, here’s Gary’s review of the Toshiba HD-XA1. For those that want a little more depth, we’ll be running a longer version of the review and more in the August issue.
Not that I want to cover more Sony stuff so soon, but that’s the way things work out. Here’s a list of things I learned on the Sony Line Show in Las Vegas yesterday (in case the title didn’t give it away first).
See, I told you. Once a week is far too often to be interesting. For the moment, go check out HTGamer, we've put up a few new games in the past week. I'll post some more blog stuff tomorrow. Maybe it will even be video related.
There is nothing more awe inspiring to both the grandeur and folly of humans as flying into L.A. at night. How the lights spread near infinite in all directions. How the houses inch their way up the mountains, like tendrils trying gradually to suffocate the last surviving ground. Somewhere in the pic to the left is our Woodland Hills Studio (seriously). I was returning from a Thanksgiving week spent in a strange and far away land: Alabama. I found out that spending a week without HD is hard. Spending a week without TiVo is harder.
Well, it took a little longer than expected, but here's what we've been working on. It's, admittedly, a little rough around the edges. Now that we have the bugs worked out, the next one will be a lot better. As for the host, well I can’t see him getting any better…
In my GearWorks column in our January 2005 issue, I talked about how, depending on your viewing distance, the resolution of your display may not matter. To sum up, your eye has a finite resolution (like a digital camera), and, as objects get smaller with distance, there is a point where your eye can no longer distinguish between bigger and smaller pixels. Over long distances, this is obvious, but it surprised a lot of people that it could be so noticeable in shorter (in-room) distances.
The results of our first vote are in, go check it out. While you’re there, vote on the next question of the week. Also, check back on Monday, we’ve got new site feature to unveil, and it’s really cool.
Ok, I lied in my last post because I didn’t think this would happen this week. But it did, and it’s cool. I am proud to announce a new feature to HomeTheaterMag.com: Voting! No, you can’t vote your favorite editor off the island, but every Friday we’ll have a different question for you to sound off on (“off on,” that sounds weird). So go check it out, and vote away. Next Friday, I’ll post the results, along with a bunch of your comments and a new question. So make sure you write interesting and funny comments along with your vote.
Ok, it's been a month since the re-launch of the shiny new hometheatermag.com. It seems like everyone likes it, which is good. I’ve gotten some responses about HTGamer, but I’d like to hear more. Like:
We frequently get e-mails from readers asking why they should spend big $s on a home theater product when they can get a similar product for much less. Good question! So, this is the first in a series of GearWorks in which we'll discuss that very topic. We'll start with perhaps the easiest component to track: projectors. Where does the money go?
Bulbs are so 20th century. You can gussy them up, charge a bunch of money for them, even call them fancy names (lamps), but the fact of the matter is, they're still basically light bulbs. Almost all new RPTVs and front projectors use UHP (ultrahigh pressure) lamps to create light. These lamps are fairly efficient for the light they put out but are very hot, costly, and don't last very long. One new technology that's aiming to replace the UHP monopoly is LED, or light-emitting diode.
If there is one thing that just screams "future" to me, it's lasers. Sure, they've been around since the 1960s, but come on—it's lasers! Right now, they can be found in your CD and DVD players, but a few companies are hoping to put them in your TV, as well.