Other Tech

TV Half-Life

Q. I read somewhere in your magazine that cathode-ray tube TVs have a half-life of 30,000 hours. At 6 hours a day, that's around 13 years. I'm about to make the HDTV plunge. What are the half-life specs for plasma, LCD, and DLP? Jeff Dorscher Glendale, AZ

Q. I've been using separates in my surround system for some time and have a collection of high-end amplifiers. But the surround processing modes, HDMI connectivity, and video upconversion on my preamp/processor are now out of date. New receivers seem to have the latest technology at a much more reasonable price than most of the pre/pros with similar attributes.

TV Central

Q. The sound quality of high-end televisions has generally improved. Is it possible to route the center-channel output from my receiver to my TV and use its speakers for the center channel, rather than having a separate speaker on the wall? Jay Pringle Show Low, AZ

Q. I'm concerned about the accuracy of the standards used for professional HDTV calibration. In ISF-calibrated sets, the color white always has some other shade mixed in that makes it look slightly gray, brown, or green. But the whites I've seen on most uncalibrated HDTVs look more like the color white as it appears in reality.

While wrapping up an article on director Peter Farrelly's adventures trying to get a high-end movie room installed ("Heartbreak Home Theater"), I had a chance to talk to Farrelly about his new movie, The Heartbreak Kid, and about filmmaking in general.

Q. I have a Mitsubishi DLP TV with a built-in over-the-air HDTV tuner, and I'm interested in getting a high-definition DVR to use with it. I've Googled around and, to my surprise, haven't discovered many options. What I have found is either very expensive (TiVo's HD DVR) or no longer in production.