Other Tech

Lately it seems as though every component in a fully tricked-out home theater system wants to dink with the video - the DVD player, the receiver, the TV. Usually whatever is being done is described as some sort of upconversion. What does that mean, though? And perhaps more important, is it always a good thing?

Hey, everybody. As I write this, I'm getting ready to go on vacation with my next gadget, an HD camcorder that I'll tell you all about in October. Until then, I wanted to use this month's space to update you on the next step in my home theater plans.

Clearly embedded somewhere in America's national psyche is an obsession with getting thin. How else do you explain both the celebrity of Nicole Richie and the craze for flat-panel TVs? In fact, with the increased focus on TVs slim enough to be mounted on a wall, the environment for rear-projection HDTVs has gotten a lot tougher.

Or, to paraphrase another song: "To everything / Burn! Burn! Burn! / There is a season." Which is not to say that I recommend ignoring the heat in your grill or fireplace. What I mean is, with summer on the wane and fall on the way, there's still time to enjoy one season while getting ready for the next. And for each of these purposes, there is an iPod.

Q. I'm in the process of building a new home and will be putting a home theater in my basement. I want to be able to watch the movie that's playing in the home theater on a TV in my upstairs living room.