High-Def Is the Word at Electronics Show

The Associated Press ^ | Jan 7 | GARY GENTILE

[george76]

The wraps came off high-definition DVD players at this year's annual Consumer Electronics Show, offering the final component to replicate the movie theater experience at home.

And while a fierce DVD format war likely will delay the mass adoption of such devices, digital video is here to stay - the Consumer Electronics Association trade group estimates 25 million U.S. homes will have a high-def TV set by year's end.

But big, expensive flat-panel sets aside, this year's gadget show offered plenty of smaller screens for video...

Yahoo Inc., DirecTV, Starz Entertainment Group and Sony were also among the companies getting deeper into the business of trying to make it simple to watch recorded Hollywood movies, home video and even live streaming television wherever you may be, on all manner of device.

Not to be outdone, radio was out in force as well, including palm-sized satellite receivers that hold hours of recorded music.

Digital radios, which promise a high-definition listening experience from traditional earth-bound stations, were also on display as that service begins a wider national rollout this year.

- The Inno, a portable combination XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. receiver/MP3 player with 1 gigabyte of internal memory.

- Several new handheld video options included the Gigabeat player from Toshiba, one of a series of devices running Microsoft Corp.'s portable media center software.

[potlatch]

I've had the flat screen LCD for almost a year and am on cable. Other than a glitch in captioning - which I need, I'm happy. Good luck with yours.

[ErnBatavia]

Please let me know how you like the 32" Sony flat LCD HDTV after the cable guy is done.

OK! Cable guy brought us only a "digital" box - which is probably my fault partly, since I didn't know the proper lingo when phone ordering thru Time Warner...and the fact that he spoke only a tiny bit of English didn't help one bit - the digital box didn't do a thing, so we had him uninstall...

I phoned and expressed my frustration, and they told me if I was up to the challenge that I could go over to Indio and pick up a "High Definition" box, which I was now told should have been ordered all along.

Did that, had the usual phone consultation with support, but got it all set up - and can happily report that anything broadcast in HD is un-friggin-believable....flipped on some baseball game and you can count the blades of grass.

Therefore, I think we'll keep the LCD HD setup.....now all I'll have to do is someday go back and reincorporate the DVD!!

[marajade]

Dump on Dish all you want. But Dish has the best HD package out there for satellite.

[marajade]

God I miss VOOM.

[marajade]

Please add me. Thanks.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Wal-mart is a "southern chain" too dear.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

LOL, look at the date of the original post...it was a "last season" post. I can't wait to visit threads like this in 5 and then 10 years. It'll be laughable reading the prices and specs.

[NewsJunqui]

IMO Sony's electronics are probably better, but I haven't looked at Samsung's products or read any reviews lately, so they may have come up in the world.

Seeing the Sony and Samsung side by side, they appeared to be very close in performance with a slight edge to Sony, but I'm not sure it's worth the attitional ~$1k difference in price for the Sony, though.

[-YYZ-]

Which model Sony did you get, anyway?

Glad to hear you're up and running with the HD box and TV. Yep, HDTV really is good stuff. I think you'd have to be legally blind not to appreciate the difference it makes, at least when watching a decent sized set from a reasonable distance.

As to the DVD, have you got a component cable? Assuming your player has component (3 wires, red, green and blue colour coded) output, you'll definitely want to go that way, if you hadn't already. Set the player up for 16:9 output if you haven't already and your all set to enjoy the anamorphic widescreen DVDs in all their glory (720x480 which still looks pretty good).

Particularly for movie (DVD) viewing, you should take the time to set the TV up from that input and your viewing condtions (dark or lighted room, in particular). If you look around a little on the web, like at avsforum.com, you can find some tips on what you might want to achieve, and how to do it. A calibration disk like Avia or DVE (digital video essentials) can help you set the black levels, contrast, colour, tint, and so on. It's pretty simple and you can do a lot without going into the service menu (advanced users only!).

Do yourself a favour and turn on the (Tonight? Late Night? whatever) show with Jay Leno if you get a chance. The set and production values are fantastic. At times you almost feel like Jay and the guests are right in the room with you. Dave Letterman's show is also pretty nicely produced for HD.

[potlatch]

Great Ern, you're gonna love it!!

[george76]

Thanks for the report.

This will help me make my decisions.

[george76]

HDTV ping list, please ping or frmail me if you would like to be on it.


Please add me

[bmwcyle]

Voom is on Dishnetwork. I have it.

[TheRightGuy]

Seeing the Sony and Samsung side by side, they appeared to be very close in performance with a slight edge to Sony, but I'm not sure it's worth the attitional ~$1k difference in price for the Sony, though.

I've been a Sony fan for years. I had picked out the Sony 50" HDTV I wanted to buy ... shopped it vigorously at all the usual outlets. Finally decided to buy it at Costco. When I went in to purchase, they had a new model Samsung 56" DLP set up right next to it. Same price as the Sony 50" and picture looked every bit as good. I bought the Samsung and a year later I could not be happier with my choice.

[vox_freedom]

Very nice, but you should train your dog to stay off the mantle.

[marajade]

Yeah I know. But VOOM had 30 HDTV channels. Dish doesn't even come close although its better than DirecTV.

[bmwcyle]

They keep building more Voom about every six months.

[GOPJ]

LOL

[TC Rider]

Waiting for the price to drop and quality to go up.

LOL, you could wait forever as prices are always dropping, and quality is always improving.

[TC Rider]

Here's a snapshot of mine in my townhouse.

It's a lot cozier with the lights turned down.

The corner worked out to be the best place for it and not caring much for the current furniture selections for corners, I went with some old steamer trunks I already owned.

The plasma is a 'Maxent', a no name with Panasonic components on the inside. I'm using a Yamaha HTIB for the audio and the video is from Time Warner and their HD DVR box. I splurged on a Harmony remote to control everything.

I did most of this on the cheap, including a 6' ropelight behind the plasma for 'ambiance'.

A recent addition is a set of Sennheiser HDR 130 wireless headphones. The subwoofer on the Yamaha was causing a lot of problems with the neighbors.