The Slick Network

This article is regarding a purchase made at :

Best Buy/Magnolia Store - 3415 E Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, 91107 - (626) 351-9367

Update:  A potential Lawsuit has been filed.  Click here to find more details.

Yes, the title is a bit too dramatic. Maybe it should be called, “My Dad Didn’t Get the HDTV Features That He Requested.

My family’s nightmare HDTV purchase experience. Please read if you plan on buying an HDTV from an electronics superstore in Pasadena, Ca.  This story has generated over 33,000 page views since it was first posted.

The shortened version of the story if you don’t have time to read the entire post:

My dad was looking for an HDTV that was capable of accepting a 1080P video source from a Blu ray or HD DVD player. He did some research online, but he still had questions. He decided to go to the store and ask the sales representative a few questions. The sales rep assured him that the television that he was purchasing was capable of accepting a 1080p video source via the HDMI port. It was later found out that this television will NEVER be able to accept a 1080p. The native resolution of the television is 1080p, but it offers no way to input any video source at a 1080p resolution without converting it to 1080i and then upconverting it to 1080p. The store says that it is Sony’s problem and not the store’s problem. I feel that my dad didn’t get the features that he requested.

Summary of the comments:

A. It is the buyer’s problem and you should have done more research online.
B. It is the store’s issue and they should make things right.

Read the full post below if you don’t mind the a very long story with tons of whining.

An HDTV is a must for all home theater enthusiasts, so it was no surprise that my father wanted to get one. He wanted to purchase a next gen DVD player and he knew it was time to start looking for a new television. He works long hours and saved for many years in order to be able to afford an LCD rear projection HDTV. He shopped around for several months trying to find a good deal. He knew the features that he wanted, but he noticed that the salespeople didn’t always know what they were talking about. One store told him one thing and another store told him something else, so it was tough finding a TV that had all of the features that he was looking for.

Ken Crane is a store that specializes in home theater, televisions, and audio equipment. He decided that a place like Ken Crane would offer the most knowledgeable sales people to answer his questions. The only problem with Ken Crane is that you often find yourself paying a little extra because they can’t always match the electronic superstore prices. After a few visits to Ken Cranes and other specialty stores over a several month span, the televisions were still too expensive. My dad decided that he had to move his search for an HDTV to the more affordable electronic superstores. Things would have been much better if he would have just spent a few hundred dollars more�and purchased a TV from this store.

You have to shop ALL of the major electronic stores for televisions because not all models are carried by all stores. The major stores in the Pasadena, California area are Best Buy, Circuit City, and the Good Guys. Many of these stores have salespeople who appear to be regular people. They don’t seem to have any real expertise in any one area of sales. I am not putting them down, I understand that most of them do a great job and it would be impossible to specialize in all 10,000 items in the store. My father decided to shop at the electronics superstore that offered the best buy that he could find. They had just expanded and added a new home theater department that offered “an exceptional experience from the moment you walk through our doors. After reading their website that claimed to offer knowledgeable consultants, my father decided to purchase his new HDTV from them. With their upgraded home theatre department that ran under a different name, these people at least came off as people who specialized in home theater equipment.

I want to point out that he would have purchased the television from the specialty store, but the televisions were out of his price range. Specialty stores rarely have sales, so you can’t get a television that retails for $4000 for $3600. I assume it is because the volume of sales is much less and they have to keep more profit from items to pay employee and leasing costs.

My dad had done some basic searching for HDTV’s online and he read about HD-DVD and Blu Ray, so he knew that he wanted a TV that supported a 1080p input on the video side. This was something that he expressed to the kind salesperson. For privacy sakes, let’s call the sales professional Frank. My dad looked around the sales floor and found a Sony TV that looked great. It was one of the 10-15 HDTV’s that he had done general research on. He called over Frank to ask him a few questions about the television. My dad explained to Frank that he planned on getting the Sony Playstation 3 to take advantage of the Blu Ray player, so he wanted to know if the Sony HDTV was capable of accepting the 1080p signal via the HDMI port. My dad had been reading about HD televisions that only displayed maximum resolutions of 720p and 1080i. Frank assured him that “yes” and further explained that the TV was capable of accepting 1080p resolution via the HDMI input location at the rear of the TV. When my dad asked if the salesperson could write on that the TV was capable of accepting a 1080p input via HDMI. It was even pointed out that the sales receipt would state 1080p as part of the description. My dad had a few other questions about the extended warranty and was ready to make the deal. Frank was kind enough to throw in a TV stand at a discounted price. My father later purchased an extended warranty directly from Sony.

A few days later the television arrived and looked great. It was a $3,600 television, so it had better look great. My father upgraded his cable package and was watching HDTV. Over the air broadcast are only 720P and 1080i, so he couldn’t really try out the full resolution of 1080p until the he purchased a Sony Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add on. Several months later I had read that Microsoft was releasing a firmware upgrade that would allow the HD-DVD drive to output full 1080p resolution.  My dad rushed to Target to buy the external drive for $199. I had chipped in some Target gift cards that I had received for Christmas. The picture clarity looked great, but the television would only display the HD-DVD’s in the 1080i resolution. I read that my dad’s particular HDTV didn’t accept a 1080p signal via the component video input. My dad was out of luck and would have to wait for a Sony Playstation 3 to be available. The Playstation 3 is a Sony product and the HDTV is Sony, so we figured the television should have no problem displaying in the 1080p full resolution. Guess what? No luck after attempting several hook ups and even trying a new HDMI cable.

This had us both confused as to why this wasn’t working. We had double and triple checked our cables and set up. We even checked the settings on the Sony Playstation and television. Not a thing that we tried made any difference. It was time to research this issue online.

I immediately searched the model number online: Sony 60 inch�SXRD Projection HDTV KDS-R60XBR1
I eventually found an interesting article on the SonyStyle.com eSupport website.

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/autoresponsev4.asp?id=427127

The text below comes directly from the Sony eSupport site.

Does the television support a 1080p signal from a connected video source? No. None of the input jacks on the television have the capability of receiving a 1080p signal; trying to input a 1080p signal into the TV will result in a blank or distorted picture on the screen. If you are connecting a video device that is outputting a 1080p signal, the video device will need to be reconfigured to output at a different resolution, such as 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i.The television display, however, does have a native resolution of 1080p. This means that any supported signal (480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i) that is input to the TV will be up-converted from its original resolution and displayed in 1080p.

That was all the explanation that I thought that we needed, so we emailed the electronic store’s customer feedback department. I included all of my research and the note above that came directly from SonyStyle’s website. I also included a screenshot of the official manual that makes no mention of 1080p in the entire manual. We were contacted within a week of our initial email. This all sounds good so far, right? At this point we really didn’t have much to complain about. They were addressing the issue. My dad received a call from one of the floor managers and was told that they were researching the issue and they would be contacting us shortly. After several days we decided to contact the floor manager again and we were told that they would need to send over a technician to look at the problem. They stated that this television could display 1080p, but they had to check the settings. They scheduled a technician to come over a few days later. My dad got out of work early to meet the technician who was supposed to arrive between 2 and 3:00 PM. When 4PM came around and we hadn’t been notified that the technician was running late, we called the manager’s telephone number and were told that he was out of the office. My dad was then told that he would be transferred to someone who would let him know when the technician was going to arrive. After being put on hold once for five minutes and another time for 30 minutes, we called back from another line in the house and were told that the technician was out sick. My dad asked why they put him on hold if the technician wasn’t even available. He was told that they would have to reschedule. He explained to them that he had already taken time off from work to meet the technician, so he wouldn’t be able to reschedule. They said that they would need to speak to someone and then call us back. They called back 30 minutes later to say that they were sending over installers/delivery people.

Two nice gentlemen came over and basically found out the same thing that we had already informed them of in our initial email complaint. We were told that they would explain the situation to the manager and that he would contact us shortly. After several days without a response, my dad contacted the manager via email. The manager stated that he attempted to call several times, but he must have dialed the wrong number. In our second email complaint, we pointed out that the installers verified the information that we had initially pointed out in our complaint. It was our thought that the consumer should not be responsible for incorrect information that was provided by a sales professional. My dad pointed out that he specifically asked the sales professional if the HDTV was capable of receiving a 1080p video signal via the HDMI cable and he was told YES by a person who he considered a PROFESSIONAL. He pointed out that this was not something that was mentioned in passing, he specifically pointed out that he wanted a television capable of accepting a 1080p video signal via the HDMI port and he was specifically told that the television would accept the 1080p signal.
My father was basically told that it was not the stores problem. He said that it is a problem that we would have to address with Sony. He stated that they would be kind enough to contact Sony for us to see how they are dealing with these issues. It was the store that provided my dad with incorrect information, it was not Sony. If Sony provided the sales team with incorrect information, that is a problem that the store needs to take up with Sony. The store should make things right with the customer. The only reason the television was purchased was because of the incorrect information that was provided by the salesperson. If the salesperson would have just said that they were not sure or they would have to check…that would be one thing. Without question or hesitation the salesperson gave an answer to my dad and the salesperson made a sale. The manager said that the television is a 1080P television. It has a native resolution of 1080p, but it does not have the capability of accepting a 1080p video signal via the rear inputs. That is as good as having a Hemi powered muscle car that can’t go faster than 25 miles an hour.

The store manger was supposed to contact my father on Wednesday and today is already Saturday. I’ll keep you all updated on the status of this issue. I am hoping that they make things right. At this point, I think that my dad may even accept a refund, but then he loses his extended warranty that he purchased from Sony. We have asked the store to exchange the television for the updated model that accepts a 1080p video input via the HDMI input. When this television was purchased, the forums and Cnet reviews were fairly vague in their description of the TV. It received great reviews and I believe that it was voted as the best LCD television of the year. This issue of the 1080p native resolution was not something that was widely written about. You can find articles that discuss it now, but at the time it was difficult to find any information. The information from any Sony Publications seemed to vary. The casual consumer doesn’t know what native resolution refers to.

We normally get great service from this particular store. Several people in the comments are writing that we plan on suing the store. That was never mentioned in this blog posting. I was just curious if anyone had a similar situation at any of the major electronic superstores or with the specific model of television that I am writing about. I am not trying to come down on all sales associates at electronic super stores. I know that this is something that can easily be fixed by the store. This could have been the once piece of incorrect information that this particular sales person gave out all year. I just want my dad to get the features that he asked for. I don’t think that people understand that you can Google the model number for his particular HDTV and get much more information on it today than you could several months ago. The consumer gets hit with so many terms that it is often difficult to keep up to date with them all. I hear 1080p HD being described as TRUE HD, Full HD, and Full 1080p. The old school way of doing things was to go into the store and ask questions about a product. Not all consumers are DIGG users that have been raised online. I think that a majority of people do research online and go into stores to ask any questions that they cannot find answers to online.

The television actually looks great. I don’t think that anyone is complaining that he purchased a low quality television. The one complaint is that he asked for one thing and he didn’t get what he asked for. At the time of purchase, it was very difficult to find any 1080p source material. Months later he finally got a hold of the Playstation 3 and that is when he noticed something was wrong. If he would have had the PS3 on day one, he would have tested it and taken the television back the next day. It is not a matter of being stuck with a bad television because the television looks great. HD-DVD and Blu ray movies look wonderful, bright, and crisp in color when displayed on this television. At most this is a matter of wanting to get the features that my father asked for.

I fully understand why people comment that he should have done his research. He did do some research and some of the information was unclear, so he relied on a sales professional. I know how to check for this information online, but this was not a purchase that I made. My dad spends a very short portion of his week online. I would guess that he spends 10 minutes a week online and mostly to check the weather, movie showtimes, or upcoming DVD releases. It is easy to say that he should have done more research and the information is easily available. My dad isn’t a television manufacturer and isn’t in the television industry.

I researched online to see if anyone else had confusion or issues with this television. The third reviewer down had a similar problemAmazon.com Reviewer named D. Paik.Hidef forums user RadTuck also had questions.User Jerry Melton on HDGuru.com was also upset.Stephen C. was also unaware of this issue.

*****UPDATE****** 02/27/07 It has been almost two weeks since the manager at the Pasadena location has attempted to get in contact with us. He was supposed to get back to us last Wednesday, but he never did. Not even hitting the Digg frontpage with approximately 70,000 page views has gotten a reaction from the store. We are considering filing an official complaint with the BBB or calling their corporate offices. I would at least expect a response,but this shows that they really don’t care about our situation. It is time to get serious with this issue.

*****UPDATE**** 03/28/07 It has been another month since my last conversation with the Magnolia manager. No effort has been made to contact us. The initial response from the corporate office was great, but it appears to no longer matter. The “buzz” from this article being promoted to the Digg.com frontpage has died and we are currently looking for more solutions. Feel free to email or respond if you have any ideas.

*****UPATE*** 08/24/07 Still no word from the store.  Things appear to be even worse because now the television is displaying a “greenish” color against white backgrounds.� We also found out that “Frank” no longer works for the store and wasn’t nice enough to let us know that.� The store has not done a thing to make things better.� This has been one of the most disappointing purchases that my father has ever made.

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I have been signed up as a registered user of Digg since August 28, 2005, but I have been using Digg for much longer.  I love Digg.com and it is the site that I visit most often to find news and entertainment stories.  I try to contribute by writing up stories and submitting them, but I have to admit that most of the articles that I write up aren’t very well written. This is getting a little off the purpose of this story,so I will get back on track.  I was reading a story on the Digg Blog and it noted that Digg’s 2nd Anniversary was on December 2nd.  It also noted that Digg now has over 707,000  registered users.  I know that I wasn’t with Digg at the beginning, but I do remember Kevin Rose profiling Digg on the Screensavers/TechTv.  I checked out the site in the beginning when a story reached the front page with 10 Diggs, but I never really considered signing up as a registered user. Six months later, the site was beginning to expand at a rapid rate and I noticed that I started using it more and more often.  I was never Slashdot user because I enjoy technology, but I am more of a user than a technology industry type.  The early Digg users seemed to be much more hardcore “tech” people which was great because someone like myself could learn by reading comments and articles that they submitted.  As a registered user of Digg for just over a year now, I have found myself making the same mistakes that Digg purists hate…I have submitted duplicate stories, stories that were “Lame” , articles that had a “spammy” nature(never truly intended to be spam), and posting lame comments that just sounded like i didn’t know what I was talking about.  I never really utilize all of the cool features of Digg and I realize that I do not contribute by Digging or commenting on stories as much as I should.

I starting looking around and I saw that the Top Users category was moved to the bottom of the homepage.  I clicked on it and started looking at the first few pages and saw many usernames and avatars that looked familiar.  It got me wondering where I ranked on the list.  I was hoping to be at least somewhere around #500,000.  I went to my profile page and was surprised to see that I was # 5,193 . That sounded great to me because I really don’t have the best stats.  It seems to be rated mostly on profile views.

Currently, I have had 976 profile views, have dugg only 23 news or video items, submitted 20 stories or videos, had only two items promoted to the frontpage, and my popular story ratio is 10% .  Here is my profile page (and if you are wondering…it is MrSlick and not MrsLick), but don’t click it if you don’t want me to be even higher in the rankings. 

I know that #5,193 is not really something to write home about, but I was impressed that I ranked so highly on a site that is so useful to so many people. I am in no way trying to say that I see myself as a top user, I know that user # 5,193 doesn’t qualify me for that.  Where do you rank?  Post your ranking in the comments of this story on Digg.

One of the best free photo editting editing and manipulation programs out right now is offered by Google. If you can’t afford photoshop, this just may be the program that will save the day. This isn’t a Picasa vs Photoshop article because they both offer great ways to manipulate photos. Picasa adds the photo organizer aspect that Adobe Bridge adds to Photoshop.  Please take a few minutes to view the video overview that I created.  If you want to try out the program you can click on the button that says “Google’s Photo Organizer”.

Google’s Picasa Photo Management Overview from mrslick on Vimeo.


If you are just a casual weekend hobbyist photographer, Picasa will work wonders for you.  The simple layout and one touch features have save you hours in the re-touching and resizing of photos. You will ofen times find that you get the perfect results with the click of one button. I was amazed by this program and I find myself using it more than Photoshop.  Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t have half as many features as Photoshop does, but for the casual user without photoshop experience…this is the way to go.

Let’s take a look at some of what this program can do.

Here is the library section where you can have your photos organized.  Picasa will automatically search your computer for photos and organize them for you. You can see that this program also lets you create Screensavers from pictures and export photos to CD or DVD.

Let’s start off with photo from my library and see how Picasa lets up fix it in just a few steps. We can see a picture of Jordan Farmar from the Los Angeles Lakers. The picture is basically pretty good, but I would like to liven up the colors and crop out some of the unwanted background.

Picasa quickly pops up a menu with some basic fixes that I can do.

I really want to crop out some of the unwanted back ground. All I have to do is click on the “crop” button to acheive this. I would like to eventually print this image out to a 4×6 print to I will select that option.

Wow, that looks cool.  I can quickly see what is being cropped out and modify it if necessary. I will be cropping out the parts of the picture that I don’t want included in my print.  When I click apply, the images will be cropped.

Picasa also gives me some more options :

It also gives me the ability to tune the picture. I can adjust the fill light to brighten up the background, adjust the highlights, modify the shadows, and even change the color temperature.

Download now by clicking the button below!

If also gives me the option to add effects to my photos. Below is another photo of a statue of Magic Johnson that can be manipulated to sharpen, add a Sepia tint, turn Black and White, Warmify, and many other cool effects.  These all get processed with the click of one button.

For the final step to our Jordan Farmar picture, I will add the warmify effect.

That’s it !!! In just a few quick steps I have changed this picture into something that works better for me. I didn’t need a three to six hundred dollar program to do it. This program is completely free. It will aslo let you upload your pictures to the web or send your pictures to be printed and mailed to you. I can’t say enough about this program. Photoshop is stronger and more robust, but Picasa will work like a charm for a more casual software user. Even if you don’t plan on modifying your photos, this program works great to organize and back up your photos. The slideshow feature works great in full screen mode.

Google’s Picasa Photo Management Overview from mrslick on Vimeo.


 

The quick answer is yes…or maybe.

Everyone has been talking about how the Blu-ray/HD-DVD war is similar to the VHS/Betamax war of the 80’s.  Format wars seem to have skipped a generation and didn’t really come into play with the DVD.  We are not that fortunate when it comes to this newest format of the century.  Right now, it only makes sense to consider the move from DVD to Blu-ray or HD-DVD if you have recently purchased an HD television set.   Will the difference in quality/resolution make you want to make the switch?   You all remember VHS and the move to DVD, right?   This could be a similar comparison because HD-DVD and Blu-ray offer fantastic resolutions.   Movie make in the past few years have mainly been shot in digital format.  This will make a huge difference is the quality and resolution that we will be seeing in our home theaters.  Your Blu-ray or HD-DVD can never be more clear than the original that it is made from.  Many companies will re-release remastered versions of their old libraries.   I don’t really care if I get an remastered copy of Star Wars or E.T., but I would love to experience the new films originally recorded in HD in the new formats.  The clarity and interactivity are bound to amaze you. 

In viewing films on both a Blu-ray and an HD-DVD player, I was quick to put HD-DVD ahead in the race.  HD-DVD looks great on a small 27 inch screen.  King Kong in HD-DVD was quite possibly the clearest movie that I had ever seen in my life.  The Blu-ray player was also nice, but didn’t offer the clarity that I found on the HD-DVD player.  This was only a quick test, but HD-DVD won the format war in my book.  One of the major factors in this war coould be the price.  Blu-ray units are currently running for several hundred dollars more than HD-DVD players.  The most affordable HD units are currenltly offered by the Sony Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 console units.   The PS3 can currently be found for about $500 with a Blu ray player included.  The Xbox 360 is selling an add on unit for about $200.   I have tested both these units and they look wonderful.   HD-DVD players are usually plagued by slow loading times, but the Xbox 360 unit loaded a disk in under 30 seconds.  The Sony PS3 unit loaded and played perfectly.  If you have one of these units, you will most likely be the first to truely experience the HD revolution.  THe PS3 in currently offering 1080p resolution, but I hear that the Xbox 360 has offered firmware upgraged that will offer the same resolution.  Currently, the Xbox 360 HD-DVD unit only offers 1080i resolution from the optional  HD cable.   

To give this issue a little “real world” perspective, I have have come up with a few figures.  I own 400 DVD’s and I would estimate that I paid an average of about $13.00 for each disc.  That comes out to $5,200.  Wow, that sounds like way too much to pay for friggin’ movies.  The same Blu ray discs would run you around $30.00 a pop and end up costing you $12,000.  You can buy a car with much money.  I suggest that media companies offer a trade in value if you own the disc in the DVD format.  They should give you a $7 credit if you turn in a DVD version of an HD-DVD or Blu ray disc that you are purchasing.  That is just my idea, but how many times can I buy Indiana Jones?  I own the VHS and DVD copies already.  We should have all known to sell those VHS copies of movies when DVD was first released, but for some reason, it just kills you to sell a movie that you spent $20 on for about $5.  It kills you even more when the same VHS sell for 50 cents today.  You can’t even unload that crap on Amazon because the shipping charges would eat up any profit.  Don’t let that happen to you.  Start unloading your DVD’s now if you plan on upgrading to the High Definition formats. 

Both formats offer considerably better resolution than the standard DVD format.  Both formats have seen dramatic hundred dolloar or more price drops since the middle of the year.  Several companies are developing media players that will play both HD formats.  The players in development will not be released for at least a year or longer.  Several television and movie studios have already made partnerships with one of the formats, but once a clear winner is picked, all of the media companies will have no choice, but to join.   It has been debated that DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu ray will become obsolete because of the emerging streaming video to television market.  That still requires huge bandwith that cable and satellite companies are many years away from being able to provide. 

Heck, why am I writing this?  I have no clue to what format will win out, but I dread the day when I can’t even sell my used DVD’s for more than $1.

 

 

Here is a bare bones non-technical guide to HD Televisions.  I am not an expert in this field, but I just wanted to discuss a few things that I had questions about when searching for an HDTV. If you have already started doing research, this guide will be too basic.  This is for the person who has interest in buying an HDTV set, but wants to know the basics before they start researching it more.  When I first started looking to purchase an HDTV I was surprised to find out that limited content is currently available.

Prices of HDTV’s are dropping each month, so many people may be considering spending the cash for the upgraded experience of watching High Definition broadcasts.  I have put together a little guide to helping the people who are just starting their search for an HD television.  This is not an expert guide and will only contain information on the basics of what to know and look for when starting your search for an HDTV. 

One thing to remember is that not all content is broadcast in High Definition.  I think that this is the major disappointment when someone brings home a new HDTV.  After spending thousands of dollars on a TV, you want to see a major improvement in the quality of your tv picture.  Many of the major networks offer primetime and news coverage in HD, but most cable TV only networks  are still broadcast in standard definition.  You may have to buy upgraded HD converter boxes from your cable or satellite provider in order to view HD content on your new HDTV.  These converter boxes are usually offered for an additional monthly fee.   You will often hear stations advertise that they are “available in HD” and that to call your cable or satellite provider to find out the details.  Many cable companies offer pre-packaged HD content for a fixed monthly rate and not all stations that are “available in HD” are actually part of the packages.   My cable provider currently offers around ten channels that are broadcast in HD and that includes the big four network stations.   All other tv channels are broadcast in only standard definition and they normally look fairly poor on an HDTV.  I had a friend who moved into a new apartment building that offered satellite tv as part of the lease agreement.  He was surprised to learn that the building’s satellite provider did not offer HD and he was stuck with watching standard definition content on his new HDTV.  It would be a good idea to call up your local cable or satellite provider before buying a new HDTV.  

 

What does 1080i and 1080p mean for me? 

 

Whenever you go to one of the major electronics stores, you will certainly have the salesperson throw out terms like 1080i , 1080p, or True HD.  What does this mean to you?  In simple terms, they are referring to the resolution of the television.  1080i refers to a resolution of 1920(horizontal)x1080(verticle) interlaced and 1080p refers to 1920(horizontal)x1080(verticle) progressive.  What is better ?   Without getting too technical, progressive scan is usually better, but it really depends on the source material.  If you have an HDTV that is capable of displaying 1080p, but the source material is only broadcast in 1080i, you really wouldn’t a clearer picture on your tv.   When the salesperson uses the term True HD, they are usually referring to 1080p.   Currently, you will only get 1080p content if you have a Bluray(Sony Playstation 3) or HD-DVD player.  No over the air broadcast content is currently available in the 1080p resolution.

Cnet explains HDTV Resolutions    

HD Ready or HD Built-in

HD Ready refers to the TV being capable of receiving HD broadcast content with an add on HD converter box.  Buying an HD ready will usually mean that you have to spend a few hundred bucks on an HD receiver box.  HD ready TV’s are great if you plan on using it as a television monitor to display Bluray or HD-DVD content.   An HD built in TV is ready for HDTV right out of the box.  You can hook up an external antenna and have it up and running in as little as 30 minutes.  As a rule, I would say to grab an HD built-in tv and don’t worry about any expensive add ons later. 

The third question down in the guide below offers some more information.

HDTV answers guide

Aspect Ratio

Most HDTV sets are widescreen, but most non-HD content is not.  This may cause you to have to adjust the aspect ratio of your television based on the content.  Most TV’s offer several modes including wide and fixed that help you fine tune your viewing.  For the most part, I usually set the TV to normal, full, or wide mode.   Full and wide modes generally stretch content that isn’t a native HD format. 

LCD or Plasma

 

I really don’t know enough about the differences between the two to really get into this, so I can’t really tell you which format is better.   With my Sony HDTV, the salesperson let me know that I would need a replacement bulb every two years or so.  The bulbs can be found online for as low as $99, but I am sure that you will need a professional to install them.   I’ve read that Plasma screens are better when viewed in dark rooms and LCD screen are better for rooms with more light. The article below should shed some light on the subject.

Plasma vs. LCD -  Which is right for you?

High Definition Multimedia Interface

The future will be the HDMI input .  Try to look for a tv with as many HDMI inputs as possible.  Most HDTV sets should come with two inputs.   As more devices move over to being HD, the HDMI interface will be more important.  For now, you will only need the HDMI interface for your Bluray, HD-DVD, or upconversion progressive scan DVD players.   The HDMI plug is the way your high definition products will interface with your television.  The HDMI cables are the high definition versions of the RCA connection cables.  The more of these you have, the easier it will be to hook up multiple devices to your HDTV.   HDMI cables will generally set you back around $100 or so, but you should be able to find some upconversion DVD players that have them included for free.  I have run into a few Toshiba DVD players that been nice enough to include a free cable.

 

HDMI

 

These are just some of the basics.  Do your research before going out and spending thousands of dollars on a new HDTV.   Generally speaking, you will notice that your standard DVD’s played on an upconversion DVD player look great.  The resolution of the picture will not be the 1080p that Bluray offers, but it will look clear enough for the average home theater viewer.  Hold on to your standard DVD’s for now and wait for the Bluray and HD-DVD units to come down in price.  The Bluray and HD-DVD movies are running anywhere between $19.99 and $39.00.  I don’t know about you , but I don’t want to spend more than $15 for a movie these days.  If you are a home or apartment renter, be sure to contact the property owner to see if they allow satellite or cable service and ask your neighbors if they are able to receive over the air HD content with an external antenna.   If you have a complex television setup with multiple DVD,VHS,receivers, and Tivos, you may have a several hour setup when your new HDTV is delievered.  We had problems connecting the Tivo and kept on getting connection errors that stated that our cable didn’t allow that type of connection.  Call you cable or satelitte provider to make sure that your Tivo will interface properly with your HD Cable converter box.

 

 
Three new versions of Sling Media’s Slingbox have been released recently. 

Here is some info from Slingmedia’s Website:

Slingbox Tuner

The Slingbox TUNER is the perfect companion for your basic cable subscription. With the ability to watch and control your cable TV, the Slingbox TUNER ensures that you can enjoy your live TV entertainment anywhere you go. Turn every computer you use into a portable TV without the need to connect a coax cable. Using an Internet connected computer or compatible mobile phone*, you can watch your basic cable TV anywhere around your home or around the globe. With a Slingbox TUNER you will never be separated from your favorite TV shows, sports broadcasts, or breaking news stories.

Slingbox AV

The Slingbox AV is the perfect companion for your DVR, digital cable, or satellite receiver (Got no box? Try the Slingbox Tuner  instead. Got HDTV? Check out the Slingbox PRO!). With the ability to watch and control your favorite TV source, the Slingbox AV ensures that you can enjoy your TV entertainment anywhere you go. Using an Internet connected computer or compatible mobile phone*, you can watch and control your home TV, DVR, digital cable box, or satellite receiver anywhere around your home or around the globe. With a Slingbox AV you will never be separated from your favorite TV shows, sports broadcasts, breaking news stories, digital video recordings, or video on demand.

 

COMPLETE CONTROL

The Slingbox does a lot more than let you just watch your home TV channels over the Internet, it gives you complete control over your cable box, satellite receiver, or DVR. That’s right, every feature that’s available on your home remote control is accessible through the SlingPlayer interface! This means you can view your electronic program guide (EPG), change the channels, queue a recording on your DVR, or even watch pay-per-view movies.  All your favorite features are just a click away, even from half-way around the world (because whole-way around is back home).

Slingbox Pro

YOUR HOME THEATER AWAY FROM HOME

The Slingbox PRO is the perfect companion for your home theater. With the ability to watch and control one high definition video source* and up to three standard definition video devices, the Slingbox PRO ensures that you can watch all of your favorite home theater entertainment anywhere you go. Using an Internet-connected computer or compatible mobile phone**, you can watch and control your home TV, DVR, basic cable, digital cable box, or satellite receiver anywhere around your home or around the globe. With a Slingbox PRO you are never separated from your favorite TV shows, sports broadcasts, breaking news stories, digital video recordings, or video on demand.

 

ULTIMATE CONNECTIVITY

Connect and control up to four A/V sources. This means you can access your entire home theater, including digital cable, DVD players, TiVo, or any other new-fangled contraption you may have. HD READY The Slingbox PRO is HD Component video compatible (up to 1080i) when used with the optional Slingbox HD Connect Cable. The Slingbox and SlingStream technology adapts the compressed video stream to match the available network and Internet bandwidth. This provides the best possible video quality between the Slingbox and the SlingPlayer application, whether running on a computer or mobile phone**.

We have our hands on the first version of the Slingbox unit and it performs wonderfully.  We would like to test out the new units, but we may wait for the holiday price wars.

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 Every year the release of EA’s Madden Football is eagerly anticipated by millions of adults and children across the globe.  This year’s version offers the same great gameplay and some extras that were not available in last year’s release for the next generation X Box 360 console.  You now have the ability to control lead blockers, create a player and control his career, and also participate in a mini camp.  I am not a hardcore gamer, so I just like to play the franchise mode and play out an entire season.

The graphics and animations are awesome.  The realistic movements of the players improve with each version of Madden that is released.  I caught very few animation “glitches” that took away from the realistic gameplay.  I did notice that my X Box 360 did “sputter” a little from time to time.  I do not know if this has to do with the processor being overworked or not.

 I was disappointed that I could not immediately go online and download current rosters.  I know that the regular NFL football season hasn’t started yet, but the coolest thing is playing with a team with the actual rosters.  I believe that you have to be an X Box Live Gold subscriber to be able to download updated rosters when they are finalized.*  I think that if you are paying $60 for a game, the roster updates shouldn’t  be seen as additional extra content.  That should be part of the deal…If I buy a Madden 07 game, I should be allowed all roster updates for the ‘07 season.  I don’t think that is asking for too much.  EA should take a look at its policies and give us free updates that we can update our offline teams with.   I know that I can update the rosters manually, but then the faces , stats , and performances will not be as accurate as I would like them to be.

Does anyone have any hacks to get around this?  If so please post them in the comments section of this post.

Update:  I have an Update for all you X Box Live Silver members…you are out of luck.  Only the premium Gold Members have access to the Free Madden 07 roster updates.  A work around was posted, but it requires you sign up with a new gamertag an start a new X Box 360 Live Gold Membership with a free 30 day trial and then cancel it before the 30 days are over.  This seems like a pain in the @ss to do.   If you have a computer, you can download the Rosters that have been posted online by other users, but you will need to purchase a data transfer kit that runs about $14.99.  That may be the best bet.  If you have a computer with online access, you can always buy a one month X box live membership for $7.99 and update your rosters that way.  Either way, it looks like you will be spending money in order to get roster updates for a product that retails for $59.99.  It just doesn’t seem fair to me.

Link to site that has the update Roster:  Football-Freaks.com  - You will need to register with the site to have access to the downlaod area.

Here is the Data transfer kit that you will need.

I will post instructions if I can find them online.

Here are the Xbox 360 September 06 updated rosters posted to a Rapidshare account.**

* This was incorrect.  Live Silver Members can download roster updates too.  

** Not the most current rosters available. I believe that a more current roster set is available via the Xbox live system.  3/28/07

 

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I was excited to learn that a new version of iTunes was being released.  I quickly looked up the list of new features of the 7th version of this program. It has a great back up to CD or DVD feature that I will most likely try. The add album art feature sounded great.  Most of my songs are imported Mp3 from different sources that lack the album art.  I guess that it isn’t the most important feature, but it really made me want to try it out.  It is just annoying to see a song come up on my now playing screen without any cover art. Instead of having to use a third party software program to find my cover art, Itunes did it for me.  It only found 800 covers, but that is 800 that I didn’t have before I installed the new version.  Itunes 7also offers a new feature called “Cover Flow” that allows for navigation of songs using the album artwork.   It really seemed that Apple was trying to add value to Itunes and not just trying to get people to upgrade in order to buy movies and games.  I have no interest in watching movies on my iPod, I purchased a 60BG iPod(eight months ago) mainly for the music storage space.  I still think that we are at least six to ten months away from getting the iPod that will “again” change the face of the portable media player.  I won’t purchase another iPod until it has a widescreen display and bluetooth wireless capabilities.  The new 6th Gen iPod will have to have at least 120GB hard drive in order for me to find worth the estimated retail price of $499. I suspect that the 6th Generation iPod will be compatible with most late model 2007 cars.  I want to turn my iPod on and have my car recognize the Bluetooth signal and just start playing…it is 2006…this shouldn’t be too difficult.  The current 5.5 generation iPods added little more than more storage space and a search function that isn’t available on the 5.0 generation version.  Apple is great at re-inventing its products, so they could at least update our firmware with new advances and software improvements.  I am already a loyal iPod user, but I would feel that more value was added if I could get firmware upgrades that improved the way my iPod performed as a media player.  I guess that I shouldn’t complain too much…Apple did add a new quick search by letter function that is very helpful.  I purchased my iPod eight months ago and it is already old technology. 

 This is where the problems start…

Itunes also has a feature that lets you perform firmware upgrades from within the program.  This sounded excellent because it is always a pain to connect your iPod and get notified that you need to go to the Apple site to download the new firmware version.  I assume that this automatic feature will download new version of the firmware in the background.   I was prompted to update my firmware, so I installed it hoping to find some cool new features.  That single upgrade has wasted 10 hours of my life.  My iPod keeps rebooting after some songs and sometimes it doesn’t even get to the main menu screen.  My iPod is “hanging” on the Apple logo and rebooting back to the logo again.  It almost seems like my iPod is stuck in the reboot cycle because I can hear it spin very fast and then just stop.  I read a few articles and many people have reported that it could be a problem associated with the encoding of audio files.   I re-installed the firmware upgrade and had to reload all of my 3500 songs.  I have my songs loaded on an external drive, so it took over an hour to load all the songs.  After the restore of the iPod, I am still having problems with it rebooting for no reason at all.   Install the iPod 1.2 Firmware Update at your own risk.   I have been searching for hours online and I still have not found anything that gets my iPod working properly. 

 Update:  I was finally able to restore my iPod’s firmware to the earlier 1.1 version. I had to restore my computer to a date before I installed iTunes 7 in order for it to work. At this point, it really isn’t worth my time to re-install iTunes 7 until word on the “boards” comes out that it is safe.

My iPod is now problem free and I will wait for a more stable firmware release before I try to update again.  Below are a few articles that helped me to narrow down the problem.

• Apple Support Article
• Another Apple Support Article
• Chernick.org
• Article 4
• Older Versions of iPod Firmware(iPod Wizard.net)
• iTunes 6
• iLounge.com
• Horror Story
• BradKovach.Com

Here are the steps that I had to take to get my iPod working again.  You don’t need to panic like I did.  Your iPod is not really dead. You will be able to get it to work again.

1. Restore my windows based system to a date before I installed iTunes 7.  The restore feature in iTunes 7 doesn’t appear to restore your iPod back to the previous version.  It tries to load the 1.2 Firmware version again.
2. Load a previous version of the iPod updater.  I used iPod Updater 2006-03-23, but you can also use the disk that came with your iPod. The previous versions are disabled if you update to iTunes 7.  This will erase all of your music, photos, and data from your iPod, so be sure that the orginal files are safe.    
3. You may have to reload iTunes or Quicktime.  My Quicktime Pro said that it was missing a files. Use  caution because you don’t want to accidentally delete your library and mp3/AAC files.
4. Sync up your iPod and enjoy it. 
5. Wait for a stable release of the iPod firware to be announced.

I tried the Firmware update twice without any success, so use caution when installing this update.

My iPod experience posted to YouTube.com .

** Update 10/01/06 **

A few people have emailed me to let me know that the easiest solution to my problem is to just plug the iPod into the AC adapter and then reboot.  I have not tried it yet, but it may work.

 

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I was searching for a convenient way to convert my (non-DRM)WMA audio files to mp3 format, but I found that it was difficult to find a solution that met my needs.  I looked up audio converters on Google and I was provided a large list of tools that sounded great.  I downloaded a few and I was surprised to learn that all tools required manually inputting information into id3 tags.  I research the problem a little more and several sources pointed out that WMA to mp3 tagging is not as easy as it sounds.  I figured that I would have to buy a plugin that worked with the Windows Media Player.  The prices ranged from $9.99 and up.  I would have purchased them , but I didn’t see any description that the products could do what I needed them to do.  Most of the tools provided ID3 tags when ripping from a CD to Mp3, but none offered ID3 tags when converting from WMA to MP3. 

 I have an iPod now, but I used to use a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra.  I figured that I would try to reload or download the software that came with the product because I was sure that it offered a free conversion tool.  I went to the Creative USA site and they did offer a tool.  The tool works like a charm and converts title, track, and album name to ID3 tags.  I am including the link below and hopefully it will save someone some time.  The actual article below describes the conversion from Mp3 to WMA, but it is easy enough to figure out how to do it the other way. You don’t actually have to own a Creative Mp3 player for this program to work.  This is a great tool if you all of a sudden have a large collection of DRM free WMA files to convert.

Here is a screenshot of the program:  

*Note: Creative no longer has a direct link to the Audio Converter.  You will have to download the full software bundle.  You can delete the programs thst you don’t need.

Here is a direct link to the article and dowload.  <-- not working

Try this link. You will need to select your Country and mp3 player.  Any of the Zen Players should work.  Download the Creative Media Source Organizer.

 If you have iTunes, you can also just drag any unprotected WMA file into the library window and have the option to convert WMA files to Mp3.

 

I had an older LG flip phone that was about 2 1/2 years old, so I decided that it was time to get a new phone. I looked around and decided that the Motorola Razr V3c was the way to go. The first thing that I wanted to do was install some simple ringtones on it. I thought that it sounded like a simple task, but I can see how it can be a pain for someone who is more of a newbie with computer stuff.

Six hours , one failed $20 online software purchase(which I still haven’t received any type of rebate for and I was given an invalid serial number), and one trip to Circuit City later, I was finally able to upload ringtones to my phone.

First of all, this isn’t really a hack. It is more of a work around. The first thing that you are going to need to do is BUY some software. You can get around buying the software and you can get around needing the software, but this is the easiest way to get everything working in a short amount of time. You are going to need to buy a $29.00 software program called Mobile Phone Tools . I can tell you how to get it for free, but that wouldn’t be right. The next thing that you are going to need is a USB Bluetooth dongle . You don’t really need the Bluetooth dongle , but it will save you time. I tried a USB adapter cable that came with my Sony camcorder and I couldn’t get the drivers to load properly.

Once you have installed the software programs, you can being the process of loading ringtones. First you need to connect your Bluetooth dongle and then start Mobile Phone Tools.