Archive from 03-03-2003
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 12:58 PM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
So we where watching the HGTV channel last night. They had a show on from the CEs and it was about new Plamas and such. The wife was really interested and thought maybe at the end of the year we could get one. She was asking ow it would fit and pricing and real questions.
Then the little one ran up to the RPTV and tried to touch the screen. All thoughts of Plasma's went away. Another 8 months and projecting her soize then, nothing but diaster.
Curtis ( 12.234.117.140 ) at 12:50 PM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
OK... let's liven it up...
RickMTB: I think Sony is making exactly the same mistake as they did with Beta. They are not licensing nearly enough OEM's as the DVD-A camp is. As you know Beta was clearly a better product than VHS, yet Sony only allowed 2 other OEM's to make the machines.
It's the same flawed biz model that all but killed Apple who refused to license their OS. Had they done so, I bet Windows would have never acheived 30% market share.
BC ( 166.50.65.21 ) at 12:47 PM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
OK... let's liven it up...
RickMTB: humm, it depends on the cables used when comparing and whether or not the equipment and speakers are THX certified. ;)
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 12:46 PM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
Speaking of
The price differance betweent he Pioneer 45A and the Yamaha is what $350 or so? What does the yamaha do that or have that is that much better then the Pioneer?
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 12:45 PM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
OK... let's liven it up...
RickMTB: I would say looking at the titles both is the only answer.
Curtis ( 12.234.117.140 ) at 12:34 PM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
wow...
Kieran: Some of us have to get some work done, ya know? ;-)
FYI I'm fairly certain that Ms. Big Al is in law enforcement.
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 12:23 PM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
OK... let's liven it up...
DVD-A versus SACD... let's get reaaaaddddy to ruuuuuumble!
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 11:55 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
wow...
slow morning!!!
Trav1 ( 192.76.84.196 ) at 9:43 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
Watches
Kieran: Gotcha! I was just a little excited there for a minute.
Kieran ( 209.148.114.185 ) at 1:47 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
BIG AL: Thanks. Is your wife an EMT/paramedic of some sort?
Kieran ( 209.148.114.185 ) at 1:47 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
Watches
Trav1: FYI Joel's email to me was not about pricing yet. Just answering some questions of mine about duty and shipment, etc.
Trav1 ( 4.47.73.87 ) at 1:04 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
Watches
Joelc: Noticed your email to kieran. Did you find out the pricing?
Joe ( 152.163.189.201 ) at 12:13 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
Oh man she is watcing HGTV about the CES show and Plasmas
Joe ( 152.163.189.201 ) at 12:13 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
Well the Toshiba is really starting to turn green. The wife is really starting to notice. At first she was trying the " It's just your imagination" routine. Now it's truning green for 5 minute at a time.
I hope it holds out until after she buys my birthday present. Is that shallow or what :)
Joe ( 152.163.189.201 ) at 12:07 AM EST Monday, March 3, 2003
Great HBO series now in HD tonight- Six Feet Under
Curtis: Yes my brother owns a Funeral home and an EMS (Aumbalance) service. I will have to ask him about the show. Myself I do not pay for HBO.
Curtis ( 12.234.117.140 ) at 11:57 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Tosh DTV-3000 HD Receiver - world's most expensive cable tuner?
Sheeit - the plasma/ HD tuner gig I did ther other day turned bad - very bad. Suddenly the Toshiba receiver only wants to tune into cable stations, even though it's connected to a Plus dish that's getting 90+ signals on all three (A,B & C) DirecTV sats.
After 3 hours on the phone with DTV we both shook our heads resulting in a service call Tuesday. Any idea WTF I need to do? This only happens with freebie friends installs of course.
BIG AL ( 207.152.79.36 ) at 11:07 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Kieran; I've always been reluctant to help people in serious situations. A friend got sued after trying to help someone. Then I met my wife. She's been in those types of situations more times than us "normal" people can imagine. Like the time she tried to drag a guy out of his burning car, but couldn't get him out. She had to just stand there and watch him burn to death screaming. The truck driver that bled to death while she applied pressure to his gushing artery. I've always said I'd never help anyone at a risk to myself. All talk I guess. I had a guy have a seizure in my store in the middle of a job application. Just keeled over and started flopping around. His head was knocking against a metal display foot, and blood was pouring out his nose, mouth, and a gash in his head. There were 6 other people in the store with me, and they all headed for the exit fast. I grabbed the cordless phone, tossed it to an employee to call 911, and basically leaped on the guy. I held his head so he wouldn't hurt himself more, and laid on top of him till the ambulance arrived. I had blood all over my hands. I must've washed them 100 times, and I had the heebeejeebees for weeks. I pray I never have to do anything like that again!
I'm going to tell you the same thing I tell my wife everytime, and what she said to me. You did a damn fine job, and you should be proud of yourself!
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 10:48 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Great HBO series now in HD tonight- Six Feet Under
Season 2 starts tonight. If you're homophobic you'll hate it. Hey Joe - isn't one of your relatives in the undertaking biz? What does he think of the show or does it cut too close to the bone?
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 10:33 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Catching up with old topics...
AVB: Damned right - Annie belongs on the A list of great singers. You see? I'm not THAT old school ;-)
PoolDudes Joe and ?: Great advice on cleaning up my green pool H2O. It is now a beautiful bright blue, though a few drops of chlorine got spilled on my dark gray SUV carpeting that is now pale white.
Wild Bill: Are you at liberty to ID the CA firm that offers 2 x HT install choices? email is fine if you don't wish to broadcast the info.
re: "New Music" I try my best to be open to all forms of art, yet the old school stuff was so good it's easy to just live in the past. I have a lot of musician friends who think that real music stopped 10 or 20 years ago. That's simply a depressing thought. My 18 y-o daughter who now plays more instruments than I can recall recently discovered Duke Ellington on her own. "Holy sh*t Dad, this guy REALLY ROCKS!", said she yesterday. I had a sh*teating grin on my face ... that's my girl! ;-)
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 9:49 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
CPR
cai & Ron: Understood. In fact my New Yorker friends are some of the kindest people I know - I never said anything about them ... just the strangers involved in whatever violence one happens to stumble upon. I must say that 99.9% of the time I lived in Manhattan I felt very safe at all hours even in most neighborhoods white boys don't frequent late at night (in the early '70's). My loft did get totally cleaned out by burglers twice but hey - I was a starving student at the time with little of value to take except for good cameras.
My initial reply should have mentioned one of the other cities on my list. Most people tend to either love or hate NY. I'm in the former group. Have you all been getting the distinct impression from NYer's post 9/11 that along with all of the other powerful emotions, the biggest one is for blood? Who can blame them for the true horrors they had to go through, yet the eye for an eye thing rarely leads to any kind of peace.
simm ( 66.56.155.14 ) at 7:12 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
HT Furniture
sorry, that was the model 099 seating.
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 6:43 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Wild Bill: I seen that in the news. The whole thing was on video.
simm ( 66.56.155.14 ) at 6:37 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
HT Furniture
Anybody recommend a place on the web to order HT furniture? I'm particularly interested in Berkline HT seating. I was by my local dealer last weekend and they had some in for about $1000 a seat. Leather recliners that can be configured several different ways. I believe it was the model 045 or 047. $1000 is more than I can spend per chair and truthfully my dealer has changed over the last year or so- not as friendly/willing to help. I have bought all my gear from him so not an issue of me looking at his stock and buying elsewhere but this might be the time that I do. I want to get seating for three if I can.
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 6:17 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
DVD review... Blue Crush
Yeehaw! Not just becuase of the nubility (humunahumuna) but what they saved in writing and acting they spent on the sound and visuals. Great movie to show off the system...
cai ( 68.100.159.101 ) at 5:35 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
CPR
Kieran: You did a very commendable job. I have taken the first aid course about two or three times, but can not do half of the things you did. I hope never to be in the situation you were since from the experience of a friend of mine in Pittsburgh, it is very stressing and traumatic. He lost a fellow worker that had a heart attack and to whom he gave mouth to mouth.
Curtis: I have to agree with Ron about the New Yorkers I know also. In my close to 30 years in NYC, I saw very little crime first hand, always read about it. I did see some petty crime, but never a murder, or anything similar. I did frequent the Spanish West Side of upper Manhattan throughout the 60s. Lots of parties there, never anything violent.
Wild Bill ( 12.92.110.164 ) at 4:32 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Curtis is right about people not helping. Recently, a man was murdered in Washington, DC at a gas station. Another man was standing next to him. A gunman ran up to the man and shot him and then ran off. The man that was standing next to the victim finished pumping his gas, walked to the cashier and paid and then returned to his car and drove off leaving the victim laying by the gas pumps. Unfortunately it seems that it takes a disaster for us to pull together as people and show courtesy, respect and help to one another.
Kieran ( 64.54.75.96 ) at 3:56 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
DLP competition
http://www.audiorevolution.com/news/0203/27.sony.shtml
Joelc ( 64.229.55.33 ) at 3:55 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Kieran: You have e-mail re: watches and payment method. Please, after reading my responses, let me know what you think and that you are stil onside.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 3:35 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Gents, I didn't mean to single out NYer's at all - you can insert about 4 other major cities around the world where I have seen the same thing. People do not always instinctively help others in dire stress the way Kieran did - especially in bad parts of big cities.
Several of my best friends are from NYC (I know, that sounds like a liberal saying some of my best friends are black while making a racist statement) My example happened in one of the toughest blocks of Spanish Harlem in the '70's where people are too used to seeing human suffering like drug dealers offing each other and they have learned to grow thick skin - for their own survival.
My other same experiences happened in the toughest area of Chicago's South Side, Calcutta, India (bodies are literally floating down the Ganges River daily), tough parts of London, and a gang section of Honolulu. Ski slopes tend to not be populated by dangerous feuding people.
Now do you see what I'm saying?
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 3:03 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
CPR
Ron: Agreed... the NYers did a pretty good job helping each other on 9/11 (and I am not a big NY fan)...
BC ( 67.234.6.126 ) at 12:46 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
CPR
Good morning/afternoon guys.
Kieran: Your a good man!
Ron ( 24.167.69.128 ) at 12:26 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
CPR
Curtis: The New Yorkers I know would not walk past someone in need.
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 12:19 PM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Morning all
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:34 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Sony SAT-T60 DirecTivo problem solved?
The damned thing would just reboot once an hour, then hang trying to power up. I had to unplug it for 5 minutes then replug to get it to boot, only to fail again soon after.
My son removed the stack of DVD's/CD's I had piled on top of the Tivo saying "Dad the Tivo gets really hot." It has worked flawlessly since then. Sony must have built-in a thermal protection circuit. There's actually some kind of thermometer in the box - go to the System Info screen and it'll tell you what the internal temp is.
That's my boy ;-)
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 10:23 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Oh, I saw the large "Secrets" article that tested and compared a lot of different DVD players and they aren't big Pioneer fans (and the 45A didn't test well for them). Seems they really liked the now discontinued Panasonic RP82, the (I believe soon to be discontinued XP30.... essentially the RP82 minus the DVD-A ability) and the Denon 1600 (which is supposed to be based on the RP82). I think I can find the XP50 (the XP30 with DVD-A).
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 9:58 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
He was sure the salesman said it would play DVD-A
... my pal who bought the open box Sony 7700 this week. Yeah right, next time do your own research.
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 9:32 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Interesting article on tweaking DVD players:
http://www.tweakaudio.com/Players.html
btw, still seem to be leaning towards the Pioneer DV45A. Were there some probs with te deck?
Robert ( 12.218.0.16 ) at 5:41 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Kieran,
you did what you could and sometimes medicine (CPR, M2M) can change the outcome, but what you did for him did at least give him a chance.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 2:29 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
CPR
Kieran: You and your GF did 20x what most people would have done to help out. That Eagle Scout training comes in handy, no? I took CPR ages ago but still think I would know what to do. When I lived in NYC I would see stabbed/ shot people on the ground, screaming for help. NYer's can be pretty cold and most would just walk right past. I helped one such guy and he pulled a knife on me!
There's only so much you can do sometimes. When your number is up, it's up..
Ron ( 24.167.69.128 ) at 2:04 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Some links.
http://www.pronto.philips.com/index.cfm?id=496
http://www.consumer.philips.com/global/b2c/ce/catalog/assets/downloads/iPronto_Whitepaper.pdf
Ron ( 24.167.69.128 ) at 2:02 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
bib=big
Ron ( 24.167.69.128 ) at 1:59 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
Another super remote to compete with the bib boys. Internet access from you remote is cool..
Kieran ( 64.54.75.96 ) at 1:30 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
CPR
Hey guys... I had a hell of a day today.
The g/f and I drove up to Tahoe for a day of skiing at Heavenly. We left Friday night/Sat morn at midnight, got in around 3am. Got up and 9am and hit the slopes at 10. Great day of skiing the conditions were just amazing. 4~8" of powder almost everywhere. Landis and I were beat though... both fighting illness, I skied today with a sore throat and a mild fever. She was not feeling well either, so we decided to head home an hour early: 3pm.
While making our way to the "way out" trail to the Nevada side base lodge, I saw two skiers on the ground in front of me (this is a very flat, green-level trail, near a mountain top lodge)... a man lieing on his back and the woman bent over him. All of a sudden, she starts screeming, "help, help!!!" I'm about 15 yards from her, closest person. The mini-mountain top lodge is about 100 yds behind me. I hop out of my skis and take a look, she's sobbing, screaming, "help me, somebody help him!" I try to calm her down. Landis skied up behind me by now. The guy, by my judgement is having a pretty hefty seazure (sp?). He's late 30's, slightly overweight. First things first... I got him flat and opened his airway... he was still breathing, but barely... His tounge seems to be blocking his airway, and typical of sezures, he was clamping his jaw muscles firm... I couldn't open his mouth wide, and I wasn't about to put a finger in there, as he occasionally clenched his teeth. Also, I didn't have and couldn't find anything to let him clamp his teeth onto. His arms and legs started spazming so I got a few bystanders to hold him while I continued to try to keep his airway open, which was tough as the spasms were causing him to bring his chin down to his chest. He was still sucking air down though, but very labored... His neck and throat and shoulder muscles were all working against me to keep his head back and airway open. By now, ski patrol arrives, and I back off and start looking for a pulse, as this guy is loosing color quickly... he's not getting enough oxygen and I couldn't find a pulse in his wrists. Landis, who from her work (research assistant at UCSF med center) is used to finding pulses on obese people, found his corroted artery and had a weak pulse. Ski patrol guy (find out later he's also an MD) decides to begin mouth-to-mouth, even though the guy is still sucking air in (albeit not enough). M2M looks promising at first, as the guy took a big breath on his own after the first blow by MD. Then back to weezing and clenching. More ski patrol show up, with a mouth-to-mouth mask. MD applies mask and starts M2M in earnest. His shirt had been cut open by now as I was trying to find pulse from his chest by ear. Landis said she's lost the pulse from the neck. I start chest compressions with the okay of the MD/ski patrol doing M2M. Together we do CPR for somewhere around 5 minutes or so, while the rest of ski patrol arrives with a portable difibrulator, back board, snow mobile, etc. MD and I continue CPR as the team readies victim for defib. CPR stopped, "clear" is called, charge given, no pulse. Continue CPR as defib machine recharges. One more try. No go. MD and I continue CPR as ski patrol team readies him to move him onto the sled to get him down the mountain. Finally a ski partrol guy takes over for me on the compressions as they get victim on the sled, also they get a blow bag for the M2M. They get him on the sled and two other ski patrol continue CPR as they take him down the mountain. He had been without a pulse for several minutes now, and not much oxygen either, as the spasming throat and neck made M2M difficult. His color was almost completely gone.
Wife of victim is a wreck... poor guy just celebrated his 37th birthday the day before. Apparently he has a family history of severe heart desease, is taking meds for high blood pressure and high colestorol, AND had been complaining of chest pains earlier in the day (not to be mean, but I don't know WHY they were still skiing if he had been complaining). They take her down to the base lodge first aid station. MD/ski patrol takes my name and report. He agreed with me that it looked like a seazure at first, not a heart attack. When we lost the pulse and had to start full CPR, I was starting to feel that I had mis-diagnosed the seazure, but MD agreed with me. After calming down and letting the adrenaline subside, Landis and I head down the mountain to the car. We have some gear of the couple to take to the first aid lodge. This is about an hour now after I first came to the guy. We got to our car, and drove over to the first aide area (few miles away from our car). As we are driving down to the lot, we are passed by a VERY slow moving Ambulance, Paramedic SUV, firetruck, and a few civilian cars. "OH F*CK" was the thought on both our minds, even though we didn't say anything. We got to the first aid shack, and head guy welcomed us and gave us the news. The poor fellow died right there, the ambulance was on the way to the coroners office. I nearly lost it... so sad. We drove home after that... long drive home.
What a day.
Please, everyone... if you have not done it, go get your Red Cross First Aid and CPR certification.
Tony C ( 68.20.183.224 ) at 12:25 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
JJ: I don't think I can do that on my Lex DC-2.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 12:03 AM EST Sunday, March 2, 2003
One Hour Photo
T-Man: You're so humble yet correct ;-) Thanks for the heads-up, I was about to buy it mostly on a review from 1 of the only sources I trust - a writer for Rolling Stone who labeled it "Really, truley frightening."
I'll take your opinion over his as the studio probably stuffed his pockets. Rental it is.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:48 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Checkout AuctionDrop
Now why didn't we think of this? "The easy way to eBay!" www.auctiondrop.com
They have retail storefronts (San Carlos, CA for now, more coming) that allow sellers to drop items to sell off with them - a week or few later the seller gets a check, less the steep commission.
They do all of the micro-managing of photographing, listing, selling/ answering bidders email questions PLUS they pack/ ship everything anywhere on the planet. Heidi Rozien and some other VC backed them
They got a huge front page write-up in today's San Jose Mercury News dead tree. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/5292948.htm
I predict the whole company will make a ton of money. It's just an idea that's so obvious.
T-Man ( 208.40.137.142 ) at 10:48 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
One Hour Photo
Only a renter in my humble yet correct opinion. Not that good as it takes a long time to get where its going and I'm not sure if it even gets there. (huh?) In Joe style, here is the menu for tonight. Herradura (reposado) Margarita, and a deep dish pizza with gorgonzola, onions and mushrooms. No, not from Tony's city, right here from western PA.
Joe ( 152.163.189.201 ) at 9:59 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Gas is only $2.99/ gallon here
AVB: We are about $1.70 here.
JJ ( 69.3.168.35 ) at 7:46 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony C: What pre-pro? even the lowly H/K 520 receiver has different settings on the same input. For example, If it gets a DD 2.0 signal, I can say, use DPL II, if it gets a PCM 2channel, I can tell it to use Logic7 or DTS-Neo6 or stereo, etc. whatever...
Tony C ( 68.20.183.224 ) at 6:37 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Panasonic RP-82
This one looks nice. But I don't think Denny can get Panasonic either.
Denon, Sony, HK, Kenwood is all he carries. I think.
Tony C ( 68.20.183.224 ) at 6:10 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
RickMTB: Thanks for the link. After review, I may ask for something else.
It does RGB, but does not have component outs. I also like to use the optical and coax digital outs. One goes to the DVD input the other to the CD input. The pre-pro has different settings for each.
What else was on your short list?
AVB ( 64.41.32.108 ) at 6:06 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Police
Curtis: So when are they bringing Harvey Firestein (sp) in to be the chief in Frisco?
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 5:20 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Broadband test results
Tony C: I ran the tests on 2 x notebooks and 2 x desktops - 1 PC & 1 Mac of each. All came in very close to each other. I think it's how fat your data communications pipe is, not an individual computer.
Nice going on the Gasgeek deal. I just put in a HD reciever at the friends' house who got that 50" Pioneer plasma you saw here last year. No gear, but I think I can ride some very nice polo ponies gratis for a few years.
Be careful what you wish for ... I just might surprise you one of these days. I don't suppose it's clear/ in the lower 70's there today? ;-)
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 4:17 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony C: Let us know how you like the Denon 1600. This looks like its oan old review, but it might be of some value:
http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/HardwareReviews/Denon1600/Denon1600.html
Tony C ( 68.20.183.165 ) at 4:00 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Broadband test results
Curtis: thanks. My Download speed is 652kbps and Upload is 136kbps.
Slightly above "Rocks".
I wonder if the laptop would be much different?
Come on out here buddy. We'll have a go at the install thing.
Tony C ( 68.20.183.165 ) at 3:51 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Today's install was kind of a surprise. I did not know that is was a remodle. The whole house was gutted, the guy was putting a second floor on and making the house accessable for his son who is in a wheel chair most of the time.
The house is rather small and the living room, where the display is going is also kind of a main traffic area.
So the guy is using a plazma and in-wall speakers. That will save him at least 30" on that wall. The equipment rack is going in the office closet.
We also ran wire for ceiling speakers (actually one unit with stereo speakers to the kitchen and dining area and also two volume controlers for that. Also ran Cat-5 for the IR controler.
All in all, with all the drilling, and the owner helping, we spent two hours working and we ran 800 feet of wire.
Now compare that to Wild Bill's jobs and you'll see where I'm coming from.
OH, but call me Gasgeek. No wait, don't call me Gasgeek. But my payment for this work and when we come back and finish will be a DVD player.
My friend asked what I wanted. I said a Pioneer 45A. Sorry, can't get Pioneer. I said a Denon 1600. He said, fine. So, I got that coming in about 3 weeks.
Tony C ( 68.20.214.178 ) at 3:43 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Wild Bill: The most "expensive" install I ever did on my own was about $10,000 in equipement. My labor was bartered or free.
And those are the kind of people I was refering to.
I understand that there are some very good custom installers in this area, Think one is ISR? I know that they do only very high end clients.
I just don't think I'm smart enough to pull it off.
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 1:34 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony
Thanks But I will be at work on Friday night. Are they playing at the Machine Shop? My work is around 6 miles from there. It has become the hot spot in Flint. A lot of bands are playing there. A few weeks ago Kid Rock was in the crowd and jiumped on stage. He did a forty minute show.
We use to have another bar in Flint that alwasy had good rock bands, Contos. Now they have a rainbow flag flying.
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 1:31 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Curtis: Don't worry about your daughter getting cold at college. There that thought should put your mind at ease :)
Robert ( 12.218.0.16 ) at 1:30 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
The weather
Tony C: I'm going to be a plagerist and copy this and replace "Chicago" with "Minneapolis".
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 12:43 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony C and Wild Bill: Judging by the huge number of palaces going up in the past few years and the long parade of large German luxury cars, I can tell you where you should be able to make a nice living in Bill's biz... my hometown of Hinsdale and Oak Brook. They have gone from fairly affordable places to very wealthy and seem as ressession-proof as anywhere because the population is not all in the same professions the way Silicon Valley is.
Go for it. Maybe I'll move back there and we can be partners.
Wild Bill ( 12.92.110.3 ) at 12:28 PM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony C: JohnO and I have a running debate about large jobs vs. "small" jobs. Let me define small job. It takes about $10K in business for us to consider a job. A $10K job is usually a pre-wire and a 3 zone distributed audio system. We can bang out the pre-wire in a half-day or day and the install in less than a day. We do very few of these jobs. What we really consider a "small" job is a basic media room or home theater with a dstributed audio system to six zones or a dedicated theater. These jobs start in the highs 20's and go up to about $50K-$75K. The bread and butter jobs are the ones that land betwenn $30-$40K. We can do the pre-wire in a day, and the installation in 2-3 days. There's a nice profit margin and we're in and out fairly quickly.
The large scale jobs are the jobs over $100K. These require much more planning and documentation. We spent the whole month of January wiring a house for a 9 zone Crestron system, plasma in the family room with surround sound and a plasma in the bedroom. We pulled over 3 1/2 miles of wire...*in a finished house!*. This system has now gone over $200K and I suspect that the final price will end up around $275K. These are very complicated jobs that require serious manpower and expertise.
My opinion, if you wanted to do this fulltime, is that there are a TON of the bread and butter jobs out there. You could make a wonderful living doing the $30K jobs. There is a company in California in their third year that only sells two systems. They have a $20,000 system and a $28,000 system. No deviations. They are currently doing about 2 million a year in volume. The installs are always the same so anyone in the company can troubleshoot and they have a very focused product line (less than 150 skus) so they have tremendous support from their manufacturers. It's a solid business model.
I disagree with the statement that the big jobs are becoming scarce. There are plenty of these jobs out there in the right geographical areas. You have to work very hard to make the proper contacts to get referrals for the large jobs. It has taken us a year to get to that level. We are fortunate because we are in one of the wealithiest areas of the country. We also are probably in the area of the country that is the last to feel a bad economy or recession.
Now, back to my debate with JohnO (I seem to be rambling). He would prefer that we do a zillion $35K jobs a year and forego the larger jobs because of the resource requirements. I prefer to take on a limited number of the large jobs and balance it with by picking and choosing the clients we want to work with on smaller AND larger projects. If I have a good balance I don't need as many crews in the field and it is easier for me to tighten my belt in lean times. The other reason that I want to do a number of large jobs is selfish. I DO want our company to achieve industry recognition and awards for our work and I DO want us to be featured in AUdio Video Interiors some day. These are my personal goals and they have nothing to do with money and everything to do with being recognized as one of the best in the business. There's a lot more to it and I could (obviously) post on this subject for hours on end but I'll put the stopper in it here. :-)
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:55 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
So what DVD player did my friend buy?
After all the information about current generation great DVD players I furnished my pal, with the help of y'all, he buys a demo Sony 7700. Why? Because "it used to cost $1,000 and I prefer to have all-Sony gear."
I told him it has the chroma bug but the sales droid assured him it did not. Then they charged him $75 for a component video cable - I give up on him.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:32 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Duh - that test site was intended for Tony C
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:31 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Broadband test results
Curtis: http://www.dslreports.com/stest?loc=2
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:26 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Broadband test results
Just ran my Comcast (was AT&T till last week) cable modem service
Download:1,757 kbps (places it between "Awesome" and "Insane")
Upload: 245 kbps
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:17 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
The weather
Tony C: That last line will never happen. Did you notice the Giants played the Cub's and their former manager yesterday? Bonds hit the 1st pitch he saw out of the park but stop the presses - the Cub's got 2 inside the park homers and won!
Tony C ( 68.20.177.175 ) at 10:36 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Joelc: Here's the thing, and I think Wild Bill would agree that most people who buy mid or low end systems dont' have the money or simply don't want to spend more money after spending a lot on their new system.
So what's left are the $100K plus instals. And I'll admit that I just don't know enough about that high end/whole house stuff. Just enough to get me in trouble. Plus from what my friend tells me those jobs are becoming scarce. THe economy has really hurt the sales of high end instals.
But I've thought about it.
Joelc ( 64.229.55.33 ) at 10:25 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony C: Don't know about that job thing as it appears to me that you make a pretty good living as an installer given all the installs that you do. What do you think?
Tony C ( 68.20.177.175 ) at 10:08 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
OK, enough of me.
I'm heading out this morning to do an install with the friend who runs a electroics store. He needed some help.
I'll tell you guys about it when I get back. Have a good day. Stay warm and don't drive.
Tony C ( 68.20.177.175 ) at 10:06 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
The weather
Subject: Chicago - However, the following could be said for any city north of here. Except for the very last line.
Seasonal Differences in the regions of the USA
60 above - Floridians wear coats, gloves, and woolly hats.
Chicago people sunbathe.
50 above - New Yorkers try to turn on the heat.
Chicago people plant gardens.
40 above - Italian cars won't start.
Chicago people drive with the windows down.
32 above - Distilled water freezes.
Lake Michigan's water gets thicker.
20 above - Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Chicago people have the last cookout before it gets cold.
15 above - New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
Chicago people throw on a sweatshirt.
0 degrees - Californians fly away to Mexico.
Chicago people lick the flagpole and throw on a light jacket over their
sweatshirt.
20 below - People in Miami cease to exist.
Chicago people get out their winter coats.
40 below - Hollywood disintegrates.
Chicago's Girl Scouts begin selling cookies door to door.
50 below - Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Chicago people get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.
60 below - Microbial life survives on dairy products.
Illinois cows complain of farmers with cold hands.
460 below - ALL atomic motion stops.
Chicago people start saying. . ."Cold 'nuff for ya??"
500 below - Hell freezes over.
The Chicago Cubs win the World Series
Tony C ( 68.20.177.175 ) at 10:00 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
JOE - GAR
http://www.fromzero.com/Sorry_E_Card.swf
http://www.fromzero.com/Time_Of_day.mp3
Tony C ( 68.20.177.175 ) at 9:58 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Pacifier
Joe: That band is playing in Detroit tonight at St. Andrews.
I have another band playing in Flint next Friday (3/7). They're name is From Zero. Kind of cool band from Chicago. I could put you on a guest list if you want.
Gar: Pacifier is playing in Madison next Friday. I was going to go, but these bands go on between 10 and midnight and I don't want to spend the night there. But if you want to get put on the list, let me know.
Joelc ( 64.229.55.33 ) at 9:52 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Good morning one and all..
Tony C ( 68.20.177.175 ) at 9:41 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
BIG AL: Give me the link to that test page. I'd like to see how my dsl is doing.
Tony C ( 68.20.177.175 ) at 9:41 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony
Robert: LOL! Why do you think I'm so freaked about loosing my job? LIke I told you, the only thing I'm qualified for is armed robbery.
And speaking of which. There has been a rash of bank robberies in the area. I found out from a cop. Nothing really in the papers because they don't want to freak people out and they don't want copy cats. They hit the banks as they are opening. They don't get much money, but about $3K for an hours work aint bad.
T-Man ( 216.151.66.245 ) at 9:13 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
small rant
BAGMAN: He did suck. That makes him a good candidate for the Clowns.
AVB ( 64.41.32.108 ) at 6:37 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Gas is only $2.99/ gallon here
BIG AL: Plain old unleaded 87 Octane is $1.64 at the stations (all 2 of them) in town. Varies from a low of $1.60 to $1.84 in the area for the same.
BIG AL ( 207.152.79.36 ) at 2:36 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Gas is only $2.99/ gallon here
Curtis: I try not to pay attention. I only buy Mobil, or Shell premium for my car/bike. They both need 92 octane minimum, and they have the highest quality gas. I don't care what it costs, because I have to buy it. Luckily I don't have a long commute, and my car gets good gas mileage. (if I can stay off the turbos) :-)
BIG AL ( 207.152.79.36 ) at 2:31 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
I am now surfing at high speed! It's so amazing to connect at 500 kbps after years of 26.4. I think I'm addicted! I had to do some tweaking to get there though. When the guy was done installing, he went to a speed check site, and it showed 495 kbps. He said that was great for my distance, and left it at that. I surfed for a while, and it was faster, but didn't seem that much faster. I checked dslreports.com and I was getting 495 upload, but only 47 download! I followed their tweak suggestions, and bingo! 495 up, and 500 down. The porn loads so fast, it's almost like being there! :-) I'M JUST KIDDING DEAR!
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 1:20 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Gas is only $2.99/ gallon here
What's up with this and how bad is it in the rest of the country? The above price is from dueling corner Chevron and Shell stations in one of the most expensive towns in the Bay Area. Yes it's full serve for premium, yet the self-serve is only about 40 cents cheaper.
I was on fumes stuck in that town today without other options and grilled the station owners. They said they're keeping margins where they have been for years. Their costs are through the roof. A 2 island little station has to pay $17,000 per month in rent alone.
Big V8 SUV's are going to be given away soon.
Robert ( 12.218.0.16 ) at 12:19 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony C: I wore a T shirt !!
Robert ( 12.218.0.16 ) at 12:18 AM EST Saturday, March 1, 2003
Tony
Joe: It's chief bullshitter
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:53 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Tony C: 40 degrees and you're wearing shorts?! My kids whine endlessly about how freezing that temp. feels. Just wait until my daughter gets her 1st dose of New England winter next year when she's in North Hampton Mass. All the California kids are easy to spot wearing sandals with socks and WONDERING why they can't get warm.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:50 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Joe: "...I am pretty much sold on getting the Yamaha"
Good selection. They make beautiful, sleek, very fast motorcycles ;-)
No wait - wrong hobby board.
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 11:02 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
As long as I am babbling I am pretty much sold on getting the Yamaha. I might look into the Denon 2900 which is suppsoe to be a good machine. But all things being equal or close I have to go with experiance.
The big thing is if my local dealer will try to get full retail out of me. Waht kind of prices are you guys seeing?
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 10:59 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Tony
So my peer asked me about you. What is your title? If you don't mind
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 10:55 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
The CD
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 10:55 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Tony
I hear that. BTW our studnet who is 21 and my 3rd shift peer who is 25 said they really like CD. JOsh and I quote " They Fu(*^^% rock, just what I like"
I have only heard the first 2 songs so far.
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 10:52 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Kieran
I tried the secreats page tonight. I got cut short as my job required my attention. Since you are the wizard, how about some lnks for the Yamaha S2300 reviews.
Tony C ( 68.20.209.19 ) at 10:52 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Joe: It was close to 40 here today. Wore shorts. :)
Joe ( 205.188.209.40 ) at 10:51 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Evening all
I am home :) It's SciFi Friday. This starts in a few minutes with Stargate, then Farscape. This evening dinner includes Becks bier and General Pao chicken. That is a deadly combo :)
Tony C ( 68.20.209.19 ) at 10:50 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Mits Net Command
Curtis: I needed that bit of vindication. I asked a friend who has it how he likes it. Turns out he still needs two remotes. What's the point?
Tony C ( 68.20.209.19 ) at 10:48 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Tosh TV
Curtis: I'm wondering if they will approve the parts. But if they do, yeah. Everything but the CRTs would be new. That would be fine by me.
Joelc ( 64.229.55.33 ) at 10:08 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Nothing is as hard as programming a Crestron... nothing!
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 8:45 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Hey this place is a ghost town tonight. I am telling you it's a heat wave over here. Last night it was 14 when I got out. Today it was all the way up to 23 on the way in. Man I need to start tanning :)
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 8:44 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Tosh TV
Tony C: I guess Kieran's Dad didn't find the warranty extension thing. I'm seeing my dealer tonight or tomorrw and get him to find one. If your guy replaces all the parts you'll have a new RP!
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 8:33 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Mits Net Command
Scott "popcorn": The Net Command I helped a pla setup was a trainwreck. Mits also charges a fortune for it. Just because it has a FireWire interface doesn't make it better than many options at 1/2 the price.
He renamed the thing "Not Command" - should give you an idea of how user unfriendly it is.
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 7:54 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Gar
Got your email... thanks for the info. Have fun!
Scott "popcorn" ( 66.138.33.249 ) at 6:50 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Mits Net Command
Tony C: From what I know about Net Command, it's really cool. Never tried to set it up before though. Sounds like it's at least as hard as setting up a Crestron :)
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:09 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Shopping
I stopped at the HT store on the way to work today. This store sells Marantz, Pioneer and Yamaha. They only had the Pioneer setup and not the Yamaha or Marantz. When I stared to inquire everyone recommended the Yamaha over the other two units.
However the bad thing is they sold the last Yamaha and the rep screwed up the order. Soinstead of getting new S2300 in stock, they got recievers.
BAGMAN ( 209.26.206.210 ) at 5:54 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
small rant
T-Man: Thankyou so much.... I do feel better. I think I'll celebrate with some Austrailian free range beef delmonicos and some gulf stone crab claws. I see they cut your man Kordell, oh well, he pretty much "sucked" anyway.
cai ( 68.100.159.101 ) at 5:31 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Layoffs
BC: Hang in there and good luck. Let me know how you like the B&K.
T-Man ( 209.166.185.116 ) at 5:30 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
small rant
BAGMAN: So ...., Bagman. You come home on a Friday with this pent up anger at Mr Weapons inspector, and feel compelled to go off on a mini rant on the HTOC? Well, I for one am glad you got that off your chest. Well done old chap!
Tony C ( 65.214.102.5 ) at 5:24 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Tosh TV
I had a guy from Tweeter's Service come out again. Same guy as last time.
He brought a new transistor for the Red gun. The red problem was on Toshibas board, but not the green.
I told him I was really worried about the warranty ending, so he said he would order a bunch of new parts, boards, pots, etc. and just install new stuff.
I thought that was pretty cool. But bottom line is, he didn't know what the problem was. Nobody does. Hopefully changing this stuff out will make it like new. Hopefully.
BAGMAN ( 209.26.206.210 ) at 4:29 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
small rant
I'm not overly gung-ho for this war but Blix is a freakin idiot.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 12:56 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Tony C: 1000 world wide for Sony? Agilent announced last week that 900 jobs would be cut in Sonoma County ALONE (4000 world wide). At this point, I'm glad I got out when I did... :-P
It seems neverending.... :-(
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 12:09 PM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
BC: I will going to Gartner's IT Expo Spring Symposium in San Diego later in March... Mike Capellas is shceduled to give the keynote there. ya want me to ask him anything? ;-)
Seriously, hope everything works out well for you!
BC ( 166.50.65.21 ) at 11:37 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Thanks guys, there already finished in our organization so it looks like I made it through another one. I think that makes 4 or 5. jeez.
Now I don't feel so bad about the new B&K stuff I've got coming. Hopefully it will arrive next week! I'm sick of being down and watching the 27" tv in the bedroom.
Joelc ( 216.223.140.58 ) at 11:33 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
BC: Good luck my friend!!
Ron ( 208.195.242.212 ) at 11:02 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
BC: Best wishes.
Tony C ( 68.20.211.96 ) at 10:00 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Mits Net Command
Has any one here tred to figure out Mitsubishi's Net Command?
What a mess.
I worked on one for an hour yesterday. Told the guy to buy a pronto.
Tony C ( 68.20.208.246 ) at 8:44 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
BC: I missed the bullet this week myself. Difference was, there was no warning of it coming. Just a 15 minute conference call with those who still had jobs.
Sony, I understand will be letting 1,000 people go worldwide today.
I feel your anxiety. Really. Best of luck to you.
BC ( 166.50.65.21 ) at 7:49 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Good morning guys.
Wish me luck, it' D-day at Worldcom today! (layoffs again)
AVB ( 64.41.32.121 ) at 7:46 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Shoveling snow again
Only 4 inches this time but Maryland is paralized anyway.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 2:53 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
DirecTivo/ Pioneer non-Elite plasmas
Wild Bill: Agreed on both points. I love my Sony SAT-T60 DirecTivo but is currently acting very badly - every hour or so it will reboot and hang on the gray "Powering Up" screen or "Can not load Kernal" message
. I'm 3 weeks from the end of the 1 year parts only warranty and it will cost me 12 business days from the time they recieve it in PA, $62 plus shipping both ways as a flat rate. Had I opened ithe case for any reason including to upgrade the recording time with extra HD's I would have been SOL and owned a boat anchor - even under extended warranty.
WTF was Pioneer thinking of (I don't have to appologize to Robert, as he's no longer there) when they decided to eliminate any option of an external scaler from their Media Center boxes? Like they don't scream for one for EVERYTHING save HD video signals?! Thank goodness my dealer was willing to make me a great deal on the 43" and 50" Elite Pro models.
Not including even a basic table mount stand with the Elite's is a drag. I know they want to allow the customer flexability of mounting options (at a premium price) however if I paid >$12K for a 50" display that could only lay flat on the floor, I wouldn't be terribly happy.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 2:34 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
From California With Love...
Tony C: I have several east coaster former LA transplant friends who also took YEARS to understand they weren't living in Sin (Cyn) City ;-)
Kieran: I'll address these out of order, sorted by outrageousness:
#17. My ex's family of 5 owns/drives no fewer than the following list of 7. She admits it's simply out of control and wonders why they spend so much on maintenence/ insurance & gasoline that can be found here for $2.99 a gallon. I saved a small fortune by being divorced!
- 1 '01 SUV, 4Runner with Super Charger (his son's HS grad. gift)
- 1 '99 Porsche 911 S4 Carrera (his)
- 1 '02 Audi A6 Turbo Qattro (hers)
- 1 '02 Honda Civic Hybrid (theirs?)
- 1 early 70's VW microbus (his toy)
- 1 '68 Mustang coupe (our 15 y-o son's)
-1 91 Acccord hatchback (our daughter's)
#5 My sister has 2 x of this flavor
#9 I possess an unreal talent for nearly always finding a prime parking space anywhere I happen to be in CA. I will gladly trade this for advance notice of the winning $100 million Super Lotto Plus numbers.
#13 Plus 5" font newspaper front page headlines.
# 16 Sooo true
#19 Damnned straight
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 12:39 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
RickMTB: GAR, btw, I sent it from my wife's account (she may have given me OKs to buy the new stuff, but she isn't THAT into HT to ask all those questions... ;-)
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 12:27 AM EST Friday, February 28, 2003
Gar: Email coming your way (assuming the addy in your bio is correct)
Tony C ( 68.20.179.225 ) at 11:50 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
From California With Love...
Kieran: When I moved to SoCal, the thing that I didn't undertand was Cyn on the street signs. What the hell did Cyn (sin) mean?
Then it was explained. None of those streets looked like a canyon to me. Not even a gully.
Curtis ( 12.234.154.211 ) at 11:02 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Joe: Go for broke - get the motorcycle ;-) You earned it. Take a bunch of safety classes 1st if you're not a seasone pilot. Get a bike you can master ... unless you can handle anything. In that case there's a certain midwestern regular HTOC'er who has the ultimate in power bikes whom you MIGHT be able to convince him to part with:at a fair price ;-)
I'm totally jealous.
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 8:46 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Kieran
Joe: I already have a Yamaha receiver (the RXV793)...
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 7:50 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Wild Bill: It's like me thinking the HT room is mine. I think it has more toys then Toys R Us.
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 7:48 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
I seen tha DACS on the Yamaha where 54/12 on the video side. I thought players where at 108/14 these days?
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 7:46 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
I might go look at some players this weekend. My wife wants to drive down to Cabela's. I have to go past Ann Arbor and they have some nice HT stores.
Gar ( 66.222.51.72 ) at 7:45 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Audio Video Interiors April
Derb: Sound and Vision just did a review on the Yamaha and gave it very good rating for it's audio. So who knows? I can't see there being a huge difference in sound quality if there using similar Dacs. I guess the manufactures don' want us having the best of both worlds :)
Gar ( 66.222.51.72 ) at 7:42 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Kieran: At that price I would have bought one. I have called several places and the least expensive was $795 plus shipping. At that price I will play the waiting game.
Derb ( 64.158.47.100 ) at 7:42 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Audio Video Interiors April
Joe: Gave the Marantz DV8300 top billing for "audio" over the Yamaha S2300 & Onkyo SP800. The admitted to not spending much time with the video side, so Kieran's post falls into play. There, I hoped I made it easier :) NOT!!
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 7:37 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
DVD-A SACD
Gar: Woops... must have been some other player I was thinking of that was available for $499...
Gar ( 66.222.51.72 ) at 7:28 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
DVD-A SACD
Kieran: I agree on your recommendation, I am looking for a Yamaha DVD-S2300, but there more like $800 bucks and that is a good price. Most places I have talked to they are selling them for $995.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 7:21 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Joe: I would still recommend the Yamaha 2300 over the Marantz, especially considering its price. The Marantz is basically a re-badged Pioneer:
This player is a "universal" player that plays DVD-video as well as DVD-Audio and SACD. It's based on a Pioneer design similar to the DV-45A and the DV-47Ai. It passed and failed a slightly different set of tests than either of the Pioneers, but core performance was extremely similar to the 47A. (We included 47Ai in shootout 3 not the 47A.)
Deinterlacing
Like the Pioneer it is based on, at its core this is a flag-reading player, though it does have a cadence-reading solution internally that it falls back on when the progressive flag is set to "false." It doesn't seem to have much, if any bad edit detection at all, as its performance on our test was just terrible.
The Basics
Just like the Onkyo and Pioneers, this player suffers from the Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE) in all cases. The visibility of the error is fairly severe compared to some other players like the latest Toshibas.
Also like the Onkyo and Pioneers, the white level is incorrect. However while the Onkyo is too high the Marantz is too low. (Interestingly, it is at exactly the same level as the Pioneer DV-45A.)
The frequency response looks pretty decent on this player. It has just a slight roll-off.
The component timing is also within spec for both Y-Pb and Y-Pr. The player is also capable of reproducing below black picture information.
There appears to be 4 pixels cropped from the bottom of the image. We feel that any amount of pixel cropping from the top or bottom is unacceptable. There is no technical reason for it - the 480p spec allows for 480 visible lines.
The layer change takes around 1.25 seconds to complete under the worst case scenario. We rated the overall response time of the player a 2.5, which is below average.
Overall, we were unimpressed with this player for video playback. There are just too many things wrong or below average in performance. That it is THX certified reduces further the credibility of THX as a certification standard.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 7:12 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
From California With Love...
To those who have lived here, this is a good laugh...
To those who don't live here... welcome to our world!
HOW TO TELL IF YOU LIVE IN CALIFORNIA:
1. You make over $250,000 a year and still can't afford a house.
2. It's drizzling outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid
all the weather-related accidents.
3. Your child's third grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is
named "Breeze".
4. You can't remember ... is pot legal?
5. You've been to a baby shower for an infant who has two mothers and a
sperm donor.
6. You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans must be
grown, and you can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian
beans.
7. You know which restaurant serves the freshest arugula.
8. You can't remember... is pot legal?
9 . A great parking space can move you to tears.
10. The guy in line at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap, sunglasses,
and looking like George Clooney really IS George Clooney.
11. Your car insurance costs as much as your rent.
12. Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, and your Mary Kay
rep is a guy in drag.
13. It's sprinkling out, and there's a report on every news channel
about "STORM WATCH 2003"
14. Hey... is pot legal?
15. Over 85% of the cities, towns, and streets start with San, Los, El,
La, Santa, De La, or De Los.
16. You whine when there are 2 overcast days in a row.
17. A family of 6 owns 4 vehicles, 2 of which are SUVs.
18. Even if the store is across the street, you drive there. If you live
in Southern California, it will take you 30 minutes to get there.
19. Everyone knows that hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and snowstorms are
way worse than earthquakes, which are over almost as soon as you realize
what's happening.
20. Yeah, you're sure... pot is legal.
21. You know the answer to this riddle: How many Californians does it
take to screw in a light bulb?
22. Answer: It doesn't matter. Californians can't afford to turn on the
lights anyway.
Wild Bill ( 12.92.111.91 ) at 7:05 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Joe: TIVO is great but don't kid yourself. If you get one it will become your wifes. BTW, get a DirecTivo. Do NOT get one of the units that controls a settop box that you already have. They defeat the true purpose and don't work well.
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:48 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
One more thing is the local store that has Yamaha and Marantz is having a sale.
Uhhhmmm I almost have myself talked into it.
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:40 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What really makes things hard is my bonus check is coming on the 15th. For those of you that bought a GM product this year, Thanks :
)
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:38 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
http://www.marantz.com/hifi/america/main.html
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:37 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Marantz DV-8300
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:36 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Joelc: I thought about that. Tonight for instance my wife will tape CBS and NBC. Then again I thought I should go for the expensive one now and just buy the PVR later.
But I hate to drop a grand on a DVD-A SACD and have digital outputs come out in 6 months.
But that Faith Hill sounded nice today on my old DVD player. So it must sound great on a DVD-A player. This is why I am a impulse buyer.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 6:35 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Joe: which Marantz is that?
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:33 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
I must say of all the reviews I have read the Marantz seems to be everyones favorite.
Joelc ( 64.229.53.8 ) at 6:30 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Joe: Easy... get all three!!! Just kidding!
Seriously though I personally would opt for the PVR as I have heard nothing but great things aboutthem especially for you... given that you are up at weird hours you will be able to enjoy your HT no matter what time of the day it is.
Joelc ( 64.229.53.8 ) at 6:28 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
AVB: Feeling any better?
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:26 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
I just can't make up my mind. Do I want a PVR, DVDA SACD or a new rifle. I really really want a motorcycle, but the wife is not giving in on that one.
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:24 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Kieran
I have the Anthem AVM-20 Pre/Pro with a Rotel RMB-1095 for power. I mentioned the Yamaha recivers to Rick as I have owned several Yamaha products over the past 17 years.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 5:59 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
DVD-A SACD
Joe: What receiver do you have that includes bass management for DVD-A/SACD?
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 5:50 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
DVD-A SACD
Joe: The Yamaha 2300 is my recommendation. Same price as the Pioneer ($499) and a better dvd video picture (IMO).
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 5:33 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
DVD-A SACD
RickMTB: I have that one on my short list. The thing about presents, is I am the only one that works in the house. So it's more like how much do I spend on myself :)
)
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 5:27 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
BC: Okey dokey... hopefully by that time you will either have a Swift to demo or a customer who wouldn't mind me and my CD collection come visit them (Rickie Lee Jones, Holly Cole, Norah Jones, and The Commitments... hey, have to listen to at least one loud set... ;-)
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 5:24 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
DVD-A SACD
Joe: I think the Pioneer Elite DV45 does both DVD-A and SACD. Plus it looks purty. I think it goes for $499. If your wife is in an especially giving mood my birthday is in July... ;-)
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 5:23 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
BC: So what kind of price on Yamaha 2300 and Denon 2900? Joseph.e.hansen@gm.com
BC ( 166.50.65.21 ) at 4:06 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: Unfortunately, since they cater to custom installs, they don't have alot of different product to actually show.
They just picked up Meadowlark a few months ago, but haven't brought anything in to the showroom.
Currently in the showroom, they have EAD (pre/pro, amp, dvd, surge/power, all "pro") up front, Thiel MCS's across the front, powerpoints in the rear, a couple Thiel subs, an aerial sub, some aerial 7b's, toshiba mt8 dlp, panasonic 50" plasma, denon 3803, some monitor audio silver 6's, some in-walls, some small snell towers, etc. We're waiting on the Halo C1 to arrive also.
Denon is the main receiver line, but we can also get most of the other mainstream lines (sony, pioneer, toshiba, panasonic). Same for DVD players.
They usually take customers to client's houses if they want to see something we don't have. Plus, most of the sales guys have pretty nice systems too (One guy has aerial 10T's and some of the new Halo stuff, another has all EAD "pro" and aerial 20T's, etc.)
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 3:57 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Rick
My vote is for Yamaha. I have always had good luck with them.
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 3:55 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
DVD-A SACD
Ok men, lets spend some of Joe's money. I was going to wait but the wife wants to buy me a present. I do not have the means or the time to go and try a bunch of players.
I want to have both DVD-A & SACD. I have bass management with the Pre/Pro I have, so that is no big deal. I only have a analog RPTV, but I see that getting replaced in 6-8 months. I would like to play .JPEG files on the DVD. I would like to stay around 1k.
So which player and why?
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 3:05 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
BC: Eeeeeek, my typing and spelling is worse than I thought... let me try that again. Which receivers do you carry? While I am asking, which DVD players?
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 2:45 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
BC: As a caual aside, what sort of receivers do y'all carry?
Derb ( 207.70.162.160 ) at 2:41 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
BC: Man, you have all the good stuff :) You need to talk them into a mobile unit and bring all that fine fancy stuff on tour to Houston.
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 2:28 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
BC: Buddddddddy! Once you sguys crape the snow off the ground I may have to talk derb into a slightly longer road trip... ;-)
I better get crackin' on my tax return too.
Gar ( 66.222.50.184 ) at 2:22 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
BC: What is a good number I can reach you at? garman1@mac.com
BC ( 166.50.65.21 ) at 1:59 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: Did I mention were a Theil dealer too! lol
Gar ( 66.222.50.184 ) at 1:24 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Some funny quotes
"France wants more evidence," David Letterman wisecracked. "The last time France wanted more evidence, it rolled right through France with a German flag."
Comedian Dennis Miller quipped: "The only way the French are going in is if we tell them we found truffles in Iraq."
Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, warmed up a crowd of GOP leaders in Missouri last week by saying, "Do you know how many Frenchmen it takes to defend Paris? It's not known, it's never tried"
And this: "Somebody was telling me about the French Army rifle that was being advertised on eBay the other day -- the description was, `Never shot. Dropped once."'
And this, too: "Going to war without the French is like going deer hunting without your accordion."
Gar ( 66.222.50.184 ) at 12:58 PM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Some sad news!
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/package.jsp?name=news/obits/fredrogers
Derb ( 207.70.162.160 ) at 11:55 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: HI TECH AUDIO 11526 BELLAIRE BLVD#5 HOUSTON,TX 77072
Derb ( 207.70.162.160 ) at 11:50 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: btw, I could see a ML fan liking the Thiels... very precise speaker.
For all the ML fans I'll take that as a compliment I think :)
They have changed a lot of the materials used in the Thiels, it may be a good idea to give them another listen. I think there is a place in Houston over in little vietnam. I have never been over to the location but had a hard time understanding them when I called. I was looking to audition some Calsse' amps and I asked what they had them hooked up to, Thiels!!
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 9:49 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
Scott "popcorn": thanks for the info. My HT setup is so old that I can't even guess as to what the benefits of the conversion you were describing (looks like I have a lot of stuff to learn about current HT!). While I have an old Denon CD player (1520) sitting in a closet and know that Denon builds great quality products I haven't been a big fan of their receivers. know lots of folks rave about them though... thanks again for the advice!
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 9:44 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Winter Wonderland
Curtis: 'stros first exhibition game is tomorrow...
Curtis ( 12.234.117.140 ) at 9:36 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Winter Wonderland
Hard to imagine that pro baseball season begins in 5 weeks. Hang in there guys, with any luck this may be the last of the storms/ bitter cold.
Joelc ( 216.223.140.14 ) at 9:16 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Nothing... just wanted to make sure that you were ok as we had not heard from you.
Sorry that you are under the weather. Get some rest and get well.
AVB ( 64.41.33.214 ) at 9:15 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Anthem AVM20
Wild Bill: I won't swear it was AC as the third company but the units look pretty close on the backside. Marsh did some of their own tweeks and uped the price a grand over Cinepro, maybe AC has done the same or I could be totally wrong.
AVB ( 64.41.33.214 ) at 9:13 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Joelc: Not feeling to well so I slept in. What can I do for you?
Ron ( 208.195.242.212 ) at 8:54 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Chroma bug...
Kieran:The 3800 does not have it either. It was fixed either as a firmware upgrade to earlier models. A CD was sent to play that fixed the problem.
I returned my original for a later model that had the change from the factory.
Wild Bill ( 216.151.233.16 ) at 8:35 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Anthem AVM20
AVB: That's interesting news. AudioControl has an open retail policy. Judging by my cost we will sell it for around $6000.
Joelc ( 216.223.140.58 ) at 8:22 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Good morning gang...
AVB, where aer you?
Tony C ( 68.20.183.185 ) at 8:10 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
Robert: Sure! And good luck. But I know it will go great.
Robert ( 12.218.0.16 ) at 3:55 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
Good night or is it good morning to some of you! I just got back in, hit the emails and off to get 3 1/2 hours of sleep. It's all set up. we wnet with only one 50" plasma, but 6 30" computer monitors. Let's just say, I WANT ONE!!
Wish me luck tomorrow. See you all Friday or Saturday.
Robert ( 12.218.0.16 ) at 3:53 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
Tony C: You want me to introdcue you to the Denon rep when you are out here?
Scott "popcorn" ( 66.137.72.187 ) at 2:22 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: Actually, if I recall correctly, Pioneer rates their amps into 6 ohms, not the usual 8 ohms... so, 100wpc into 6 ohms isn't necessarily better than (or maybe as good) as HK's 80wpc. (sorry Robert).... Anyway, having said that, I would like to suggest that you look at the Denon AVR-3803 I believe it is the first "mainstream priced" receiver that will convert composite and S-video to component (if that kind of conversion is acceptable to you)
Tony C ( 68.20.215.215 ) at 12:51 AM EST Thursday, February 27, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: If could afford them, I would have bought B&W speakers.
Several of my friends have bought various Denon receivers. Since I'm the guy who hooks up everything, I can say I'm not very fond of them. I don't think that they are very user friendly. I like the HK receivers for ease of use. I also like Yamaha receivers, but some of the newer models are looking "cheap".
Joe ( 64.12.96.9 ) at 11:01 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Would..see I can spell :)
Joe ( 64.12.96.9 ) at 11:00 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Anthem AVM20
Wild Bill: I have to admit the Intellipads are still in the box. Rich wuld be proud of me.
I was going to get to them next weekend and before I knew what happened it was 11 months later. But I am so sickof running from the bath to the HT to change a CD I will get it done soon.
AVB ( 64.41.33.33 ) at 10:29 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Anthem AVM20
Wild Bill: I'm pretty certain that Cinepro, Marsh and AudioControl were all tied together on the Processor. None of the 3 were large enough to do it on their own. I would guess that the Maestro is $4-4.5K at most. Pretty close to the Anthem if it is $4K.
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 9:51 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Anthem AVM20
Wild Bill: Interesting decision to single out the NAD receivers for the budget (eg me) customers. Way back when I used to really like their stereo receivers (I think they all had PE in their model numbers... stood for Power Envelop I believe). They also had a power amp (2600, I vaguely recall) that along with the B&K and Sumo amps were among the best values.
Seems NAD kinda faded away for a bit... but I bet their sound is pretty good (and they also offered more oomph per watt).
RickMTB ( 24.175.71.164 ) at 9:47 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
Derb: The Outlaw is supposed to be a nice $500 receiver. I reckon I will consider it, but I sure wish they offered two receivers... one at the $1k level. Probably would eat some of their separates biz tho.
The Thiels have always sounded too dry and sterile for my taste. I gave them a listen way back when I was shopping for (and purchased) the Vandersteens. Prefer my speakers to be warmer sounding.
btw, I could see a ML fan liking the Thiels... very precise speaker.
Derb ( 65.59.62.26 ) at 9:03 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: What about the OutLaw gear? I have not seen or heard it, but looks good on paper, and costs less paper.
Don't forget Thiel for funiture grade speaker finishes. I like the sound, has the time alinement/sloped baffel and match vineers(sp)
JM Lab would be another
Wild Bill ( 12.92.125.214 ) at 8:21 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Anthem AVM20
Joe: You asked about my impressions since the upgrade. I performed the upgrade in September. It was nice to have the additional modes and I had no problem with glitches or bugs. But then, I don't tend to press buttons in weird combinations just to see if I can find a bug. I also program the units for clients in custom installations so that they always perform the same actions. I continue to be amazed at the flexibility and functionality of the AVM20. It's a great custom installation product. BTW, have you programmed your Intellipads yet? It's really quite simple and I'll be glad to take a call from you and help.
All that said, I now have the Tag McLaren back in my rack. I simply *love* the sound of the Tag McLaren piece. It is so smooth and the imaging and dimensionality that it gives to music gets me every time I listen to it. I had a Krell Showcase in my rack for awhile and I took it out.
Next, I'll be demoing an AudioControl Maestro processor. AudioControl may be the best high-end company that you've never heard of. They make THE products to buy for room eq'ing and correction and we're considering them as a complete solution for the high-end room.
Our top-of-the-line product will probably boil down to AudioControl or Tag McLaren. I love the Tag processors but the price of some of their other gear is stratospheric. Anthem will be for our midlevel theaters and media rooms with a couple of local zones. We are going exclusively with NAD for budget theaters with receivers. We'll probably only sell the T762 and a T752 here or there. The biggest problem we're having now is choosing plasmas. I want displays that give us the ability to control them properly. Pioneer has made a HUGE mistake in their broadline product by using proprietary cabling and requiring that their "Media Center" be involved in the chain. It doesn't allow a scaler in the video chain. A very bad decision IMHO. I guess that's enough rambling thoughts for one evening.
Wild Bill ( 12.92.125.214 ) at 7:58 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Kids, winter, etc.
Joe: You'll appreciate this one. My son and I were listening to The Wall a few minutes ago and "Mother" came on. I thoght he was going to pee himself when he heard the line "Mother, do you think they'll break my balls?". Oh, to be amused at the little things the way a nine year old is.
Kieran: {Dripping with sarcasm} Oh, I feel your pain. 50 degrees? I was videotaping a pre-wire this morning in a home that was about 15 degrees for an hour.
Joe: I don't know how you guys handle that seriously cold weather up there. If it gets to 15 degrees or below I simply freeze my ass off. I actually gained a few pounds back in January on purpose so I wouldn't be so freaking cold.
Tony C: Yeah, I shoveled it where it was supposed to go but it wasn't fun. Particularly breaking up and shoveling/throwing the huge block of ice.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 7:42 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Winter
Boy it was cold today here also! Took a good 10~15 minutes for my fingers to warm up today on my lunch time bike ride... must have been around 50F!!!
;-)
Tony C ( 68.20.214.10 ) at 7:37 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Winter
Wild Bill: In my town, it's illegal to push that snow back into the street. You get get so pissed at those guys. And that's the kind of stuff that the snow blower can't handle. You're forced to shovel.
Tony C ( 68.20.214.10 ) at 7:34 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Tony
Joe: Not new in New Zealand, but new to the states. Just thought you might like it.
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 6:59 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Bill
It's just plain cold here. Last night was -5 (airtemp) when I got out of work. I just went out and moved my truck closer to the plant doors. We are at 2 now. It was so cold last night as much as I wanted to get a beer for the ride home. I wanted to get out of the truck less.
Joelc ( 64.229.59.45 ) at 6:55 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Later guys... gotta chow down before Saddam hits the airways as I might fell the strong need to puke!
That said, it should be an interesting interview.
Wild Bill ( 12.92.110.173 ) at 6:21 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Kieran: No, he's not talking about "Twister". The beginning of Star Trek:Insurrection has a kid poking his head out of a bale of hay. There are tough vertical pans and very difficult material at the beginning. CAI is right that it is a torture test for scalers and line doublers.
Wild Bill ( 12.92.110.173 ) at 6:18 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Sorry for the poor spelling and grammer. My fingers are numb.
Wild Bill ( 12.92.110.173 ) at 6:18 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Winter
You guys that poem about winter and snow? The one where the snow is so pretty and then it continues and finally the guy is ready to rip someones head off if he has to shovel anymore? I think I'm at that point.
It's been snowing all day, we'll get another 2-4" tonight and God-knows-what tomorrow afternoon and night. We expecting up to or over another foot by Friday morning.
Ironically, I began this post about 15 minutes ago. My son called up that my wife needed help. I went outside4 and the freaking plow had just gone by and dumped an 8' X 3' chunk of snow packed into ice at our driveway opening and he plowed the rest of the driveway in. This after, we shoveled after I got home from work this evening. I'm ready to buy heat lamps and fill the basement with sand until May. :-(
AVB ( 64.41.33.33 ) at 6:12 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
DVD-A SACD and Digital Connections
Joe: Meridian but it is DVD-A only and will set you back over $35K for the player and Pre.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 6:02 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
DVD-A SACD and Digital Connections
Joe: Meant to add that, other than Denon's solution, (proprietary) I don't think there is anything out there yet.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 6:00 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
DVD-A SACD and Digital Connections
Joe: I believe that Denon has a solution, but you have to own the AVR-5803 receiver, AND their top-end dvd player (which, going back to the chroma thread, is does not have the best picture of their players).
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 5:43 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
DVD-A SACD and Digital Connections
IS there any news on digital connections yet? I am really trying to hold off until there are machines available.
Joe ( 198.208.223.35 ) at 5:41 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Tony
I got the package lastnight, thank you. Is that a new band?
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 4:30 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
cai:Is that DVD the one with the straw and the rooftops where Data goes AWOL.
Is that a question? If so, I think you're talking about "Twister". The straw/hay scene that was a torture test for dvd players back in the early days of the format, was not an example of the chroma error. That was an example of maxing out the capabilities of early MPEG decoders. Most modern 10+bit MPEG decoders can handle that scene now without pixelating.
Gar ( 66.222.49.12 ) at 4:15 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
cai: Your eyes aren't tired, your just not looking for it. Your actually enjoying the movie ;) Sometimes when you look for flaws you find them and are disappointed with what you see. I would have been fine if I never read that Secrets to Home Theater shootout. hahahahahaha But one thing it did bring to light is manufactuers need to do a better job at making things work and look better. If the consumer demands it, it will come!! Hopefully other manufactuers will change there ways like Denon is doing.
Gar ( 66.222.49.12 ) at 4:09 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: The problem was with some 520 and 320 Receiver, for some reason they would not do 7 logic if you used an external Amps for the 7th channel. I would have never known this because I don't plan on using a 7 channel setup because the size of my room. But I tried it and sure enough it didn't work, so they replaced it with the 525. It has has more than enough punch for everything with exceptions to large or very large rooms. Currenly I have a B&K Amp hooked up to it for a little extra power, but I really didn't notice too much of an improvement. HK are conservative in there power rating. Pioneer Elite line is very nice, but twice and sometimes 3 times expensive. Hell you can still get HK 8000 which is about $1200 bucks on sale now, it was $2800, now that receiver has 125wpc and really puts out some dynamic punch. Remember there isn't much difference between 70wpc and 100wpc. I would check out the Pioneer Elite line and HK and even Rotel. All have good things about them, it all depends on what you want. I chose the HK, because I thought it was just as good as the Rotel receiver for allot less, plus it had hookups on the front for other equipment which I like.
cai ( 205.254.147.8 ) at 4:08 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Wild Billand Kieran: Thank you for your responses.
Is that DVD the one with the straw and the rooftops where Data goes AWOL. I remember we watched that scene one night at JohnO's house about ten times. I do not have that DVD, but have been aiming to buy it. I happen to like that movie. Am I right in thinking that I am not looking for the shimmering that is apparent on the hay and the diagonal lines of the bridges and roofs? I thought those were caused by poor scaling.
I am printing the acticle for the site Kieran posted. I looked at the pictures and I need more time to see differences. Must be my tired old eyes. However, this seems to be a very interesting problem and I will try and see if my Kenwood has the exhibits it.
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 3:00 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
Gar: hanks for the feedback on the H&K. One thing I have seen on various "other" HT and audio discussion boards is that there were reports of various problems with the H&K (I don't know if they were the same or reated to whatever prob you had with yours) and thus reliability was questioned. Superficially, the lower power 80wpc vs 100wpc seems to favor the Pioneer but I also seem to recall you saying the H&K is very conservative in their specs?
Joelc ( 64.229.59.45 ) at 2:53 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: Congrats on getting approval.
As far as receivers go... go for the Rotel. Speakers with furniture grade finish... let me see... how about Monitor Audio (although I have not heard these).
Gar ( 66.222.49.12 ) at 2:50 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: The 525 is an excellent reciever on 2 channel and HT of course. I would rank it
one of the best 2 channel receiver I have heard. The Rotel unit you mentioned would be another and B&K. But those models are 3 times more expensive. What I like is there using allot of Lexicons technology in the new HK line of receivers, in fact they had some of the guys from Lexicon help redesign the HK receiver line from what Lexicon told me. Another point I like is it has hook up on the front for Toslink/Coax and S-Video and RCA Audio inputes, makes it very easy to hook a game console up to the front along with my Ipod.
Since there Customer Services was so good, I bought a 225 for my office which I have both my PC and Mac hooked up too.
Here is a link also for some MeadowLarks:
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrfull&1051419479&class&3&4&
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrfull&1051075353&class&3&4&
There was a pair of Swifts on there but sold a few hours ago. I would stick most of your money into your speakers.
Gar ( 66.222.49.12 ) at 2:37 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Kieran: Wild Bill: Thanks for the info on the players that don't have this bug and the ones that do. Again most of the general public really doesn't get it yet. Guys like you and the Secrets page that should keep the manufactuers on there toe's to strive for something better espeically in there MPEG decoders in most of the DVD players out there. My RP-56 Panasonic doesn't have the problem and I am having a hard time finding it on my Sony DVD Changer. That being said the Denon 1600.. Yamaha DVD-S2300 and Panasonic 82 and 72 seem like good choices. I notice the problem allot on big screens but not so much on Direct views.
Wild Bill ( 216.151.233.16 ) at 1:52 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
cai: BTW, if you want to get into errors just use Star Trek:Insurrection as your test DVD. The opening 5 minutes are a torture test for any player. After awhile, you won't even watch movies anymore, you'll just sit there looking for errors. ;-)
Wild Bill ( 216.151.233.16 ) at 1:50 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
cai: Kieran is right on. I've been bothered by chroma errors for years. Pioneer Elite players (sorry Robert) are possibly the worst. As the article states, solid reds and red borders are most noticeable. At this point, I only sell Denon DVD 1600 players, even in my higher priced installations. It simply gives an outstanding image and is worthy of any system.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 1:36 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
RickMTB: What, Yamaha not good enough for you anymore? ;-) I like a lot of the new Yammy receivers...
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 1:29 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Ron: Denon has ONE model dvd player that does not have the chroma upsampling error, and that is the DVD-1600. The reason this player lacks the CUE? -- It is essentially a re-badged Panasonic RP82. Which is fine... cudos to Denon for recognizing a good platform and using it for their product.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 1:23 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Quoted from the Secrets site:What’s amazing about this problem is that it’s been right under everyone’s nose for years. Lots of different DVD players have the problem, and it’s not limited to progressive players. We have been able to see the problem even on interlaced displays. We can only speculate as to why it has gone largely unnoticed until now. For one thing, it’s harder to see on an interlaced display. For another, the eye is less sensitive to chroma (which is why DVDs can get away with one quarter the resolution for the chroma channel). Several popular deinterlacers hide the problem, like Sony’s DRC and the Genesis (Faroudja) units, probably by smoothing the chroma channel (which is not fixing the problem, it’s just papering over it). And last, unless you know what the picture is supposed to look like, it would be easy to assume the artifact is in the DVD. Since most people have only one DVD player, they can’t switch back and forth and really see the differences.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 1:08 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Gar: I should clarify my last statement. The chroma bug exists because of improper decoding by the MPEG decoder. The Faroudja/Sage/Genesis chip that is so common (e.g. my Panasonic player has it) is not the source of, nor the solution to, the problem. It DOES however help mask the problem, similar to what I said earlier about some scalers.
RickMTB ( 161.114.1.184 ) at 12:58 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
What, me upgrade?
So, at least a tacit approval (albeit conditional), to re-enter the modern world of HT has been begrudgingly given. As a result I will start my quest for good sound on a budget... beginning with replacement to my main source (currently a Yamaha RXV793... 5.1, no dts, 80wt/ch) and my main speakers (since the Vandersteen 2cs returned to their boxes, my mains are front wall mounted Mirage AVS 200s (3.5" woofer, 1" tweeter).
My initial candidates on the speakers... Meadowlark Audio Swifts and Vienna Acoustic Bachs. needs to have extremely high WAF, meaning tall narrow floorstanders get preferential treatment. Furniture-grade cabinetry is a plus. I prefer a sound that is best described as "mellow"... plus I favor speakers that image well and at least have some ability to reach down into the nether regions.
The source... a receiver again (ease of use is a factor, as is limited space), and I would like something that is as good on two channel as it is for HT. I would love to get the Rotel 1055 but its probably out of my range. So leading candidates are the Pioneer Elite 45TX (100x7, dts-ex, thx beginner, whatever). Has a cool setup capability. The other is less expensive... the H&K 525 that I believe Gar has and likes.
OK guys, commence arguing about the best way for me to go into debt! :-)
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 12:57 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Gar: The Faroudja chip has absolutely nothing to do with the presence (or lack thereof) of the chroma upsampling error.
Panasonic (and Yamaha because they use panasonic OEM guts for their players) dvd players lack the chroma bug because their MPEG2 decoders decode the MPEG2 stream properly. The Faroudja chip does line doubling, which in and of itself will not affect the existance of the chroma bug, or how visible it is in the final image.
Kieran ( 66.224.86.66 ) at 12:53 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
cai: The best way I can describe it is this: On brightly colored objects, it looks like a blurring of scan lines off the edge of the colored object... except the scan lines are not scan lines, they're much thicker, therefore quite noticeable. This adds a "jaggy" look to the edges of these brightly colored objects. In bad cases, you can see the streaks all the way through the colored area, not just at the edges. The best way to see what I'm talking about is to go to the Secrets of Hometheater and Hi Fi web site and read their coverage of the chroma bug. The article is VERY long, but you can scan it for the pictures and get an idea of how the bug manifests itself. The pictures at the end of the article are excellent examples of how subtle the problem really is, but upon seeing it, and seeing how it SHOULD look, you might agree that it's not "insignificant".
As much money as people spend on video systems, it boggles my mind that so many of these people argue that the chroma bug is insignificant. I've seen people spend literally 10's of thousands of dollars for video improvements that are less apparent than getting rid of the chroma bug, which costs nothing, and in some cases saves you money (because a chroma bug-free dvd player might cost less and have a better picture than a player with the bug.) Some video processors mask the problem because they sample, upconvert, and re-decode the image in higher resolution, with proper decoding. But again, how about just not having the problem in the first place??? :^)
Gar ( 66.222.49.12 ) at 12:45 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
iPod
Man there are a ton of new MP3 players out now. I currently have a Sony Music clip about the size of a large pen, and it hold about 2.5 hours of music. Problem is the software royally sucks. That being said I like it for running and biking because it is so small. The Ipod is great for in the car and gym and just on the go, the thing I love about this thing it is very easy for iTunes to organize your music for you. I have about 500 CDs loaded on my Computer and it organizes them by Artist / Song name/Abum/Sampling rate etc... You can customize it to fit your needs, The iPod also has PDA functions through ICal which I also like, a very simple PDA, but I hear Apple is working on a better version of the iPod with a colored screen and full PDA functions. Now that would be something I would look forward too.
Gar ( 66.222.49.12 ) at 12:35 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
cai: You would be better off not looking for it. Trust me. Panasonic players some Yamaha players and Philips etc... Use the new Faroudja chip set, which does allot better job of MPEG decoding. I have a Sony Mega DVD Changer and I have a really hard time producing what they see on the Secrets page, and this is on a 92" screen.
Gar ( 66.222.49.12 ) at 12:32 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
MP3
Trav1: Trav, thats for listing that site. I think eventually most MP3 players will go to flash instead of hardrives. Reason being I just saw a KanguruMicro device that stores up to 1GB, very expensive and small but I see the price coming down. One thing I like about the iPod though you can record CD quality songs on it also it allows you to choose kbps rate you burn at and the sampling rate etc.....
JJ ( 209.208.201.146 ) at 12:14 PM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
MP3
Trav1: thanks for the tip!
Tony C ( 65.214.102.5 ) at 11:48 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Checkout a local all girl rock group on SNL
AVB: I was going to paste a picture I took of the Donnas here.
Won't work.
Anyway, I agree. Good band.
Trav1 ( 192.76.84.196 ) at 9:27 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
MP3
JJ: If you are going this route I highly recommend the iriver cd/mp3 player. I have two of them and they are firmware upgradeable as well. I have the imp-350 which you can pick up all over the place. They have just replaced it with the imp-400, but they are charging an additional $50 just for it and I can't seem to see a difference other than it is newer. You can check it out at www.iriveramerica.com
Ron ( 208.195.242.212 ) at 9:23 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Kieran: Denon has fixed theirs.
Joelc ( 64.229.59.45 ) at 9:20 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Watches..
yes, I do have an update.
It seems that some of the TAG watches selected, although on their website, are no longer in production as TAG is updating their line -- saw the new Ayrton Senna Monza Chrono yesterday -- sweeeeeet!
Anyways, to make a long story short my guy is trying to get his hands on these before quoting prices as he does not want to dissappoint. I will keep you posted.
Joelc ( 64.229.59.45 ) at 9:17 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Good morning gang..
cai ( 205.254.147.8 ) at 9:10 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Chroma bug...
Kieran: How does the chroma bug manifest itself? What does one see or not see?
JJ ( 209.208.201.146 ) at 8:40 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Defrag
Also from explorer, right-click on your C drive - properties, Tools.
JJ ( 209.208.201.146 ) at 8:39 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
MP3
I see there is also another flavor, a combo CD/MP3 player. It can play regular CDs or MP3s burned to CD-R or CD-RW. Most use regular 5inch discs some the smaller 8cm discs.
AVB ( 64.41.32.138 ) at 6:17 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Checkout a local all girl rock group on SNL
Curtis: They played in D.C. last year, more rock then the Graces (remember them?) but the vocals weren't as good. JMHO
Curtis ( 12.234.117.140 ) at 5:20 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Tosh RP problems
Man, I never had the least hickup with both my 65' and 57". They obvioulsy have some real problems or perhaps you guys are the minority. it sucks to worry about replacing expensive parts/labor out of warranty. If you can get to the higher-ups in their US marketing group they will take care of you because they know that bad news on the 'net travels much faster than good news. Good luck getting things back to perfection.
Curtis ( 12.234.117.140 ) at 5:02 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Checkout a local all girl rock group on SNL
The Donna's play this week. Palo Alto wimmen who can really rock and have played together for quite a while. Eye candy too of course (anyone recall Chrissie H.'s quote of what R&R is all about? It's very funny but not printable on a family site.)
I met the lead singer, actually sold her something. Great people and you have to like the whole all-girl band idea as it's still pretty rare to find one with real talent all around.
Curtis ( 12.234.117.140 ) at 4:54 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Help a pal select a DVD player
Kieran and everyone else who replied:Thanks. I'll digest all your advice. I also see the bug problem vividly on some discs and agree there's no excuse for the manufacturers correcting the problem. We shop on Thursday with his DVD-R DVD+R recordings in hand. He will never use MP3 as he has a pro recording studio in his home. 24 bit everything. To him MP3 is like a $19 am radio.
Wild Bill: I hear you on the midnight oil wall mounting of big plasmas. 3 of the people I'm helping out INSIST upon placing theirs on brick over fireplaces. I have broken a dozen expensive drill bits already.
Robert & MP3 player posters:The iPod works much more elegantly on a Mac vs. the PC flavor. Firewire also delivers AC to the unit - one wire/ you're done. The software needs no mouseclicks or typed instructions to auto-magically sync everything. Great to use as a data HD. The downside is if a friend plugs their iPod into my Mac, it'll write over everything in their playlist with mine. The no moving parts jogwheel (20MB version)make it great for the beach or anywhere and no f*&cking AC wall wart.
Pas the Advil:I have been helping a friend move out of a big house for the past 6 days. Right now 'please pass the morphine' is how I feel. Tweeked my middle back pretty bad. Tonight the very heavy/large sofas could only go out the 2nd story windows. The 1950's style with cranks had to be completely removed and replaced. Three fairly smart guys could not for the life of us figure out how the hell the dealers ever delivered them new 3 years ago - a total comedy going through 4 too narrow doorways!
Kieran ( 209.204.144.50 ) at 3:20 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Splinter Cell
Just picked this game up for the PC. Oh, WOW this is COOL. I could spend WAY too many hours on this...
Gar ( 66.222.126.43 ) at 3:20 AM EST Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Thank God for Gigabyte
Kieran: Thanks, we think alike. First thing I did. I like the disk defrag better in Windows 98.
Kieran ( 209.204.144.50 ) at 11:52 PM EST Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Thank God for Gigabyte
Gar: Your HDD may be fragmented. Are you running winXP? If so, go to START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > DISK DEFRAGMENTER. And defrag your HDD. Not sure if this will help, but it won't hurt.
Gar ( 66.222.49.121 ) at 11:39 PM EST Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Thank God for Gigabyte
Kieran: Good to hear your system is golden. My piece of crap windows machine keeps on wanting to do a Check disc every time it is turned on or rebooted. Have no idea, just started doing this out of the blue. :(
Kieran ( 209.204.144.50 ) at 10:50 PM EST Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Thank God for Gigabyte
Gigabyte being the brand of my motherboard... they have this thing called "Dual BIOS" basically they include two BIOS chips on the mobo, and in a pinch you can boot from the backup. I tried to flash my BIOS to the latest version, and it didn't take. NO BOOT... big time "OH SH*T". I went into the bios utility, switched to boot from the backup bios, and I'm golden. Neat-o.
Tony C ( 68.20.213.17 ) at 8:02 PM EST Tuesday, February 25, 2003
More Layoffs
I missed another bullet today. The company went through some layoffs. I'm not sure how many people total, but my department lost two.
It's getting very scary out there kids. It's hard to predict how long the industry will stay affloat. I'd like to get 5 more years in, but two may be more realistic.
Tony C ( 68.20.213.17 ) at 7:57 PM EST Tuesday, February 25, 2003
MP3 Player
Robert: Well done! Kinda like you really know what you're talking about.
So the Zen is bigger than the iPod? I would really like small and light but with a big enough screen to see what's playing and the ability to make song lists. (Not necessarily on the fly).
AVB ( 64.41.32.81 ) at 7:39 PM EST Tuesday, February 25, 2003
When you are serious, really serious about your vinyl
http://www.elpj.com./
AVB ( 64.41.32.81 ) at 7:18 PM EST Tuesday, February 25, 2003
San Diego speaker deal
I own the big brother to these. Even at a grand they are a pretty good deal. If you get them for lessit's even better. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3010241476&category=14993