Archive from 05-22-2000
Rich ( 205.188.197.21 ) at 3:49 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Wayne, my wife, sister, mother, and aunt left today for a one week cruise to Bermuda, can u imagine what this house is gonna look like next sunday when she walks in 
i had to ask her what button do i push to run the dishwasher lol. well looks like we'll be eating take out for a week :)!! the only thing that sucks is no sex till she gets home 
Rich ( 205.188.197.21 ) at 3:40 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Wayne LOL
Wayne ( 63.252.65.243 ) at 3:35 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Went to see Dinosaur. Kool movie, I went expecting animaton (Disney style), but it was more graphic rendering ala Jurrasic Park.
Wayne ( 63.252.65.243 ) at 3:32 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Jason Crews: Wow, you're a blast from the past! Still in TX? I still have my Energys!
Wayne ( 63.252.65.243 ) at 3:31 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Rich: Glad to hear you doing good! I didn't think you needed electro shocks to your heart, you have the Mirage 400, that baby should thump your heart in great condition!
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 2:57 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
PowerPRO 20/30
AKA, AVB, Others: Not to whip a dead horse but... how subtle were the improvements in sound from the PowerPRO. As you know, I am very seriously thinking about picking one up but want some idea as to the improvement in both audio or video.
The question really is... am I better going with the PowerPRO30, purchasing a Crestron (which I admit, is nothing but a toy as the Pronto does it all), or stashing the cash and using it as a seed for my FP and scaler when I move in the next year or so?
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 2:54 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
VCR Review
Well, I was so tired from cahsing my 22 month old nephew around the park this morning that I spent the last two hours playing with the new VCR. The 3800 is less costly than the 3600 becasue it has fewer features as noted in a post from a couple of days ago -- RECLINK, and a few others.
While these features have no use to me future JVC VCR buyers should note that the X800 has fewer features than the X600. ALl and all I am very please -- especially given the price I got it and the cables for. I recorded the hockey game from a digital cable TV channel alst night on BOTH ny ProScan VCR and the JVC S-VHS. The JVC is noticeably better!!
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 2:50 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Joe aka Iguana Master: The latest Pronot firmware and version of ProntoEdit are at http://www.pronto.svcs.com/pc/pronto-download.html Hope that helps
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 2:49 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Ron H: keep up the good work. I will be arriving later tomorrow and expect to see a completed room ready to go....
Joe aka Iguana Master ( 152.163.205.31 ) at 2:38 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Pronto Question
Where di I download the latest firmware?
BAGMAN ( 208.131.247.72 ) at 2:26 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
used dvds
Just picked up The Messenger,Three Kings, and End of Days all used for $14. and change each. I like the idea of buying them this way. Anybody else done this? For that kind of money if they stink it is no big deal.
Afternoon All
Ron H: I'm sure it has been covered but how big is your screen going to be?
Joe aka Iguana Master ( 152.163.205.31 ) at 2:19 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Pronto Question
I
downloaded a file from remote central. The configurtion is close to what I need to update mine. I am getting a Corrupt message when loading from the PC to the Pronto. Any thoughts on this?
Ron H ( 63.22.204.244 ) at 2:06 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Ron H
Joe aka Iguana Master: The ceiling is 8 feet high. The DLP will be a ceiling mount. Well it is back to the dry wall.
Joe aka Iguana Master ( 152.163.194.197 ) at 2:02 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Ron H
I see your room is coming along. What is the hieght of your cieling? Are you going to mount the DLP on the cieling or on the backwall?
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 209.180.139.195 ) at 12:24 PM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Howdy!
Good morning all!
Ron H ( 63.22.186.216 ) at 11:43 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Curtis: The sheetrock will be up before the day is over.
Ron H ( 63.22.186.216 ) at 11:42 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
JBC: LOL
Curtis ( 63.203.68.163 ) at 11:33 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
er make that a CAMcorder ... cancorders belong in the kitchen
Curtis ( 63.203.68.163 ) at 11:32 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Laptop
Rich: The Sony Vaio's are sweet. I just used a F390 for about 6 months (15" XGA screen) & it was most impressive. Full screen, full motion video for both DVD & DV video playback. I actually used it as a cancorder monitor at pro tennis matches. Attracted the babes like flies 
Curtis ( 63.203.68.163 ) at 11:28 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Laptop
Jason Crews: I have to agree with Pop that Win CE sucks (why do you think they named it wince?) You don't want to know how many PDA's I have owned over the years & how much $$ went down the drain. My current is the best bang for the buck by far, a HandSpring Visor from the 2 founders who created the original Palm Pilot. It's fully Palm OS compatable with a big difference ... and expansion module slot. Check out the digital camera module I recently got here ... www.eyemodule.com I'm beta testing a GPS & a MP3 player module as well. The Visor itself should be in Best Buys stores by now or direct online at www.handspring.com
Curtis ( 63.203.68.163 ) at 11:19 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Ron H: Work's getting in the way of play again? I Hate when that happens. Here's what I would do. Sheetrock goes up very quickly. Install it without messing with the joints just so you'll have real walls. Then you can concentrate on mounting the FP in time for the Indy 500. This is easy for me to say because I'm a bachelor ... YMMV.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 7:25 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Good morning gang....
Went to see Gladiator last night. Great flick. This will make a great DVD. That said, it is worth going to the movies to see it now. Russell Crow was superb as Maximus!
WildBill, CAI: I should clarify a few things:
a) I am looking more for listening than dancing;
b) I have no preference between CD or DVD; and
c) Some vocals would be OK.
Ron H: Sounds fantastic. I am purchasing a ticket as we speak!
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 63.225.205.192 ) at 4:34 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
AES SE-811
The more I listen to the AES SE-811 amps the more I like them. Single-ended triodes are amazing sounding amps. The SE-811 makes my Audion Sterling sound veiled in comparison. My initial impression may have been hasty in decsribing what I was hearing. After getting more of a handle on the sound of this amp I would describe its sound as breath taking. The ease at which the music flows is impressive. The bass output is tight, deep and tuneful with all the impact intact. Every nuance of the music is revealed in a fashion that makes you realize why music can be so fun to listen to. I find myself wanting to listen more. My wife and I were sitting and listening to music. My wife turns to me and says, "What now?" I immediately laugh out loud because I knew she was saying, "Okay, these amps make music and I love the way they sound. So what do you want to do now about them." The more we sat and listen the more the downside of the heat became less of a problem. I think I am finally coming to realize what my RM50si speakers are capable of reproducing. I am truely excited by how these amps reproduce music.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 63.225.205.192 ) at 4:17 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Eyes Wide Shut
Watched Eyes Wide Shut tonight or is it last night. Interesting movie. Someone described this movie as a chic flic. Not what I would call a chic flic. The music is outstanding in this movie. Not sure I would say this is a keeper type film. At least a good or great rental. Some friends loaned my wife and I the DVD to watch.
Rich ( 205.188.193.51 ) at 2:15 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
THX!!!!!
is where it's at!!
Rich ( 205.188.193.51 ) at 2:06 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Laptop
Jason Crews, i really like those blueish purplish Sony's, they just look soo Koool!! the one i'm thinking about is an all in one notebook, very thin and light, model # F430 Pent111 450mhz 64ram 14.1 screen 4xdvd 56k 6.4gig win98se ect. $2199...
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.53.131 ) at 2:03 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Rich: nothing but the latest and greatest for us THX Ultra dudes. 
Rich ( 205.188.193.51 ) at 1:56 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Scott Pop, Thanx for the URL, that is real cutting edge tech!
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.53.131 ) at 1:40 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Laptop
Jason Crews: ...or QNX
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.53.131 ) at 1:40 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Laptop
Jason Crews: *cringe* Come now.. Win CE??? Try something with PalmOS or BeIA or Linux!!!
Jason Crews ( 208.190.110.202 ) at 12:39 AM EST Sunday, May 21, 2000
Laptop
Rich: Tell me about it man! The Dell I want to get is like $3800. I only paid $4000 for my '94 Mazda 626 two years ago! Really hard to justify that even when I work in the comp. industry. I think im goning to settle on a win CE device and run Citrix Terminal Client Wired/Wireless on it. Just like having a NT Workstation in the palm of your hand.
Ron H ( 63.22.204.195 ) at 11:44 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
I just could not wait any longer. I pulled out the FP grabbed one of my Sat receivers and hooked them up. Even though I was just playing it on grey wall board without the Scaler hooked up I know for sure I am going to be very very happy with this set up. I can't wait till I get the screen and scaller which will arrive next week.
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 11:27 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Happy B'day
Johnbr:: Hope you had a good one bud!
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 63.225.204.119 ) at 10:23 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
New Auto
JJ: Congrats on the new car.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 10:05 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Music Suggestions
Wild Bill: It depends on whether he wants listening music or dancing music, hard percussion or softer instrumental. There are a lot of newer and older artists like the Gypsy Kings, Hilton Ruiz, Nestor Torres, Orquesta de la Luz, Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, Ray Barreto, Cal Tjader etc. that are mellower than others. It all depends on what kind of music he likes.
Then again, is he looking for DVDs.
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.147 ) at 9:26 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Music Suggestions
cai: What about The Buena Vista Social Club DVD? I've heard it is excellent but I don't know if it is strictly instrumental.
Gar ( 169.207.194.243 ) at 9:21 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Niles Power Conditioners
Anyone know if there is anyone online carrying Niles Power conditioners for sale? Thanks!
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 9:17 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Music Suggestions
JBC:: I think that you may be thinking about older recordings. If that is the case think of old Perez Prado - mambo, Xavier Cugat - general, Edmundo Ross - general, Stan Getz or Joao Gilberto or Astrud Gilberto or Laurindo Almeida - Brazilian music, Juan Garcia Esquivel - general. I am sure you can find Perez Prado, the Gilbertos and Cugat on CDs. For the others I have only vinyl.
This is a very, very partial list of possibilities. The fact that you are looking for instrumentals makes it a bit more difficult to find choices. I am sure that if you go to the Latin music section of a decent record shop, you will find a good selection of orchestras.
JJ ( 12.79.76.196 ) at 8:12 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
New Auto
Finally got a new car. Maxima GLE, traction control, heated seats sunroof, the works. nice car. Grey lustre, light grey leather interior. matches my son's Stroller perfectly.
What cemented the deal: Premium Bose stereo! jk
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 63.225.203.235 ) at 5:13 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Ron H: I would love to see some pictures of your finished room. I bet it looks great. I may be contacting you when I start my next house.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 63.225.203.235 ) at 5:11 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
I just got done listening to a Louis Armstrong CD-R. This CD was burned for me by someone I know. It is based directly off master tapes that the person has access to. Playing this CD using the SE-811 amps I have to tell you guys were talking one of the best recording I have ever heard of Louis Armstrong on CD. It sounded like it was not recorded 40-50 years. The realism of the instruments was amazing for such a old recording. Kind of says a lot about how good master tapes are and how bad some of the nth generation CDs are.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 63.225.203.235 ) at 5:05 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Music Suggestions
JBC: If you can find it I would suggest Esteban (Dystar Productions). His Enter The Heart CD is pretty good. Another suggestion would be to check out Gypsy Passion - New Flamenco (Narada Collection).
Ron H ( 63.27.245.100 ) at 4:55 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
JBC::I hear ya about the vacation. Unfortunetly one of our strongest competetors is having some real problems. we have taken advandage of that fact and business has taken a very large jump. With the damn low unemployment it is very hard to find production workers so we are constantly running a short crew and working out the pains caused by a very fast growth.
I guess I am saying is that this is not the right time to take a vacation.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.53.131 ) at 4:54 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Rich: maybe you should wait a bit on a laptop... there's a new chip out, called the Crusoe that runs very cool and therefore is very efficient... it uses a type of microcode, so it's possible to emulate different processors (x86, PPC, etc)... I *think* the URL is www.transmeta.com
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 4:15 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Music Suggestions
WildBill: Thanks for the info....CAI, Any thoughts?
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.205 ) at 4:13 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Music Suggestions
JBC:: I think CAI may be the man to answer that one!!
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 4:02 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Tony C Previous post was addressed to you as well....
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 4:01 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Music Suggestions
, AKA, Others: Look for suggestions in the area of "Latin instrumental" for lack of a better word. You know... fast paced, rhytmic, etc...
Rich ( 152.163.197.188 ) at 3:35 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Jason Crews, Great to see u in here!! i trade my gear at "Tweeter" it's an A/V franchise, unfortunatly they don't carry PC's ect just HT gear. i wish they did cuz i want to buy a laptop with decent specs (pent111, dvd,ect) without laying out 3 grand.
Rich ( 152.163.197.188 ) at 3:30 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Scott Pop, how's it goin!! i just sold my 5yr old 35" Tosh console for $425 bucks
Rich ( 152.163.197.188 ) at 3:26 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
johnbr, Happy Birthday!!! when u get to be an old buzzard like me u wont like birthday's too much anymore
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.86.95 ) at 3:24 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Rich: Yer THX Ultra KOOOL 
Rich ( 152.163.197.188 ) at 3:22 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Thanx To All!! u Guys r the Koooolest! i mean i'm talkin Ultra Koool
johnbr ( 24.112.61.241 ) at 3:21 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Thanks MAN
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 209.180.140.97 ) at 2:54 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
johnbr: Happy Belated Birthday!!!
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 209.180.140.97 ) at 2:54 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
johnbr:
JBC: Sounds like you got a great deal on the VCR.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 209.180.140.97 ) at 2:47 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Good morning all! Well it is in Phoenix anyways.
My impression when I was doing the demo'ing of the PowerPRO-20 in my system was subtle. Subtle enough to warant its use as it seemed to lower the noise floor. It is a matter of synergy and different parts of the country has different quality of power. Some parts of the country have dirtier power then others. That is why home demos are a must.
I just realized that I can bi-amp my subwoofer. I have two channels of my Cinepro 3K6SE that are not being used.
Got the AES SE-811 mono-block tube amps in on Thursday. After setup and some burn-in I have to say that those single-ended triode amps produce a very clear, clean and focused sound. My wifes comment is that they sound pretty. Another thing that I liked about the amp is that it is super super quiet. No discernable hum or hiss even when my ear is pressed up against the speaker. When I sit down to listen to music, I find that with the SE-811 amps I don't get drawn into the music the way I do with my Audion Sterling single-ended tube amp. I would say that the SE-811 does have possibilities but it has one big drawbacks that my wife and I can't overcome. The amount of heat that this amp produces is amazing. It actually overheats the room to the point that you can not even walk into the room without sweating. Yes, tube amps produce heat but the 811-3 tube is an exteremly high voltage tube which puts out a lot of light and heat. In comparison, my Audion Sterling tube amp does not produce anywhere near enough heat to overheat the same room. Talk about a boiler room with 3 or 4 pairs of that SE-811 mono-block amp. This means that an 845 based tube amp will probably not work for me because it is an even higher volage tube then the 811-3. My RM50si speakers are amazing in the fact that they are easy enough to drive to allow me to use low powered single-ended triode tube amps. Kind of like getting closer to the music. Still waiting on some Mullard 33 mono-block amps. These suckers produce a whopping 3.5 watts. It should be interesting to see if I can drive my speakers with ultra-low powered SET tube amps.
Gasgeek: e-mail coming your way.
Rich: Good hear all is well and that your tests went well. Hate to loose a realy Koool THX guy like you.
BYork: Welcome to the wonderful world of DTS. If I get the chance I try to buy the DTS version over of Dolby Digital.
Tony C: I was also surprised to see Dustin Hoffman in The Messenger.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 2:11 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Good afternnon gents...
the JVC 3600 has been returned, but not for lack of performance or usability. The story is as follows -- I got the 3600 for approximately US$110 arguing that it had been replaced by the 3800. I returned to a different store within the same chain to "return" the unit. The pimply faced 16 year old behind the return counter said, before I had a chance to open my mouth, " guess that you are bumbed having bought the 3600 when the 3800 is out -- how about I give you a 3800 for the same $$$, you take it home, try it for a month and then let me know?" My fiance, god love her, complained about the time spent driving back and forth and such... the sixteen year then said.. OK.. take the US$50 of S-video cables as a freebie. That said... I now ahve and will keep the 3800 plus the S-video cables for which have an MSRP of US$300 and which cost me US$110.
Ron H, there is an easy solution to your "timing proble," -- it is called a vacation. Were you a true HT Addict, you would take a week off to a) complete construction, mount and fine tune the DLP/Scaler and connect all your electronics. I am truly disappointed in your less than complete committment!!
Rich That is the best news I have heard all week!
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 1:50 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
New Bond Flic, and no more Q!
Gar: Believe me Gar, Department of Energy and its contractors' employees DO NOT look anything like that actress, Denise Richards. I work there and I know. About workers acting and talking dumb, well, what can I tell you. Not all can be bright lights like me. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.
Regarding Q, he died in an automobile accident a few some months ago. Very sad indeed.
Gar ( 169.207.193.159 ) at 12:44 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
I almost forgot, Q is gone! Damn, won't see him in any new films.
Gar ( 169.207.193.159 ) at 12:42 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
New Bond Flic, and no more Q!
mcb: I agree with you, Sophie Marcau(sp) was very good, but the other
girl(Can't think of her name) SUCKED! She was over acting, and how many Nuclear Physisists do you know that look like that and act and speak in a very dumb manner(Much like my typing ) To me she did a very good job of wrecking this flick.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 12:35 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Trip to Next Year's CES Show
TO ALL Thanks Curtis. It does not sound like it is going to be easy.
Does anyone else have any other suggestions as to how I can get tickets to the show? Thanks.
Jason Crews ( 208.190.110.202 ) at 12:16 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Trading in Hardware
Rich: Where do you do all of this hardware trading-in? Some of my equipment is getting stale and would love to trade it in if I could get a fair credit for it.
Jason Crews ( 208.190.110.202 ) at 12:12 PM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
New Bond flic
mcb: I would have to agree with you. I saw it in the theater and thought the same thing.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.218 ) at 11:55 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
900 mhz
Tony C: You may recall that I posted a few weeks ago that I picked up a pair of 900Mhz wireless speakers @ Rat Shack for about 20% of list. I was assured that other 900Mhz devices (esp. cordless phones) wouldn't interfere with them. That turned out to be a true statement. What they didn't tell me was that 2.4Ghz devices totally screw up all reception! I own a 2.4 panasonic phone (that my daughter is always on) that I can control the use of. Not much I can do about at least 2 neighbors who have the same phones... Somewhere my dad is laughing at me snickering "you get what you pay for!"
Curtis ( 63.203.69.218 ) at 11:34 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
cai: Your schedule sounds like fun. I have attended WCES twice & come to think of it the tix were covered by my employer (we were in the speech recognition biz & needed to see what others were showing, yeah right!). Since the show is put on by CEMA it's my understanding that member manufacturers recieve x number of passes that they can freely distribute. Retail CEMA electronis dealers are also allowed a limited # of tix. I suggest you befriend one of those kind of outfits. If memory serves, I think the CEMA issued passes get you into all exhibits at all locations for all 3 days. The expensive stuff is the seminars. Alexis Park is where all the ultra high-end 2 channel audio stuff is. I went around there with a friend just to see how much money one could drop on a stereo system!
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 10:23 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
900 mhz
For the longest time I've been thinking that I would run cables from the 2nd audio out from the Yamaha receiver in the family room to the AUX input of my Deneon receiver in my office. But it would take so much work to do that. I was wondering what you guys thought about getting a 900 mhz transmitter. I could transmit the signal from the family room to the office. Do you think that would work?
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 10:20 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
New Bond flic
mcb: Totally. I won't be buying this one. Personally, I think the two babes in this flick were boring. and the movie did drag at times.
Last night, I watched The Messenger I kept thinking of Fifth Element.
(same actress). But the movie was pretty good. I was surprised to see Dustin Hoffman. I didn't know he was in it.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 9:46 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Curtis: I have started my CES trip planning and would like to know from you exactly how you get the tickets to the show. Do you go to the different hotels, Alexis Park, LV Hilton, Convention Center, etc. and have to wait in line at each one of them for a pass? Once you get a pass is it for one day only? Does one have to bring any kind of ID that shows something without which a pass will not be issued? This last questions pertains to showing affiliation with an HT company or store.
I may be coming with the family to Arizona right after Christmas. They will leave on the 3rd of January and I would linger until the CES show opens on the 6th. As you can see if I am not going to have any chance of seeing it I rather not incur the expense waiting around.
I think it was Michael AKA who suggested that I write to Jeff Joseph to ask for tickets. I sent him an e-mail two days ago, but I have had no answer. I consider that alternative as good thinking but a bit chancy. He may give me a negative answer too late for me to cancel.
Let me know in detail what your experience has been. Thanks.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 9:33 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
mcb: I have only seen the movie once, since I got it last week, and I agree with you that the daughter actress put on a very wooden performance. The scientist actress was a joke. Good body, nice lips, but come on, dismantling nuclear weapons? NOT!! I thought the story had enough twists and turns to keep me interested and I also noticed that the characters were better developed than in some of the more recent movies. In short, I liked it. I will be watching it again soon to focus better on the plot and actors. I had to worry about the bedroom scenes because my two children were watching it with me.
mcb ( 207.1.5.109 ) at 7:24 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
My wife and I watched the new BOND movie last night on DVD. Great LFE, great F/X, and little to no story continuity. It dragged big time.
In our opinion, it's the girls that now determine the success or failure of the BOND movies. With their added significance and much appreciated role(s), they need to surpass the previous T&A requirements by also bringing acting ability. We felt the Goldeneye duo was excellent. They were terrific actresses. This new BOND duo are lifeless actresses, and the many scenes they were in lacked pizazz as a result.
Anyone else see it this way?
mcb ( 207.1.5.109 ) at 7:06 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Rich, great news. Getting off the table is the best. While on the table, priorities are easier to assemble. I had open heart surgery myself: 94 stitches and some wonderful stories about what I did to the other five guys ;-). Someday, we'll meet in Beantown. I am very happy to read your update!!!
Rich ( 152.163.201.64 ) at 4:07 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Gar, i think the only HT upgrade that i may do over the next few months is trade my very Koool 5700 for a new 5800 gotta see the specs on the 5800 before i decide cuz my 5700 is the Koooooooolest LOL
Gar ( 169.207.193.40 ) at 2:45 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Niles Power Conditioners
Anyone know where I can buy these online? Buller Buller, anyone anyone?
Thanks for any help
Gar
Gar ( 169.207.193.40 ) at 2:40 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Rich hey PAL! I used to give those test in College.... Stress test and MaxVO2 test. Whats up in the HT market?
Rich ( 152.163.201.64 ) at 2:22 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
yet another med post... :(
Curtis, your friend is probably right... i'm not sure if they're the same, i'll be on a treadmill.
Rich ( 152.163.201.64 ) at 2:18 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
rigy=right jeez... my typing still sucks big time
Rich ( 152.163.201.64 ) at 2:16 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Big Al, i think you're righy cuz she was kinda cute
BYork ( 216.67.98.183 ) at 1:51 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
KIeran -
The only DTS source material I had until Galaxy Quest was DTS demo disc 2. A full movie soundtrack really opened my eyes to how good DTS can really be.
(I bought the Proceed AVP, so have had DTS-capability all along)
BIG AL ( 204.248.58.126 ) at 1:38 AM EST Saturday, May 20, 2000
Rich; You know you're getting old when a nurse gets your heart to beat regularly! Take it easy pal, and no worries!
GAR ( 208.176.45.103 ) at 11:10 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
Curtis: By then Curtis some rich bastard from Silicon Valley will own the whole state of California, so I guess he will be a renter!
GAR ( 208.176.45.103 ) at 11:06 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Thanks Cai, do you have any idea what the brickwall units run?
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 11:06 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
Wild Bill: Really? Hotlanta?? That's incredible but nothing would surprise me about real estate these days. I'm sure you know that the median price for a house in Santa Clara, CA county is now >$500,000. What are our kids supposed to do when they're ready?
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 9:57 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Surge/Line Conditioners.
Gar: Try: http://www.transtector.com/index2.htm
http://brickwall.com/index.html#specs and http://www.panamax.com/ .
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.116 ) at 9:56 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
Curtis: Moving to Atlanta may be inexpen$ive if the move is from your area. From other areas of the country severe sticker shock may occur. It's a hopping real estate market.
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.116 ) at 9:54 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
David: I hate to give you bad news but if the Atlanta real estate market is as hot as I suspect it is you will need all that equity and then some to get a home that is even remotely comparable to what you have now and/or want to have.
Gar ( 169.207.194.185 ) at 9:54 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Ok found what I been looking for. Anyone know where I can find NILEs Products online. They have some surge protectors, just need now to know if there too expensive. Actually I am looking for a company that might sell them online.
Gar ( 169.207.194.185 ) at 9:33 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Surge/Line Conditioners.
cai: My Amp is only hooked up directly into the Wall outlet. The Sim
Amp I have has a built in switch for power losses or electrical surges. As for the other gear, I am looking for something inexpensive. Anywhere online to find those unit you spoke of? Thannks.
David ( 199.174.130.161 ) at 8:32 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Moving???
Cytotech: yeah, I heard about the problems there... My dad was there, you know. lots of doc's leaving...
johnbr ( 24.112.61.241 ) at 8:15 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
David: Yes I had a good day I never work on my birthday.I went to see the new movie dinosaurs and made my great Lasagne.
JohnO ( 208.198.36.167 ) at 8:08 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Kieran: Mine was the computer kind. Neither are any fun.
Cytotech ( 24.4.252.169 ) at 7:41 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Moving???
David: Man! That sucks! For me at least. Quite a ways to travel to "borrow" DVD's! Who knows...we might be moving back to Birmingham soon. The doctors at the clinic are doing goofy things. There might not be a clinic left soon...
Rich ( 152.163.207.66 ) at 7:01 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Med Post
Kieran, What a shame... i wish her the Very Best.
Rich ( 152.163.207.66 ) at 6:58 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Med Post
Gar, the 2 medications are: Cartia XT 100MG, lowers heart rate, and Vioxx, to remove fluid around Heart.
Rich ( 152.163.207.66 ) at 6:55 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Thanx Guys!!!!!!!
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 6:43 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
medical post
Rich: That's great news Rich. Is the stress EKG the same thing as a running EKG? A friend is a heart specialist & swears that under as much physical/ mental stress as possible is the only sure way to know what shapre your heart is in. Not trying to scare you at all, just reminding myself & all of you that you really have to do serious excercise to stay healthy. Best of luck with everything & don't be a stranger (like me for months at a time!)
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 6:39 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
David: my former company recently relocated from $illycon Valley to Atlanta. I talked to the CEO the other day, he loves it. Housing is so much more affordable. He also said it just seems so much more consusive to doing business because there's the semi-ladi back charming southern thing going on with most of the people as opposed to everyone being obsessed with making zillion$ and having no life outside of work. I'm sure he researched the hell out of everything & would be happy to share anything he learned with me - therefor you.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 6:35 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Surge/Line Conditioners.
Gar: Be careful when you select a Tripp Lite or any of those surge protectors that are mainly geared towards computers and its peripherals. If you have a powerful amplifier you may overwhelm the Tripp Lite and restrict the power to all of your HT units. Look at the Transtector, Panamax, and Brick Wall units.
Gar ( 169.207.192.39 ) at 6:00 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Surge/Line Conditioners.
Can anyone recommend a good place to pick up a Tripe Lite or something under $200 bucks with no bells and whistles? Thanks. I have tried many of these units and I am just looking for protection and something that isn't too flashy.(like no lights)
Gar ( 169.207.192.39 ) at 5:58 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
medical post
Rich: Rich you bastard! hehehe JK! I hope all is well! What medication do they have you on? ACE inhibitors, Beta Blockers, Statin Medicine? One newer medicines in the Cardiac realm is ARBS, Diovan. It works as a blocker, preventing Hypertension form taking over in simple terms. One Major thing is they have little if any side effects. Take care Bud, at the rate my Wife is ragging, I might be on one myself soon. hahahahaha
Gar ( 169.207.192.39 ) at 5:54 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
David: You better stay in the house when you get down there. Atlanta is know for very very hot good looking women. Also make sure you have a place with good Air Conditioning, but then again a good HT room in most cases will be in a cool basement.
David ( 199.174.130.161 ) at 5:48 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
johnbr: Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great one... at least it's on a Friday!
David ( 199.174.130.161 ) at 5:46 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
Tony C: Now I need to convince my wife that the equity we get from selling our home needs to go into a new HT room!
johnbr ( 24.112.61.241 ) at 5:37 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
THANKS JBC
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 5:28 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
medical post
Rich: I thought you were going to tell us that you refused to have non-THX certified hardware inside your body! LOL!
Anyway, congrats on the good news, buddy. Anytime you can beat the odds and surprise the doctors, it's a good thing!
I have a friend who has had serious heart problems since she was born. She's 30, and now has those difibrulator paddles implanted on her heart, and a monitor that she carries with her that constantly monitors her heart beat. Not fun. The good part of her story is that the Dr's said when she was born, that she probably wouldn't live to reach puberty. The sad part is, her condition is slowly getting worse the last several years. While she amazed her doctors through her teens, and lived a pretty normal life through high school and college, her late 20's have been a struggle at times. I think she's had four open heart surgeries since she was born. And, her condition is such a type that she can't get on a waiting list for a transplant.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 5:25 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Rich: Congratulations Dude!! Way to go. Just make sure to keep an eye on yourself and don't ignore any unusual symptoms. My EKG showed only slight irregularities. Two weeks later I had a bypass because of a 99% blockage.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 5:23 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Winston: I hear a "Dirty Martini" calling me in the distance. Been using some custom jalapeno and garlic stuffed olives. Goooood Cracker Aunt Bee, Good Cracker!!!! The 1020's are coming along just fine thank you. More on that later.
David ( 199.174.130.161 ) at 5:23 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
medical post
Rich: Great news!
Rich ( 152.163.207.46 ) at 4:44 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
medical post
Hey Guys! it's been a while... well the good news is i went to the hosp last week to have a scope inserted in my heart (to view from inside) and also electric paddles to shock back to normal rythm. While i was laying on the hosp bed in day surgery waiting for all this to happen a nurse did an EKG and said wow it looks normal. she called a doc and showed it to him and he said it looks good, he then called the surgen that was assained to perform the 2 procedures for me and after examining the EKG he looked at me and said "get dressed"! i said No Shocks! he said No Shocks! Koool!! Early next month i have to go for a stress echo, if i pass it i should be good to go
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 4:43 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
David: bummer man.
There certainly are worse places than Atlanta. Hope it all works out for you.
David ( 199.174.130.161 ) at 4:40 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
relocation
I just got word that my employer wants to move me to Atlanta. If I don't want to go, I gotta find a new job... my current one is being dropped!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.140 ) at 4:29 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
JohnO: Qre you talking about a biological virus or computer virus? I'm suffering from a bio virus... What have you got?
Ron H ( 63.22.204.82 ) at 4:16 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Speaker Placement
JBC: You are correct about the Tripoles on the sides. In was forced to do so due to space limits. I could not fit the MLs on the side floor or wall.
I hope the DLP will be up next weekend, but it may be a long shot. I need the wallboards put up this weekend, floated, painted and then the trim put up before I mount the projector. I haven't even considered the time it will take to move and rewire my system.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 3:53 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Cute Story
Curtis: Yes! I remmember that scene in Ruthless People!
That's exactly what it was like. Me and my friend just looked at each other and smiled. Hey, I got off cheap too.
JohnO ( 140.183.114.30 ) at 3:24 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Another day, another virus. This is getting old.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 3:18 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Scott: Thanks, I will give it a whirl...
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 2:46 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Kieran: You should ask Gasgeek to fix you one his famous "dirty martinis"... good for degreasing engines and killing brain cells.... if that doesn't cure your cold nothing will! : )
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 2:44 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
disturbing/disgusting films
Good call on the John Waters film.... I saw one John Waters film in the theater... might have been "Female Trouble" (?).... the scene with the skid marks was so gross I had to leave....
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 2:41 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Gasgeek: Life is the desert is good! Temps have been unseasonably cool the last few days, although it is supposed to climb back up to our normal of 200 degrees next week! 
How are the 1020's working out for you? Must be nice owning interconnects that cost more than the gross national income of all of Serbia!
Was it just the terbaccy I was smoking or do you remember different end credits for Apoclypse Now than what is on the video? I recall seeing a Napalm strike superimposed over Martin Sheen's face in the 70mm road show version and outtakes from the film in the 35mm version that played later the same year... 'course it WAS the 70's and I seem to remember a LOT of things that I'm not sure really happened......!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.141 ) at 2:34 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Gasgeek: No problem, I was going to back out, too... since this cold has really taken hold of me. I might even bug out of work early... This sucks! It's the middle of May and I've got a COLD! 
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 2:28 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Darian: Thanks dude!
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.87.130 ) at 2:05 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
JBC: It sounds like the problem is in your cookie... Like the cookie is not getting updated. When you post/refresh, your name is taken from the name field, not from the cookie. If the name field is blank, (such as reloading the forum or coming into the forum) it tries to retrieve the name from the cookie. (this also controls whether the "last visit time" gets updated) So, if you want to, check in your cookie file (with the browser closed) for the "htoc-forum-name" cookie and see what it says... feel free to remove the : if you find one (which I think you will)
Gar ( 169.207.192.186 ) at 1:46 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
AVB: What are you disagreeing about? I said the PowerPro worked and also the PS Audio. But where I live the Power is pretty darn clean, so the results of improvement where minimal in my system, compared to what you have to pay for one of these units. Just a good old or new Surge protector to keep the equipment from frying in these nice ThunderStorms we are having and thats about it. But I have tried several(7)to date, line conditioners, power Wedges...... etc....... with minimal results, the best thing I could say would be to run a deticated line for HT or Audio and that should be more than enough in most cases.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 1:46 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Pronto Owners Macro for XBR 300 / HS
Video 5
Menu
Up
Right
Up
Up
Enter
Up
Menu
Don't forget the .2 second delays
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 1:42 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Gasgeek: Its not an Elite. You have to manually select the 16:9 mode wich is only active on video 5. There is only one HD input... video 5. The convergance is way the hell off out of the box.
Post ISF HOLY DETAIL!
Color purity and gray scale tracking are very good. I bought this TV to bridge the gap to the next big thing. I get to watch a very good 4:3 set with no stretching or squishing. When I put on a DVD via the component ins I get a great picture. I can easily switch over to 16:9 with a Pronto Macro. One button to change aspect ratio. PLUS IT WAS CHEAP TO GET A ESSENTIALY SCALED DOWN XBR 300!
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 1:39 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
who was I gonna give my spare DSL modem to?
Ok you know who you are but my old memory can't. I want to say it was RGB for some free DSL deal. My last pacbell DSL install only took 3 1/2 days! In fact I now have 2 extra DSL modems if anyone else is interested.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 1:35 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Gasgeek: Ouch! Yeah I saw that $10K price.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 1:33 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Cute Story
Tony C: Remember the 1986 flick Ruthless People? You story reminds me of Judge Reinhold when he was working his day job at a stereo store. A young hippy-type couple are shopping for speakers, the woman id very pregnant & Reinhold is trying to sell them the least expensive speakers possible because they are obviously broke. The woman listens intently while her guy is clearly bored with the whole pitch for the modest speakers. At his point he sees these monsterous refrigerator speakers& says "wow dude, how much for these bad boys (or words to that effect). Reinhold simply gives up being the nice guy & goes bananas over the big speakers with him. He says "and if you can't afford them man, just f*&kin' FINANCE them!" Kids will always go for sheer size over quality or bang for the buck, IMHO.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 1:29 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Kieran: Unfortunately, I will not be available tomorrow, but would love to spend a Saturday afternoon at the store with you in the near future. I think we should get RGB and make it an HT affair. Go to my place afterward for auditions and BBQ. HD Louie too if he's still around.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.140 ) at 1:26 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
DTS
BYork: Congrats, and welcome to the world of DTS! I didn't realize that you had yet to buy or rent any DTS software! How long has your system been dts capable? Personally, I think DTS is truly superior for movie soundtracks. Heck, I think it's superior to DD for all-music discs to (be they cd's or dvd's.) I don't think it's superior to a really good PCM stereo track for music, though.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 1:18 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Darian: I thought so. Your thoughts please. My buddy wants to get the 53" and I don't have much to give him. Why the Sony over the Tosh? ect.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 1:17 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Gasgeek: Yes I have the SOny KP61HS10 wich has just been ISFed.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 1:13 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Curtis: Going back to ancient history now. I believe someone mentioned it late in the game, but I didn't get involved in the most disturbing movie thing, but I remember going to see "Apocolypse Now" with my best friend when it first came out. We really had no idea what it was about other than it was a Viet Nam war movie. I remember walking about with about two hundred other stunned and silent viewers. My buddy and I didn't even say anything on the drive home for about 15 minutes. I remember finally muttering something like "I'm not sure what we just saw!"
Another movie that I was surprised didn't get mentioned was John Water's P Pink Flamingos." That was one sick sucker. There was another one with The Cook and a bunch of other things in the title that ended up being about sex, betrayal and eventually they cooked some guy and ate him. A real art piece. Winston, with your sick back ground, I'm sure you'll remember it. 
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 1:06 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Curtis: Did you see the $10 Grand price on the stock Philips version of the 64" HD I listed below. Wellll Doggies!!!!
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 1:05 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Winston: More glow in the desert from the Dune Dude! How be's it? I finally got the 1020's all in and in place. Whew!
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 12:52 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Cute Story
My oldest son turns 21 next week. He told his mother that for his birthday, he wanted new speakers. He lives in a Frat house and has one year left. I was kind of proud that he was interested in dad's hobby, but I told my wife that new speakers would be fairly expensive and that it would be more appropriate as a gratuation gift. Well he's turning 21 and I told her that I would take him to my friends shop to look around.
On the way there, (a long drive) I told him how to shop for speakers and that for him, I would look at the Klipsh or Energys my buddy sells.
We get there and we talk. My friend steers him right to a pair of nice Klipsh towers. Unobtrusive and they sounded pretty good. But my son spots a pair of MTX 4 Way speaker. A 12" a mid a dome tweater and a horn. "Let's hear those", he says.
They were a floor model on sale for $275 for the pair. He puts on his rap CD, loves the kick in the low end and says he likes those best.
For half of what I expected to pay, he's extatic. We got free stands and it all cost $258.00
I remmember being 21. Those would have looked good to me too.
AVB ( 208.132.249.130 ) at 12:44 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
Geo.: ...and standing on my head too.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 12:35 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Mothing = Nothing
Curtis ( 63.203.69.213 ) at 12:35 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Public Service Announcement
Winston aka the Spleen: Interesting search site, thanks. The acid test is to locate the LD title Koyaanisqatsi. Mothing. There is one on eBay but it's already at $150 with 5 days to go.
Geo. ( 138.27.4.16 ) at 12:25 PM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
AVB: Yeah, but can you hear the hiss while wearing a blindfold?
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 11:45 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Public Service Announcement
If anyone is looking for hard-to-find laserdiscs or DVDs, and doesn't want to pay inflated e-bay prices, try this site:
http://www.rtr.com/~jeff/
This search engine is linked to more than 300 different sites and is a great way to find rare discs at good prices.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 11:34 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Blinking lights...
Curtis: I know what you mean about those flashing lights.... the tube amp that is use to drive my main L-R speakers is a VAC PA80/80 that has been factory upgraded to PA100/100 specs+ (you can see a picture of it at www.vac-amps.com/page0008.html). There are 4 leds on the front of the amp that are indicate that each output tube is at the correct bias level when they all glow an even green... and when you crank up the volume they flash in time to the music, changing from green to amber to a bright fiery orange as the volume cranks up... look awesome in a darkened room!!! : )
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 11:29 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Morning all!
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 10:35 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Johnbr: Happy birthday....
AVB ( 208.132.249.130 ) at 10:17 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
cai: I have to disagree about the change in my system being subjective. No PowerPro in the system and there is hiss heard from the speakers at the -25db level on my TA-9000. With the PowerPro in the system there is no hiss PERIOD at any volume level. This is not subjective.
Maybe because I only paid half price for my unit it would work even better if I bought a new one at full list. hahaha.
AVB ( 208.132.249.130 ) at 10:11 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioning
JBC: I won't say directly proportional but the more users, industry and transformers will all dirty up the line. This is more common in metropolitian areas.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 9:53 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Marantz/Philips 64" HD TV
I stopped by The Good Guys last night to take a look at the Sony 53HS10 for my buddy. They had one of the Philips 64"HD TVs on display. Looked pretty good. The bad news is it was $9999. No telling how much the hot rod Marantz version will be.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 9:52 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Curtis: The Bonnie Raitt "Road Tested" concert has been one of my favorites for years. I got my hands on the original CD before it was released. I tracked down and mail ordered the Laser Disc version in Florida after it had been out of print for a year and a half. (Two channel but incredibly well recorded) That LD was the only regret that I had about trading my laser disc player. I even made about four VHS copies before I included it in my trade with Winston for my Elite CLD-79 LD player. It's been listed on some of the DVD sites for future release for about 6 months now but it appears that it won't be on DVD until 1-2000, but it's supposed to be released in DD 5.1.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 9:47 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Scott: I have made one observation regarding the "dynamic" changes that are occurinng in the name field. WHile using IE4, please note:
a) If I use the Post/Refresh buttons then the ":" does not reapper.
b) If I use the Reload button then the ":" does reappear.
Any ideas?
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 9:43 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
AVB: So, are you saying that the need for line conditioning / surge protection is directly proportional to one's proximity to a major metropolotan area? At the risk of asking a dumb question --- why?
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 9:41 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
AVB:
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 8:55 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
Gar & Curtis: I agree with your assessment. I think that in most cases the purported degree of sound or video improvement is conmensurate with the cost of the equipment and it is highly subjective. Something akin to the way my car's engine runs better after I wash my car. Or perhaps the improved mileage per gallon because the drag coefficient was reduced when I got rid of the dirt.
I would recommend the Norhtern VA crowd to get surge protection since I have seen more than my share of nasty lightning storms in our area. I have the Panamax 1500 and so far nothing has been fried, even though the other day I got a very nasty strike nearby.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 8:43 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Speaker Placement
Ron H: My recollection is a little different than Tony C's as I believe that your sides and rears are going to be M&K 150's. If that is correct, download the manual from the M&K site as there are specific instructions regarding their placement -- which, as an aside, differs whether you are going to use them as directs, bipoles or tripoles.
FWIW, I compared the positioning recommended in the M&K manual with the requirements in the lexicon manual and they are the same so.... go down load the M&K manual.
What is the estimated date that the DLP will be up?
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 8:34 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Speaker Placement
Ron H: Doh! The Martin/Logans - correct?
I would put the rears higher. Maybe space them about two feet from either corner.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 8:32 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Speaker Placement
Ron H: Sides and rears. Dipole or direct?
AVB ( 64.41.32.23 ) at 6:15 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
Curtis: I have to agree and disagree with some of what Gar said. The Cinepro/Furman Balanced conditioners will remove any line noise you may have along with acting as a huge power reserve for short term peaks. They are not cheap but for those of use with normal to dirty power coming in they work wonders. The PS audio models are far too expensive for the output ability they, run way too hot but do also work in cleaning up the noise. The RGP units while acting as a smaller current storage unit then the Cinepro/Furman also have filtering that seems to affect the upper audio frequencies from what I have read about them.
If you are near a metropolitian area I can't say enough good things about my PowerPro 20.
Gar ( 169.207.192.1 ) at 1:36 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
Curtis: Curtis I agree! I tried a friends PowerPro and I also tried a PS Audio. Both are about the size of a good Amp and cost more. I didn't hear that much improvement, but then again we have pretty darn good Power up here in the North Woods as you would call it! hahahaha. Not getting much sleep either or time with the HT or Audio gear, new baby boy is keeping very busy, just glad the little guy made it through these surgeries and the ICU. Hell, I think his bill can pay for a small theater, over 300K so far but worth every penny!!!
BYork ( 216.67.103.176 ) at 1:23 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
All -
WHOA! Just had my first taste of a DTS soundtrack. I have to say I'm REALLY glad my setup can decode it. MAJOR difference in terms of dynamics and openness. (My Galaxy Quest DTS disc arrived yesterday!)
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 1:11 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
Gar: I think that most quality gear includes good/ stable power supplies, so the need to condition anything is probably moot. Surge protection for those living in areas where severe electrical storms happen is a must though.
Gar ( 169.207.192.1 ) at 12:52 AM EST Friday, May 19, 2000
Power conditioners and Hype!
Well I have tried many and personally, unless you have real crappy power going to your home, there not needed. However the PowerPro and the PS Audio units did a better job than most. The PS Audio unit however runs way too hot. For what you get for the money, I say PASS! Also the Richard Gray unit seemed to do something to the sound to mellow it out, but not too much.
Ron H ( 63.27.245.112 ) at 10:58 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Speaker Placement
I will have my side speakers about 6 feet high and opposite my sitting position on the couch. Where would you suggest the rears be located? Higher than the sides? Closer together than the sides or spread wide as possible. They not only be used for DD EX but also Lexicons Logic 7.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.87.36 ) at 10:12 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Geo.: Yep, you're correct... I just dug out my center channel instructions. I guess I just got the wrong impression from it when I read it before... So, how do you know the gains are equal? I'd guess you could run pink noise through one amp first, set the level, run through the other amp and set the level the same, and then set the overall level with both amps on (using the preamp's control).
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.87.36 ) at 10:05 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Kieran: *AHEM*
Geo. ( 216.172.206.72 ) at 9:12 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Passive bi-amping provides a dramatic improvement in clarity, openness and detail-less gain- much better bass solidity and definition. The presentation of music is simply more intelligible and transparent. It says so right in the Paradigm manual. We'll see.
Scott "popcorn": You don't have to have equal power if bi-amping but you have to have identical gain to all channels.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 9:11 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
any Hammond B-3 fans out there?
Curtis: I love Jimmy Smith. One of my favorites is the album w/ George Benson.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 7:54 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
any Hammond B-3 fans out there?
another great recording (if you're into blues) is the 2nd track of Mighty Sam McClain's "Give it up for Love" CD, track 2 has one of the sweetest B-3 solos since Jimmy Smith. Check it out.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 7:51 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
oops. disc 2/ track 6 "Feeling of Falling". It was probably just mixed in way too strong, yet it is fun to watch the entire screen of the tw65 doing the shakes.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 7:48 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Kieran: LOL!
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 7:47 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
This was great. I was just semi-blasting the DTS Bonnie Rait CD "Road Tested". Disc 2/ track has one of the most powerful LFE music tracks I have ever heard. My next door neighbor came over saying that she could see my windows shaking & wanted to be sure I was ok. I guess it's time to move the big Velo away from the window wall.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 7:44 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Curtis: Hmmm... by the time I get them turning red (the women, not the logos) they are at painful volume levels! 
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.87.36 ) at 7:42 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
bi-amping paradigm's
Geo.: You might read your instructions on the Paradigms... seems like my instructions for the Mini Mk3's say not to use two different wattage rated amps for the tweeter and woofer... I think it has something to do with the internal crossover. I could be wrong, because my instructions are buried someplace...
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 7:35 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Winston aka the Spleen: I thought the kewlist thing about the Actives was the illuminated green P logo when they're on! Always get a date's attention. By the time I crank them into turning red (the logos, not the women) you are at painful volume levels.
AVB ( 64.41.32.27 ) at 7:29 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
bi-amping paradigm's
Geo.: The tweeters can't handle as much power as the woofers anyway. You'll actuall be increasing the total headroom although not by very much. To hear a difference due to increased head room you need to go up by about 3db for each half. IOW, 200wpc for the woofers and the 50 should work fairly well for the tweeters/mids but 100 wouldn't hurt. You'll notice a difference in very loud things like explosions or big kick drums, anytime your system would normally use up all the power it previously had.
Geo. ( 138.27.4.16 ) at 7:05 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Winston aka the Spleen: In all likelihood, I won't hear any difference. We'll see.
Ron H ( 63.39.60.123 ) at 6:57 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Wild Bill:
Thanks
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 6:53 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Forgot to mention, the kewl thing about Curtis' Active Paradigms is the fact that the bi-amping setup uses an active crossover.... big difference over passive crossovers.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 6:51 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Geo: Well if you already have the amps you definitely should try biamping and see for yourself if it improves your system.... who knows, it might work fantastic for you!
Geo. ( 138.27.4.16 ) at 6:48 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
bi-amping paradigm's
Curtis: The Paradigms have two sets of binding posts on each speaker connected by a jumper. My understanding is that by removing the jumper and connecting separate amp channels to each set of binding posts, you do bypass the internal crossovers, or, at least, go through the tweeters' high pass filters and the woofers' low pass filters. I could be wrong. In the Paradigm manuals, they talk about bi-amping in this way, though without a real technical explanation of just what it accomplishes. My only concern was sending lower power to the tweeters than the woofers (50wpc vs. 100wpc).
Geo. ( 138.27.4.16 ) at 6:42 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Biamping Paradigms
Winston aka the Spleen: Well, you know, from what I've read of others' experiences, I'm not sure there's any real advantage. I think Tony C just bi-amped his NHT's and said that any difference was all but imperceptible. I just happen to have two unused 50w channels on my supplemental amp and all it would require is removing the jumpers from the binding posts and running one additional pair of speaker wires to each speaker. Really more just out of curiosity than any great expectations.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 6:33 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Biamping Paradigms
Geo: I hate to rain on your parade but I have tried biamping 3 different pairs of Paradigms including the Monitor 9's and...... it was (for me) a complete waste of time. Passive bi-amping gives you a mere 3 db increase in volume, and the differences in bass control and clarity were practically imperceptable.
FWIW I tried both horizontal and vertical biamping.... even with completely isolated amps the reduction in crosstalk between the left and right channels was meaningless in a home theater context.
Personally I would MUCH rather invest the money in one great amp than two so-so amps in order to bi-amp... YMMV. If you need some line-level splitters let me know, I've got some that I was going to get rid of cheap!
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 6:26 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Curtis: Thanks again for the disc my friend - I will post a review on it after I put it through its paces. And no more disturbing links... I promise!
fingers crossed... heh heh!
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 5:59 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Marantz 64" 16:9
Geo.: I checked w/ all 3 of my local Marantz dealers & none of them have heard a price yet. The distributor is saying late spring (isn't that where we are now?) delivery. All of these guys are licking their chops over this thing. 9" CRT's exist only on the mega-bucks FP's. Plugging in a PC to the SVGA in would be a great way to work on an Excel spreadsheet too. $7-8K sounds about right to me, though sometimes Marantz will pleasantly surprise people at product intro time.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 5:49 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
bi-amping paradigm's
Geo.: Please correct me if I'm wrong here. Is the whole point of bi/tri/whatever-ampling to bypass the speaker's internal crossover & feed each driver it's own clean power?
Geo. ( 138.27.4.16 ) at 5:39 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Marantz 64" 16:9
Kieran: I'm with you on the amp/speaker thing. Don't you think that anyone buying a TV like that will already have a system for the sound?
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 5:38 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
No info on the Sony HS HDTV RPTV's? come on guys!!!!
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 5:37 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Kieran: The inclusion of a 5 channel amp in a tv goes hand in hand with the same thinking of those who put a DD decoder in a $2500 DVD player. ?????
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 5:36 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Curtis: The 55 and 60 are probably derivitives of the current analog models. I believe the current MSRP on the 60 is about 4 grand. I'm guessing that the 64" is going to be in the 7-8K range. Have you heard any differently?
Kieran ( 12.13.238.139 ) at 5:24 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Marantz 64" 16:9
That's a sweet TV all right... but why the hell do they include a damn 5 channle audio amplifier inside the TV??? That just unecessarily jacks up the price (and weight) of the thing. A tuner and the monitor is all that should be included, IMHO.
Geo. ( 198.26.132.99 ) at 5:07 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
bi-amping paradigm's
Curtis: Thanks, it seemed OK to me considering that the low freq drivers should be more power hungry than the highs. BTW, that Marantz 6400looks great. Any idea how much?
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 5:06 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Tony C: Thanks Tony C. I will look for it today.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 5:03 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Marantz 64" RP
... another nice feature to this set is they toss in an RC5000, not bad if you were in the market for a Pronto/charging base anyway.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 5:01 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
bi-amping paradigm's
Geo.: That sounds perfect when you consider that the internal amps on my paradigm actives are 2 seperate amps; 110w to the lo/mids & 50 w to the tweeters. The selling point of these speakers is to let the speaker designers build what they consider to be the right amps (within the usual budgetary constraints). Just to be sure I would put a call in to the factory for their opinion. They have always been great whenever I have called.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 4:50 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Gasgeek: You're quite right about the new Marantz 64" 16:9 HD ready RP. Check out the specs http://www.marantzamerica.com/hd6400w.htm 9" guns, RGB, multiple componet ins, set to a real D6500 color temp at the factory ... I would be tempted if I had the cash/ need & space this motha would take up. My dealer confirms the two other new RP's - 55" & 60" with a street price of $2,699/ $2,999. He didn't have specs nor do they appear on the Marantz site. At those prices they must be 4:3 non-line doubled sets, right?
Curtis ( 63.203.69.26 ) at 4:46 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Winston aka the Spleen: Hey you earned it man. Now PLEASE stop sending us all links to disturbing photos! My local high-endish dealer (Classe, Runco, Meridien etc.) carries the Marantz line of RP's. I too was quite impressed with the picture on last years 53"er to the point that I nearly bought it. The TW65 won out due to 16:9 & HD ready. There's a rave review of the 53" Marantz from SGHT here http://www.marantzamerica.com/revpv547.htm
Geo. ( 138.27.4.16 ) at 4:28 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Hi all: I'm thinking of bi-amping my Paradigm Monitor 7's. Does anyone see a problem with sending 100wpc to the low frequency drivers and 50wpc to the high frequency drivers. I now have 100wpc going to the speakers, but I have two 50w channels available on my amp.
Wild Bill ( 63.38.153.147 ) at 4:22 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Ron H : Welcome to the world of FPTV. It'll make you eyes 
bug out!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.139 ) at 4:00 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Gasgeek: I'll let you know how I'm feeling tomorrow. I'm supposed to go whitewater boating Memorial Day weekend, and I don't want this tidbit of a cold to turn into a full cold that lasts a week. Plus, if I am sick, I wouldn't want to expose you! I think it might just be lack of sleep over the last few days, though. My final exam was last night for a graduate course I'm taking, and I'd been burning the midnight oil studying for it for the last 4 days. Fortunately, I think it payed off. Hopefully a few nights of good sleep will turn this bug around.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 4:00 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Where can I get some info on the Sony HS series RPTV's? The digital ready's. I can't find anything on their website. Darian, isn't that what you got? A friend of mine wants to get one but I can't give him any info.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.139 ) at 3:56 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
NJMike: Check out http://www.soundpros.com/ they have the 777ES for $1195. A good friend of mine just ordered some Energy speakers from him, and received GREAT service. They also have pretty good reviews online at www.audioreview.com if you want to check them out there.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 3:48 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Kieran: That might work out nicely. Let me check with my wife and see what the boss's plans are for Saturday. I think we're supposed to go out for dinner, but the afternoon should be free. I was going to suggest we go to the store when I host the HTOC meet and then back to my place, but that doesn't mean we can't do it now, too.
NJMike ( 204.183.91.5 ) at 3:34 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Is there any place that still sells & has the Sony 777ES in stock?
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 3:29 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
cai:
Go to smarthome.com
YOu need an X10 Powerflash module. Part #4060
Then you wire that to your magenetic contacts to it. You need "Normally Closed" contacts, model #7113. Or you can go with the Garage Door one -model 7455. Then set the code the same as you X10 contoled outlet. Easy.
David ( 156.153.255.126 ) at 2:47 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
HTPC
cai: Thanks, cai...
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 2:42 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
HTPC
David: Try this site http://www.avsforum.com/ it is one of the better ones I have found. It has a section dedicated solely to HTPC.
David ( 156.153.255.126 ) at 2:37 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
HTPC
Hey Guys, SGHT had an article about HTPC's in this months rag. I remember some of you guys talking about it in the past... is there a good web site about HTPC anywhere? Any other articles? I want to learn more about it...
Thanks,
Chris L. ( 198.144.140.176 ) at 2:29 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
JBC: You have mail!
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 2:16 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Highly disturbing....
Curtis: E-mail heading your way!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.140 ) at 2:01 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Gasgeek: I would like to join you some time to go "hang out" at your dealer's (Brian?) store, as you sometimes do. What are you doing Saturday? I don't have any plans, and the g/f is gone most of the day. I'm feeling like I might be coming down with a cold though, so if I don't shake it, I may decide to spend the day resting.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 1:50 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Ron H: Congrats...
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 12:39 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Kieran, Gasgeek: I guessed that maybe the Marantz was a rebadged Phillips by the remote - looked just like a Phillips/Magnavox remote.
I am definitely going with a high scan set to take advantage DTV programming and so I can use an outboard line doubler if necessary.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 12:25 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Winston, Kieran: The Marantz RPTV line is a reworked Phillips. They take the Phillips and redo it right. I can't tell you exactly what they do but it is a definite improvement over the stock unit. I have never mentioned them before but my dealer carries them. They are right in there with the Pioneer Elites and Sony XBR analog RPTV's as far as picture quality. Kieran, Brian has a 60" on display now if you want to see it. They run about the same as the old XBR line price wise. There were some drawbacks with last years models like no component and other minor things. This years has component. Marantz is releasing a 64" 16x9 with 9" guns this summer that will be HDTV ready but I'm sure it will increase the cost comparatively.
Ron H ( 63.24.138.90 ) at 12:16 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
The Dream Vision DL500 just arrived at my office. Now I really need to get into high gear on the HT room.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 12:12 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Tony C: They aren't as deep as the 3.3's, but they are a large speaker.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 12:11 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
The RPTV saga continues....
Winston aka the Spleen: Wow... I didn't know Marantz had any RPTV's... I wonder if it's built by some other company and re-badged as a Marantz... some other company like Philips maybe? I've heard good things about Philips sets, but never really checked them out. Their monster big 16:9 set (don't remember the exact size) RPTV is REALLY HUGE. I didn't see it turned on though!
Whether you settle on 16:9 or 4:3 (subliminal messages via facial expressions!) You definitely need to get a high-scan (i.e. HD-ready) set at the minimum. There's no way anybody in our hobby should be buying a new set these days that ISN'T HD scan capable.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 12:10 PM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Trav1: Sorry about the late replay but I left work right after my last post and didn't check at home last night. You are correct about the two built in 500 watt subs in the VT-3. They were completely adequate for the theater room that I have heard them in. The MSRP for all five speakers is around $8300 but most NHT dealers will deal unless they are the lone dealer in an area. The VT-3 has a separate controller that turns off the dipole speaker in the mains for music only use.
FYI, My understanding is that NHT has a licensing agreement with and is using Sunfire technology in their regular subs. They have had some serious reliability problems with their sub one and sub twos. A lot of them are shipping inoperative. Supposedly they have worked out the problems before they released the VT-3. My dealer used to sell a lot of the original 3 NHT subs, but now recommends Velo for use with the smaller NHT speakers.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 11:42 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
The RPTV saga continues....
Kieran, Curtis: Stopped by a custom theater installer last nite to look at a Marantz 53 inch RPTV (dam' but I can't remember the model number this morning). It is a 4:3 set that comes factory-calibrated to D6500 kelvin. The detail on this set was better than anything I have seen so far... the dealer put on the resolution chart from Video Essential and it looked as it went clear out to 500 lines. Amazing. Fantastic black level, due in part to the fact that the set does not use scan velocity modulation.
The downside (besides the 4:3 screen) is that the RPTV does not have an onboard line doubler or progressive input - so an outboard unit like the DVDO won't work with it. Heck of a nice RPTV though!
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 11:40 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Tony C: When you have a chance, can you get me the part number for those units you mentioned. I have a spare x-10 wall outlet that I could use for that purpose. Thanks.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 11:31 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Curtis: I just stopped in to see what's happening while I have my first cup of coffee and... WOO-HOO! I can't believe I won! This is too kewl... thank you!!!
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 10:49 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
cai: I use X-10 for that very same thing. The garage door uses a magnetic sensor, wired to a box (forget what they call it). The sensor/box sends an X-10 signal to an X-10 switched wall outlet in my bedroom. There is a night light pugged into the outlet. When the light is on, the door is open.
mcb ( 209.222.216.4 ) at 9:26 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
cai: You could get a pit bull You'll still need to remember to check the garage each day: this time for body parts. Hell, you could sell the doors. You sure won't need them anymore.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 8:24 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Morning gang...
Glenee ( 129.15.204.207 ) at 8:08 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Same chat box !
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 7:47 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
TO ALL: I can not recall if it was in this forum that people were talking about sensors for garage doors. That is, a transmitter that will trigger an alarm or light a lamp if the garage door is left open at night. All suggestions will be appreciated. I know, save my dollars and check the doors every night. This hasn't worked lately, time for more drastic steps.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.53.71 ) at 3:35 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Curtis: sad, sad, sad... Maybe I should bag manure in some really KOOOL looking stainless steel woven bags and sell them for thousands of dollars... I wonder if I could get MS's advertising department to market it for me...
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 2:10 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Scott "popcorn": Patience men, living on the bleeding edge is always too expensive early on. The sad part is that they'll sell zillions of thiem around these parts. Far too many people with more money than brains. I visited a BBQ speciality store tonight that had a $2K tiny outdoor refrigerator on display (stainless steel of course). I laughed saying that you can buy a very nice full-sized REAL frig for that amount. I was told they sell dozens per week - because it looks cool.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.53.71 ) at 1:31 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
BIG AL: $#¡t p¡$$ fudge!!! that's WAY expensive... what the hell are they thinking??? You can get a DLP FP that does the same thing for the same price!!! I wonder how long the bulb life will be in those sets... "They not crazy... They NUTS!" (Short Round, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Gar ( 169.207.193.120 ) at 1:15 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Big Al: Still way to fricking expensive. But sounds promising!
BIG AL ( 204.248.58.42 ) at 1:00 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
Panasonic DLPRP to ship 3rd quarter. PT-52DL10, capable of displaying 720p, 16:9, $10,000. Hitachi DLPRP to ship this fall, 65DMX01W, 720p, 16:9, $10,000, also a digital camcorder with a DVD-RAM storage disc, 1.5 Gig for up to 2 hours of video.
Ron H ( 63.22.186.219 ) at 12:56 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
reversed cable
Tony C: LOL
BIG AL ( 204.248.58.42 ) at 12:49 AM EST Thursday, May 18, 2000
KPD; Belated happy B-Day!
Wild Bill; Thanks for the heads up, but not enough power.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 11:27 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
DVDs
I watched "The World Is Not Enough" tonight. I will not be buying this one either. It looked cool, it sounded cool, but several times during the movie I wondered when it would stop.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 11:25 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
reversed cable
Ron H: I knew you would do it from the first post.
I would have too. 'cause we're all nuts here.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 10:45 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
I was a little surprized that more war films didn't get mentioned. Does anyone care to squirm through the sniper scene again in Full Metal Jacket? "If you can get through this one thing, the rest of your life will be a piece of cake" ... then again my memory could be going. 7 was up there as well with a most disturbing ending. Strange Days was also a little too real with the premise of being able to fully experience someone elses senses via a discman looking thing. If you really bought into Apocolypse Now, then it was a little frightening to get into Brando's head at the end. Did anyone else catch this in it's original 70mm, Dolby stereo presentation, without any credits at all? You were handed a book with the credits at the door.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 10:36 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Ron H: Have a good night sleep....
Ron H ( 63.30.220.223 ) at 10:18 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
I made the crawl and reversed the cable. Now I will be able to sleep.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 9:48 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
... duh, reach me here seenhear@pacbell.net
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 9:47 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
... Winston aka the Spleen! I saw this movie in the original theatrical release and must agree with evry bit of what he said. Just damned disturbing. Email me your snailmail address & I'll pop the Avia disc in the mail to you. All of you guys came up with great ones & it was a tough call.
JBC ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 9:29 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
AKA, KieranTony C: Thanks for the suggestions. I have seen The Professional and like you thought it was great. I went to pick up the Messenger but it was not there -- not all bad news as that makes it a tomorrow night project!
Ron H: Good luck in re-directing the wire. I sure hope that it is worth all the effort!
Chris L. ( 198.144.140.87 ) at 9:24 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
Curtis: Me??
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 9:22 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
Chris L.: Well the old clock on the wall says that the contest is over. And the winner is ...
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 9:20 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Moving right along....
Kieran: You may be right about his budget, however if you read my post again you'll notice that I was talking about DLPRP's - not FP's. There are other advantages to them vs. CRT-based RP's as well. The downside is that you're going to have to replace expensive bulbs once in a while.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.139 ) at 9:02 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Moving right along....
Curtis: I think that one of the new DLP projectors will be out of Winston's price range.
Not to speak for you Winston, but you did just say that the TW56x81 is out of your range, therefore I think a $6k DLP projector (plus a screen for it, and all the other necessary accessories) would be out of that range, too.
However, DLP does look like a VERY promising technology! Can't wait for the price to come down! (and my income to go up)
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 8:45 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
Chris L.: yeah, I was thinking Winston should win based almost solely on effort alone! You guys have about 15 minutes to beat him
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 8:39 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Moving right along....
Winston aka the Spleen: You may want to take a look at www.hdtvinsider.com (a free newsletter by Gary Merson of WideScreen Review. One of his recent writings is about DLP & another technology 16:9 series of RP's that have a huge advantage over all others. No need to ever converge, align individual guns because everything emits from a single gun. Thes sets are being kept quiet yet are expected for summer release. His latest newsletter is full-o-HD future programming info.
AVB ( 64.41.32.143 ) at 8:24 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
"Intolerance" is not just the title of a movie...
Winston aka the Spleen: Why don't you ask? It is not intolerance but NO tolerance. Faggot, like gay, has had many meanings over the last few hundred years. Under the don't ask, don't tell Clinton crap the word has almost reverted to one of the original meanings of a bunch of sticks. Now those types are called stick people in many parts of the armed forces. (Or at least the places I've been)
Deviant or abnormal behavior has always been around but that does not mean it has to be accepted, tolerated or condoned. If you are a Darwinian you can see they have no place in the continuation of the species.
If you want to continue this we can do it by email as it isn't really correct material for this forum.
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.248 ) at 8:15 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
wrong direction
Ron H: No thanks needed. No matter how bad you screw up...there's always someone who's gonna do it worse.
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 8:14 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Gasgeek: Would you say you could do without a seperate powered sub? It appears that those VT-3 towers have built in 500 watt amps powering the two 10" subs? The price I was quoted was $6k a pair just for the towers. For that much I would hope that I could at least hear the things long before I ever shelled out the money for them.
Geo. ( 216.172.206.35 ) at 8:13 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
"Intolerance" is not just the title of a movie...
Winston aka the Spleen: Well, you know, at his age they tend to get a little cantankerous and crotchety.
AVB ( 64.41.32.143 ) at 8:13 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Just another Greek Tragedy....
Geo.: Yep, I'm a PC kinda guy. That is Personal Computer eh?
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 8:13 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Thank you all for your suggestions. I looked up the units from Creek and Parasound and they both look like they could do the job. I will keep them in mind when I decide to purchase.
mic ( 172.156.184.195 ) at 8:12 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
PC CD-R
I've been think'n of buy'n a cheap phono with a builtin preamp aprox $100 to record my old records. My Sound-card only has analog in, within the software you can change the values of the recoding from worst 8,000hz 8bits mono 7/KBsthru a few choices to CD: 44,100hz 16 bits stereo 172/KBs upto 48,000hz 16 bits stereo 188/KBs.
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.248 ) at 8:10 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
Curtis: IRT determining a winner: It seems like a no win situation. All the posts I've read have had some good reasons why they think their movie is the most disturbing. But I think, IMHO, that Winston has really put in the most effort here. Pics, graphic descriptions, and he had me looking for the video on all the online stores so I could see it myself. :)Again...JMHO.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 8:08 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
mcb: You have it absolutely correct. My records are as old as yours and in some cases older. They hold mostly sentimental value, but in some cases music that I really would like to hear again or at least have the option to do it.
mic ( 172.156.184.195 ) at 8:03 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
VT-3 TowersVT-3 Towers
System Type: 4-way + 2-way acoustic suspension Drivers: Two 10" side-loaded subwoofers, two 6.25" lower midranges, 1" aluminum dome tweeter, 5.25" rear-firing midrange, 1" rear-firing soft-dome tweeter (upper drivers video shielded)
Frequency Response: 21 Hz-26 kHz
Sensitivity: 87 dB @ 2.83 V/M
Impedance: 6 ohms Recommended Amp. Power: 30-300 watts/channel
Input Connectors: 2 pairs gold-plated, 5-way binding posts; 8-pin mini-D.I.N. Dimensions; 48" H x 8" W x 22.25" D
Weight: 120 lbs./ea.
Finish: Italian black satin laminate
mcb ( 207.1.5.57 ) at 7:50 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
cai: I kind of figured it involved vintage vinyl. It's a tough call.
I have around 60 albums that we spin every so often (college music which we chose not to buy on CD). The sound is so bad that I usually shut it off pretty fast. Our turntable is the pits as is the stereo system, presently.
I do have one very sweet album by CREAM that never made it to CD. It's white with vegetables floating about. One of my brothers has it on loan so I cannot remember the name. I found it in Harvard Square some time in the late '70s. That album would almost justify a phono set-up
A little YES, FLOYD, DOORS, STONES, LYNNARD SKYNNARD, DEAD, BAD CO., BOSTON, J. GIELS, TOM PETTY, and others always gets the blood flowing and a few special memories ...
---------------
Who'd like to share a few special concerts they attended?
Back in the late 70's and early 80's I saw THE DEAD, BOB MARLEY, SPRINGSTEEN, THE ALMOND BROTHERS, JAMES TAYLOR, SANTANA, FLEETWOOD MAC, THE EAGLES, CAROL KING, THE POINTER SISTERS , and BOZ SCAGGS to name a few.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 7:22 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Gasgeek: Nice to see you here pal!
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 7:08 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
NHTs
Gasgeek: Am I right about the size?
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 7:07 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
speakers
trav1, mic: I would really like to hear about the VT3s as well.
I got a great deal on the VT2s because the new speaker was coming out, but I can still upgrade at full value if I want. I think they are as deep at the 3.3? 31" deep. That may make them too big for my room.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 7:04 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Trav 1: The VT-3's are awesome although you need a big room to really make them shine. I've listened to them several times now with the EAD Signature, EAD PM 2000 and also with the new ADA Rhapsody Pre/Pro. Very impressive speaker system. Very dynamic and clean. Using the same drivers in the center and surround make them appear seamless during surround transitions.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 7:03 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Kieran: I like the Toshiba RPTVs a lot... especially the TW56x81... but it's too big and more than I want to spend right now. I do plan to look at the Mits. I took a look at the Hitachi UltraVision series last weekend which are only available in 4:3 format. Incredible resolution on those sets! They also have a pseudo-anamorphic squeeze mode to get more (but not all) out of anamorphic DVDs. I heard that they weren't selling well and there may be a lot of room to bargain on them.
I'm planning to take a look at the new 40" widescreen Toshiba this weekend.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 7:02 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Wild Bill & JOhnO: "Walkabout", the very interesting movie we saw at John's house when WB brought his computer, is being shown today on Bravo at 8:00 PM. I wonder how much they will cut.
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 6:58 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
speakers
mic: Let us know what you think of the VT-3's....Interested myself, but no one around here has or will have them in stock to listen to....
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 6:51 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
DVD Recommendations
Kieran: LOL!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.141 ) at 6:48 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
DVD Recommendations
JBC: Have to agree with AKA on The Professional. Great movie. Jean Reno is excellent.... and you get to see Queen Amidala at age 10 (or around there) !!! LOL!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.141 ) at 6:45 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Moving right along....
Winston aka the Spleen: Hmmm... maybe I'm partial, but I just really like the look of Toshiba RPTVs, and they are generally slightly more affordable than their competition. I have not seriously looked at Philips. RGB likes his Mitsubishi, and I like it too. But I still kinda prefer the picture of a Tosh. The TW56X81 is one model I'd seriously consider if its in your budget.
I hear that to get true HD resolution (i.e. for the monitor to be ABLE to resolve all the information given it) with an RPTV, you need 9" crt's. I don't know if there are any sets out right now with 9" crt's though, and if there are, I bet they are REALLY expensive.
You said you wished there was a 16:9 set w/ a 46" screen and black instead of grey bars.... Again, the Mits 46" fits that bill perfectly. A bonus of going with a smaller screen, like the 46" or the Tosh 40" is that the relative brightness is higher... e.g. the 40" Tosh has the same guns driving it as the bigger screens, like their 65" and 56" models.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 6:41 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
DVD Recommendations
JBC: Have you seen The Professional? If not, I suggest you rent or buy it.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 6:35 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Tony C: No amp today or tomorrow I will probably not be able to receive it until Friday.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 6:33 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
DVD Recommendations
Tony C: The Messenger is out on DVD as I own it on DVD. I was also thinking of picking up the latest Bond film as well. I also have on preorder Sleepy Hollow.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 6:30 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Moving right along....
Curtis, Kieran: I thought about your widescreen RPTV advice and passed on the 4:3 Toshiba... at least for the time being. I think I will do some more looking at 16:9 sets before I make my decision. If you have any sets that you think I should consider, let me know, and I'll take a look at 'em!
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 6:28 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Movies
JBC: Three Kinds = Three Kings.
Michael AKA: So no amp today?
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 6:25 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
"Intolerance" is not just the title of a movie...
Geo: Yeah, I saw the "F" word remark.... what up with that?
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 6:24 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
DVD Recommendations
JBC:: Three Kinds was OK. I did not buy it.
The movie could have been so much better.
I'm thinking of picking up the new James Bond for tonight.
If it's out, I may go with AKA's suggestion of The Messenger.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 6:20 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Dido
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal": No, I don't. I'm assuming that it's a Japanese import? I'm pretty sure that No Angel is her first release in the states.
Ron H ( 63.22.204.165 ) at 6:19 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
JBC:
I believe it will not make a difference. I also know I will stay awake at night wondering if that is really true, so I will be crawling through the depths of hell to make the change.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 6:05 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
grammar
ugh... that should be "maybe" not "mabey" and "scenes WAS" not "scenes were" and "alleged" not "aleged"....
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 6:03 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
The Messenger
JBC: The Messenger was a GREAT movie, if you like "period" movies. All the medieval costumes, armor, weapons, battles, tools, buildings, etc., were EXCELLENT. The battles were some of the best on film, since Braveheart and Rob Roy (mabey even better, albeit shorter). The script apparently is fairly accurate to the story of Joan of Arc. The dvd has extra materials, wherein they explain that the script for the court scenes were taken directly from the actual manuscripts of the actual trial for Joan's aleged heresy. It's a long movie though... almost 3 hours. Not as long as "Joan of Arc" starring Leelee Sobieski, which was a made for TV miniseries (~6 hours, IIRC), and is almost as good, even with out the all-star hollywood cast and budget.
Geo. ( 198.26.132.99 ) at 5:37 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Just another Greek Tragedy....
Winston aka the Spleen: AVB, Mr. PC himself. haha
Geo. ( 198.26.132.99 ) at 5:33 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Just another Greek Tragedy....
Winston aka the Spleen: No, man, it's the Greek SISSY with syphilis. Or the "F" word that AVB used the other day.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 5:25 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Just another Greek Tragedy....
Kieran: What's this about a greek guy with syphilis?
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 5:21 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
JBC: The story of Joan of Arc.
JBC ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 5:19 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
AKA: What is the messenger about?
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 5:11 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Damn, it looks like I missed the first attempt for UPS delivery.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 5:07 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
JBC: Try checking out The Messenger. It gave my system a good workout.
JBC ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 5:00 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Ron H: What is the conclusion about your "directional cable"?
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 4:59 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
DVD Recommendations
Going to rent a DVD to watch tonight. Any thoughts/recommendations on the The Three Kings or other offerings?
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 4:46 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Dido
Tony C: Do you have the DIDO - Ksana CD?
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 4:41 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Dido
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal":
The Dido CD hasn't come out of my car changer since it went in last June.
For the longest time, the only way you could get the studio version of "I Will Remember You" was on the Brothers McMullen soundtrack. That Canadian import you got is really cool.
I really like "Ice Cream" too. It's like her only Happy song. :))
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 4:35 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
T-Man: The book was worse.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 3:39 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
sutio = studio
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 3:39 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Dido
Tony C: The more I listen to Dido - No Angel the more I like the CD. DIDO - Ksana is listed as Japanese category. If it is anywhere near as good as the No Angel CD then I will buy it as well. I also recently picked up Sara McLachlin - Rarities B-Sides & Other Stuff CD. The sutio version of I Will Remember You is such a great song. Put it up there with my other favorite Ice Cream.
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.145 ) at 3:16 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
PSA
Big Al et al.: Weren't you looking for a used amp? There is a Parasound HC1203 that is 7 months old in the For Sale section on HTF. $550 plus shipping.
T-Man ( 209.166.185.65 ) at 3:13 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
Good afternoon. Many appropriate suggestions thus far. One that comes to my mind (and I don't think it has been mentioned) is Midnight Express which is a true story. What began as a very poor lapse in judgement spirals into a five year nightmare of torture and dispair in a foreign prison. The kicker is, if you read the book, you know that the real story was actually more intense than the movie. My wife and I were very drained at the end of this movie.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 2:55 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
AMPs
Tony C: Thanks. The fun won't really come to play until I order the kit and build the amp.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.141 ) at 2:51 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
OT question
Never mind... I remember, it's Sisyphus.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 2:45 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
vinyl to CD
mcb: I really laughed when I read this post. My brother was trying to burn vinyl to CD and kept calling me for help because he couldn't figure out how to do it. Finally, he gave up and bought what he could and we recorded the rest on my Phillips.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 2:45 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
most disturbing film
a little more than 6 hours to go for the winner of the Avia DVD. Just one question please? How the heck should we determine a winner?!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 2:44 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
OT question
Who was the tragic Greek character who was doomed to a life of pushing the rock up a hill, only to have it roll back down, for him to repeat the task endlessly?
Curtis ( 63.203.69.183 ) at 2:44 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
cai: CEMA's site says the Winter CES show will be held 1/6 through 1/9/2001. I never had a problem getting tix at the door, though the lines were long. More info here ... http://www.cesweb.org/
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 2:43 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
AMPs
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal":
Have fun man. I know you can't wait to get it set up.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 2:26 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
cai: I have been able to transfer tapes to the computer to store on hard disc. I just hooked the L&R outputs to the stereo input on my computer (of course I needed an L&R RCA to stereo mini-plug converter). So you could buy the phono preamp and take its output directly into the computer and then record the music with the computer CD-R drive. Creek offers a phono preamp for $199.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.139 ) at 2:20 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Recording DSS Music channels
JohnO: Yes, there should be an audio in jack on the sound card... usually it's labeled with a microphone symbol. It's not a digital audio input though, so you'd be running an analog source input through the dacs on the PC card. To burn to CD, you'd have to convert from analog to PCM, then burn. There are audio cards out there that have a digital pcm input jack, I think. Don't know which ones though.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 2:17 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Does anyone know what are the dates for the CES show next year? How have some of your secured tickets to the event? Someone suggested going through Joseph Audio, I own their speakers, Is there another way? I am contacting them, but I would like to know about alternatives in case I get shot down by them. Thanks.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 1:22 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
mcb: Excellent deduction and conclusion my dear Watson. However, the records I would like transfer are not in CD format nor I think that they will ever be in CDs. They are very old and some of the reasons why I would like to make the CDs from them are: 1) preservation and 2) so that I may listen to them using the computer and the cd player and when in my car, if I ever install a cd player in one of them.
You are entirely correct in thinking that this may be a very large expense for what may turn out to be a very limited use situation. I really have to give this issue some further thought. Not having use of my phonograph with a quality amplifier or receiver does bother me. But, to the tune of $700? Sweat is starting to form on my brow at that thought.
AVB ( 208.132.249.130 ) at 1:19 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
cai: Parasound has had a phono preamp add-on for a while. I think the list is around $200.
mcb ( 209.222.216.4 ) at 1:09 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
cai: Food for thought on the vinyl to CD
Assuming you are making song *collections* vs a complete vinyl to CD transfer of an album NOT on CD, why not just buy the music on CD (used CD's, perhaps) and then burn CD to CD. Typically, most CD's are cleaner sounding than their vinyl counterpart unless you are using a high end phono set-up.
The cost to buy the CD's would potentially be less than the B&K device you are considering. This might open a debate beyond my interest comparing vinyl to CD. But, it's hard to argue that the typical CD has far less hiss, crackling, and etc. when compared to any vinyl. YMMV
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 12:52 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
JohnO: I had basically the same question a few weeks ago. My question was how to burn CDs using music from a record player. B&K is coming out with a phono amp to connect record players to receivers and pre-amps that do not have phono connections. This B&K device, according to their technical people, would also convert the analog signal to digital for recording in a CD.
At the time I asked if anyone knew if such phono amp devices were available from other companies, but I got no answers. The B&K unit is going to cost around $400 for an analog output signal and around $700 for the same unit with analog and digital output signals; that is list price.
With the B&K digital capable unit you will need a digital SPDIF input connection, or you can have a stand alone analog to digital converter at your computer for creating the CDs. The B&K technician recommends, though, that all recordings be saved to the hard disk and then downloaded to the CD-R. It has something to do with errors and CD-R recording speed.
JohnO ( 140.183.114.30 ) at 12:45 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Recording DSS Music channels
AVB: Unfortunately I am asking about how to do this with a PC based CD-R. I presume that there is some audio in feature on the sound card, just have never used it.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:23 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
That was suppose to be 
not :B
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:21 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
KPD: DOH! Sorry to make you repeat yourself. Hopefully the weather will be just as nice, as it is now, when you arrive.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:17 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Looks like my AES SE-811 tube amps have arrived and will be delivered today. Cool :B
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 12:17 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal": Like I said, 20 years since I've been out there. My home office is in Phoenix (ON Semi) and I'm going out to knock heads with my engineering counterparts. 90 is really cool for this time, it was like 102 2 weeks ago, wasn't it?
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:14 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
KPD: Cool. How often do you come to Phoenix? The weather right now has been on the cool side. The last few days have been just under 90 degrees and the nights are gorgeous.
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 12:14 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Darian: I'll try to drop Chuck a line, but can't promise anything. He is pretty structured.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:12 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
BAGMAN: Sent you some e-mail last night.
mic: Good luck with your speaker hunt. All the speakers you are considering are first rate.
mcb: Saving Private Ryan is one of the most intense movies I have seen in a long while. My wife and I were emotionally drained after the first few minutes of the movie.
AVB ( 208.132.249.130 ) at 12:12 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Recording DSS Music channels
JohnO: If you have a CD recorder in your system it should be no problem. Now if you are asking how to take the audio signal straight into a PC to record to a CDR I can't answer that.
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 12:12 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal": Yes, I did, thanks. Hey, I'm up in your neck of the woods next week for 2 days, going to Phoenix on business. I haven't been there in 20 years! Use to live in Phoenix in 1980.
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 12:10 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
JohnO: Cool, more birthday wishes today, it's like havin 2 in a row!
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:07 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
KPD: Sounds like you had a wonderful birthday. I love the homemade gifts I get from my daugther. I love your definition of "a while".
JohnO ( 140.183.114.30 ) at 12:00 PM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Happy Birthday KPD!!!!
JohnO ( 140.183.114.30 ) at 10:21 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Computer/Audio/Sattelite question: Someone asked if they could record the music channels from their sattelite to a cd-r. I didn't know the answer, thought you guys might. Also, what is the difference between .wav files and whatever an audio CD is using? The first time I tried to move and copy an audio CD to make my own mix on CD-R, the stupid software converted all files to .wav files, sounded like crap. I eventually figured out how to copy without conversion, which sounds fine.
JohnO ( 140.183.114.30 ) at 9:31 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Battlefield Earth
Chris L.: Saw it on Sunday. Despite all the reviews, it was not the worst movie of all time. It wasn't a good movie by a long stretch. The direction was bad, the characters were not interesting, by the end I didn't care which side won. To me it was about on the level of last years "Wing Commander". Maybe I liked Wing Commander a little better.
mcb ( 209.222.216.4 ) at 9:18 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
I tend to avoid disturbing movies, but I did see SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Both included scenes I would have preferred not to have seen.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 8:44 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Good morning everyone....
Ron H ( 63.22.187.19 ) at 8:15 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
speakers
mic:All are first class choices.
mic ( 166.68.134.163 ) at 8:06 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
speakers
I'm back in the hunt. These are the 3 systems I'm go to look at.
Aerial Acoustics: 7B, CC3, SR3
B&W: 803, HTM1, SCM1
NHT: VT3, VC3, VR3
going to hear the Aerial's today.
BAGMAN ( 208.131.247.89 ) at 7:24 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
kpd: Happy belated B'Day,hope it was a good one!
Movie: As a five or six year old in the early sixties, I thought there were a few disturbing scenes the Wizard of Oz. The scene where the sky is filled with flying monkeys (or whatever they were) freaked me out as kid.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 12:53 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
BYork: You're welcome! I've heard that some people are getting their Borders store to ORDER the disc for them! Apparently Borders has some in storage somewhere. It's worth a shot, just make sure that you order the right ISBN number.
BYork ( 64.20.39.94 ) at 12:35 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Kieran - I really appreciate the attempt, man. Thanks!
Gar ( 169.207.193.228 ) at 12:18 AM EST Wednesday, May 17, 2000
Metal Gear Solid 2 for PS2
Kieran: Cool!!! I have a PS2 system on order. The store where I ordered it from is only getting 200 units in for the first shippent. Got to
love the DVD player to boot also!
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 11:52 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Metal Gear Solid 2 for PS2
Cytotech: Thanks for the tip on saving .mov files to the HD. Worked like a charm, and played very smoothly from my HD.
If anybody cares, the .mov was a preview of the new sequel to Metal Gear, comming next year for PS2. It looks absolutely incredible! The preview if you want it, is at http://tv.ign.com/ but be warned, it's 160MB. Apparently, it will be in DD 5.1 when the game comes out. Wow.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 11:50 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
If somone wouldn't mind... I would really like to read what EAD said about the poor output. Could someone email me the rebutle?
cnichol@erols.com
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 11:48 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
KPD: Happy Birthday!
Chuck is comming out on Thursday afternoon. Could you talk to him and get him to drop the $75 for the drive? Looking forward to a beautiful ISF and technically squeaked set!
Ron H ( 63.27.245.182 ) at 11:29 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
wrong direction
Chris L./Curtis:: Thanks for trying to make me feel better about my error.
Cytotech ( 24.4.252.169 ) at 11:13 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Kieran: I usually just go to Start then Find files or folders and type *.mov. It will come up with the movie you just watched located somewhere in your temp folder. Then just right click and choose Copy, the paste it wherever on your HD you'd like! Can't help you with the jerkiness...it does that on mine BADLY!
KPD: Happy birthday man! I almost missed it!
David: I had to fix O'Brien's computer tonight....he had the PWSteal virus on it, as well as having only 15 MB free on his C: drive. Rag him about it, will ya?
Kieran ( 12.13.238.139 ) at 10:35 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Who was it that helped me figure out why the large x-men quicktime trailer was playing so jerky on my incredibly fast workstation with a Gig of RAM? I've downloaded another HUGE QT movie, and it plays smoothly for about a minute, then gets all jerky. I can't figure out how to save this one to HD, either. (160 MB, too!)
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 10:27 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal": Hey Mike, got some homemade "macaroni" cards with dinosaurs in them, from the kids. Also got some much needed summer clothes(I know this doesn't sound exciting)and one hell of an ice cream cake! My wife never wants to get involved in getting me HT stuff, she says "everything you want cost thousands", haha. Really though, I'm set for a while(a month?) with HT toys.
NeoSonic ( 4.3.227.78 ) at 10:09 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Battlefield Earth
For what it's worth some of the changes worked out quite well. Left that out.
NeoSonic ( 4.3.227.78 ) at 10:06 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Battlefield Earth
Chris L.: Did you read the book. If so, you might be a tad disappointed.
The beginning doesn't flow very well, whether you've read the book or no. Oh well. Big book doesn't always translate to big movie. It could have been 30 mins longer to flesh some items out. But that might just be me.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 9:33 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
wrong direction
Chris L.: What's GD&R? The Guide for Dumbasses and Retards?
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.212 ) at 9:19 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
wrong direction
Curtis: It's moments like that when you wonder, "could it be that simple?" "Am I that stupid?" I think the answer is yes on both counts.
BTW...the arrow painted red is usually North. (GD&R)
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.212 ) at 9:16 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Battlefield Earth
Anyone seen this? I have not read a good review yet! I thought the trailer looked kinda kewl. Too bad.
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.212 ) at 9:11 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Wild Bill: I just picked up Three Kings, Stigmata, and End of Days this week. I watched October Sky last night. Good flic. Netflix is koool!
Wild Bill ( 63.36.239.221 ) at 9:02 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
I picked up TWINE today. I have to return Three Kings tomorrow so TWINE will have to wait a day or so.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.137 ) at 8:25 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
BYork: I went to Borders on Friday, and the girl at the counter said she had just put the last copy of the OOP LSOH they had on hold for someone that called about 30 seconds before I walked in! Damn traffic lights! I should have called before driving out there!
Wild Bill ( 63.20.240.217 ) at 7:10 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Powermaster 2000 debate
trav1: I read the arlitcle. EAD also offered a rebuttal in the manufacturers feedback section. I don't believe EAD mentioned a 20A circuit in the rebuttal.
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 7:06 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Powermaster 2000 debate
Darian: I didn't read the review, just what the guys were saying on the forum. Does it mention that anywhere in the review? You would think that before they wrote the thing up or even published it, they would at least know about a 20A upgrade in order to achieve the full potential of the amplifier especially when they (EAD) had put it right there in print.
BYork ( 192.246.108.35 ) at 7:04 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy Birthday, kpd!
Curtis ( 63.202.180.56 ) at 7:03 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
wrong direction
Chris L.: that's a classic. what should have taken 30 seconds probably ate away an entire afternoon.
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.55 ) at 7:01 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
DTS Decoder
Kieran: Technics! That was it. Thanks, dood!
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.55 ) at 6:59 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
wrong direction
Curtis: LOL! Reminds me of when I decided to watch a show on DirecTV. I hadn't watched anything on sattelite for quite awhile. I turned on the receiver only to find that I had no signal. After going into the setup menu I saw the "Move dish 3 degrees" message. Okay. Move the dish...come in and check. Same as you. After about 200 incremental movements, I decided to call DiercTV. Maybe my bill didin't get paid? Nope...all was fine. I checked all the cables to make sure everything was tight....again, all good. I was about ready to rip the dish down when I took another look behind my rack. I had recently rerouted all my wires behind my rack and in doing so had to unplug and reconnect a few cables. Turns out the coax from the dish was plugged into the OUTPUT on the satt receiver.
DOH!
Wild Bill ( 63.20.240.217 ) at 6:42 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
JBC:: The responses from owners of the 7600 and 9600 JVX VCRs that I have seen have been glowing, positive reviews. I have not seen a post on any other forum from any unhappy owners.
Curtis ( 63.202.180.56 ) at 6:35 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
wrong direction
Ron H: I can beat your error. I was having the worst trouble getting any signal lock at all on my dss dish while pointing the thing to 145 degrees as instructed. Climb up the ladder/ adjust a bit/ climb down/ look at goose eggs for signal strenght on BOTH reg & HD sats! I finally gave up, telling my 12 year-old at dinner that we weren't going to get dss after all. He offered to take a look on the roof & in 2 seconds discovered the error. I had been using the wrong side of the compass needle & had been poiting the thing 180 degrees away from the sats! It takes a big man to admit to this story.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 6:16 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
KPD: What do you have planned for your birthday? Get any new HT toys?
Curtis ( 63.202.180.56 ) at 6:15 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy B-Day KPD
KPD: have a perfect one man.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.140 ) at 6:12 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
DTS Decoder
Chris L.: There used to be a Technics model that was both DD&DTS, that went for $300 or less. Don't remember the model # though.
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.125 ) at 6:10 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
DTS Decoder
Wasn't there one available for real cheap $$$? I think it was Harmon Kardon. Not real sure though.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.87.49 ) at 5:33 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
JBC: Man, that has me stumped... Your name field must be [b, c blue;JBC] and the way I'm treating the field shouldn't be affecting it at all... Perchance do you have your browser set to not store cookies? (I sure wish browsers would be more "standardized"!!!)
Ron H ( 63.39.60.24 ) at 2:42 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
RichardS: Thanks guy.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 2:31 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
CAI: II have read the first few paragraphs. I will re-install the VCR tomorrow night and give it a whirl for a week or so and decide therefater. I will also focus on taping the pay stations which are digital and do an A/B between the two VCRs (i.e. my current ProScan and the JVC 3600).
On a side note, what are your thoughts about meving to either the 7600 or 9600 -- is there improvements worth the extra few 100 dollars?
Scott: I am postinm/refreshing using IE4. What happens is that the posting does not have the ":" but when the screen is repainting the ":" reappear in the Name line.
RichardS ( 199.202.74.128 ) at 2:22 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
RonH: They are usually 12"x12". You will need to put up 1"x3" furring strips on 12" centers to use as a nailing surface. All you need is a staple gun, a yardstick and good utility knife.
http://www.ceilings.com/home/
http://www.housemart.com/find.asp?mf%5Fsfield=10935
johnbr ( 24.112.61.241 ) at 2:21 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy Birthday kpd
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 2:19 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
most disturbing film
I think the one that struck me as being the most realistically brutal movies, that gave me one hell of a nasty feeling, was "Goodfellas".
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 2:16 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy B-Day KPD
Everyone: Thanks for all the wishes! I still can't beleive all the years I've been visiting this forum, man it goes by quick. You guys are allright, thanks again.
Ron H ( 63.27.104.159 ) at 2:06 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
ceiling tiles
mic: Sounds interesrting. Where can I see these tiles.
Ron H ( 63.27.104.159 ) at 2:05 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy Birthday KPD
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.87.49 ) at 1:55 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
JBC: when you remove the : from your name field, are you post/refreshing? What browser are you using?
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.87.49 ) at 1:54 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
most disturbing film
Actually, it's been a LONG time since I've seen it, but Farenheit 451 was also quite a disturbing flick... I think I saw it in high school in my English class.
Gar ( 169.207.193.216 ) at 1:52 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy B-Day KPD
mic ( 166.68.134.165 ) at 1:47 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
sub cable
Ron H: if it's a floating ground cable, the new HT romm could have something that might introduce a hum that the cable is designed to defeat. I'd do as Darian said if you can't rerun it.
mic ( 166.68.134.165 ) at 1:30 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
ceiling tiles
Ron H: They have an interlocking/overlaying design that hides the staples.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 1:18 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
S-VHS Recorders
JBC: Pick-up a copy of the June 2000 issue of Home Theater Magazine. In this issue they do a review of the JVC 9600 s-vhs recorder. What should be of interest to you is what they say about recordings and machines in the introduction to the article.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 1:14 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Earthquake Cinenova Grande
Is it me or is not the case that the Earthquake Cinenova Grande as pictured on Page 64 of the June 2000 Home Theater magazine is nothing but a rebadged ATI. The internal guts even look the same.
Kieran ( 12.13.238.141 ) at 12:59 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy Birthday KPD! 
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:56 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy Birthday KPD! Hope you have a great day man!
I have actually watched Seven three times now. My wife has not seen it yet and keeps bugging me to rent it again so she can see it. Not sure I want to watch it for a fourth time.
Ron H: I guess you will have to tear the house apart to get that cable out
Robert: Hey, how's it going?
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 12:55 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Most Disturbing Movie Ever
I have another one, "Un Chien Andalou". It was directed by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. It is an allegorical movie filled with what I will describe as anti-catholic messages. The opening scene is most impressive. You see a man with a barber razor open the eye lid of a person and cut the eyeball in half. Your imagination sees more than what is actually shown since the eyeball halves do not fall anywhere. Then there are allusions to Christ. Insects crawl from the nail holes in a man's hands and feet. There are other impressionable scenes in the movie, but let me tell you this is one weird production. Coming from Dali one shouldn't expect anything less. This movie, surprisingly enough, was made in 1929 and is in black and white. I say surprisingly because of the irreverent tone and also because of the special effects, very avant garde for the time.
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 12:55 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
One last pic
This one's a winner... hang onto your lunch... close up of the baby:
http://members.xoom.com/dugpa/lynch/eraser/eraser49.jpg
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 12:52 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Eraserhead Images..... (link)
Here are some images from the Eraserhead:
http://members.xoom.com/dugpa/lynch/eraserp.html
Be sure to look at the picture of the "baby" at:
http://members.xoom.com/dugpa/lynch/eraser/eraser16.jpg
BTW, the lead character's name is Henry not Jack.... he's played by Jack Nance... doh!
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 12:41 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Distubing Flicks....
Geo: The soundtrack on ERASERHEAD is incredible.... there is hardly any music involved. Instead David Lynch weaves a sonic tapestry of repetetive machine noises, hissing steam, banging pipes, and so on.... there is a pervasive low rumble of huge machinery throughout the movie that adds to the sense of claustrophibia that is Jack's isolated world. (Jack is in nearly every scene in the movie and the walls always seem to be closing in on him. He's played by Jack Nance, who has appeared in most of David Lynch's work including Dune and Twin Peaks). You won't confuse this soundtrack with dance music!
ERASERHEAD is not an easy movie to sit through. It does not contain a "narrative" in the usual sense since situations and events are not logically connected. It is more of a dream, or more correctly a dream *state* in which the viewer perceives events though the character's eyes as well as through their own eyes. The characters react to events and to each other, but their reactions are disassociated from reality even while being part of that reality... even as the *viewer* is also caught up in an unreal situation (watching the movie) while using his or her own real internal logic to try to understand what is happening.
You really have to experience this movie to understand just how disturbing it is....
Wild Bill ( 63.21.40.251 ) at 12:40 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: Hell, just draw some arrows in the other direction and make it an omnidirectional cable! That's about what the manufacturer did. LOL!
Wild Bill ( 63.21.40.251 ) at 12:39 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: Borrow a cable and run it frontwards and backwards in your current system. If there is no discernible difference in the CURRENT setup in the CURRENT room then there is absolutely no reason to suspect that the cable will perform differently in the new room.
David ( 199.174.133.99 ) at 12:29 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: Sorry, buddy. I would come help if I lived nearby. It would bother me, too...
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 12:23 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: You know what Ron. David is probably right. It's going to bother you until you perhaps get the official OK from the manufactorer.
Personnally, I agree with Wild Bill. But I also know that it would bother me.
Ron H ( 63.22.204.146 ) at 12:22 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
David: You are correct. I have no choice but to turn it around. If not I will always wonder if it would sound better the other way.
Wild Bill: I am sure it will work backwards the question is will it perform as well as it should. With a new room and if I use a new receiver I will have no base line to compare it to. Time to start the attic crawl.
Geo. ( 138.27.4.16 ) at 12:14 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Most Disturbing Movie Ever
Winston aka the Spleen: How's the soundtrack on that?
David ( 199.174.133.99 ) at 12:09 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: I hate to say it, but if you leave it the way it is, will it bother you to know that it's backwards?? (Even if you are assured that it doesn't make a difference?)
Wild Bill ( 63.21.40.251 ) at 12:03 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
sife's=wife's
Wild Bill ( 63.21.40.251 ) at 12:03 PM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: You have nothing you can move over to the new room and hook up quickly for a check? No other receiver in the house? Maybe it's time to go get that inexpensive receiver you've been alluding to for the "sife's) Home Theater room.
Ron H ( 63.27.246.146 ) at 11:49 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Wild Bill: Good idea but it presents a few problems. The cable is in the new HT room with no equipment in there. I do want to resolve this before the wall board goes up this weekend.
Wild Bill ( 63.21.40.251 ) at 11:40 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: But anyway, here's what I suggest.Test the cable to your sub as it is. Borrow the same cable from your dealer and run it to the speaker with the wires pointing in the other direction. If you hear ANY difference (not likely) then you need to worry about the arrows. If it's the same (as I believe it is) then you have no worries.
Wild Bill ( 63.21.40.251 ) at 11:38 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy Birthday
KPD: Happy Birthday, Bud!!
Winston aka the Spleen ( 206.165.142.131 ) at 11:37 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Most Disturbing Movie Ever
Okay, here's my choice for most disturbing movie: David Lynch's ERASERHEAD. In case you're not familiar with this movie, it was filmed in opressive black and white, and is the story about a Jack who (reluctantly) gets married to Mary X who has a baby that is a cross between a reptile, a human penis and an abortion. Jack's life is utterly bleak and empty: he keeps a tray of dead worms as pets and has dead sticks and bowls of water in his dresser drawers.
While visiting Mary X's parents for dinner, Jack cuts into a small fist-sized chicken that bleeds black ooze onto the dinner table, causing Mary X's mother to have an orgasm (I'm not making this up!). Later, Mary X leaves the baby (who looks frightingly alive and intelligent) in Jack's care -- unable to feed the baby, he pulls away the blankets that cover it's body only to see that all of it's internal organs are exposed, and they fall out of the crib onto the floor. And things just get weirder from there........
The key to why this movie is so disturbing is that David Lynch treats the most horrifying situations as absolutely commonplace. I have seen this movie a dozen times in the theater and each time is the same - at first the audience laughs nervously at Jack's haircut, the hovel he lives in, etc, but then the laughs die away and for more than an hour the audience sits in absolute silence. The film is unrelenting in that it almost every movie made gives the audience some "cues" on how to respond, but in this film every character and situation is so disturbing that everything must either be real or nothing is real. Jack's catastrophically empty life, and his horrifying baby with the decomposing body, are treated as everyday, commonplace situations. Far from a simple exploitation film or gross-out gorefest, the film is true work of art that compels the viewer to watch even while being simultaneously repelled. Lynch spent 4 long years carefully assembling this film, which H.R. Geiger (of Alien fame) called the single greatest cinematic acheivement of all time. A truly disturbing work that must be seen to be believed.
Wild Bill ( 63.21.40.251 ) at 11:34 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: The arrows on the wire do not mean a thing. Electrons don't know if they are supposed to go one way or the other. They just follow the current.
Robert ( 32.101.130.92 ) at 11:14 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
David: Echo David's sentiments here on "7" , I won't ever watch it again.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 11:10 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
KPD: Hey bud... happy birthday!
David ( 199.174.133.99 ) at 11:07 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: '7' was pretty disturbing... especially the 'sloth' part, with the person that has been tied to the bed for weeks, kept barely alive... emmaciated and covered with bed sores... eeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 11:02 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Most Disturbing Film
Geo.: Damn. That made me sick just reading about it.
David ( 199.174.133.99 ) at 10:44 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: Whew! I haven't seen this, but from this review, it could well be the most disturbing movie ever... you will at least get a good laugh out of it: http://www.ohthehumanity.com/review.php3?ID=411
Ron H ( 63.27.245.204 ) at 10:42 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Darian: Thanks for the suggestion. I will check it out tonight.
Gasgeek ( 204.48.23.145 ) at 10:41 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Happy Birthday KPD. Hope you have a great day!!!!
Ron H ( 63.27.245.204 ) at 10:40 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
cai: I thought of and tried the string idea. Unfortunetly the cable is running under and around joists etc. and will not pull. thanks for the suggestions.
Geo. ( 209.54.113.136 ) at 10:32 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Most Disturbing Film
Texas Chainsaw Massacre was the first film which came to my mind. FYI, that movie is loosely based on the case of Ed Gein who was from Texas and kidnapped women in, I think, the 1930's and killed and skinned them (I'm not sure if in that order) and then cannibalized them and used the skin for lampshades and other things. When he was discovered, there were carcasses hanging from ceiling beams in his basement along with various other parts in various stages of decay in various other locations in his house. Ed had a real bad "mother" complex. Psycho was also very, very loosely based on Gein's purported relationship with his mother. Remember, men are capable of great atrocities and have committed such in the past, but only a mother can make a sexual sadist serial killer. Have a niiiice daaaaay.
Mondo Cane was also disturbing, but to me because of the scene which showed fathers in India who snapped their children's elbow and knee ligaments, tendons and bones in order that they could earn a living on the streets as contortionists. That bothered me for a long time.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 10:19 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: Oppps. Often the arrows on an audio cable indicate the presence of a FLOATING ground. Cai's idea is a pretty standard one but often doesn't work to to anchors put on the cable while running. If there is a floating ground it will be apparent inside the RCA connector. If you are comfortable with sodder read on.
Open up the RCA at both ends by spinning open the part next to the shield. Check to see if the sodder is to a neg or to a shield. If the 2 ends are soddered the same... FOR GEDDA ABOUT IT. If the are different... here we go.
Cut those suckers of and strip and splice them back on to the cables at the oppisite locations. That is the most brutal way to do it but it is effective. If you want to mess with the sodder thing... snipp the connections at the plug and the shield. re sodder them as the other was. Ala make the one end the other.
Darian ( 216.164.237.240 ) at 10:08 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Powermaster 2000 debate
trav1 AKA: Dated 3/24/99 From EAD Corp to dealers
The PowerMaster 2000 is still scheduled for release in April. Those ordering the 120V version of the PowerMaster 2000 have the option of a 20 ampere circuit (an additional $95 US retail). A 20 ampere circuit (with special heavy-duty power cord and circuit breaker) will ALLOW THE POWERMASTER TO ACHIVE IT'S FULL POWER POTENTIAL IN 120V MARKETS (220V to 240V markets are already at full power with the standard 15 amp circuit).
They spelled it out right there. IF you want the full $400 watts you need a 20 amp upgrade and a 20 amp plug. This made sure that you had to have a 20 amp receptical wich usually means ~20 amp feeding it.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 9:56 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Ron H: I have a solution, perhaps not the best, but still a solution. Tie a stout string to one end of the wire that is already in place, the one with the wrong pointing arrows. Pull the wire completely out. Untie it from the string, reverse the wire's direction (arrows), re-tie to the string, and using the string pull it through again, with the arrows pointing in the correct direction.
I cannot help you with current flow design for that particular wire, but last time I checked, electron flow in a wire is not unidirectional. Call the manufacturer and find out. Another brilliant solution.
Ron H ( 63.22.187.61 ) at 9:27 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Repost: When I wired my HT last weekend I ran a 40 foot Audio Quest RCA type cable to connect up to my subwoofer. The run from the speakers/sub through the attic was the cable run from hell. After it is done and I am labeling everything I discover that according to the arrows on the cable it is going in the wrong direction. Someone please tell me it does not matter and I do not have to become a tunnel rat again.
JBC ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 9:20 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Morning all....
cai: The problem is that everytime I exit the Forum, the ":" comes back. Scott you have any sage words of advice on this issue?
Ron H ( 63.22.187.61 ) at 9:00 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
AVB: Here is a link you may find of interest: FTC TO MAJOR RECORD LABELS: HEEL!
Commission : alleges restraint of trade in setting of CD prices 5/11/2000
http://www.etown.com/news/article.jhtml?articleID=2675
Ron H ( 63.27.104.178 ) at 8:19 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
ceiling tiles
mic: Will not the staples show?
mic ( 166.68.134.164 ) at 8:01 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
ceiling tiles
Ron H: how about the type that you staple in ?
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 7:11 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Most Disturbing Film
I still remember parts of the film "Mondo Cane". It showed scenes of weird happenings from around the world. One of them was a village in the South Pacific where the people fish for sharks. The down side was that a high percentage of the inhabitants had limbs missing and scar tissue al over their bodies due to shark attacks. Really gruesome. It also showed how turtles that came to lay their eggs in the pacific atolls, that were used for atomic bomb tests, lost their bearings and died because they could not find their way back to the sea again. Very sad. Oddly enough this movie had one of the most enduring musical hits of the sixties the song "More".
BIG AL ( 204.248.58.129 ) at 12:14 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
On a more personal note, the home movie my bro-in-law showed at one family reunion was very disturbing. It was my sister giving birth to their son. The thought of it makes my skin crawl!!!!
BIG AL ( 204.248.58.129 ) at 12:11 AM EST Tuesday, May 16, 2000
most disturbing film
Hi peoples! I think for me Faces Of Death was very disturbing. It actually made me wretch, especially the scene where they ate a monkey's brains right out of it's skull while it was still alive. Worst of all, all the bizarre rituals were true, actually filmed not staged, and most still occuring. Other than that, Woody Allen makes me want to puke.
NeoSonic ( 4.3.227.78 ) at 10:46 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
most disturbing film
For general freakiness, I'd like to vote in Videodrome. Nothing way over the top, but definitely weird.
BTW, how are we going to decide which movie is the worst?
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 63.225.204.95 ) at 10:09 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Let me add my choice for one of the most distrubing films ever, The Texas Chainsaw Masacre. My dad dragged me to see it when I was 13 years old.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 10:05 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Chris L.: That's why 11 year olds shouldn't watch those movies.
I will never forget seeing the Exorcist in the theater. I was 16 and drove 3 other friends. I felt worse after each one exited the car. And when I was alone. I was really freaked out.
But I read the book earlier that year, and that gave me more nightmares than the movie, so the movie is still not a big deal to me.
AVB ( 64.41.33.204 ) at 9:54 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Chris L.: I know the scene, I have the movie. For some reason The Exorcist didn't really bother me as it may be out of the realm of possibility. I've seen parts of Blue Velvet in real life and that is what makes it disturbing to me.
AVB ( 64.41.33.204 ) at 9:51 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
DVD Price
Gar: Try here, about $85 delivered. http://www.absound.ca/music/dvd/dvd.html
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.4 ) at 9:51 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Not to mention the entire movie as a whole. I had a friend over when "The Exorcist" first came out. I had not seen it but had heard all the stories. He had a 45 of the theme song (Tubular Bells) and we played it on my record player. I got so freaked that I had to take it off 15 seconds into it.
If any movie had scarred me for life it was this one.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 9:47 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC: Erase the colon next to your name on the top box that says name.
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.4 ) at 9:45 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
AVB: I'll agree with 'Blue Velvet'. Although I never saw the whole thing, what I did see turned me way off.
But my vote so far would be the crucifix scene in "The Exorcist". If you don't know the scene, please don't make me explain it. I was all of 11 years old when I first saw this flic and it scared the living crap outta me. That scene is so offensive on so many levels. The sound effects made it that much worse.
Gar ( 169.207.193.52 ) at 9:41 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
DVD Price
Looking for the best price for the X-files Box set. THanks
Gar ( 169.207.193.52 ) at 9:41 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
I will second AVB choice, but I thought 8mm was very very distrubing. The further you went on with the movie the sicker it got. Also lets not forget
Clockwork Orange, good flick, but very sick and twisted.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 9:37 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:
Can you get the box to change to any channel?
If you can, I'm pretty sure that Line 1 is channel 00.
Wild Bill ( 63.36.239.30 ) at 9:35 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: I think we've covered it. It will be interesting to see what your decision is. I'd suggest that unless you have a burning desire to return the JVC that you live with it for a week or so.
AVB ( 64.41.33.204 ) at 9:30 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: I'll cast my official vote for "Blue Velvet" While there isn't one scene that is overly disturbing, the whole tone of the movie is. So instead of 30 seconds that bother you, you have 90 minutes.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 9:18 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
HT wire
Ron H:Sorry Ron, but I laughed for a long time.......
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 9:08 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
I will put forward Scarface where the guy gets chainsawed in two -- that is, in the vertical direction!!
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 9:07 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
CAI: Thanks for the fedback. What can I tell you other than as a true HTer I am sucker for toys. That being said I will decide tomorrow -- the need to reprogram my Pronto as well as the need for a better source are key. My cable quality is really quite bad.
Regarding getting rid of the double colons in my name -- I would love to. Everytime I try to they re-appear. How do I do this?
WildBill: Anything to add?
Rich F ( 64.41.17.120 ) at 8:57 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
trav1: My most disturbing film is American History X. I thought the scene where Norton has the burgler put his teeth on the pavement and then steps on his head is something that sends chills down my spine every time I think about it. I know we talked about it when it first came out and some of you were not that impressed but I thought the subject matter was really well covered and it was a very provocative movie. And again, that scene will haunt me forever. The next closest thing would be that scene where the Nazi dentist uses a drill on Al Paccino's front teeth with out aenesthesia. Was that Marathon Man? Another gruesome unforgetable scene.
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 8:52 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Ron H: Ok laughed, but still disturbing
Ron H ( 63.30.220.221 ) at 8:51 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Does anyone know where I could purchase ceiling tiles, accoustical type if possible that can be glued to the ceiling rather than using metal tracks?
Ron H ( 63.30.220.221 ) at 8:48 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
trav1: I saw the flick. I laughed my ass off.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 8:48 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs Whoooooooaaaaaaa
JBC: I would not return the s-vhs unit. If you get a satellite unit you will already have a good unit for taping that signal. Even when you do not record in s-vhs mode or from a s-vhs source, the quality of the components and the recordings in the s-vhs sets is usually higher than that of the regular vhs machines. Dont' forget that a regular machine will not give you s-vhs input access at all.
The programming of this unit is so easy that perhaps you should consider programming it for recurring shows and forget about the non-existing features.
One last thing, can you get rid of the double colons in your name? I hate having to erase them every time I answer your posts.
Ron H ( 63.30.220.221 ) at 8:42 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
When I wired my HT last weekend I ran a 40 foot Audio Quest RCA type cable to connect up to my subwoofer. The run from the speakers/sub through the attic was the cable run from hell. After it is done and I am labeling everything I discover that according to the arrows on the cable it is going in the wrong direction. Someone please tell me it does not matter and I do not have to become a tunnel rat again.
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 8:31 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Ok, my most disturbing picture has to be Space Truckers. Ok, ok, if anyone actually liked it I am sorry. I mean come on, space truckers transporting pigs or whatever they were. How can Dennis Hopper go this low.....an interstellar truck haulin ass whoopin good ol boy named John Canyon. And Stephen Dorf as the playboy.... Did anyone else see this pic?
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.57.36 ) at 8:15 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: Well, I'll throw in my two cents here... One movie is Die Hard 2... Where the guy gets his throat slashed is quite graphic (or at least I thought so when I saw it)... Another movie that was personally disturbing to me (I've only seen the last half of it though) was... Titanic. I'm not sure what it was, but I just felt emotionally terrible after it... Maybe it's because of the whole love thing/then lost in such a tragic manner and maybe it has something to do with me not believing I'll ever have a love so true... (ok, ok, so my soft and mushy side is coming out... I'll get some duct tape to fix that right up)... Anyway, I had intended only to watch a few scenes (it was late at night just before going to bed), but I was so involved in it, I couldn't stop watching it... I wound up goin to bed VERY late (or early???) and when the movie was over, I was almost having a painc-like attack... I had trouble breathing, light headed... just terrible.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 8:02 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
goin = going
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 8:02 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Powermaster 2000 debate
Home Theater Talk (the forum that Mike Knapp owns) also has a discussion goin on about the PM2000.
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 8:01 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs Whoooooooaaaaaaa
Wild Bill, CAI, Others: Anyone's opinion change now that I have found a way to get the cable box to transmit "L-1" instead of "Channel 03"?
In other words... given
a) that the S-video will not enhance the quality of my tapes as I am taping off of cable and
b) that while I understand WildBill's comments about improved tapint quality, I think it would be preferable to address those issues once I get a dish or other improved media.
Should I return the unit.
Please provide your thoughts!
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 7:58 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
amp kit
johnbr: I have considered ordering the SE-5 to try out. The only problem is that a 300B amp uses very expensive tubes. A really good pair can run over $300. That means I might need to spend about $750 or more on matched 300B tubes. By the way, stock tubes 9 times out of ten stink that is why they are swaped out for better sounding ones. I have coming this week the Audio Electronic Supply SE-811 amp for evaluation. If I like it I will order the kit version. I have already looked into doing some upgrades on the kit like chroming the chasis, gold plating the front faceplate and putting better parts inside the amp. This could be a killer sounding amp. Also have a mullard 33 amp coming for evaluation this week. The purpose of that evaluation is to see if I can successfully use a truely low powered SET amp in my system. If it does work then the door is opened to use a wider range of SET amps.
Wild Bill ( 63.36.255.185 ) at 7:58 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: I also found the "Airport" movies disturbing but for a different reason. God were those movies awful.
I'm surprised no one has said "Jaws" yet. That one also left a footprint on me for quite a while. I still don't like to go into water unless I can see what is around me.
Wild Bill ( 63.36.255.185 ) at 7:50 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: The movie that disturbed me most was called "The Town That Dreaded Sundown". It came out in 1977 or 1978. It was a true story about a Lovers Lane killer in Texarkana (sp?), Texas from the 1950's (I believe). The killer was never caught and the movie scared the pants off of my 17 year old ass! I lived in the country as a kid and every time I drove down those deserted country lanes I was freaking out.
I don't particularly have a problem with gay movies. A couple of them are pretty well done (Philadelphia and the Robin Williams one set in the Florida Keys) but they are definitely NOT the type of movie that I go out of my way to watch.
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 7:42 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Make that SGHT...jeez.....
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 7:41 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Powermaster 2000 debate
Darian: Thought it might be of interest to you. Debate on whether the pm2000 can meet its power rating from the specs given in the latest issue of SGTH. http://www.digitaltheater.com/cfb/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/CFB/1/Tid/59929/DoOnePage/Yes.cfm
johnbr ( 24.112.61.241 ) at 7:40 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
They even have a 5 channel tube amp.
johnbr ( 24.112.61.241 ) at 7:37 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
amp kit
Michael AKA Have you looked at this amp http://www.audioelectronicsupply.com
Curtis ( 63.203.69.53 ) at 7:35 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
well this must be a prize y'all want. Excellent choices all so far. I just remembered why my pick was especially disturbing. It was based on a true story. Can someone explain why it is rated NC-17 in the U.S. while in Japan it is banned?
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 7:32 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
OFF TOPIC: While looking for some dessert, I came upon some vanilla ice cream that I topped-off with some twelve year old drops of Chivas Regal. The twelve years refers to how long I have owned the still half full bottle. It didn't taste bad at all.
Wild Bill ( 63.36.255.185 ) at 7:28 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCR
JBC:: I understand that you want the cable box to be the controller. Good luck in your search. Is there ANY way to alter the command that the cable sends sends to be simply?
1:"Power On"
2:"Record"
Good luck. But it IS the fault of the cable box and not the JVC VCR. The VCR functions exactly as it should.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 7:28 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
OFF TOPIC:
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 7:12 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCR
WildBill,CAI,Others The VCR problem appears to be solved in that the VCR Commander on the cable box operates as follows:
1. Sends out the "Power On" command.
2. Send out the "Channel 03" command. I determined this by setting the VCR to Channel 56 and watching the VCR display change from Off --> Power On --> Channel 3 --> Record.
3. Send out the "Record Command".
The cable box unfortunately does not have the ability to send out the "L-1" command.
Now that this has been figured out, it is evident that the VCR will not operate as I would like. And yes, WildBill I want the cable box to control the VCR and not vice versa.
That being said, in combination with the fact that the S-video will not enhance the quality of my tapes as I am taping off of cable I am strongly considering returning the unit.
While I understand WIldBill's comments about improved tapint quality, I think it would be preferable to address those issues once I get a dish or other improved media.
Please provide your thoughts!
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 7:11 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: Although I am an ardent James Bond fan, the movie Licence to Kill is a disturbing one for me. The scene where Felix Leiter is lowered to be half eaten by sharks and the one where the drug dealer's brother dies in a set of cutting blades are just too gross for my taste. I just bought the DVD to add to the collection, but I don't think that I will be watching it too often. The other movie I don't like is Deliverance because of the pig squealing scene. I agree with AVB, but I have no idea of any movie by or with Andy Warhohl. Those definitely have to be weird. There are a lot of movies that I will not watch because of the actors being real life low down moral, foul mouthed characters. Others I will not watch because of their political inclinations.
But of the two I mentioned, I would chose Licence to Kill.
mcb ( 207.1.5.61 ) at 7:05 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
AKA: Land is cheap in NH (above Concord), in VT (below Burlington), and in Maine (west of Rt. 95): exceptions exist but the generality is true.
Literally, you can buy arces on top of acres for pennies. Many do this to gain privacy by owning their entire surroundings. The trick is finding work nearby or having the ability to either stay in the city during the work week or reducing the number of commutes during the week. Of course, in-home businesses are popular as well. Labor is very reasonable so hiring out contractors to clear land, build homes, and etc. is eqaully inexpensive.
Every third vehicle on the road seems to be a private business person such as a plumber, electrician, landscaper, or the like. We had a pair of guys come in with a bulldozer and an excavator. They spent five full days and cleared an acre+ field and relocated one of our out buildings: cost = $1600. Their work was excellent. We had a local electrician come in and put in a new Square D 200 amp panel, re-wire the entire basement, move an old Square D 100 amp panel to the barn, and ground both buildings with a rod that might be an ornament in China it was so l-o-n-g: cost = $1250. They were happy, and we are elated. We always feed them very well for good measure.
Of course, the snow fall is brutal, black flies can carry you away, and the mosquitos carry silverware. Good and bad everywhere.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 6:54 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
AVB: Buddy..hey, not too PC there. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
AVB ( 64.41.33.105 ) at 6:41 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
Curtis: Not being one to mince words....any faggot movie disturbs the hell out of me. I don't think I need to explain why. Besides that, just pick any Andy Warhole movie.
trav1 ( 4.34.146.78 ) at 6:34 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Digital Cable
Tony C: question 1) Not at this time - No timeframe given 2) I haven't seen any 3) Yes a box for every tv to get the "digital" stations.
Have a nice day
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 6:32 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC: I have conducted some tests using my Dish 4000 receiver with a JVC-3600 and my Dish 4500 receiver with a JVC 5400 unit. The 3600 set-up would start the vcr recording, but it would not stop it. Furthermore, the Dish unit would not turn the vcr on to start recording.
With the JVC 5400 set-up, oh forget it. I get the same result as above. The Dish receiver will not turn the vcr on. I knew there was a reason as to why I did not use this setup system. I always program the vcr and the event timer of the Dish.
I have no idea now of what to recommend to you since my systems do not behave comparably to yours. Sorry about that.
NeoSonic ( 4.3.227.78 ) at 6:01 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Obviously I need to post more often.
NeoSonic ( 4.3.227.78 ) at 5:59 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
NeoSonic ( 4.3.227.78 ) at 5:58 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
So she likes volleyball AND HT? Uh oh...you're in trouble.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 5:57 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Digital Cable
Does anyone have Digital Cable?
I just talked to AT&T about switching to digital cable. I have their analog service now. The lady on the phone could not answer my questions.
The tech guy was out to lunch.
In the best tradition of JBC:
1) Can you get Dobly Digital
2) Do they have movies in Letter Box
3) Do you need a box for every TV set.
If the answers are No, NO, and Yes, then I'm not getting Digital Cable and might re-up with DSS.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 5:44 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Movies
Have to agree with Curtis about John Malkovich. Interesting flick. Lots of symbolizism, a few yucks. But tired at times.
I also watched Boys Don't Cry. Again, a bunch of awards, but a disturbing movie. At times predictable. Neither is a keeper.
Curtis:Ok, I have four disturbing movies that I own but will never watch again. They are Casino, because of the last scene when Pesce is beaten with a baseball bat. The Killing Fields, just 'cause. Deliverance, squeal like a pig. And Resevoir Dogs because of "Stuck In the Middle With You". I can't even hear that song anymore.
But those are all movies I've watched! I will not even watch a movie if I know it contains any kind of child abuse. I never saw Sleepers.
If I have to pick one of the above mentioned films, I will have to go with Resevoir Dogs.
Wait! I did watch Prince Of Tides. That included child abuse (I didn't know it). OK, I switch to Prince of Tides.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.57.36 ) at 5:24 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
In case anyone hasn't noticed, there's still a problem with the search engine... if your last visit time is during the noon hour, then you visit later in the day, it shows the whole day's posts, not just the posts since noon... I'll check into it tonight o tomorrow.
Gar ( 169.207.193.240 ) at 4:41 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal": KWP-57HD2 is the model number. It is there new Widescreen RP due out at the end of this summer.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.53 ) at 3:44 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Darian: LOL!!! Thank god she doesn't lay competively - I think there's a name for that sort of work She sounds like a keeper. Best of luck.
JJ ( 12.79.74.65 ) at 3:37 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Happy Birthday Mike!
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 3:19 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
cai: It is not too difficult to obtain a pass. I bet if you call up Jeff Joseph and tell him you own one of his speakers you could probably get a pass from him.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 3:15 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
TO ALL: Does one need special passes to attend the CES show in Las Vegas? I may want to start planning on attending next year, but I want to know if one needs to be affiliated with the industry. If so, does anyone know of a manufacturer or distributor that regularly provides passes to the show? Thank you.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 3:11 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 3:02 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
cai: The Lexicon does not have a cable or RF input signal. The Lexicon getst the cable signal from an S-video out on the cable box?
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 2:40 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Darian: Major, muy grande, healthy Freudian slip there buds. It does show where your mind is though.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 2:26 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
SHIT!!!
Plays Volleyball
Not lays Volleyball.... Hmmm wonder about laying a Volleyball player???
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 2:25 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
I found a girl who lays volleyball recreationally but not competatively. She refuses to play when I am. However she does come to the gyms to watch. Not bad I am thinking.
The TEST!
I tell here that the 61" TV is in my room. She comes over to check out the system. I borrowed Super Speedway from work. She had to sit and wait for me to make 3 component cables to run from the DVD to the set. The was patient and even asked if she could help. (I think I am starting to like this girl.) Then we put on Super Speedway. The sceens where they are hitting the bumps going into the turns. "HOLY SHIT!" You could feel this paletable thump. Then we go to the sceens where they go under the bridges. "This is the coolest thing ever! I want one!"
Guys I think I may keep this one around.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 2:03 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
ISF on Thursday
Darian: Could it not be that your endless tinkering with the system may have screwed it up? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Good luck on Thursday. At least now you have an excuse for not watching TV with your volleyball playing nymphs. Ha, ha, ha, ha.
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 1:58 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC: Just curious, does your Lexicon have a cable or RF input signal? My B&K does not, that is why I ask. How is your Lexicon getting the cable signal? Is there a s-vhs output from your cable box that you then connect to the Lexicon?
You may be looking for quality that is not there or that is being degraded by extra steps, as noted by Wild Bill in his previous posts. I will venture to say that your 3600 recordings straight from an RF cable connection may be par, if not better, than anything that is being subjected to further processing. Again, I am in agreement with Wild Bill.
Then, regarding whether you need s-vhs or just regular vhs I will say that all laboratory comparison tests that I have read regard the s-vhs machine recordings in vhs format superior to those of just plain vhs machines. Bottom line, I would not consider exchanging the s-vhs machine for a plain vhs one.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 1:55 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
YEAH!!!! The 360 passes a pluge signal via component... HAPPY DAY!
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.120 ) at 1:50 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: Uh...good luck and be patient? I hope it works out but I'm not sure you current setup and desires will allow the JVC to integrate into your system as you wish.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 1:37 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WildBilll,cai: Not that I think that this will work but... I will try to install the VCR once again. I will also post all/most of the parameter settings. We will see what happens. That being said, any and all sage words of advice would be much appreciated...
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 1:32 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Guys... about to order the Cinepro gear for work. ANYONE NEED ANYTHING??? heheh
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 1:31 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Wild Bill: The SD-1200 is a keeper. No problems but I have only played a few DVDs. I do like the selectable black level and the player does produce a great looking picture. Plus it is quiet when it spins the disc. Toshiba did a very nice job on its menus, much better than my old Sony DVD player and the Pioneer DV-525 I returned. Thanks again for your input when I was searching for a DVD player.
Darian ( 209.122.238.107 ) at 1:31 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
EAD Owners
The Sony S360 DVD player has yet to cause a snap click or pop from my EAD Ovation. Unlike all the issues with the Toshiba players that I had. Wish the Component outs were progressive but I can't have it all!
Not for ~$200 at least!
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.120 ) at 1:15 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal": How's the Toshiba 1200 working? I haven't seen any recent posts about it so I presume that you are satisfied.
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 1:12 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Gar: Which Sony 16:9 TV are you referring to? I am interested in the Sony 34" XBR400 16:9 TV.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 1:10 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
ISF on Thursday
Finally I will be getting this done! Somone looked at my TV yesterday and called it Blurry! Arg... I knew I wasn't being to critical. When the unwashed masses can see the errors in my set that is just too much. Need to get all the gear near by out of the way. 3 more nights of blurry TV. I guess I will just stay late at Volleyball!
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 129.239.3.55 ) at 12:24 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Good morning all!
Watched The Messenger last night with a group of my relatives last night. Great 5.1 sound. I swear I was in the middle of a rain storm during a few scenes. The bass was also very impressive. Very well done. This movie is another example of what is possible if 5.1 is done right. I also enjoyed the acting and story line. The amount of violence and the graphic nature of the violence was a bit too much at times.
Happy Birthday Mike Knapp!!!!
mcb: Your property sounds fantastic. I love the sound of creeks, very peaceful and calming sounding. Nothing like having a lot of land.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.53 ) at 12:14 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
... I'll start (while removing myself from winning). My all-time most disturbing movie has to be In the Realm of the Senses", a Japanese work that looks far too closely at a very unhealthy love relationship. I saw it years ago in a theater with my Japanese/American wife. I wasn't interested in being intimate with anyone for weeks after! It's that bad. I noticed it in DVD form at Tower Records the other day & chills went straight up my spine.
Curtis ( 63.203.69.53 ) at 12:12 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
a contest - most disturbing film ever
A disc actually worth owning is the prize. Avia Guide to Home Theater DVD. Not sure how we'll judge this one except majority opinion should work. Let's close by 6pm PST Wednesday. The category is: What is the most disturbing film you have ever experienced? Pls give your reasons why. Good luck...
Curtis ( 63.203.69.53 ) at 12:03 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
... make that so UNintuitive
Curtis ( 63.203.69.53 ) at 12:02 PM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Being John Malkovich DVD
wathed this last night. Not sure I agree w/ Roger Ebert that it was the best film of 1999, yet it was very creative. Yet another disc that defaults to DPL. Getting to the DD 5.1 track is far more difficult than it should be, under "special features" then "Languages". It was so intuitive that I actually viewed the entire film in DPL before discovering how to get to the good stuff. A quick chapter search revealed a far superior soundtrack of course. Grrrrr, what's up with the idiots who make these decisions? The "in head" sequences are borrowed heavily from one of the more disturbing films ever ... Strange Days.
Wild Bill ( 63.36.239.1 ) at 11:59 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: I'll check in with you later this afternoon. I have some business to conduct.
Wild Bill ( 63.36.239.1 ) at 11:58 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: Hmmmm...those comparisons are tough to justify. If you're watching a show and cannot A/B the exact same content several times between the two how can you be sure there is degradation? I find the signal through my 3600 to be very clean. Just playing devil's advocate again. The other thing to remember here is that you are looking at cable. That's about the worst possible feed that you could use as a comparison (since it's at the bottom of the food chain, source wise). I'm not sure what you should do. The JVC WILL do what you require. You just may not be willing to use the procedure required to make everything work to your satisfaction. There are other choices. Panasonic makes a very highly regarded S-VHS VCR but it is pricier and may still present problems.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 11:46 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WildBill: Becasue there is less degradation going through the Lexicon (i.e. I performed "side-by-side" comparisons).
Wild Bill ( 63.36.239.1 ) at 11:24 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: Devil's advocate? Why are you better off using the Lexicon?
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 10:55 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WildBill: But it is not the case that I only and always tape. For those instances when i want to watch a show, I am better off going to the Lexicon to the RPTV rather than through the VCR...
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.81 ) at 10:30 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: Why are you going through the Lexicon? That's just another chance for signal degradation. If you're taping you should be going straight from the cable box to the VCR.
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.81 ) at 10:29 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
cai: He's not using a dish. He is a cable user.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 10:03 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Good idea but... I am not using the RF connection. The whole point of the 3600 is the S-VHS capability which means that the signal from the cable box is routed to the Lexicon (via S-video) which is in turn routed to the 3600 (also via S-video). Keep trying....
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 10:00 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC: Why did I not think of this before. If your RF input connection to the VCR is the dish, it should be coming on channel 3. Do a channel scan and see what happens. Also, this machine is particularly finicky in that if it loses power you need to rescan your channels again. It will not tune anything without rescanning. Hope this does it for you. Again if your RF input is the dish your channel 3 should be your dish by default.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 9:55 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WildBill: As much as I hate to admiit it... the cable box OSD is a thing of beauty!!
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 9:54 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WilldBill: Well... to tell you the truth, the stuff worth taping (i.e. The Sopranos) is between 200 and 350. Also, I need to confirm that the cable box is sending the channel 3 command -- this is an easy test.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 9:54 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: The cable box OSD is easier than VCR+? You always have the VCR+ option with the JVC. I'm a little anal when I record. I always use the manual setup via the JVC controls. I don't compeletely trust VCR+ and cable and satellite "automatic" programming for recording purposes.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 9:50 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: Higher than channel 113, eh? Well, you ARE a perfectionist, aren't you? LOL!! Do you really need those channels at THAT end of the spectrum to be taped? haha. I'm just trying to inject a little humor into the situation.
OK, is it possible for the cable company to supply a remote that DOES NOT issue the channel 3 command to the VCR?
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 9:40 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WildBill: Technically... yes can do! In that I can reverse the process. That being said, I do not want to. The reason being that a) the cable box OSD makes life soooooooo simple and b) the cable box channels go higher than the VCR channels.
What to do... what to do?
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 9:35 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: back=box in previous post. I have no idea why I posted the word back.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 9:33 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: OK, can you reverse the process? IOW, use the JVC to turn on the cable back, select the appropriate channel and then begin recording.
Quality wise, it is a tough call. You DO need a new VCR and *if* you win the satellite TV fight you'll want to record in S-VHS. Personally, I'd rather have the higher quality machine for future usage. JMHO, of course.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 9:20 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Sony Purchases
Gar: I purchased
Sony KP 61HS10 4:3 RPTV
Sony DVP S360 DVD player with Component
Both of these set a mark for the minimum price vs performance.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 9:18 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WildBill: I hate to be difficult but... when I unhook the RF it does matter. The reason being that when the VCR returns to Channel 3 as the source, it tape nothing.
I can take the cable box out of the programming loop but... the OSD of the cable box is what makes programming workable.
Also, on the quality front... keep or return based solely on the taping of regular cable?
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 9:14 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
WildBill: Just got off the phonbe with JVC... the guy knew nothing, not even what an S-video connection was. To his credit, he did take the details and promissed that "engineering" would be back to me today.
cai:
1. I too am at a loss at what the machine cannot do. That being said, I can hold on until tomorrow, before returning the machine. I very much appreciate both yours and WildBill's efforts to confirm my experience.
2. There is a setting on the 3600 that indicates which is the input that is going to be the default for the rear connection. It could be RCA-in or s-vhs-in. See WildBill's and my posting below!
3. You noted that "If you program your dish to start taping at a certain time you should also program your vcr to tape at that time". The whole point, as you properly noted is to opt to have the dss start my vcr for taping. However, the vcr does not need to be in the channel that I want to tape as the "dish" needs to be in that channel to sned the signal, via S-video, to the VCR. Remeber... I do not want to cahnge any channels on the VCRs.. all channels will be changed on the "dish".
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 9:12 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
JBC:: LOL!!
It is possible. Who knows what signal the cable box is sending? Can you leave the cable box "on" to the channel you'd like to record and simply program the JVC to record or are you recording multiple shows daily? Can you unhook the RF connection? If you unhook RF it doesn't matter if the VCR shows Channel 3 or L-1. If it records and the only input is S-Video then you are getting an S-Video feed and recording. I'd suspect that the problem is not the VCR but the communication between the cable box and VCR. Solution? Take the cable box out of the programming loop.
mcb ( 209.222.216.5 ) at 9:10 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Curtis, the most compelling reason for our leaving California was the desire to buy a house with a fair amount of land. That was not possible in southern California on our income. We have a 15 acre farm in NH with two creeks and a river running through the property. We maintain roughly 5 of the acres and have the rest in current use for tax purposes.
RE: Tractor & land maintenance considerations ...
1.) With tractors, BIGGER is BETTER! There is NO substitute for size when it comes to field and woods work. 4-WD is a MUST! AG tires are preferrable but WAF might factor in if you do not drive with caution in the early spring.
2.) Are you sure you want to spend long hours cutting the lawn It takes me close to 3 hours to cut the lawn and the fields. Another option which we used a LOT and we use exclusively now is to hire out a lot of the work. It saves your equipment and the savings is substantial. I have seen several major equipment breakages on our property during the rental process. I was pleased it wasn't our rig.
We recently sold a 1974 Mitsubishi tractor. It was a badged Ford. It was quite big, it ran like a charm, and it served us extremely well. It had an oversized bucket that we used for everything. We had a welded grab hook on the top of the bucket which was wonderful (HIGHLY recommended!) for carrying trees with the use of a chain. As "Popcorn" eluded to in his post, build quality has dropped off quite a bit. Our Mits tractor was a steel and metal beast. It was built to last, and it DID! It was a gas engine which, BTW, is awesome for winter use (snow clearing), and it was the easiest unit to access every possible item you'd desire to clean, change, refill, or tighten.
We finally sold it and bought a boat.
3.) A 2 speed PTO is also very useful. We had that. Throttle control as the sole form of speed adjustment is a poor second choice. It's the same as low gear vs high gear in a vehicle. Certain scenarios require low PTO speed for torque and safety. Renting is a good option for accessories. We rented brush hogs (blades get hammered), rototillers (tines get hammered), and post diggers (just how many holes justifies a purchase?)
CU on the water
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 9:05 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
WildBill: Two follow up questions from the "perfectionist"
1. Is it possible that the signal sent out by the cable box is forcing the unit to Channel 3 (i.e. perhaps the sequence the cable box is sending out to the VCR is Power On --> Channel 3 --> Record? This would explain the problem.
2. Given that the only source that I will have to record is cable (i.e. although I am fighting it, my town house developmment prohibits satellite dishes), would you agree that the advantages of S-VHS are miniumal, if any, and that I should therefore consider returning the unit?
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 9:03 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
Wild Bill:
cai ( 205.254.147.21 ) at 9:02 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
JBC: I am at a loss at what your machine cannot do. If you can hold on until tomorrow, before you return your machine, I will confirm certain things when I get home today.
For starters I am not sure whether there is a setting on the 3600 that indicates which is the input that is going to be the default for the rear connection. It could be RCA-in or s-vhs-in, some of my other vcrs give you an option on the menu. It could be that L-1 is rear s-vhs by default, this is the thing that I want to check when I get home.
If you program your dish to start taping at a certain time you should also program your vcr to tape at that time. If you opt to have the dss start your vcr for taping, the vcr needs to be in the channel that you want to tape. Otherwise you are going to start taping the channel that you were last viewing when you turned the vcr off. If it was L-1 it will tape L-1, if it was channel 35 then it will start taping channel 35. To my recollection, the dss does not change the channel of your vcr. I am not at all familiar with your points 3. and 4. of your 8:27 post. I even find it rather strange that it does that. But, I will check it when I get home.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 8:59 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
JBC:: I already tried. My machine is connected *only* via the S-Video connection. I have no need or use for the RF connection. When I turn it on OR simply depress record the machine defaults to L-1. It only changes to Channel 3 if I go through the process to setup the player to record via the JVC remote to record a future program.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 8:56 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
WildBill:
1. I am on hold this very second...
2. My machine defaults to L-1 when I turn it on. The problem is that when you press record it exits L-1 and returns to Channel 3.
3. I have done the following: Depress Menu --> Depress Initial Setup --> Goto Next Page --> Set Rear Aux Input to S-Video
4. I do not have an RF connection in addition to the S-Video connection. I do not think that this is the problem as the cable box does output S-Video meaning that the the S-Video input will be "active" when the VCR is turned on
5. If you are home, can you please try your suggestion ....disconnect the RF input and see if the player defaults to Channel 3 or L-1.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 8:48 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
JBC:: P.S., have you called JVC Customer Service? Once I got a live person on the line (10 minutes or so) I found them to be extremely competent and helpful.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 8:46 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
JBC:: My machine defaults to L-1 when I turn it on. Do you have an RF connection in addition to the S-Video connection? That could be the problem. If your cable box does not output S-Video the S-Video input will not be "active" when you turn the JVC on. That is the only reason that I can muster for the default to Channel 3. Disconnect the RF input and see if the player defaults to Channel 3 or L-1. You also need to do the following:
Depress Menu
Choose Initial Setup
Goto Next Page
Set Rear Aux Input to S-Video
This step is necessary! If you haven't done this, it may explain *part* of the problem.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 8:42 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
BAGMAN: LOL! It's a bit chilly here also. It was about 55 degrees outside when I awoke. We should have a week of highs in the mid-seventies. Perfect golf weather. Unfortunately, work is going to get in the way. I am booked this week and have to work a national convention on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 8:27 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
1. I am using the I am using a Scientific Atlantic Explorer 2000 in conjunction with a JVC 3600 VCR.
2. My setup is such that I use the menu within the cable box to select the programs I want to tape. The cable box, when the program to be recorded starts, in turns sends the power on command followed by the record command to the VCR.
3. The VCR does properly engage and does properly record (i.e. enter record mode). However, the VCR does not record from L-1. It is my experience, and please confirm my analysis, that the act of turning the machine off (i.e. the mode it is in prior to initiating recording) "resets" the input source to Channel 3.
4. Hence my problem (i.e. the VCR must be manually switched to input source L-1 everytime it is powered on).
5. The cable issue appears to be correct. Given that I only tape off cable, the value of the machine is of limited value to me as the recording quality isnot improved.
6. I too tried my experiments using on the S-VHS capabilities (i.e. none of that S-VHS-ET junk).
7. As an aside, that has got to be the worst manual I have ever read...
All that being said, if I can find a way to keep L-1 as the input source I will keep the unit!
The only reason that I purchased the VCR was to take advantage of the S-VHS capabilities. This necessarily means that the cource material, in this case the cable box, is connected to the VCR via the S-Video In connection.
BAGMAN ( 208.131.247.70 ) at 8:17 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Morning Folks: 41 degrees this morning. I'm freezing.
Wild Bill Good luck on your test results. BTW,55 weeks to go for cootdom.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.104 ) at 8:13 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
JBC:: If I simply hit "Record" the JVC stays on L-1.
If I *program* the machine to record then, yes, it defaults to Channel 3 and I must switch it to L-1. Since I must go through this process anyway to set the machine up for recording I see this as no big deal.
If you machine functions as mine does I can't understand your frustration. It seems perfectly logical to me.
BTW, DO NOT judge the image quality by cable recording. As I like to say, "crap in, crap out". I also do not record in the "pseudo" S-VHS mode. If the program is important enough for taping I use S-VHS tape.
Chris L. ( 198.144.140.165 ) at 8:00 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Reel Movie Trivia
Anyone else having problems getting in? I keep getting the sign up page saying I MUST register to play. I've been playing for months now. I don't want to re-sign up and lose my $25! Maybe a glitch?
Cytotech ( 24.4.252.169 ) at 7:46 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Happy Birthday Mike!!! Haven't seen you around much lately. Drop us a line!
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 5:49 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
VCRs
Well... I have just pulled an all nighter for a whole host of reasons -- one of which was a problem with the JVC 3600 VCR I picked up. After reading through the extremely confusing manual time and time again I have concluded that there is no way to get it to default to L-1 when recording (i.e. L-1 can only be made the recording source by depressing AUX before initiating recording). This made it somewhat useless to me as I wanted a S-VHS deck for purposes of recording.
I also noted that the record quality was only marginally better -- I guess the local cable being the limiting factor.
That said I was much time ripping the old VCR out of the rack, installing the new VCR and then repeating the process. At least I spent no time trying to reprogram my Pronto.
WildBill or Others: If you know of a way of defaulting to L-1 as the input source when issuing the record command please let me know ASAP as I am taking it back this PM otherwise.
Ron H ( 63.27.245.245 ) at 2:41 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Tony C/Wild Bill: Thanks.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.17 ) at 12:04 AM EST Monday, May 15, 2000
Gar: yeah the DV format is the only thing being used for firewire these days & sony has strayed from the standard already. Fine if all you ever want to connect to is other sony gear, yet risky if they change their minds.
Gar ( 169.207.194.186 ) at 11:23 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Curtis:Ah Curtis, the FW ports are logical, now we just need people to start putting them on there equipment. I am in luck already, my computer has them and so does my Digital Camcorder.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.17 ) at 11:18 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
... forgot DSS
Curtis ( 63.203.70.17 ) at 11:16 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
all video sources all over the house
In addition to D/HDTV running to the 3 computer monitors around the house, I'm also running the RGB output from the iScan meaning every video source is available everywhere. Line doubled OTA NTSC, DVD , LD, DV, S-VHS and cable along with the matching 2 channel audio. God I'm good
NeoSonic ( 4.3.227.78 ) at 10:28 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Companies with a sense of humor...
I was scanning over the manual Rockford Fosgate has online for it's two channel amps. I noticed this in the Mounting section:
"Rockford Fosgate amplifiers should never be mounted in the engine compartment. Not only will this void your warranty but could create an embarrassing situation caused by the ridicule from your friends."
Wild Bill ( 63.21.91.3 ) at 9:26 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Ron H: Tony has it. You choose L-1 as your input. BTW, as I previously found out, the RF input doe sNOT have to be connected for the VCR to function.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.17 ) at 9:14 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
John Deere stuff
AVB: it sounds like you got a great deal. File this for future ref (like when you're going to need a serious snow plow)- all deals can be picked up from any local JD dealer in the US/Canada
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 9:07 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Ron H: You would just choose the direct input by remote or panel. It could be called Line 1, Line, Aux, or just channel 00.
I've seen all of those nomenclatures on various VCRs.
Ron H ( 63.27.104.33 ) at 8:59 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
wild Bill and others.: How do you get the JVC 3600 to record from the S-Video input rather than the RF input?
AVB ( 64.41.33.103 ) at 8:11 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
John Deere stuff
Curtis: You're right, I didn't need to hear that. I'd have to pay the shipping cost anyway. 700lbs for 1500 miles and then try to get it off the truck too. I'll just have to be happy with the deal I got.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.17 ) at 7:32 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Gar: Does anyone at Sony expect to actually use the FW port for anything? The only FW CE devices I have ever seen that put them to use are the panasonic HD OTA receiver (overpriced w/ documented overheating problems) along with their HDVCR. Witness the RePlay boxes - yes the FW ports are there but nobody is suggesting they have a purpose beyond "possible future enhancements". It does give them a cool thing to point to that Tivo doesn't have but so what? This reminds me of the "high speed data" ports on earlier Sony DSS receivers. Buy the TeeVee based upon image quality alone because the other bells & whistles may not mean much ... ever.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.88.157 ) at 6:56 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
John Deere stuff
Curtis: hehehe... That sounds great, but it'll be quite a few years before I can afford anything. a 4 wheel drive tractor would be nice though...
Gar ( 169.207.194.254 ) at 5:29 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Darian: Darian, what Sony Set did you buy? This that there 4:3 current
model? I am putting there Widescreen on order next week. Got a chance to see this set in Chicago, looked fricking fantastic, and it has FireWire
hookups...
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 209.180.140.193 ) at 5:03 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Tony C/Gasgeek: e-mail coming your way.
Wild Bill ( 63.20.240.126 ) at 4:44 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
KPD: I'm trying to help out a guy with a HTPC on another forum. He has the GE Imager 310 (DP 1200). If he takes the video unit out of the chain does he have VSIZ adjustments available inside the projector to squeeze the image? TIA.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.174 ) at 4:04 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
the dish is down & damaged :-(
y'all may recall that in a big windstorm the other day my new oval HD DirecTV dish fell down. I went up to chimney mount it today only to find that the dish itself took a hard fall. The fiberglass at the lower portion that supports the dual LNB's cracked badly. The store is saying I have to buy an entire replacement dish/ accesories for $200 - NOT! Any Corvette body or surfboard makers know the best way to repair fiberglass? I can easily set it back in the right position but not without reinforcing it 1st.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.174 ) at 3:25 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
John Deere stuff
Scott "popcorn": AVB isn't going to want to hear this, yet if any of you are ever in the market for JD equipment, I should be able to hook you up with employee-type discounts. My grandfather was the head of Deere's tractor works for decades. My Uncle is a retired metals specialist - spent his entire career there too. Even my dad was offered an engineering job there ages ago by his father-in-law (my mom's dad). He couldn't stand the thought of living in the shadow of someone on their board of directors, so he spend his entire career at International Harvester, so there are discounts availbe for their equipment too. One of these days I'm gonna move out of this outrageously expensive valley & buy a huge piece of affordable land somewhere just so I can push dirt around with huge/ powerful machines! Why do you think I was born in Moline, IL?
Michael AKA "the Home Theater/Home Building Animal" ( 209.180.139.254 ) at 12:49 PM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Wanted to pop in and say hello. Hope all your wifes and mothers have a great Mother's Day. Going to cook up a great meal for my wife and mother-in-law. I have been marinating some ribeye steaks for the last 4 days. The menu should be another awesome experience this afternnon.
Joe aka Iguana Master ( 152.163.197.72 ) at 10:25 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Morning all,
Its a nice day here, time for more yardwork.
Ron cool a Dreamvision, I am looking forward to how this works for you.
Tony C ( 208.209.205.66 ) at 9:53 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Speaker Wire
Ron H & JBC: When I went shopping for wire to bi-amp the NHTs, I was frustrated that I could not buy 14/4 stranded wire. ANYWHERE.
I was going to got to 14 solid like you said Ron. Then I started talking to a hi-fi store and they started in with the expensive stuff. I really did not want to buy it. I refused to pay that much for wire, but after some negotiation, I ended up getting this fancy wire, solid, 16 and 14 guage combined.
As I reported a while ago, the speakers sound the same after bi-amping. And I have to agree with AVB that what I don't like most about the wire is the connections with the bannana plugs. The connections at the amp are bare wire, and the size was just right for the wall terminals, but the bannana plugs were difficult to use and they are making me a little nervous.
David ( 199.174.129.114 ) at 9:53 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Trivia Winner Not Behaving!
Wild Bill: I got it on Friday. Haven't had a chance to watch it yet... Thanks!
Chris L. ( 198.144.141.62 ) at 9:19 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
JBC:: Morning JBC. Thanks for the M&K congrats. I'm looking forward to finally getting them home.
No problemo IRT the stands. I'm in no hurry.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 7:30 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Good morning all..
Ron H: Congrats. Seems like things are really hsapping up. And I know about tha wire cost. I used some US$400 worth in my small space!
Ron H ( 63.22.204.175 ) at 3:25 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
We just now are calling it quits for the evening. The good part is almost all the wire and electrical is done. We have 6 seperate circuits in the room. On seperate circuits I have the amps, the projector, the lights, the outlets to power the Martin Logans, the equipment other than the amps, and then the misc. outlets in the room.
I also ran enough speaker wire to the front speakers so I can biwire. From the Sunfire amp I will use the current source to power the Electrostatic and the voltage source connection for the woofers.
Darian ( 207.172.11.148 ) at 1:53 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Picked up a Sony S-360 DVD player. The picture on my HS10 is way better with the component outs of the 360. ~$200 for a decent DVD player. My Ovation even likes it without a tick or Pop.
Gar ( 169.207.194.211 ) at 12:47 AM EST Sunday, May 14, 2000
Gladiator
Cytotech: Ditto!! Great flick like I said in a earlier post a cross between Ben Hur/Braveheart and Sparticus. But sad to say the eary movies out first sometimes get forgotten, hopefully this won't be the case. I saw
American Beauty last night, and I thought the Acting was good, but not Oscar worthy.
Cytotech ( 24.4.252.169 ) at 10:58 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Gladiator
Saw this today. Fantastic movie. Excellent acting all the way around. I'll be surprised if Russell Crowe doesn't get another nomination.
Ron H ( 63.39.60.66 ) at 10:49 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Thanks for the info guys
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.88.96 ) at 9:15 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
AVB: well, perhaps "better" or newer hydrostatic drives exist, but the drive on this lawn tractor is quite the mickey-mouse thing...
AVB ( 64.41.32.203 ) at 9:07 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Solid speaker wire
Ron H: termination is one of the reasons not to use solid wire. It has a very small contact area with banana plugs and unless you silver solder doesn't work well with spade lugs either. Normal solder will corrode over time and increase the resistance of the connection. Look into the link I gave for the 10gage wire for some more economical solutions then Monster.
AVB ( 64.41.32.203 ) at 9:00 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Scott "popcorn": I have hydrostatic drive on my new one. It is supposed to be the best drive system you can get in the price range I was looking at.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.88.96 ) at 8:51 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Ron H: Speaking with the Engineer in the house (also an Amateur Radio Operator), the solid copper shouldn't affect audio frequencies at all. The difference between stranding and solid comes into play when you have high frequencies (RF), which tend to travel on the surface of the wire... In this case, the more surface area of the stranded means less resistance. But at low (read: audio) frequencies, the signal travels through the entire wire... (this is also the reason you don't want to use copper clad steel coax for composite/S/component video cables and digital audio cables... the steel hish a high resistance.
mcb ( 207.1.5.44 ) at 8:29 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Curtis: I will dig up the Tel. # tomorrow. I called it twice. Both times it was answered almost immediately. Both calls were fielded by a woman. Each was extremely knowledgeable about the SONY 9000ES unit, both were very pleasant, and both made no attempt to cut the conversation short. I hope I did not strike a rare deal since it sure changed my short term view of SONY service.
Ron H ( 63.22.204.195 ) at 7:44 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
HELP: Can someone give me a good reason why you could not run 12 guage Romax for speaker wire in the walls. It is so very much cheaper than 12 guage Monster or 12 guage of any speaker wire.
I can not imagine that it being solid core would matter and is not cooper wire in romax the same as in a speaker wire. I want to biamp the M/Ls and with the amps at the other end of the room the cost for speaker wire is just stunning.
gar ( 208.176.45.103 ) at 7:23 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Computer Question
anyone?,anyone! Buller, BULLER!
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.88.96 ) at 7:02 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
AVB: And a great big Tim Taylor ARH ARH ARH to you! hehehe... There was a short article in Popular Mechanics last month about a... I think a 20 horsepower, 4 wheel drive John Deere tractor, with a front end loader and mower deck... $15K for the tractor and another $5K for the loader and mower deck... *drool* Anyway, I enjoy driving dad's old Allis Chalmers B-10 garden tractor... It's got a 12 horse Kohler engine, but otherwise the tractor is older than me... Three speed plus reverse manual transmission, has a mower deck, rototiller, plow, disk, and cultivator... Our newer "lawn tractor" is so cheap in comparison... it's mostly stamped steel and has a cheap hydrostatic drive...
V-Dude ( 172.132.135.56 ) at 6:23 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Thanks
to all who responded to my question on how to transfer data from my current CPU to one I am thinking of buying. Will let you know how it works out.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 6:02 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
AVB: Sorry for the double post. Sounds like a nice piece of property -- can you say... POOL PARTY!
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 6:00 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
AVB: How big of property do you own to need one of those bad boys? The one upside of living in a major metropolitan city -- smaller amnounts of grass to mow!
AVB ( 64.41.32.236 ) at 5:18 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
JBC:: There were two reasons I got such a large machine. First, it will handle ground engaging attachments like a plow or tiller for my planned garden and second, I made an offer to buy some land behind me. If I get it I'll have 2.2 acres if not, just one acre. Since the land behind me is currently farm land I'll need to do some serious prep work on it to turn it into a lawn, hence the big machine.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 4:51 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
AVB: How big of property do you own to need one of those bad boys? The one upside of living in a major metropolitan city -- smaller amnounts of grass to mow!
Wild Bill ( 63.36.239.47 ) at 3:44 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Trivia Winner Not Behaving!
David: Did you receive your package yet? Please inform me when it arrives(d). It should be at your home by now.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.15 ) at 3:38 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Off Topic
AVB: nice new toy AVB ... er I mean tool
AVB ( 64.41.32.8 ) at 3:30 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Off Topic
Well my old lawn tractor is being retired, there goes my PowerPro30 money. I just bought a new Yardman U804H 20hp, 46" Garden tractor with a cart, blade, weights, chains and a mulch kit. Just under $3K after 20% off. My first car didn't cost that much. Back to living vicariously through all of the upgrades and new stuff you folks are getting.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 2:55 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Just got in the mail "The World is not Enough" and "The Man with the Golden Gun". All I am missing is "In Her Majesty's Secret Service", one of my favourites. I visited the revolving Piz Gloria Restaurant in Murren, Switzerland where they filmed the movie and I can tell you the view is magnificent. Word or caution if you go. Do not take your skis if you cannot ski down the mountain. The cable car does not allow skis on the way down.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.15 ) at 2:49 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
cai: excellent referral, thanks man. Thank god I live in one of the few CA houses with a basement, otherwise I would have VGA cabling all over the house.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 2:45 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Curtis: I see. It did sound too easy for you not to know. However, I have found a place, Data Comm Warehouse, 800-699-9054 for custom cable configuration and 800-328-2261 I guess for the rest. They sell 100 ft of "premium VGA m/f cable" for $99.99. The item number is DCA-1318. That is the longest I have found.
Maybe if you call their custom cable hotline, first number above, they will build a cable to your specifications.
Good luck
Curtis ( 63.203.70.15 ) at 2:11 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
the downside of HD monitors all over the house...
... is that the picture of even OTA DTV is so sweet on all 4 monitors that I find it very difficult to tear myself away from them! When a HD broadcast starts up, it's an eyeball orgasm that everyone immediately notices. For example last night some neighbors were over admiring the local news (DTV). When The Tonight Show started (HD) even the women gasped. "Honey, we HAVE to get this", said one wife. Honest
Curtis ( 63.203.70.15 ) at 1:55 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
cai: nope, I mean exactly the same thing that connects my PC monitor to my PC video card - in long runs. Male to Male 15-pin D shell SVGA cables
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 1:38 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Curtis: When you say VGA cable, are you talking about coax RG-6 cable? If so and you need RCA connections at the ends, you can make your own by buying the parts from Markertek. If you only need F connectors, you can buy the parts and crimper from Radio Shack. In both cases you can make the runs as long as you want.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.15 ) at 12:12 PM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
off topic, Yogi Berra's 75th
this guy has more goofy quotes than anybody esp. when it comes to math. Today is Yogi Berra's 75th b-day. When asked recently about aging, he came up with this gem ..."it's important to remember that age is 80% mental ... the other half is how you feel physically"
Curtis ( 63.203.70.15 ) at 11:40 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
9000ES L&R settings
mcb: aw shucks - glad my raves got to you. At first I thought you were asking about the SP Setup menu where if you set the L&R to large then you have no available freq. cutoff available adjustment. The 2nd cup of java tells me that indeed mcb IS asking about the Level menu! You're correct. I asked a Sony engineer about it & was told that something has to be the reference that all other speakers are adjusted to. In other words an engineering compromise was made. He did say that future firmware upgrades could give you all the control in the world if Sony deems consumer demand is there. I told him I want to see the same 40Hz to 200Hz trim in 10Hz increments available in the Level menu for all 5 channels. I too haven't begun to really dial in everything in the Surround, Customize & Equalizer menus. Supposed to rain here (again) this weekend - no time like the present. BTW, can you pls share the Sony # you called for fantastic help?
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 11:00 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Chris L: Congrtas on the M&Ks. Look forward to your review. I dug my old camera out -- hope to have picks within a week.
JBC: ( 216.94.28.170 ) at 10:59 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
JohnO, Chris L: Sorry for the dealy in getting back to you but I had a heck of a time finding boxes to package the speaker stands in. In any event, they are all boxed up and ready to go. I will not have time to hit the courier today but will try to make it during the week. I will e-mail you guys the tracking numbers. Hope that helps.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.24 ) at 10:11 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
JBC:: You, a perfectionist? LOL!! I wound have never known.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.24 ) at 10:09 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
JBC:: I'll look up the additional features on the 3600 this weekend. Alex has a soccer game this morning and then I have a "honey-do" list to complete.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.24 ) at 10:08 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Scott "popcorn": Thanks. I've been a little paranoid and anxious myself lately.
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.24 ) at 10:07 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
BAGMAN: LOL! Sorry, my hearing isn't as good as was when I was younger. Yes, I may be on the verge of "old cootdom". I'll be 39 in 3 weeks.
AVB ( 64.41.32.247 ) at 10:01 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
AVB
Rich F: Just click on my name to send me an email.
T-Man ( 24.49.163.105 ) at 9:38 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Bagman: Happy belated birthday. At 45 you are, well, getting old. The keys? Where have I heard this before? Warm climates will do that to you. Go for it. (easy for me to say). It is also a natural locale for aka Vince.
Rich F ( 64.41.16.63 ) at 8:40 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
AVB
AVB: I couldn't find your email address in the member section. Email me so we can trade info. If you are in Harrisburg on a regular basis, maybe we could get together. Richmass@aol.com
Rich F ( 64.41.16.63 ) at 8:31 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Video Server
Part of the severence settlment from my last job was a Dell Poweredge 2300 server. It is PIII with a 450 processor with dual 450 capability. I was wondering if I could use this for a video processor. I think I saw something about an HDTV card that can be added to your computer. I also saw something about turnig your computer into a TIVO type system with the right software and a large enough hard drive. As these concepts develop, what do you techno experts think about using the server this way?
Rich F ( 64.41.16.63 ) at 8:26 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Thanks for the Congrats
Thanks everyone for the congratulations. It is great to have a place of work again. I am most excited to have switched industries. Although I will focus on health care, I will be doing it for KnowledgePlanet.com. That moves me into software and the internet in one shot. The first thing I went out to buy myself was a Leigh dovetail jig. (Are you allowed to have 2 hobbies that constantly call for you to buy new toys?) I really want the Prodigy speakers but I will wait to earn a bonus for those. Something to shoot for.
mcb ( 207.1.5.114 ) at 6:31 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
JBC: If it's a mono block, arrange for five, please
This is good news, indeed. It should equate to many upgrades by those who can afford to do so. That'll add quickly to the *used* inventory. This was what I have seen with ML, Classe, and Krell. I really like the MOON SERIES aesthetics. And, I have no doubt they sound amazing.
Thank you, sincerely!, in advance for the offer. I will definitely visit this possibility with you when the time comes. My wife and I could easily make a trip to Canada at the time to meet up with you since it has been on our *must see* list for some time.
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 6:15 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
mcb: Yes I have heard the Moon series quite extensively. You should also note that I am on very good terms with the owner/president of SimAudio. If and when you are ready to purchase I can either try to get some demo gear from him or a couple of his dealers. The Moon gear is top notch.
In case you are interested, they are coming out with a new Moon series amp -- cost is US$18,000. Should I prder you one or two?
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 6:11 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
JVC VCRs
WildBilland Others Interested: Remote central does have discete codes for JVC VCRs. Go here http://www.remotecentral.com/files/i-jvc.htm
mcb ( 207.1.5.114 ) at 6:05 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
JBC: I received my SimAudio literature for the new black Moon Series. It is absolutely gorgeous. I have not found anything written on the Eclipse CD transport. I did call them and they confirmed that the Eclipse can be used as an external 24/96 DAC for another source unit. It has a bypass option for this purpose. The P-5 and W-5 received Stereophile CLASS A ratings but nothing on the Eclipse. Have you actually seen and demo'd any of their Moon Series equipment? It has not made it to Boston. I believe NYC is the closest east coast retail location.
We're not close to buying, but I always like to work on my short list. Since *used* will dictate the high end stereo purchase, SimAudio remains a long shot whereas ML, Classe, and, to a lesser degree, Krell do appear to have used options available. A store demo is my first choice since they typically come with some warranty and store backing.
mcb ( 207.1.5.114 ) at 5:58 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Curtis: It was your ongoing enthusiasm that confirmed our purchase of the SONY 9000ES processor. We are very happy with it. I was surprised to find out that the front L&R cannot be adjusted in the LEVEL menu. Unless I am clueless (not a first), I can only change the dB output for the center, the rears, and the subwoofer. Is this common to not have access to the fronts? LFE mix option?
I have a lot of reading ahead of me to learn how to use and set the many settings in the *Surround*,*Customize*, and *Equilizer* menus. Any tips would be most welcomed.
BTW, I called SONY help for some answers (twice) and they were fantastic!
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 5:58 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Oh yeah.... good morning everyone
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 5:57 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Cytotech: SUre I buy stuff on impulse all the time. When it comes to cars, HT, and houses I analyze the sh&*t out of things as these tend to be longer term purchases. I am also a liitle lazy (in that I hate ripping my rack apart) and a perfectionist who wants to know exactly what I am getting (i.e., functinaly, performance wise, etc.) befor taking the plunge. In this way I am less likely to be dissapointed....
Curtis ( 63.203.70.102 ) at 1:00 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
... of course I do have the problem of having to somehow hide all the long VGA cables. Any ideas of where I can locate quality long runs of this stuff? The switcher manual claims it will handle up to 200' runs with no signal loss.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.102 ) at 12:56 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
HD in 4 seperate rooms
my trip to Fry's tonight netted me a sweet little VGA switchbox for $99. It accepts 1 VGA in & cleanly seperates the signal to 4 VGA outs. So I plug in the DTC-100 to the box input, then the outs go to
1) the TW65H80 in the living room
2) the 21" computer monitor in my home office/master BR (has dual ins so I needn't switch any cables to switch between computer & HD/DTV)
3) a spare 17" Trinitron GDM PC monitor in the kitchen
4) another identical 17"er out on the deck
audio is all done via 900Mhz wireless stereo Rat Shack speakers to each location. It's ALL GOOD!
Ron H ( 63.39.60.185 ) at 12:25 AM EST Saturday, May 13, 2000
Ron
Joe aka Iguana Master: A Dream Vision with a Quadscan Scaler.
Cytotech ( 24.4.252.169 ) at 11:08 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
JBC:: I meant it didn't necessarily have to be an HT related PURCHASE. Wasn't very clear on that one...
Cytotech ( 24.4.252.169 ) at 11:07 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
JBC:: Well, I have to say after following this forum for a while, you have to be the person most likely to research/investigate/demo the HELL out of something before you buy it!!! And I mean that in a GOOD way! But I just have to ask.... have you ever just bought something on impulse???? Not necessarily HT related, but I mean really?
JBC: ( 209.167.238.130 ) at 10:33 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
WildBill,Scott: Thanks for the info on the VCRs ... I will post more this weekend.
WildBill: You have any idea what the additional features listed in my posting of 5:56PM EST do?
Kieran: Still waiting to hear back on my earlier posting of 5:56 PM of the 3600 versus the 3800.
Gar ( 169.207.194.172 ) at 10:16 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Computer Question
I have a Sony Vaio Computer. In the preformance Cat. Under system properties, my System says Pentium II and not III? I find that odd, considering this is supposed to be a Pentium III 500Mhz machine.
cai ( 24.28.217.38 ) at 10:14 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Wild Bill Glad to hear you got to complete your tests. Good luck on the results.
I have a date with the family tomorrow for early dinner at the Tyson's Palm. If I get back by 8:30 I wouldn't mind dropping by.
johnbr ( 24.112.61.241 ) at 10:14 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Happy birthday Bagman.
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.88.98 ) at 10:05 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Wild Bill: By the way, I haven't said anything about your tests... partly because that sort of thing is part of my paranoia/anxiety disorders... However, it's great news that your test went well today...
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.88.98 ) at 10:02 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Wild Bill: Date girls? who, me??? Are you kidding?
(As a side note, if any of ya'll know any single girls that are similar to the letter on my website (you can find the link in my bio) send them my way. )
BAGMAN ( 208.131.247.4 ) at 9:40 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
KPD: Thanks. Most old coots need a little help.
Wild Bill: No response? If my math is correct,I think you may be on the verge of being an old coot. Seriously,we just turned on the Tribe game and it seems like our DirecTv picture is sharper than it was two weeks ago. Did they do something?
Curtis ( 63.203.70.102 ) at 8:48 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
New Ultimate Receiver or HDTV?
Gar: no brainer if I were in your shoes, get the TeeVee. As for the add-on ES box to the TA-E9000ES pre/pro, someone showed me a Scandanavian SOny website with exactly something like this. I too have had zero problems/ nothin' but love for my pre/pro. Best investment I have made in HT, period & it was cheap comparred to the competition.
Gar ( 169.207.194.172 ) at 8:28 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
New Ultimate Receiver or HDTV?
Well been kicking around getting the new Onkyo Receiver which is supposed to do everything except cook you breakfast The specs say it weighs in at
60lbs, but from what I have read from a owner more like 48lbs. It is said to be ahead of its time using 196bit chips on all 7 channels and ready for any new format, SACD or DVD Audio. Unit is THX certified and does EX etc...... big deal. Limited software out there in these formats..... Unit is running $2500 bucks from Onecall. Or I go out and pluck down $2500 and get a new Sony 57" HDTV Widescreen coming out this fall, and I get $2500 for my Trade on my 53"XBR. Hmmmmm, I say TV. The Sony Pre/Pro has opperated flawlessly and I heard they have a external piece to hook up to this unit, and more Software upgrades down the pipeline...... Suggestions? Always open to my HT friends. Thanks
Gar ( 169.207.194.172 ) at 8:20 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
X-Files(First season)
Does anywhere know where I can find this at a good price? Reel.com price is over inflated. So far the best price I found is $98 bucks from Express.com.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.102 ) at 8:17 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
The Widescreen RPTV Debate Continues.......
Kieran: the scarey thing about predicting what will be available in HD WS in the future is that it's entirely at the networks' descrection. If money gets tight for any network, their board of directors has to look very hard at every expense & vote something either profitable or not. The bandwidth was a freebie from the FCC. There is nothing to stop a local station or national network from ceasing all HD production tomorrow. In fact they can chop up the big HD pipe into 5 DTV channels & sell 5 x the ad time. Right now the networks are fat & happy. They produce & broadcast HD material mostly for the bragging rights + they have zillions of cash-rich .com ads to subsidize HD. If/ when these customers simply run out of money (& if you don't think .coms spend like drunken sailors, you're nuts!). Both Mitsubishi & Panasonic are paying a fortune to the networks in HD equipment & ads. It is going to be tough for the CEO of a strapped network to face his/her shareholders & say "HD really is worth it." unless there is a large critical mass of HD displays (think millions of sets) installed in American homes, along with a huge demand for true 16:9 HD programming. This could all end up like the beginning of color NTSC broadcasts - yes the technology is in place but all you're gonna get is the Wizard of Oz once a year & The Tonight Show. This went on for years.
Geo. ( 209.54.113.208 ) at 8:14 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
JT: The wire AVB pointed you to is the same as is sold by MCM Electronics, "Sound King."
mcb ( 207.1.5.8 ) at 8:01 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Thanks BAGMAN.
Gasgeek, that system sounds spectacular! I have had several SACD demos and I was quite impressed. The front end was all top shelf Proceed. The speakers were changed with some regularity. None of the speakers used were my preference but they were very nice, nonetheless. SONY has a sizable library of 16-bit CD's that they could easily remaster. Is it a large enough library to justify the cost of the SACD player? I am unsure. Will other suppliers offer SACD software? I don't know. Software is the key. Much like DTS, SACD might remain a niche item unless there is a shift in software production to support the hardware. Does anyone know?
Even more important, can a high end stereo system come close in sound to the SACD system? I have to believe the answer is yes.
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 7:54 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Wild Bill: Everyyhing in RI is close to Providence! Let me know if you plan on coming, I'd love to get together and meet.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.102 ) at 7:53 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
... then there's the monolith factor to consider. Being a bachelor I have zero WAF to deal with. Any 16:9 screen takes over a room - esp. when it's not turned on. Both my ex's (I'm always on the lookout for the next ex Mrs. Curtis) glare at me every single time they stop by my place to get the kids, as if to say "there's no way in hell I would have ever let you put that giant box anywhere in my house!" Then again they're both artisit with super-critical tastes ... your SO may vary
KPD ( 207.180.0.8 ) at 7:49 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
BAGMAN: Happy birthday fellow Taurus. Glad we could help you remember it!
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.236 ) at 7:45 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
VCR's
Scott "popcorn": Good point. The Pronto Forum on Remote Central would probably be a good place to look for the discrete on/off codes for JVC. I have a "last year's model" and it does not have (apparent) discrete on/off.
Curtis ( 63.203.70.102 ) at 7:44 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
... as much as I would LIKE to say that everything I watch is widescreen, that's not the truth. I have a collection of older films on LD, DVD & VHS that I watch all the time. I enjoy catching/ time shifting them on the various sat channels as well. The gray sidebars were totally distracting to my eye watching anything in 4:3/Academy. That was one big reason to get the iScan - to replace gray bars with with black (+ it's a far superior doubler vs. the tosh internal on the tw65h80, IMHO). I do view enough true HD stuff to warrant the purchase of the 16:9 (isn't it amazing how we manage to find excuses - I mean "solid reasons" to keep on shelling out the big bucks for this outrageously expensive hobby?;-)) There are enough true 16:9 HDTV broadcasts to keep my HD VCR very busy. Only problem is that I don't own that VCR yet. In addition to The Tonight Show & ABC MNF, there are movie specials on CBS/ Fox NBC. The really big sports events are there too - superbowl, NCAA Final Four, US Open Tennis, the big golf finals and all future Olympics. HD sports are the best selling point for the format, along with feature films of course. The pro hockey footage now showing on directv ch. 199 is simply amazing & I don't even like the sport!
Wild Bill ( 63.23.3.236 ) at 7:43 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
Scott "popcorn": Silly me, I would have thought that "Jini" was a girl you were dating. LOL!!
Scott "popcorn" ( 38.193.88.98 ) at 7:40 PM EST Friday, May 12, 2000
VCR's
JBC: Why do the JVC VCRs not have discrete on/off? Mine from '89 has it, and I'm pretty sure last year's models have it too... You might want to check into this more... I don't know if JVC would specifically tell you if it has discrete codes... CE makers are really weird about discrete codes... it's like it's a government secret or something...