The Swans are big bold speakers with excellent build quality, great price, and sound quality to match. If you are looking in this price range, they will exceed your expectations.
See the full review here: Swan Spectacular!
e premte, 14 shtator 2007
Swan Spectacular!
I recently received Swan 5.2 front speakers from the The Audio Insider. In a nutshell they are a great value.
The Swans are big bold speakers with excellent build quality, great price, and sound quality to match. If you are looking in this price range, they will exceed your expectations.
See the full review here: Swan Spectacular!
The Swans are big bold speakers with excellent build quality, great price, and sound quality to match. If you are looking in this price range, they will exceed your expectations.
See the full review here: Swan Spectacular!
e diel, 24 qershor 2007
The Current Common Sense of HDTV
Ok, most of you reading this likely will have an HDTV of one kind or another. Then again, what do I know. I have no idea what the specs are on that. Hmm.. Looks like at least one source shows 26% of US consumers own HDTV at the end of 2006 www.physorg.com. Well should you have bought 1080p? Should you think of upgrading? For those of you who haven't purchased an HDTV, well done, but now it just might be time.
What is 1080p? Why should I want or need it? Here is the synopsis. For most people 1080p is overkill - for awhile - unless you are in one of these situations:
- You own Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (or plan on getting it within 6 to 12 months)
- You hook a PC/Mac to your HDTV beauty to play games or work on the computer
The rest of you probably don't have source material that is 1080p, and the extra cost will not be worth it. Still, it pays to look ahead. The problem is that TVs with 1080p still command a hefty premium. They do after all have many more pixels. If you are on a budget feel fine about getting 720p or 1080i.
On the other hand if you plan on keeping your set for a while and getting Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, you may want to spend more now rather than feel you need to upgrade next year. It's all so complicated isn't it! Well these are your criteria:
- 1080p source material - when will you likely want to view it?
- How long does this TV need to last? What is your answer to the above bullet?
- Price - duh.
- Size - Unless this is for a PC/Mac don't bother with 1080p unless it is about 38" or more...
So should you buy 1080p? Maybe, but it still commands a premium. Don't bother if you'll just watch regular DVD or cable for the next couple of years.
LCD is grabbing more and more marketshare. Currently the sweet spot is 50" sets or less, but LCD is pushing this up every month. LCD doesn't have the rainbow issues of DLP or the burn in problem of plasma. For larger settings where you have a good mounting arrangement, a projector is also an excellent choice. But you will need more upfront cash. Why is LCD getting so much traction? Because there is a lot of LCD manufacturing capacity increasing supply and dropping prices, all while providing excellent quality.
Note, that displays are one area where dramatic change may be right around the corner. OLED, electronic paper; new flexible cheap display technology is being worked on and could blow this category sky high. Keep your eyes open! GearWolf will give you a heads up.
I bought a 40" Samsung LN-S4096D. I wanted 1080p because I both want Blu-Ray within 6 months and already had a PC and a Mac to hook up to it. Here is the deal - shop around. Late December this set was listed for $2,500. I found sites on the Web (in New York) that would sell a unit with questionable warranty for about $1,500. Never forget to check shipping! Ultimate Electronics had it locally on sale for about $1,800. I looked at it in the store side by side to the Sony. I gotta say the Sony Bravia has a better picture. But it also was at least $1,000 more. Then a single item additional 20% off card from UE showed up in my mail box. Bingo! I snapped up the Samsung. The LN-S4096D has since been replaced by their "T" models (as opposed to the older "S" models). The Samsungs are very nice and look great. One caveat on the cool looking shiny black bezel is that it reflects everything in your room in a distracting way. If this might really bother you, go for something in matte. My biggest Samsung complaint is the four or five AGONIZING seconds it takes to change channels when using the antenna. I assume this is not a problem if you have cable or satellite.
One thing to consider on HDTVs is the picture processing that it does. Don't just watch and oogle the screen. You need to see different source material and how the set handles it. Will normal aspect ratio look good? Will it upscale? Play with the menus to see what it provides you. This is all common sense, but most of us (yes me too) often simply look at price and what we can immediately see in front of us. Ask the salesperson if you can cycle through different source material, Blu-Ray, antenna, and cable. Most likely what you see in the store is Blu-Ray or HD-DVD source at 1080p - of course it looks great!
The Samsung upscales very nicely and has good scale modes. If you are really upscale (sorry), you may have sunk LOTS of money on a universal disc player that does its own upscaling. Or maybe your receiver does upscaling. Gee you could spend lots of cash buying great upscaling circuitry THREE times over! Remember this and pay attention. You only need one good video upscaling circuit. Decide where it should live and spend extra on that device. A good choice is the DVD player. Still the Samsung does a very nice job.
Speaking of receivers, we'll cover more on them later, but remember most current receivers don't do HDMI well or at all. Most don't route audio through the HDMI connection. You can simply route the HDMI from your disc player. Or you can wait for the next crop of receivers over the next twelve months.
Ten Eighty P? Say What?!
What is 1080p? Why should I want or need it? Here is the synopsis. For most people 1080p is overkill - for awhile - unless you are in one of these situations:
- You own Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (or plan on getting it within 6 to 12 months)
- You hook a PC/Mac to your HDTV beauty to play games or work on the computer
The rest of you probably don't have source material that is 1080p, and the extra cost will not be worth it. Still, it pays to look ahead. The problem is that TVs with 1080p still command a hefty premium. They do after all have many more pixels. If you are on a budget feel fine about getting 720p or 1080i.
On the other hand if you plan on keeping your set for a while and getting Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, you may want to spend more now rather than feel you need to upgrade next year. It's all so complicated isn't it! Well these are your criteria:
- 1080p source material - when will you likely want to view it?
- How long does this TV need to last? What is your answer to the above bullet?
- Price - duh.
- Size - Unless this is for a PC/Mac don't bother with 1080p unless it is about 38" or more...
So should you buy 1080p? Maybe, but it still commands a premium. Don't bother if you'll just watch regular DVD or cable for the next couple of years.
LCD, DLP, Projection or Plasma?
LCD is grabbing more and more marketshare. Currently the sweet spot is 50" sets or less, but LCD is pushing this up every month. LCD doesn't have the rainbow issues of DLP or the burn in problem of plasma. For larger settings where you have a good mounting arrangement, a projector is also an excellent choice. But you will need more upfront cash. Why is LCD getting so much traction? Because there is a lot of LCD manufacturing capacity increasing supply and dropping prices, all while providing excellent quality.
Note, that displays are one area where dramatic change may be right around the corner. OLED, electronic paper; new flexible cheap display technology is being worked on and could blow this category sky high. Keep your eyes open! GearWolf will give you a heads up.
The Samsung
I bought a 40" Samsung LN-S4096D. I wanted 1080p because I both want Blu-Ray within 6 months and already had a PC and a Mac to hook up to it. Here is the deal - shop around. Late December this set was listed for $2,500. I found sites on the Web (in New York) that would sell a unit with questionable warranty for about $1,500. Never forget to check shipping! Ultimate Electronics had it locally on sale for about $1,800. I looked at it in the store side by side to the Sony. I gotta say the Sony Bravia has a better picture. But it also was at least $1,000 more. Then a single item additional 20% off card from UE showed up in my mail box. Bingo! I snapped up the Samsung. The LN-S4096D has since been replaced by their "T" models (as opposed to the older "S" models). The Samsungs are very nice and look great. One caveat on the cool looking shiny black bezel is that it reflects everything in your room in a distracting way. If this might really bother you, go for something in matte. My biggest Samsung complaint is the four or five AGONIZING seconds it takes to change channels when using the antenna. I assume this is not a problem if you have cable or satellite.
Shopping
One thing to consider on HDTVs is the picture processing that it does. Don't just watch and oogle the screen. You need to see different source material and how the set handles it. Will normal aspect ratio look good? Will it upscale? Play with the menus to see what it provides you. This is all common sense, but most of us (yes me too) often simply look at price and what we can immediately see in front of us. Ask the salesperson if you can cycle through different source material, Blu-Ray, antenna, and cable. Most likely what you see in the store is Blu-Ray or HD-DVD source at 1080p - of course it looks great!
The Samsung upscales very nicely and has good scale modes. If you are really upscale (sorry), you may have sunk LOTS of money on a universal disc player that does its own upscaling. Or maybe your receiver does upscaling. Gee you could spend lots of cash buying great upscaling circuitry THREE times over! Remember this and pay attention. You only need one good video upscaling circuit. Decide where it should live and spend extra on that device. A good choice is the DVD player. Still the Samsung does a very nice job.
Speaking of receivers, we'll cover more on them later, but remember most current receivers don't do HDMI well or at all. Most don't route audio through the HDMI connection. You can simply route the HDMI from your disc player. Or you can wait for the next crop of receivers over the next twelve months.
e premte, 22 qershor 2007
GearWolf.com
Welcome to the nascent GearWolf.com!
YAGIS --- Yet Another Gear Info Site...
Well Yes. But hopefully with a difference. Hopefully a BIG difference. Our goal is to allow GearPack members to present, share, organize useful Gear information in ways you will value. To this end, we have felt it necessary to begin our own forum tool open source project -- XUFOR. You can check out its new home on Google code: http://www.xufor.org/
With Xufor, we hope to increase the ability of the community to interact in positive ways, and for our occasional guests to find value in GearWolf more easily. It should be interesting, and we invite you along.
In the beginning, though it is just me blogging about my audio odyssey. You will find an initial slant on practical audio. However, the range of the GearWolf pays little heed to fences. As I and my band of erstwhile friends are fairly technically minded, there will be plenty of tidbits to come cutting a swath across your life. A good wolf pack takes prey where it can be found.
An essential goal of GearWolf is the pack.
What is GearWolf?
YAGIS --- Yet Another Gear Info Site...
Well Yes. But hopefully with a difference. Hopefully a BIG difference. Our goal is to allow GearPack members to present, share, organize useful Gear information in ways you will value. To this end, we have felt it necessary to begin our own forum tool open source project -- XUFOR. You can check out its new home on Google code: http://www.xufor.org/
With Xufor, we hope to increase the ability of the community to interact in positive ways, and for our occasional guests to find value in GearWolf more easily. It should be interesting, and we invite you along.
In the beginning, though it is just me blogging about my audio odyssey. You will find an initial slant on practical audio. However, the range of the GearWolf pays little heed to fences. As I and my band of erstwhile friends are fairly technically minded, there will be plenty of tidbits to come cutting a swath across your life. A good wolf pack takes prey where it can be found.
An essential goal of GearWolf is the pack.
Welcome to the pack --- the GearWolf pack!
Abonohu te:
Postimet (Atom)