Robert Heron’s expert insights into HDTV and related home theater topics
HD Nation fan Chris C. pointed out this excellent Amazon search for Blu-ray titles that cost less than $10 each. I already found three that I’m going to order – Thanks Chris!
For more than two years, my TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder has faithfully captured my every televised whim. About a year ago, I upgraded the Series3’s 250GB hard drive to a relatively spacious 1TB model (thank you MFSLive!) and in no time my Season Pass list expanded to 50-some items – at any given moment there were approximately 200 standard- and high-definition recordings saved on the drive. There is no way that I had time to watch all of that content, but it practically guaranteed that I would have something I wanted to watch available 24/7.
I’ve never been satisfied with my TiVo’s network performance using the TiVo Wireless G Adapter – file transfers were inconsistent (i.e. slow, halting, or failed altogether) and I’ve yet to successfully view an HD stream from Netflix’s Watch Instantly service (SD streaming was fine). My PlayStation3 using the same wireless network from approximately the same location in the room has never had an issue streaming Netflix’s HD content. In a effort to diagnose my Series3’s sluggish network performance, I’ve decided to start clean by “Clearing and deleting everything.” From there I plan to reinstall/retest the wireless adapter and compare the results to using a wired connection. I’ll post my findings as soon as possible.
My local Wal*mart had a stack of Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-ray Disc Players ready for purchase at a non-sale price of $98 USD. The NB530MGX’s sub-$100 price is a historic first for a brand new Blu-ray disc (BD) player, and I’m looking forward to writing up a full review of this value priced player in the coming days. In the mean time, here are the player’s specs as taken from the Magnavox website:
Blu-ray / DVD
Convenience
Input/Output
Some notable items from the above list includes an SD card slot for simplified picture browsing, coaxial and optical digital audio outputs, and 1080p24 output (via HDMI) – not bad at all for the least expensive BD player around. However, the NB530MGX lacks network support (Ethernet or otherwise) for simplified firmware updates and it is a Profile 1.1 BD player so it supports picture-in-picture but not the online interactive features of BD-Live – considering the poor quality of most BD-Live content, this missing feature may be a non-issue for most shoppers.
Stay tuned.
I’m currently reviewing a new 240Hz Sony Z5100 series LCD television that features some terrific Internet-enabled capabilities including the ability to perform online firmware updates with the press of a button on the remote.
I know a number of people who own the 120Hz Sony W4100/Z4100 series televisions (I reviewed a Z4100), and Sony recently released an update for the these TVs that fixes a number of issues including one I uncovered (note the PC Mag reference below 
:
To insure owners download the correct file, I suggest entering the specific TV model (ex. “kdl-46z4100″) into the search bar field at the top of the Sony eSupport page and then select “drivers and software” from the navigation links on the left.
Or, here are some direct links to the related Sony support pages:
Cheers to Sony for making this update publicly available.
There is an article on PCMag.com that highlights the good deals that can be found for some the the better LCD HDTVs I’ve reviewed recently – including a couple LED-lit models. I often suggest people shopping for a new HDTV save up the cash first as waiting a little longer often results in a lower price for the particular model they were interested in, or the same amount of cash will afford a larger sized screen.
I recently completed my latest HDTV buyers’ guide for PCMag.com and it’s chock full of information that will help guide shoppers toward finding an affordable TV that provides the best viewing experience for their particular room environment – how, where, and when you watch TV is often as much an influence on picture quality as is the performance and configuration of the TV.
Every new generation of HDTVs offer evolutionary image quality improvements at increasingly attractive prices, and too many retailers continue to pad profits by offering overpriced A/V (audio/video) cables to unsuspecting consumers. I wrote this article to remind my readers to always use the A/V connections that provide the highest quality experience, and never pay more than is absolutely necessary.
I posted an article that highlights one of my biggest HDTV pet peeves: video overscan. I titled the article “A Good HDTV Shows You Everything!” and it includes some real-world examples (pictures) that should give the reader an a good idea of what to look for in a new HDTV in order to avoid this detail destroying condition.
Whew! I am glad the install went well, and I’ll be polishing things up over the next few hours/days.
Stay tuned!
