Tech Talk

[hawkingvsreeve]

Hello.

This is a thread dedicated to discussing all things relating to the world of consumer electronics and your trials and tribulations with them. Have a recommendation? Share it. Need a recommendation? Ask for it. The same goes with trouble shooting and advice. Love your technology. Always and forever.


So I bought myself a blu-ray player as an X-mas gift last night. The girls in my house say they cant see a difference. Ha! Girls. I went with the Panasonic DMP-BD35. My first movie purchase for the unit was LA Confidential which looks great, although I am certainly not excited about BR disc costs. Ok. Your turn.

[menikmati]

What kind of TV do you have?

[TomAz]

I bought a Sony BR last christmas and it broke inthe middle of the year this year. I recently replaced it with that same Panasonic. it works well.

the Planet Earth disks are cool to watch on HD.

[hawkingvsreeve]

I have a Panasonic TH-42PX60U.

[hawkingvsreeve]

I bought a Sony BR last christmas and it broke inthe middle of the year this year. I recently replaced it with that same Panasonic. it works well.

the Planet Earth disks are cool to watch on HD.

Yeah we show PE in HD here at the museum and it looks fantastic. I am going to take both copies (Standard and Blu Ray) home tonight to see if I can change some minds.

[TomAz]

so here's an open ended question.

What is the next electronic gadget I should get? what's the next cool thing?



edit: not this.

[nationocean]

one of my laptops just got a virus. it keeps popping up ads on my browser.

Me = Fail

[anti-square]

I have a Panasonic TH-42PX60U.

The Tv doesn't seem to be full 1080P so it may be understandable if they cant see a difference. Compared to what though? DVD?

[TomAz]

the difference between DVD vs Blu Ray is very noticeable on a 720p/1080i television.

[anti-square]

Yeah, I was just curious how clueless those girls might be.

[TomAz]

also,

720p vs 1080p

[hawkingvsreeve]

Yeah, I was just curious how clueless those girls might be.

They are smart girls, but they aren't...enthusiasts. And yeah, I am running the BR player in 720.

As a side note, I was doing some upscaling comparisons between the new player and my Oppo DVD player and just realized how shitty The Big Lebowski looks on DVD. It's atrocious, really.

[wmgaretjax]

the difference between DVD vs Blu Ray is very noticeable on a 720p/1080i television.

It's huge...

Brandon, how do you like that TV? I've been looking at the same one... Any complaints?

[anti-square]

I still remember when I bought The Matrix on DVD when it first came out and compared to regular cable tv. The difference is similar I bet.

[marooko]

I bought a Sony BR last christmas and it broke inthe middle of the year this year. I recently replaced it with that same Panasonic. it works well.

the Planet Earth disks are cool to watch on HD.

nth planet earth BR-DVD set should be mandatory with an HD tv purchase. its amazing.

[Donaldj]

They are smart girls, but they aren't...enthusiasts. And yeah, I am running the BR player in 720.

As a side note, I was doing some upscaling comparisons between the new player and my Oppo DVD player and just realized how shitty The Big Lebowski looks on DVD. It's atrocious, really.

A lot of the DVDs from the late 90s early 00s looks terrible. They really gave up a lot in the way of quality back then.

I just bought the Samsung BD-P1500 to go along with my Samsung LN40A750 I bought in Sept. I am very happy with the Blu-Ray player so far. The difference between 1080p blu-ray and DVD is huge!!!

My next purchase, sometime next summer or fall, will be to upgrade my 9 year old Pioneer Elite vsx-26tx receiver. I am looking at the Pioneer Elite SC-05.

[hawkingvsreeve]

It's huge...

Brandon, how do you like that TV? I've been looking at the same one... Any complaints?

The only thing I have run across is wanting to hook up a computer to the TV and not being able to make it look that good, as the TV does not have a VGA input, but I have only wanted to do that maybe twice since I have owned the TV. It doesn't run hot like many people claim plasmas do, and I have had no burn in related problems either. Panasonic has almost cut the cost of this TV in half for this years model (in fact my Uncle bought one and had me set it up over THXG), and you get 1 more HDMI input on the back. It's a great TV, and the main reason is the value you get compared to other models. At the time that I purchased it only sets at least $800 more than mine had more than 1 HDMI port on them, although that is changing as HDMI has become the standard HD connector over DVI. Also the new models have a half life of 100,000 hours so these sets will last you forever.

But as a short answer to your question, I love it. No complaints.

[hawkingvsreeve]

A lot of the DVDs from the late 90s early 00s looks terrible. They really gave up a lot in the way of quality back then.

I just bought the Samsung BD-P1500 to go along with my Samsung LN40A750 I bought in Sept. I am very happy with the Blu-Ray player so far. The difference between 1080p blu-ray and DVD is huge!!!

My next purchase, sometime next summer or fall, will be to upgrade my 9 year old Pioneer Elite vsx-26tx receiver. I am looking at the Pioneer Elite SC-05.

I am not sure what you are looking for in a receiver and I understand if you are a fan of the Pioneer line, but if you are open to suggestions I would highly recommend checking out the new amps that Onkyo is putting out. They make great gear and it's all priced for high value.

Edit:

This would be the closest Onkyo equivalent. You get one more HDMI input and it averages about $400 less than the Pioneer.

[Donaldj]

Yea I am a fan boy for Pioneer Elite receivers. I run the Klipsch Reference line and I think they suit each other very well.

[real talk]

I want an iPhone.

[wmgaretjax]

The only thing I have run across is wanting to hook up a computer to the TV and not being able to make it look that good, as the TV does not have a VGA input, but I have only wanted to do that maybe twice since I have owned the TV. It doesn't run hot like many people claim plasmas do, and I have had no burn in related problems either. Panasonic has almost cut the cost of this TV in half for this years model (in fact my Uncle bought one and had me set it up over THXG), and you get 1 more HDMI input on the back. It's a great TV, and the main reason is the value you get compared to other models. At the time that I purchased it only sets at least $800 more than mine had more than 1 HDMI port on them, although that is changing as HDMI has become the standard HD connector over DVI. Also the new models have a half life of 100,000 hours so these sets will last you forever.

But as a short answer to your question, I love it. No complaints.

The computer thing is a big deal to me... I use a G5 as a home media center... What kind of output for the computer had you tried? VGA? I imagine DVI will look a lot nicer, but that's something I'd definitely have to test with whatever HDTV I get...

[Donaldj]

I want an iPhone.

I love mine.

[chairmenmeow47]

i want a version of itunes that won't freak out everytime i try to select or deselect multiple songs. though that's not really a gadget.

[CalmerThanYou]

I was just going to ask about iphones, i hear a lot of mixed reviews about them.

Currently right now on the board is - cutting my ties with tmobile, paying those fees, then getting signed up with at&t...

I hear tons of complaints about dropped calls and no signal with at&t. i love everything else about the iphone so i may just do it...

BETTER YET: anyone work for tmobile or att&t?

[Wheres the beef?]

the Planet Earth disks are cool to watch on HD.

Planet Earth is great example of the difference between Blu-ray and DVD. It's pretty obvious when you watch it in Bluray how much better it is.

[wmgaretjax]

I have had a great experience AT&T and the iPhone... the iPhone 2.0 software was not as stable as most apple stuff is, but 2.2 has been great so far...

[Donaldj]

I was just going to ask about iphones, i hear a lot of mixed reviews about them.

Currently right now on the board is - cutting my ties with tmobile, paying those fees, then getting signed up with at&t...

I hear tons of complaints about dropped calls and no signal with at&t. i love everything else about the iphone so i may just do it...

BETTER YET: anyone work for tmobile or att&t?

Yea, not gonna lie. I do drop drop calls every so often and I do sometimes have signal issues. It has also locked up a few times and required a quick reboot. Outside of that though I love the thing.

[CalmerThanYou]

Now that i think about it (not sure why i didnt before), i dont even log that many calls...maybe 300 mins of talk time per month, but i have usually 4000 texts (in/out) and god knows how many work emails...

hmmm.

[real talk]

I have had a great experience AT&T and the iPhone... the iPhone 2.0 software was not as stable as most apple stuff is, but 2.2 has been great so far...

How much do you pay per month, how long is your contract and do you have unlimited data? Do you feel like you get a signal everywhere pretty easily?

[real talk]

Yea, not gonna lie. I do drop drop calls every so often and I do sometimes have signal issues. It has also locked up a few times and required a quick reboot. Outside of that though I love the thing.

My bf has one and sometimes it doesn't ring. But I want it more to just have a little computer in my pocket, I barely talk on the phone anyway.