I should have known you'd be impressed Zixar. I am sure you will do something similar or better soon.
Well, DSL for internet. But yes, cable for TV. In this area they have several HDTV broadcasts and that box on top is a digital HDTV box. Supposedly better than Satellite.
One thing that surprised me is that the expensive flat plasma screens that are all the rage make lousy computer monitors. We would have chosen the plasma had we not seen for ourselves that this new DLP technology is better for TV and computing.
DirecTV does offer relatively few channels in HDTV, (HBO, ESPN) but since you have the Samsung model with the top-notch pulldown filter, the cleaner digital picture on all the satellite channels might be better overall than the picture on the cable channels that are still analog.
But no, I won't be having anything like that in the near future--Zix is not the richest of folks. Then again, if I hit the lottery, I'll see what I can do...
Until then, all donations cheerfully and graciously accepted! :D-->
Aww, now it wasn't all that expensive. An excellent alternative is to do everything through an actual computer complete with awesome speakers, ATI All in Wonder 9800 Pro TV card, and all the other things that can be done on computer.
But the size of even the largest of computer monitors is still the weakest link with these so called PC MEdia Centers. Excellent quality, even better than a big screen TV, but small size. Who wants to gather round a computer monitor to watch a movie? Maybe that is why, though almost all computers come with a DVD player standard now, I suspect they are not used for movie watching very much.
Someday when they have reasonably priced 50' computer monitors this problem will be solved. (The good 22" CRT's are $600. to $800.)
As it is, the speaker problem is rapidly advancing. Some high end computer speaker systems such as Klipsch and Creative sound outstanding for movies and music. I am told that DVD's being played through a computer system produce better quality than through some DVD players on the market.
The merge between computer and Media center is happening but still not there yet. They are all competing. I am not sure the PC will be dominant in the living rooms but they will play a part, expecially for Inernet, MP3's, recording shows on hard drive, etc.
THe big screen TV's will get better for computing, and cheaper. But right now most of them suck as a computer monitor, even the plasma ones. Mine is adequate but not great. But at least it is functional in a practical way. I get up to 1280 x 768 but only a 60mhz refresh rate. But I am used to a crisp 1600 x 1200 at a 75mhz refresh rate.
Nice John! I've been pricing the HD tv's for a few years and they've dropped in price alright, still a tad pricey for me. I don't see watching movies on a pc monitor either, although I just got our first flat screen monitor from Dell, 21" and I really like the reduced space on my desk.
Comcast has some plans for moving in to multi services on their cable service. Might play into it hey?
We've got cable internet, Zix. Watchoo mean? :D--> Just tested my connection speed online, I'm at 2586 kbs, what's that, 2.5 megabits per? Normal connection speed is 2.3 throughout the day. I'm diggin' it!
She's the wave, She turns the tide, She sees the man inside the child,
it's alright, it's alright, alright, She moves in mysterious ways....
I've been pricing entertainment systems and it looks like it's going to be difficult to stay under $10,000 to get what I want. I do like the TV you got though, but it's still too thick for me, considering the place I'm about to move in to. I need a thin screen of some sort that can be mounted on a wall.
Anyway, congratulations and I hope you enjoy it. Something else I would look into if I were you would be a wireless mic and Dragon Natural Speaking. I've used that on my PC and can successfully surf control my computer fairly well (browsing the internet is the most difficult, but it works ok) by voice. It could be like Star Trek if you say something like, "Open www.gscafe.com" and your computer does it.
I was surprised to learn that the expensive flat panel TV's are not as good as these DLP TV. (Digital Light Processing).
1. Screen burn in is a factor. THis could be caused by those dumb logos you see on many stations now and those things at the bottom of CNN and news stations. Burn in can also be cause by using it as a computer by the icons, task bar, etc.
2. Cost - plasmas are twice as much as DLP TV's.
3. Repairs - when those littel pixels go out on a plasma you can not repair that. DLP is repairable inexpensively.
4. Picture quality - no comparison. The DLP's simply look better and brighter as well.
5. Computer monitor for you home theater - 1280 x 768 in DLP, 800 x 600 in Plasma. The DLP's currently are the best for a computer screen.
That being said, the plasmas reign supreme for how skinny they are. That is very cool indeed. But they weigh a ton compared to those DLP's.
THe only reason I could think of Plasma over DLP is if you absolutely need the thin style. No other reason makes sense.
Hooked up the sound today. It is outsatanding using this sound card and optical output to a large Yamaha receiver then out to large home theater style speakers and sub.
John: Also make sure you run the THX Optimizer tests on some of the more recent DVDs. I went through the THX calibration on the Pirates of the Caribbean disc and found out one of my speakers had been wired out of phase for years. Swapping the wires improved the stereo imaging 100%.
Another question. I am considering putting in a TV card in this computer. THe reason is so that while computing, we could still see a small window of TV and kinda keep an eye on say... a game or waiting for a movie to start, etc.
The sound from the TV is not an issue because we can retain the TV sound while the TV is in PC mode. But there is no way to receive a picture while in PC mode.
A TV card will be the solution.
But how do I split the signal and SHOULD I split the signal? There is only one cable connection coming from the wall to the big screen. A TV card requires a cable TV connection as well.
Yes, the THX Optimizer is on the Pirates DVD #1, in the Set-Up menu, I think.
As for splitting normal cable, that's easy. Just get a 75-ohm two-way splitter from Wal-Mart or Radio Shack. I'd be surprised if it cost you over five bucks. You'd need two additional 75-ohm coax cables to lead off the splitter, too. Connect one to the antenna input of your cable box, the other to your tv tuner card. Of course, the tv tuner won't be able to receive digital cable channels or scrambled channels like HBO, but you can watch local networks and basic cable (non-HD) channels just fine that way.
If you ever decide to make the jump to satellite, you can't just split the RG-6 cable that way, it won't work. You'd need two separate cable runs to your dish's LNB or multiswitch.
I should say that if you're splitting digital/HD coax, make sure you get the highest bandwidth rating on your splitters. Most of the old ones are ony about 400MHz. Get the 1GHz versions so your HD signal won't get clipped at the split.
Secret Signature of the Day==v
Atheists will not burn in Hell because of their disbelief, but rather because they're such insufferable a**holes about it.
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Zixar
All that hardware, and you're still stuck with cable...tsk, tsk, tsk.
:D-->
Very nice setup!
Secret Signature of the Day==v
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igotout
I should have known you'd be impressed Zixar. I am sure you will do something similar or better soon.
Well, DSL for internet. But yes, cable for TV. In this area they have several HDTV broadcasts and that box on top is a digital HDTV box. Supposedly better than Satellite.
One thing that surprised me is that the expensive flat plasma screens that are all the rage make lousy computer monitors. We would have chosen the plasma had we not seen for ourselves that this new DLP technology is better for TV and computing.
Article about Samsung DLP
Furthermore it is cheaper by almost half, lightweight and only about 20' deep.
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Zixar
DirecTV does offer relatively few channels in HDTV, (HBO, ESPN) but since you have the Samsung model with the top-notch pulldown filter, the cleaner digital picture on all the satellite channels might be better overall than the picture on the cable channels that are still analog.
But no, I won't be having anything like that in the near future--Zix is not the richest of folks. Then again, if I hit the lottery, I'll see what I can do...
Until then, all donations cheerfully and graciously accepted!
:D-->
Secret Signature of the Day==v
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igotout
Aww, now it wasn't all that expensive. An excellent alternative is to do everything through an actual computer complete with awesome speakers, ATI All in Wonder 9800 Pro TV card, and all the other things that can be done on computer.
But the size of even the largest of computer monitors is still the weakest link with these so called PC MEdia Centers. Excellent quality, even better than a big screen TV, but small size. Who wants to gather round a computer monitor to watch a movie? Maybe that is why, though almost all computers come with a DVD player standard now, I suspect they are not used for movie watching very much.
Someday when they have reasonably priced 50' computer monitors this problem will be solved. (The good 22" CRT's are $600. to $800.)
As it is, the speaker problem is rapidly advancing. Some high end computer speaker systems such as Klipsch and Creative sound outstanding for movies and music. I am told that DVD's being played through a computer system produce better quality than through some DVD players on the market.
The merge between computer and Media center is happening but still not there yet. They are all competing. I am not sure the PC will be dominant in the living rooms but they will play a part, expecially for Inernet, MP3's, recording shows on hard drive, etc.
THe big screen TV's will get better for computing, and cheaper. But right now most of them suck as a computer monitor, even the plasma ones. Mine is adequate but not great. But at least it is functional in a practical way. I get up to 1280 x 768 but only a 60mhz refresh rate. But I am used to a crisp 1600 x 1200 at a 75mhz refresh rate.
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socks
Nice John! I've been pricing the HD tv's for a few years and they've dropped in price alright, still a tad pricey for me. I don't see watching movies on a pc monitor either, although I just got our first flat screen monitor from Dell, 21" and I really like the reduced space on my desk.
Comcast has some plans for moving in to multi services on their cable service. Might play into it hey?
We've got cable internet, Zix. Watchoo mean?
:D--> Just tested my connection speed online, I'm at 2586 kbs, what's that, 2.5 megabits per? Normal connection speed is 2.3 throughout the day. I'm diggin' it! 
She's the wave, She turns the tide, She sees the man inside the child,
it's alright, it's alright, alright, She moves in mysterious ways....
(U2)
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Mister P-Mosh
I've been pricing entertainment systems and it looks like it's going to be difficult to stay under $10,000 to get what I want. I do like the TV you got though, but it's still too thick for me, considering the place I'm about to move in to. I need a thin screen of some sort that can be mounted on a wall.
Anyway, congratulations and I hope you enjoy it. Something else I would look into if I were you would be a wireless mic and Dragon Natural Speaking. I've used that on my PC and can successfully surf control my computer fairly well (browsing the internet is the most difficult, but it works ok) by voice. It could be like Star Trek if you say something like, "Open www.gscafe.com" and your computer does it.
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igotout
Mister P-Mosh
I was surprised to learn that the expensive flat panel TV's are not as good as these DLP TV. (Digital Light Processing).
1. Screen burn in is a factor. THis could be caused by those dumb logos you see on many stations now and those things at the bottom of CNN and news stations. Burn in can also be cause by using it as a computer by the icons, task bar, etc.
2. Cost - plasmas are twice as much as DLP TV's.
3. Repairs - when those littel pixels go out on a plasma you can not repair that. DLP is repairable inexpensively.
4. Picture quality - no comparison. The DLP's simply look better and brighter as well.
5. Computer monitor for you home theater - 1280 x 768 in DLP, 800 x 600 in Plasma. The DLP's currently are the best for a computer screen.
That being said, the plasmas reign supreme for how skinny they are. That is very cool indeed. But they weigh a ton compared to those DLP's.
THe only reason I could think of Plasma over DLP is if you absolutely need the thin style. No other reason makes sense.
John R.
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pawtucket
I'm sending Santa the pics...
;)-->
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igotout
Hooked up the sound today. It is outsatanding using this sound card and optical output to a large Yamaha receiver then out to large home theater style speakers and sub.
Audigy2 ZS Platinum
Larger image of Audigy
This is the first and only sound card that enables you to output from computer to receiver. The results are awesome.
You should hear (and feel) Unreal Tournament III on this thing.
Next I'll try out a wireless mouse and keyboard like one shown here:
Gyration mouse and keyboard
Mike - you have been a nice boy. I'm sure Santa will be generous.
[This message was edited by igotout on November 23, 2003 at 23:37.]
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Zixar
John: You need to go rent the DVD for U-571 and watch it...Just make sure your subwoofer is tuned properly or you'll break your windows...
:D-->
Secret Signature of the Day==v
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Zixar
Socks: I was ragging on John's cable TV box, not cable internet.
;)-->
Satellite rules!
Zix
Secret Signature of the Day==v
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igotout
This interesting gyration keyboard mouse combo turns out to be lousy. I returned it.
http://www.gyration.com/mcrsuite.htm
What to do? A normal mouse and keyboard only gives us about a 6' range.
However, the wireless technology called Bluetooth provides a 30' range. I am trying this one from Microsoft right now and it is nice so far.
Bluetooth Mouse / Keyboard
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Zixar
John: Also make sure you run the THX Optimizer tests on some of the more recent DVDs. I went through the THX calibration on the Pirates of the Caribbean disc and found out one of my speakers had been wired out of phase for years. Swapping the wires improved the stereo imaging 100%.
Secret Signature of the Day==v
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igotout
Hey Zixar,
My daughter just got that movie. She is in love with Johnny Depp. I really liked the movie on surround sound. Awesome special effects.
Are you saying the tool to do these tests is on the Pirates DVD? Where might I find a THX optimizer?
With 6 speakers to hook up it is possible to get one backwards. Would love to test it.
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igotout
Another question. I am considering putting in a TV card in this computer. THe reason is so that while computing, we could still see a small window of TV and kinda keep an eye on say... a game or waiting for a movie to start, etc.
The sound from the TV is not an issue because we can retain the TV sound while the TV is in PC mode. But there is no way to receive a picture while in PC mode.
A TV card will be the solution.
But how do I split the signal and SHOULD I split the signal? There is only one cable connection coming from the wall to the big screen. A TV card requires a cable TV connection as well.
How and what can I use to do this?
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Zixar
Yes, the THX Optimizer is on the Pirates DVD #1, in the Set-Up menu, I think.
As for splitting normal cable, that's easy. Just get a 75-ohm two-way splitter from Wal-Mart or Radio Shack. I'd be surprised if it cost you over five bucks. You'd need two additional 75-ohm coax cables to lead off the splitter, too. Connect one to the antenna input of your cable box, the other to your tv tuner card. Of course, the tv tuner won't be able to receive digital cable channels or scrambled channels like HBO, but you can watch local networks and basic cable (non-HD) channels just fine that way.
If you ever decide to make the jump to satellite, you can't just split the RG-6 cable that way, it won't work. You'd need two separate cable runs to your dish's LNB or multiswitch.
Secret Signature of the Day==v
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Zixar
I should say that if you're splitting digital/HD coax, make sure you get the highest bandwidth rating on your splitters. Most of the old ones are ony about 400MHz. Get the 1GHz versions so your HD signal won't get clipped at the split.
Secret Signature of the Day==v
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