KLH SBHT 6W 6-Piece 550-Watt Micro Home Theater

KLH SBHT 6W 6-Piece 550-Watt Micro Home Theater


1 subwoofer, 2 front-channel speakers, 2 rear-channel speakers, 1 center-channel speaker, and speaker wire. This product should be available under $200!

Really cool design. It would be great to be able to turn the speakers in any direction.
I actually have a KLH TV/DVD combo and it has served me well.

Sansa e280 microSD issue

So, Sansa e280, an 8gb mp3 player with FM and video really really was only $80 at Costco for a few days! There is only one major inconvenience, as in the previous versions. When you start the device with the microSD card inserted, it has to "refresh the database" which takes up to a minute. Apparently, this problem is difficult to solve. Also, a few mp3s failed to transfer to the new Sansa, although they worked fine on the old one and still work fine on the new one from the memory card.

Sansa e280 and High Capacity SD cards

My MDA smartphone refuses to see 4gb memory cards. Apparently, I am lucky to be able to se 2gb cards... Is Sansa e280capable of using 2gb, 4gb and 8 gb micro SD cards in its expansion slots? I hope to find out soon enough!

Sansa e280, Sansa and Rhapsody, Sansa and SD

Apparently, Costco has a pretty sweet deal on Sansa e280... I really like this line even though I had a few problems with e200. Rhapsody, shipped with Sansa devices, is not the most reliable piece of software out there. I eventually switched to MusicMatch, recently rebranded by Yahoo. Even this one refused to deal with legitimately purchased songs. I still prefer having CDs and ripping them. Another annoyance is in the way Sansa works with SD cards. I don't know yet if this got fixed in e280, but the one I have takes forever to start each time under the pretext of refreshing the database - it has to read all the data on the SD card before proceeding. It is somewhat understandable, but annoying nonetheless. With 8 gb or memory using an SD card will not be such a necessity, I hope... Regardless, these Sansa devices leave the competition (read: Nano) in the dust.

Largest LCD TV in existence (from Sharp)?

I found some news articles from 2004 about Sharp developing a 65-inch Aquos - the largest LCD to date. Sure enough, three years later the model is available for purchase - LC-65D64U. Apparently, that's how long it takes. The price tag on this LCD monster is about $8,000. The largest model that Sharp has built seems to be a 108-incher. I have not idea how much it might cost.

	Features

	Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) Resolution
for the sharpest picture possible.

	10,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio and 4ms1 Response Time
produces spectacular picture quality.

	Three HDMI™ (version 1.3) and Dual Component Inputs
for the ultimate in terminal flexibility. All HD inputs are compatible with 1080p sources and compatible with X.V. color for extended color gamut.

	Wide Viewing Angles (176º H x 176º V)
Sharp's AQUOS LCD TV viewing angles are so wide, you can view the TV clearly from practically anywhere in the room.

	Enhanced Black Level
provides the deepest, most accurate blacks of any flat panel TV.

	High Brightness (450 cd/m2)
AQUOS LCD Televisions are very bright. You can put them virtually anywhere – even near windows, doors or other light sources – and the picture is still vivid.

	Built-in ATSC/QAM/NTSC Tuners
provide access to DTV and analog TV channels.

	AQUOS engine with ASV Technology
provides high-performance video processing for the brightest, most vivid colors and images.

Good tip for Aquos buyers

It seems as if some store like to carry the same models as everybody else, but they want their customers to be unable to compare their prices and the prices that the competition has to offer. Perhaps as a side effect or possibly even deliberately, these stores deprive customers of the ability to find reviews of the products they are planning to purchase. For instance:

It is believed that the Costco lcc3242u - 32" Aquos LCD TV, is the same model as Sharp lc32d43u. It is extremely difficult to find reviews of the Costo model, while a search for lc32d43u returns thousands of pages. Of course, this way you can also find a better price. But I would not recommend that, because Costco's warranty cannot be beaten!

MediaSmart LCDs note

After reading some reviews about the MediaSmart models I began to think that this kind of technology only works as well as your WiFi. So, I checked to see if these TVs actually have regular network jacks. They do!

WiFi in a television set? HP SL4778N , HP SL4778N

HP SL4278N 42-inch MediaSmart High-Definition 1080p LCD TV
HP SL4778N 47-inch MediaSmart High-Definition 1080p LCD TV

This LCD TV has 3 HDMI inputs, but only one Antenna/Cable in. This deeply bothers me, because it means that TV manufacturers not exactly interested in providing us with viewing options. I would much prefer using cable for analog, and antenna for digital channels. Or combine them, if possible. This may end up developing into an even more troubling tendency not to include ATSC tuners, only QAM (if that's in fact a legal possibility, given the current regulations).

But here is the cool part!

These HP LCDs have built-in WiFi. This means you can access files on your home network on on the Internet (the remote control makes it quite easy). What kind of files are we talking about?

Graphics:
Jpg, png, tif, gif

Music:
m4b, mp3, wma, wav, ogg

Audio/Video:
avi, divx, xvid, dvr-ms, mp4, mpg, wmv/asf


There is also some limited support for DRM. Basically, this sounds a lot like AppleTV, as long as you already have a computer :)

Quest for a home theater

As I wrote previously about my Sharp SH12U, the volume level is just not sufficient, and I expect that on a hot summer day the air-conditioner will likely make it very difficult for me to hear anything coming out of the television. This is especially true for QAM cable channels. Analog ones are a little louder.

A simple solution to this problem would be a home theater. Simple, but not inexpensive! And I am just not the kind of guy who needs authentic reproduction of audio in scenes "where stuff blows up." I just need something with a little more power than what my Sharp has to offer. I realize that this creates some incompatible expectations on my part. Nevertheless I will list the points that are important for me:

- under $150
- small form factor/footprint
- wireless speakers. Yes, I don't like wires. Can you blame me?
- if there is a DVD player it better be capable of upconverting to 1080i

I am still looking for this perfect combination, but because I will probably not find it, my top contender at this point is:

RCA RTD215

Official specs:

ENERGY STAR® qualified – This model consumes less than one watt in standby mode and meets the standards of the ENERGY STAR Program for energy efficiency
DVD/CD Home Theatre System – A complete package to experience DVD movies in surround sound
200 Watts Total System Power – 32 Watts x 5 with a 40 Watt Subwoofer
USB Input – Connect most mp3 players, thumbdrives and digital cameras through the front USB jack and enjoy your music or photos through the home theatre system
Multi-Format Playback – Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, mp3, WMA®, VCD, SVCD and JPEG
Digital AM/FM Tuner – Tunes AM/FM stations with maximum accuracy and minimum drift
Dolby Digital® – Up to 5.1 channels with full, wide band frequency response. Five main channels are discrete & have 20Hz-20kHz frequency response
Display Type – VFD

What's missing?

I checked the manual to get some additional info.

- No HDMI, only component. Well, that's not so bad, I guess.
- No upconversion. But at least there is a progressive scan mode.
- No wireless. I'm afraid this is the feature I want the most, but it is also more expensive.

What's not necessary, but present?

The USB connection. Well, maybe that's useful, but believe it or not you can actually rip music of CDs to save it on USB devices. In my opinion this is entirely unnecessary. I'd rather see upconversion to 1080i. No such luck.

The good news is, however, that RCA apparently makes decent home theaters. Maybe one day they will have the right one for me?

Panasonic's portable GPS

Panasonic's Strada CN-GP5OU is the newest portable GPS available. 5" Widescreen LCD Monitor, GPS Assist, Bluetooth Hands-Free Calling... You can get a GPS for a lot less these days. The big plus (no pun intended) on this one is a bigger LCD screen. There is also an SD card slot. You can apparently use this device as an extremely overpriced picture frame, since it can be easily taken off the mount.

A GPS is precisely the thing that I always wanted, but it is also something I have no use for whatsoever! Regardless, it is impossible to buy one anywhere as of now. I think I will probably buy a GPS when they are below $50. Just to play with for a couple of days :)

Sharp Aquos vs. SH12U

The irony of watching commercials about television sets ON a television set never escaped me. When I see commercials about Sharp Aquos (D62U series), those TVs sure look awesome. They look awesome ON my Sharp SH12U! The quality of the picture of SH12U is so great that I honestly cannot see too many improvements when I compare the too in person. In theory, I know that Aquos should have an improved black level. In my opinion, however, Sharp already achieved pretty good levels of black on their previous models. It's just something they worked on, apparently. LCDs have a bad reputation for not having very good black levels. Supposedly they are not very good for watching movies in a dark room. This was a bit of a problem with my old ProView LCD, but SH12U simply makes it a no issue. So, I am still pretty happy with it, even though it is possible that Aquos is approaching "the look and feel" of a plasma screen TV.