Saturday, December 8, 2007

Nintendo DS Lite coupons - one sweet deal

You can't have too many Nintendo DS's in the house, really. Someone is using one, the other just got accidentally washed in the laundry... Microcenter is still running what I consider a fantastic deal on DS. Get the console for a regular price ($130) and get 2 coupons for free games worth $30 each. The first coupon is good in December, the other one - in January. I already used the first coupon - Yoshi's Island. This will be someone's Christmas present.

Sony Bravia DAVHDZ235 home theater and Sharp SH12U

Here is one thing to consider when choosing the size of your new TV. A bigger TV, especially if we're talking smaller sets, will be very likely to have more connections. I learned this the hard way. My Sharp SH12U, even though the screen size is quite sufficient for me, does not have an analog audio out jack. It only has digital audio out with Dolby or PCM. Because digital channels that I get over QAM do not have a loud enough audio signal I started looking around for a way to boost the sound. If only I had analog audio out on the TV! Like a headphone jack or something... I would have gotten a Logitech X-530 or Logitech X-540. This last one even has a 'matrix' feature that creates surround sound when there is not 5.1 source. Unfortunately, I now have to look for a more expensive (which is fine) and space-consuming (not fine!) option. Costco has a Sony Bravia DAVHDZ235 home theater for $170, but it is obviously bigger than a Logitech speaker system. All the speaker components are significantly larger and then there is the set-top box. I understand that this give you more power, but I just don't need that much power! Frustrating.