Sharp TV remote speed dial of sorts.

I discovered that when my TV is switched to input 4 (HDMI cable from the home theater) or, I am sure, any other input, in order to get back to the TV channels I only have to punch in the channel number or use one of the predefined colorful channel buttons (A,B,C,D). It remains to be checked if it is somehow possible to assign the HDMI input to one of those buttons.

A problem with Philips HTS3544

As I watched "The Tudors" last night on DVD, I was wondering why on earth they decided to shoot Episode VIII in full screen format, as opposed to wide 16:9. Turns out, the settings on my Philips HTS3544 became reset for no good reason. I had to change the setting for the output TV from 4:3 to 16:9. I only got around to changing a few other settings that I had previously customized. At least I did not have to worry about surround sound speaker placement with speakers mysteriously jumping from place to place. But my volume settings for each channel became reset as well. Sure hope it does not happen again!

Download any free DVD from Netflix?

My coworker was involved in a study that Netflix carried out some time ago. Apparently, the plan is to make set-top boxed that would be able to play DVDs and also download them from Netflix. This is probably the same idea as AppleTV which failed, to the best of my knowledge, but it is only a matter of time for this idea to work well.

Audio lag problems unnoticed before

Here is an odd thing. Ever since I have installed my Philips HTS3544 and discovered that the digital audio from TV broadcasts needs to be synced with the video I started to notice that the audio lag is present in many programs even when I simply view them on my Sharp SH12U. Even on the analog channels! There is a chance that somehow this is a problem with the television, but I don't think so. Apparently, home theaters really amplify, so to speak, the lagging by channeling the sound through surround speakers.

Next stop: Canon SD750

This camera gets amazing reviews. If I ever could ever convince myself that it is OK to own a camera that does not use regular AA/AAA batteries... I have a suspicion that rechargeable batteries are better for the environment. But what is better for sanity? When my camera dies on me I can put fresh batteries in. End of problem.

Anyway, what really surprised me (unless I became misled) is the fact that you have to take the batteries out of SD750 in order to charge them. Major inconvenience! On the other hand, the AC adapter is supposed to work overseas with only a jack adapter.

Audio lag fixed. Sort of.

I find the documentation for my home theater a little confusing. Nevertheless, I discovered that I just have to press the Audio Sync button on the remote and then use the volume control on the remote to change the delay value. Here is something important that I can no longer verify. It seems as if this value is set to something other than 0 (zero) by default. Probably 100, right in the middle. Therefore when you first connect the TV or whatever other digital input you have there is a lag. I pretty much had to set it to 0 to get good syncing. It is still not perfect, however. And I hope I don't have to adjust it again.

HDMI cable - cheap and dirty

My Sharp LCD does is only a 26 inch unit, so I do not really gain much in terms of quality because of using the upconversion feature in the home theater. However, it was nice to get rid of a bunch of wires!

It has been noted by many that retail stores are running a very successful scam, selling HDMI cables for no less that $30-$40. I got mine at Buy.com. It's a 6 inch Belkin cable, which means that I still managed to get a decent brand. It only cost me ten bucks. It works perfectly. I just cannot yet figure out why I don't have an easy way to disable the sound input from the home theater to the television. After all, the home theater is perfectly capable of rendering the sound using its own speakers!

Regardless, this is a total 'buyer beware'. Do not pay $50 or so for a cable that you can get for $10 or $20. It's just wrong!