Panasonic SC-BT100 Blue-ray Home Theater System

Panasonic SC-BT100 Blue-ray Home Theater System

As it often happens, one starts with a simple question: "Does this sort of thing actually exist?"
In this case, the likelihood that someone already started making Blue-ray home theaters at an affordable price was fairly high. Indeed, here it is:







The price tag of this SC-BT100 is going to be just under $1000:

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9906766-7.html

It's certainly no the best that is out there, but it will do for some folks. I am still looking for a manual.

Bionic marvel: what do Bose Wave systems and whooper swans have in common?

If you ever saw Bose infomercials about their Wave music systems you probably remember the well-illustrated explanations of how the Waveguide system actually works. To summarize these principles, I will use a few quotes from the company’s site:

“They realized that by mounting a loudspeaker in a tube, the motion of the loudspeaker would act as a waveguide, effectively transforming a small amount of input (air) into a large amount of output (sound). Drs. Bose and Short discovered that a waveguide could match the mechanical properties of a loudspeaker for efficient operation over a wide range of notes.”

“Additional analysis and measurements revealed that the tube could be folded into intricate patterns with no ill effect on sound quality. This discovery eliminated any concerns about the length of the waveguide and proved to be an extraordinary breakthrough.”




Now, here is the amazing connection. For centuries there was a belief that swans are capable of producing most melodious songs only when they are about to die. All this despite the fact that ordinarily swans are not known to be particularly inclined to sing well or to sing at all! This legendary trait, however, has been surprisingly confirmed in the nineteenth century for whooper swans (C. cygnus), one of the two species that were observed, but not distinguished between, in antiquity. Because of the “remarkably shaped trachea, convoluted inside its breastbone” the whooper’s expiring breath produces soft tones, similar to a flute (see Arnott, W. G. 1977. “Swan Songs.” Greece & Rome 24:149–153). It is possible that the legend about swan songs goes back to one very observant hunter a few thousand years ago who, after shooting a swan, heard these soft tones (which also may have happened to be even more sonorous than usual). It seems, without too much simplification, that the Bose Waveguide system uses the very same acoustic principle!

Panasonic DMC-FX33 - more impressions

My Panasonic DMC-FX33 had its first field test and it is quite remarkable. Most of all, I am happy with the quality of video recording. I have had cameras that claimed to record mpg videos for at least six years, but not actually produced good enough quality. This Lumix creates excellent QuickTime movies. The motion is captured extremely well. I truly have no reason to have a camcorder, other than for some special effects. Playback through the TV was also great and simple. The jpgs and QuickTime files are all shown in the same lineup. Very convenient.

Philips HTS3544 power problem

Problem
I have heard before that Philips HTS3544 can experience some sort of power problem, but I was yet to encounter it. So, it happened! Came home from a brief trip and the unit would not turn on. The red indicator was red, but the receiver was not responsive to either the power button or the remote. Two factors may have contributed to this:

• There was a power outage the day before I left. I did not turn on the HTS3544 since.
• I turned off the entire array of electronics with a master switch, so the unit did not have power for three days.

Solution
I unplugged the home theater for about 5 seconds, waited for the red light to go off, and then plugged it back in. It worked just fine. I assume that a bunch of settings were lost, but at least I can watch DVD again!

What puts 'home theater' into 'home theater system'?

A little bit of semantics, the way I see it. After I installed Philips HTS3544 one thing became quite clear to me. Yes, I do love the sound, the woofers and all. But I understood that the HTS3544 (or what have you) is only the 'system' and the home theater is the actual space where you install it. In other words, the room where you install the unit has to mimic a real theater. This includes, the space, the furniture, the light. This is what I mean when I say that the system only properly refers to what you get out of the box. No more, no less. Without it you will definitely not have a theater experience. With it, but without the actual theater part taken care of - it just will not be the same. The biggest problem in my case now is that I just don't have enough room to put the rear speakers where they belong - in the back of the room, so that they are located behind me. So, for me this true home theater thing is something clearly in the future, which makes it all the more fun to be planning for it. So, I will be collecting pictures of setups that other people have, in hopes that this will eventually inspire me.

See also:
Home media room design

Panasonic DMC-FX33 digital camera manual and specs

Panasonic DMC-FX33

Just bought this one at Costco at $199 - a very nice deal. I will have to write a lot more about it. More precisely, it's a DMC-FX33K, the K must stand for black, just as DMC-FX33A is blue (aquamarine?) and DMC-FX33S is silver.

First impressions: very conveniently sized, nice rubbery surfaces. A quality video mode and anti-blur mode are very promising. You have to take out the battery in order to charge it, but that's pretty much standard these days, unfortunately.

Instructions in English

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMCFX33.pdf

Official specs:

Camera Type	Stylish Compact
KEY FEATURES	.
Camera Effective Pixels	8.1 Megapixels
Optical Image Stabilizer	MEGA O.I.S. (Mode 1 / Mode 2 )
Optical Zoom	3.6x
Image Sensor	1/2.5", 8.32 Total Megapixels CCD, Primary Color Filter
Extra Optical Zoom	4:3 Aspect Ratio: 4.6x for 5 Mega, 5.7x for 3 Mega, 2 Mega, 0.3 Mega 3:2 Aspect Ratio: 4.6x for 4.5 Mega, 5.7x for 2.5 Mega 16:9 Aspect Ratio: 4.6x for 4.5 Mega, 5.7x for 2 Mega
Digital Zoom 1	4x (Max. 14.3x combined with Optical Zoom without Extra Optical Zoom) (Max. 22.7x combined with Extra Optical Zoom)
Focal Length	f=4.6-16.4mm (35mm equiv: 28-100mm)
Lens	Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Lens
Lens Construction	7 Elements in 6 Groups (5 Aspherical Lenses/6 Aspherical Surfaces)
Aperture Range	Wide: F2.8/F8.0 (2 steps) Tele: F5.6/F16.0 (2 steps)
PERFORMANCE FEATURES	.
Conversion Lens Compatibility	No
Focusing Area	Normal: 50cm - infinity Macro/Intelligent AUTO/Motion Picture/Clipboard: Wide 5cm/Tele 30cm - infinity
AF Metering	Face/1-point/1-point high speed/3-point high speed/5-point/Spot
Focus	Auto Focus System, Normal/Macro (Dial)
AF/AE Lock	No
AF Assist Lamp	Yes
ISO Sensitivity	Auto / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1250 / 1600 (High Sensitivity Mode: Auto(1600-6400)
White Balance	Auto / Daylight / Cloudy / Shade / Halogen / White Set / White Balance Adjustment (+10steps, except for auto set) (Selectable at Portrait, Soft Skin, Self-Portrait, Sports, Baby, Pet, High Sensitivity, and Highspeed Burst mode)
Exposure	Program AE
Exposure Compensation	1/3 EV Step, ± 2 EV
Backlight Compensation	Yes (at Intelligent AUTO mode)
Auto Bracketing (AE)	+/- 1/3 EV ~ 1EV step, 3 frames
Light Metering	Intelligent Multiple
Shooting Mode (Mode Dial)	Dial: Normal Picture, Macro, Motion Picture, Playback, Print, Intelligent AUTO, Clipboard
Scene Modes	SCN (Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Sports, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Self-Portrait, Food, Party, Candle Light, Fireworks, Starry Sky, Beach, Aerial Photo, Snow, High Sensitivity, Baby 1&2, Underwater, Sunset, Pet, Hi-Speed Burst)
Advanced Scene Mode	No
Shutter Speed/Shutter System	8 - 1/2,000 sec. Starry Sky Mode: 15, 30, 60 sec.
Self Timer	10 seconds / 2 seconds
Auto Review	1 sec/3 sec/zoom
Review	1x/4x/8x
Picture Adjustment	No
Color Effect Mode	No
Color Mode	Standard/Vivid/Cool/Warm/Natural/Black & White/Sepia
Recording Format	Still Image: JPEG (design rule for camera file system, based on Exif 2.21 standard), DPOF Corresponding Image with audio: JPEG (design rule for camera file system, based on Exif 2.21 standard)+ QuickTime Motion Picture: QuickTime Motion JPEG
Image Quality	Fine/Standard
Motion Image (Quick Time Motion JPEG)	4:3 Aspect Ratio: 640 x 480 pixels, 320 x 240 pixels 30 fps, 10 fps 16:9 Aspect Ratio: 848 x 480 pixels 30 fps, 10 fps
RECORDING IMAGE SIZE (Pixels)	.
4:3 Aspect Ratio (Still Image)	3264 x 2448 2560 x 1920 2048 x 1536 1600 x 1200 640 x 480
3:2 Aspect Ratio (Still Image)	3264 x 2176 2560 x 1712 2048 x 1360
16:9 Aspect Ratio (Still Image)	3264 x 1840 2560 x 1440 1920 x 1080
Motion Image (4:3 Aspect Ratio)	640 x 480, 320 x 240 30 fps, 10fps
Motion Image (16:9 Aspect Ratio)	848 x 480 pixels - 30 fps, 10 fps
CONVENIENCE FEATURES	.
Burst Shooting Mode	Full-Resolution Image, 3 frames/sec Max. 7 images (Standard Mode), Max 4 images (Fine Mode) High-speed Burst Mode: approx. 7 frames/sec (recorded in 2M for 4:3, 2.5M for 3:2, 2M for 16:9)
Unlimited Consecutive Shooting 2	Yes
Easy Zoom/Zoom Resume/Motion Zoom	No
Still Image Recording with Audio	5 seconds
Audio Dubbing	Maximum of 10 Seconds
Real-time Histograms	Yes
Composition Guide Lines	Yes (2 patterns)
Built-in Memory	approx. 27MB
Scene Mode Help Screen	Yes
Auto Angle Detection	Yes
Flip Animation	No
Travel Date/World Time	Yes/Yes
Title Edit	Yes
Text Stamp/Date Stamp	Yes/Yes
STANDARD FEATURES	.
Built-in Flash Type/Mode	Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off 0.6-6.3m (Wide/ISO Auto), 0.3-3.1m (Tele/ISO Auto)
External Flash	No
Viewfinder	No
LCD Monitor	2.5" Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT LCD Display (207k pixels) Field of view: approx. 100% Auto Power LCD mode, Power LCD Mode, High Angle Mode
Playback Mode	9, 25-thumbnail display, Calendar display, Zoomed playback (16x max), Image rotation, Category Playback, Slide Show, Favorite Pictures, Create Still Pictures, Resizing, Trimming, Protection, Aspect Conversion, DPOF Print Setting
OSD Language	English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese
Recording Media	Built-in Memory SD Memory Card SDHC Memory Card MultiMediaCard
Microphone	Yes
Speaker	Yes
Interface	DC Input, A/V Output (NTSC/PAL), USB
Direct Print	PictBridge
Color	Black
Power Supply	Lithium-ion Battery Pack (3.6V, 1000 mAh)(Included) AC Adaptor (Input: 110-240V AC)(Optional)
Battery Life 3	Up to 280 pictures(CIPA Standard)
ACCESSORIES	.
Included Software	ArcSoft® MediaImpression™, ArcSoft® Panorama Maker™, USB Driver, Lumix® Simple Viewer, Photo Fun Studio
Standard Accessories	Battery Charger, Battery Pack, Battery Carrying Case, AC, AV & USB Cables, Strap, CD-ROM
Dimensions (H x W x D)	2.04'' x 3.74'' x .87''
Weight	.29 lbs

Panasonic SC-PT753 Home Theater System Review + Manual

Panasonic SC-PT753 Home Theater System, 900 Watt, with 5-DVD Changer


Pros:

• Does 1080p conversion
• Wireless rear speakers
• XM radio ready
• iPod dock that can charge iPods.
• Multiroom wireless capability with an optional SH-FX85 unit
• Dialog enhancer mode makes it easier to follow movie dialogs.
  

Cons:

• Does not play DiVx movies
• The wireless rear speakers setup is somewhat cumbersome
• No digital input (you will not be able to enjoy surround sound from other sources)
  

Manual (same manual for SC-PT750):

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/SCPT750.pdf

Official specs:

Wireless Freedom
With a wireless rear speaker, you can place the speaker wherever you like without the clutter of cables. You can also expand your music listening into three additional rooms with the SH-FX85 wireless multi-room speaker kit (sold separately).

Amazingly Vivid Picture
To give you the astonishingly high image quality of today's HD technology, the 1080p up-conversion function converts standard definition (720 x 480 pixels) images from DVDs to high definition (1920 x 1080 pixels). That means you'll get the most out of your HDMI-compatible HDTV, with sharp and exceptionally detailed high-resolution images. And unlike ordinary video up-converters that produce images with thicker edges and decreased sharpness, the HD Enhancer keeps edges crisp and clear, for outstanding detail.

Intensely Rich Sound
Enhance your home theater system with an incredible combination of Panasonic sound technology and 900 watts of power. Super Surround puts you in the action with lifelike sound from every angle, and a Four-Step Subwoofer Level Control puts you in command, with rich sound effects you can hear and feel.

Enjoy Your Favorite Movies and Music
Panasonic home theater systems are great for watching movies, but that's only where the fun begins. They also come equipped to deliver exceptional sound quality from portable audio players and other new music sources. So go ahead and listen to your favorite music on your iPod^® by adding the Universal Dock for iPod^® (sold separately) or tune into your favorite XM stations¹.

Smart Theater with Simple Operation
It's never been easier to use both Dolby Pro Logic II and Super Surround — functions that create a multi-channel sound effect from disc media and other sources. One button is all it takes: simply press the DPLII/S.SRD button on the remote control and the system recognizes whether the source is a disc or not.