HDTV Unveiled: Q&A With A Video Wizard

[michaelahess]

Yup, grade school sucked, but at least I didn't have someone like Noel trying to steal money from all my friends.

And who needs to back my views on him? A $100 HDMI cable that's better than a $10 one? I'd sell my first born to see such a thing! Only idiots would think otherwise.

 

[williamvw]

[citation][nom]michaelahess[/nom]Yup, grade school sucked, but at least I didn't have someone like Noel trying to steal money from all my friends.And who needs to back my views on him? A $100 HDMI cable that's better than a $10 one? I'd sell my first born to see such a thing! Only idiots would think otherwise.[/citation]
Michael, you've finally said something worthwhile. I do believe we have a candidate for a future Tech Myths episode. Suggestions from anyone else? I cannot make offers on firstborn children, though. Legalities aside, mine is already more than I can afford.

 

[michaelahess]

There have been plenty of scientific studies showing the small differences between the pricy cables and the cheap ones. Some are crap but good quality cheap does exist. The test equipment will show that Monster cables are sometimes "Better" but it's such a small advantage it usually falls into the margin of error or has no discernable effect to the human eye/ear. I've always loved the gold plated fiber optic cables, and people somehow believe that!

 

[hustler539]

Great article.

 

[jerreece]

I just want to say, this is one article I enjoyed reading. I haven't enjoyed very many articles on Tom's lately. But this one was worth the read.

 

[Guest]

This was great article and quite informative. I've been enjoying my LCD/TV for the last 2 years and I bet I'll enjoy it better if I calibrate it. I had no Idea that calibration could improve the picture so much. Label me as ignorant of the importance of calibration. Thanks for the links and the information.

I don't know about the problems with Media Center but I have 2 Haupauge HD tuners and 1 ATI All in wonder pro tuner working together in one machine. And I can record 2 HD programs and 2 regular cable programs all at the same time. Or I can record 1 HD and 2 regular cable programs and watch 1 HD program at the same time with no problems. Usually I don't watch live TV unless there is a breaking news story or sporting event. I prefer to record and then SmartSkip the commercials.

I have an ASUS Striker Extreme, With 5 TB of internal Disk, Another 8 TB of External storage fire wire drives, Another 3 tb of External USB Drives for a total of 16 TB of storage (I still have unused ESATA ports), Q6600 Core Duo Quad, WinXP 32bit. My entire system cost less than $4,000.00.

I have been using BeyondTV for years now and combined with BeyondTV link 3 different PC's in the house can watch 3 different previously recorded different programs (or the same program at different points) all at the same time while I'm recording 2 new HD and 2 new regular cable programs. BeyondTV turns the PC into a TV program server. The three PC's are older PC's with a good video card and are either connected through an HDMI or RGB cable to a 32" or larger LCD.

Most of what I record in HD is over the air from the local stations. I do have a satellite receiver and BeyondTV has no problem controlling it as well. That is where I get my movies. The neat thing is if I like a program I compress it down from 8 gig per hour recorded using DIVX to about 1.5 gig and I have a hard time seeing the difference. There are several different compression Codecs that are included in BeyondTV and I compress some shows to watch on small media players for the children and the SUV.

IMHO BeyondTV is what Media Center was supposed to be and goes much farther. However if someone is complaining that they can't record several HD shows at the same time and watch yet another they are using the wrong equipment and software.

 

[liquid0h]

Good article William...and don't let the forum bashers get ya down!

On another note, it's a shame you can't rent one of those calibrators. Some of us perfectionists still have a budget to follow, lol.