Author Archives: Stephen Dawson

True HD panels coming at last!

Posted on November 8, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Taiwanese computer peripheral maker BenQ (formerly Acer Multimedia) has been seeking to get more into home entertainment equipment. Now it says that it will be offering a true high definition (1,920 by 1,080 pixel) LCD panel in 2004, priced at … Continue reading →

Posted in Equipment, Video | Leave a comment

Microsoft XBox weirdness

Posted on November 4, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve just been rounding off a 4,500 word piece for The Bulletin magazine on home theatre, which includes a section on the suitability of games machines for DVD playback. I got ahold of an XBox and a PlayStation2 to check … Continue reading →

Posted in Equipment | Leave a comment

DVI wobbles

Posted on October 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I’m presently working on a review of the InFocus ScreenPlay 5700 projector — a widescreen model aimed squarely at the PAL market since it uses Texas Instruments’ 1,024 by 576 pixel ‘Matterhorn’ DMD — for Best Buys. And nice as … Continue reading →

Posted in Cables, Equipment, HDMI | Leave a comment

How loud does it go?

Posted on October 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Francisco from Portugal writes: I’m trying to do a project for a rehearsal studio for my band, and so I’m studying acoustics. I’m trying to determine the sound level in dB that we will have inside the studio.So I’d like … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, How Things Work | Leave a comment

ABC and SBS do HD

Posted on October 28, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

In the midst of doing all those display reviews, I borrowed a DGTEC DG-5000i set top box. As I suspected, both ABC and SBS are now broadcasting their 20 hours per week of high definition digital. According to the Digital … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HDTV | Leave a comment

Lileks, Disney, Mussorgsky, Stokowski and Bach

Posted on October 28, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

In Monday’s typically elegant Bleat, James Lileks analyses the musical and animation content of Disney’s Fantasia, with a particular emphasis on Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. To be honest, I’m not especially familiar with the movie (the DVD version … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Guilt and kilohertz and high definition

Posted on October 24, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I am very, very sorry to those who have been visiting here the last ten days to find, well, nothing new. There is a reason for it. For the past few weeks I’ve been executing subroutine [bulk_reviews]. This time around … Continue reading →

Posted in HDTV, Video | Leave a comment

Listening to the tune

Posted on October 14, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve just been skimming the September 2003 issue of Klips, a newsletter published by Jim Tate Stereo in South Australia. Quite interesting, but I simply must object to one part that jumped off the page. It is part of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Rant | Leave a comment

Final Japan Installment

Posted on October 13, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Thursday last week in Tokyo was my last day in Japan. In the morning we went to the Panasonic Centre, which is largely a high tech display of Panasonic products, technologies and visions for the future. A fair bit of … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc, Travel | Leave a comment

What is High Definition?

Posted on October 12, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

A web page for a major Australian electronics retailer says that the Fujitsu 106cm plasma display, P42VHA20 has the following features: High Definition 42-inch (16:9) 852 x 480 pixel panel Wrong! No doubt they’ve been confused by the fact that … Continue reading →

Posted in Rant, Video | Leave a comment