Category Archives: Equipment

An interesting wrinkle on digital set top receivers

Posted on August 7, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Now here’s one I’d like to see: the Hauppauge DEC-2000 digital set top receiver. What makes this one unusual is the USB connection, by which it feeds the received signal to a computer for recording. Is there an Australian distributor?

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Perreaux of New Zealand’s SHX-1

Posted on July 28, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Through some silly oversight, I didn’t have Perreaux listed under the hardware links. Well, that’s fixed now. Perreaux is a New Zealand brand of electronics, especially well respected for its amplifiers. Incredibly it has been around since 1974 and, I’m fairly certain, … Continue reading →

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Something actually new in home theatre projection

Posted on July 24, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

NEC’s press release on its new WT600 projector had me puzzled. Claiming an ultra-short-throw, it said that a 100 inch picture could be produced at a range of just 65cm, and a 40 inch picture at 6cm. My eye skipped lightly … Continue reading →

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Panasonic goes digital

Posted on July 17, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Meanwhile, Panasonic has gone digital. It’s introducing two digital set top boxes and a 76cm widescreen TV with integrated Standard Definition digital tuner (the TX-76DT30A). This $4,399 TV is available now. The cheaper of the two set top boxes supports SD only … Continue reading →

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Higher resolution CRT TVs appearing

Posted on July 17, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Sony will shortly (September 2003 in Australia) be introducing an 86cm widescreen CRT TV (model KVHR36M31) which it says will increase the number of slits in its grill by 65%, ‘making this the aperture grill with the highest number of … Continue reading →

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Dark Details in Plasma Displays

Posted on July 10, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I recently received an email complaining about an LG Plasma display. My correspondent was very dissatisfied with the way dark levels in movies changed their brightness levels. This is taken from my response. I had actually reviewed the same model … Continue reading →

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High Definition Camcorders on the way

Posted on July 4, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Canon, Sharp, Sony and JVC announced today that they’ve agreed on a high definition consumer digital video camera format. Likely to be called ‘HDV’, this will provide for recording 720p or 1080i on standard DV format cassettes. Both 50 and 60 … Continue reading →

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