Monthly Archives: November 2006

Does Blu-ray deliver five times, or ten times, the resolution of DVD?

Posted on November 22, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

I received an email today, originating from Panasonic, in which polite issue was taken with a statement I had made in a review I had written of the Panasonic DMP-BD100 Blu-ray player. The statement was: ‘there is five times as … Continue reading →

Posted in BD-Live, Equipment, How Things Work | Leave a comment

Pentax K100D digital SLR and Sigma EF-500DGST flash gun

Posted on November 21, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

It was recently time for a retirement. Back in September 2000 I purchased a digital camera as an aide in my writing work. It was an Olympus C-3030Z. Three megapixels, decent quality optics, it cost around $2,000. Since then it … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc | Leave a comment

So, is Blu-ray really any better than DVD?

Posted on November 19, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

Well, judging by the detail of the pictures shown to the right, it most certainly looks like Blu-ray is much better than DVD. The discs concerned are the Region 4 DVD of A Knight’s Tale and the Blu-ray version thereof. … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Disc details, DVD | Leave a comment

Blu-ray and popup menus

Posted on November 17, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

Blu-ray has many wonderful things going for it, especially the sheer detail of the picture quality (more on this on another day). But one of the coolest things for me are the pop-up menus. Blu-ray is capable of delivering three … Continue reading →

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Topfield releases its first HD PVR

Posted on November 16, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

Just received a press release from Topfield. It has now released its TF7000HDPVRt. That string of letters at the end have meaning: t=terrestrial (ie, as opposed to satellite), PVR=Personal Video Recorder, and HD=High Definition. Price? $1,299. The natural competitor to … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, Equipment, HDTV | Leave a comment

Apple’s iPod takes over the world?

Posted on November 15, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

Apple has announced that six significant international airlines are installing iPod support in their aircraft from next year. The airlines are Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United. On these airlines, seat connections will power iPods and provide a … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Portable | Leave a comment

The Bitrate Trap

Posted on November 14, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve been experimenting a bit with downloading recordings from the Strong SRT-5490 and the Topfield TF6000PVRt digital TV receivers to my computer, editing and then burning DVDs. But there has been a problem: time. I’ve been using Ulead Movie Factory … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HD DVD | Leave a comment

HD TV vs SD TV

Posted on November 10, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

When describing the differences between standard definition and high definition TV, I generally say that the higher resolution doesn’t so much deliver more detail, but that the detail that is there is cleaner and more nicely defined. While that may … Continue reading →

Posted in DTV, HD DVD | Leave a comment

Blu-ray, HD DVD and frame rates

Posted on November 2, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

On Monday I drove up to Sydney for the launch of HD DVD by Toshiba and Castel Electronics, Toshiba’s Australian distributor. Toshiba will be releasing two HD DVD players in the near future. First, on 10 December 2006, there will … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, HD DVD, How Things Work | Leave a comment