Lawrence "The Dreamer" Chen's Blog

I have cable TV and broadband again!

Had to use my own modem, rather than the free one....the installer didn't have my details for what I had ordered, and therefore didn't have that equipment. But, better to get service....and he did land a HD converter (and I had that SB5101 laying around).

Now I'm just waiting for a DPH-540 to appear, so I can do phone....

Link: http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/old_hdtvs_will_show_sony_bluray_movies_in_hd.html

Thanks to an "image constraint" flag on the new discs, movie studios could prevent any disc player from outputting a full-HD signal from that player's component-video jacks. Instead, you'd get a picture about the same as DVD-quality; to watch in HD, you would need to use the HDMI output ? a connector that didn't even exist when HDTVs first went on sale in 1998.

...

Sony says it will not put the flag on its initial wave of Blu-ray titles,

...

Sony says all of its Blu-ray titles will be flag-free for the foreseeable future,

I guess this is good news, and probably means Blu-Ray will become the defacto standard like VHS over Beta

Because, my HDTV monitor doesn't have an HDMI port....and I don't plan to replace it anytime soon. My previous TV was over 21 years old, before I finally replaced it.

OTOH, maybe they don't build TVs like they used to. My dad recently took the plunge and got a HDTV.....because his 6 years Sony TV suddenly stopped working, and he was told that it would be cheaper to buy a new TV than to get it serviced. And, I think I might have recommended the Sony....

Wonder when I'll be the position to buy a Blu-Ray player??? and how long before I start renting Blu-Ray titles??? owning Blu-Ray titles???

Link: http://news.com.com/Digital+TV+changeover+suggested+for+2009/2100-1028-5785519.html?part=dht&tag=ntop&tag=nl.e703

They say they want us to hurry up and make the switch to digital. But, they still talking about off in 2009, there'll be the $50 converters available....

Well, obviously most people are going to wait until these $50 converters become available then.

What they need to do is make the $50 converters available now. Which is where the price should be now.....

Of course, they also need to stop fiddling around with how digital TV is going to be done. Treating the digital TV market the same way as computers isn't going to fly with consumers.

My old analog TV served me fine for 21 years, the only thing along the way was getting external tuners to keep up with the growing number of TV channels.

I got a digital ready TV/Monitor....just doesn't have a tuner....but one of these will come into existence when they come up with the standard.... Well, there's CableCard 1.0, and new TVs come with it built in now. But, where are the tuners for those of us that already got digital TVs without them? Of course, maybe they are waiting for CableCard 2.0 to come into existence, and how will they support the people that already have the older TVs?

Telling them that they should've waited until 2009 like the rest of the world?

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Link: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_BrowseCatalog-Start?CategoryName=tvhav_HDDVRs&Dept=tvvideo

Looks like the Sony HD DVRs are finally going to appear....wonder if I'll get one.

Probably work out to be a better way than building an HTmac around the EyeTV 500....except that I can't afford one at the moment, because I've spent money on various other things...such as the EyeTV 500

Plus, there's how am I going to pay for my vacation...both the parts that have already been billed and the parts that will be billed.....

Well, the EyeTV 500 is here....and that's about all I can say about it, since I can't really do anything else with it until I get the rest of the system...which won't be until much later in the year.... :]

Meanwhile...I just sold my REB1200, wonder if I'll ever get another eBook device....

Link: http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyetv500

Well, I took the plunge and ordered an EyeTV 500.

Though I probably won't get around to buying the Mac Mini until fall....

Of course, there's the need to buy it before July 1st, 2005.