drewhill.net

I finally decided to buy a Dell XPS 420 desktop computer this weekend.  Dell is running a great deal for Mother’s Day; $350 off XPS 420 systems.  I’m not a mother, but who cares right?  I can get the configuration that I want cheaper than I can get with my Employee Purchase Program discount mainly because I don’t have to take the 3 year warranty on the Mother’s Day deal.

This system is configured with the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner.  I really want to start recording digital/HD TV content including Premium stations with Windows Vista Media Center.  With my current system I’m only able to record the analog stations and the quality leaves a lot to be desired on a 46″ LCD HD TV.

I went down to Charter Cable yesterday to talk to them about Cable Cards.  They were not very helpful.  Both the woman at the front counter and the technician that I eventually talked to really couldn’t answer my questions.  The reason is that they haven’t hooked up that many cable cards in PCs before.  They did say that I would be able to get the digital/HD and premium stations.  But, I could have a problem with voltage feedback into the cable lines.  After further questioning this could be an issue with any TV tuner card hooked up with a coax to the cable company.

Here’s my configuration:

• Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q9300 (6MB Cache,2.50GHz,1333FSB)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Digital Cable Support
• 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz – 4 DIMMs
• Dell USB Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard
• 22 inch E228WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
• Radeon ATI HD 2600 XT 256MB
• 750GB – 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
• Dell Media Card Reader included in Dell Bluetooth Package
• Dell Optical USB Mouse
• Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM)
• Integrated Sound Blaster®Audigy™ HD Software Edition
• Dell 19 in 1 Media Reader with Bluetooth
• 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor,24×7 Phone Support
• Single ATITV Wonder™Digital Cable Tuner with Remote
• McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 24-months
• Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
• Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr
• No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
• No Productivity software pre-installed
• No Modem Requested

Microsoft released a statement saying that the end of HD DVD does not impact the sales of the Xbox 360.  At first glance this seems like a reasonable conclusion.  However, Microsoft should be concerned about the PlayStation 3, which is the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market and one of the major reasons why Blu-ray won out over HD DVD.

If I went out today to buy a new Blu-ray player, I would pick up a PlayStation 3. Why?  Because of the ability of the PlayStation to play both Blu-ray discs and GAMES.  Now, that is the reason why Microsoft should be concerned.  Since Microsoft’s HD DVD add-on player for the XBOX 360 is now defunct, they need to bring a Blu-ray player to market and fast.

The chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association is quoted saying that Toshiba and Microsoft are “more than welcome to join the BDA.”  In a Microsoft statement on Monday, they hint at future unannounced plans.  So, maybe there is hope for a Blu-ray player on the XBox360.  But, will Sony allow this to happen since they are a major backer of Blu-ray and have an advantage over the Xbox with their PlayStation 3.

Read:  Microsoft addresses possible end of HD DVD
Read:  BDA sez Toshiba and Microsoft are “more than welcome” to go Blu

Game Over!  We’ve known this day was coming ever since Warner Brothers Entertainment made their announcement last month that they were going Blu-ray exclusive.  Having purchased an HD DVD add-on drive to my XBOX 360, picked up a Toshiba HD-A2 player at Christmas for $98.87 and a 12 disc collection of movies, I feel like I’m the one left holding the bag in this format war.  Yes, it was my decision to buy this stuff, but the landscape was significantly different when I made the decision.  The formats were fairly equal and it looked like the war would go on for years ahead.  I am upset with the corporate powers that be at Toshiba and Warner Brothers Entertainment for pushing the format war through the 2007 holiday season and then dropping a bomb on consumers in January with the Warner Brothers announcement.   It basically allowed both companies along with the retail channel to sell through their inventories and reduce the losses these corporations would have to take at the expense of the consumer.

Read: Hi-def battle ends as Toshiba quits HD DVD

Amazon is offering up a great deal on HD DVDs with a Buy One Get One Free promotion.  Hurry because these deals usually don’t last for long.

The Harry Potter movies were tempting, but I picked up Breach and The Good Shepherd for myself. 

Keep the deals coming!!

Amazon.com has all three Bourne Movies (Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum) in HD DVD format for only $49.95.   If you’re a true Jason Bourne fan you will surely have to pick up this great buy and watch your favorite action pack spy movie in crystal clear HD DVD.

Hurry this is such a great deal!!

The Bourne Trilogy (The Bourne Identity / The Bourne Supremacy / The Bourne Ultimatum) [HD DVD] – Amazon.com Exclusive (2007)

Last year during the holidays I bought the XBox 360 HD DVD player add on.  After getting it all hooked up to my Sony 51″ Projection TV, I wasn’t very impressed with the picture.  My TV did support 1080i resolution. To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference between HD DVD and regular DVD.  I remember going to work and telling everyone that this HD DVD thing wasn’t all that great because it looked the same as regular ole DVDs.

Well, I have to admit to my mistake.   My XBox 360 was hooked up to my TV with a XBox 360 Component HD AV Cable.  However, there is a little switch on the connector end that is plugged into the XBox.  The switch is for standard definition and HDTV.  Mine was set to Standard.

I’ve had my XBox for almost two years and have been running it on standard definition this whole time and even after buying the HD DVD player last year I still didn’t figure out my mistake.

Now, that I flipped the switch and set the HDTV Setting to 1080p (on my new Samsung TV) it is working much better and there is definitely a difference.  HD is amazing!!!

Microsoft offers two cables that support HD resolutions and they both support 1080p.   In some of the blogs that I have read recenlty they said a VGA HD cable is required to get 1080p.   This is wrong.  Both cables offer the support.

 Xbox 360™ VGA HD AV Cable (Part Number B4S-00001)

• DV-15S Standard VGA Connector
• Experience High Definition movies and games at up to 1080p resolution
• Also supports 480p, 720p, 1080i or 1080p
• Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound output
• 8-foot long shielded cable

Xbox 360™ Component HD AV Cable (Part Number B4V-00004)

• High-definition gaming output of 720p, 1080i or 1080p
• Progressive-scan DVD playback in 480p
• Dolby® Digital 5.1 Surround Sound output
• Component (Y, Pr, Pb) high-definition video output
• Composite cable for standard TV output
• Eight-foot-long shielded cable

Here are some additional links discussing HD support on the XBox:

• http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/personality/elle/20061030-update.htm
• http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2006/1030-novemberupdate-completelist.htm
• http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2006/1030-novemberupdate.htm

This past Friday, I picked up Toshiba’s HD-A2 1080i HD DVD player for only $98.87 at Wal-Mart.   They had them marked down in a “Secret In Store Special“.   As you can see in the picture the HD-A2 was signed at the regular price of $196.00 and you had to know about the special.   It had to be entertaining for the Wal-Mart employees to watch people stroll up to pick up their HD DVD player and walk off knowing that it was a “Secret”.

I was in the store 30 minutes prior to the 8:00AM start time of the special and the item scanned for the sale price.  Keep that in mind as the holiday season picks up.  Wal-Mart will continue these “Secret In Store Specials” through out the holiday.

I picked up a couple HD DVDs that were also on the “Secret In Store Special”.  I got both Blood Diamond and Alexander Revisited The Final Cut for $14.96 each.

Update 11.12.07:  EngadgetHD.com is reporting that “Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Circuit City — among others — were able to move 90,000 stand-alone HD DVD players this weekend.”

Flat panel TVs and HD TV are here to stay.  I have held out for several years waiting for the price on the LCD TVs to come down.  I finally pulled the trigger this week and bought a new Samsung 46″ LCD TV (LN-T4665F) at Best Buy.  I got them to do a price match on a Circuit City ad that saved me $270.  In addition, I have 60 days for another price match if a competitor or Best Buy lowers the price even more.  Hopefully this will happen with the holiday season coming up.

I settled on the LN-T4665F model because previously I had 51″ projection TV and didn’t want to go down to 40″ and the ones over 46″ are still too pricey.  After getting use to a big screen it is hard to go back to the small screen. I also wanted a 1080p display from one of the top 3 producers of LCD TVs (Samsung, Sony and Philips).  I settled on Samsung because they are the number one producer of flat panel TVs and I have had good experience with Samsung LCD monitors.  This model sports a built-in HDTV tuner for over-the-air high definition broadcasts, 8 ms response time minimizes blurring of moving video, 3 HDMI inputs,  2 RF, 2 component A/V (rear), 2 composite A/V (1 side, 1 rear), 2 S-video (1 side, 1 rear), 1 PC A/V (rear) and 1 DVI audio (rear) and  a USB 2.0 port.

Check out the CNet review.

So far, I am very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this TV.

Michael Dell announced at CES 2007 back in January that Dell would begin offering an XPS 410 “Dell Home Media Suite” that included the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner which allows high definition (HD) content to be viewed and recorded with Windows Media Center.  After much delays and changes in the XPS 410 configuration and appearance, the ATI TV Wonder is now available on the high end XPS 410 models that also include blu-ray disk drives.

The ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner supports CableCard which allows HD, digital and premium cable TV content to be viewed or recorded without a set-top box.

Microsoft announced a price drop on it’s XBox 360 HD DVD Player from $199 to $179 effective August 1, 2007.  In addition, five free HD DVD movies will come along with any XBox 360 HD DVD purchase between August 1st and September 30th.  Customers can choose from 15 titles through a mail-in offer including titles such as Apollo 13, Constantine, U-571, The Perfect Storm, Tomb Raider and others.  The five free HD DVD movies offer previously was exclusive to Toshiba HD DVD players.

The King Kong HD DVD is still included in the XBox 360 HD DVD Bundle along with a Universal Remote Control.