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Our 36" television and 480i DVD player just celebrated their sixth birthday and the 36XBR800...I must face the truth...is getting dimmer almost by the week now. I've been saying for years that I wouldn't upgrade the TV until high definition DVD's become available and affordable. So for the past...

My wife and I have a soft spot for the sort of movie that has interesting characters and excellent acting performances even in the absence of tons of plot and spectacle. In recent months we've enjoyed Last Orders, Under the Sand, Laurel Canyon, Igby Goes Down (to name a few off the top of my...

In anticipation of the Two Towers DVD release next week, we're going to rewatch Fellowship of the Ring this weekend for the first time in several months. I very much prefer the Extended Edition to the original theatrical version except for the very beginning of the movie. The scenes immediately...

I had asked the following question in another thread and now I think I've found the answer. I'd love feedback from anyone who understands the situation better than I do (probably most people who read this fall in that category). I found two definitions of Exposure Value (EV), one based on...

I just had an HDTV-capable cable-TV box delivered. It has a coaxial digital output but the only spare digital-audio cables I had were optical. I used an old, spare RCA-type audio interconnect to hook it up to my home theater receiver. I'm not inclined to go spend 20 bucks on a "digital"...

This isn't really a "home theater" question since I listen to music in a different room but I'd like some advice... One of the RCA output jacks on my CD player (a late 80's model) has been flaky for the last five years or so. I have to jiggle it more and more frequently to keep the left...

My new 36XBR800 produces a very nice picture with both my old RV31 and the new RP82 I bought along with the new TV. However, with the RP82 the colors are defintely more saturated and there is an objectionable excess amount of red that wasn't there with the RV31. So I've worked with the...

My brand-new 36XBR800 has a little more red push than I can get used to. I don't (yet) have a service manual and am loathe to go into the service menu while the set is under warranty. However, if I knew how to go in, change that one parameter (AXNT?) and get back out again safely I would...

Let's say you're watching a Toy Story DVD on a direct-view HDTV monitor. It's my understanding that the Toy Story movies were created and the DVD's mastered completely in the digital domain, so it would be safe to say that up until the point where you bring the DVD home the movie has so far...

After a long an torturous road, I've arranged for my new 36XBR800 will arrive at my house tomorrow. Or maybe it will arrive next week instead. And maybe I'll receive the stand for it one day later in this century. At this point, I've quit making predictions. Anyway... Let's say the TV meets...

Last September, we hooked a DVD player up to our 27" Trinitron. A month later, we added five Polk speakers, a Velodyne subwoofer and an Onkyo receiver to create our "home theater". We have thoroughly enjoyed 70 or 80 movies in that time. The sound experience is really enjoyable but the weak line...

I can find many references to Toshiba HD-ready monitors taking all incoming 480i and 480p signals and upconverting them to 540p. I understand that this implies an unavoidable softening of the high-frequency parts of the image. Does the Hitachi 36UDX10S that I'm buying do the same thing? If...

Since the last time I was in Circuit City (a couple of days ago) they have received the Panasonic 36HX42 which is this year's model of the 36" HD-ready Tau direct view set. This is the first television I've seen whose picture quality is a match for the 36" Sony XBR. Best Buy also had an...

I've just about decided that a 32" TV is right size. A 36" one might be a possibility although at less than 7 feet viewing distance it would have to be HD-ready since the scan lines on an analog set would be horrible. RPTV's are just right out, I don't like them at all plus they're too big for...

Looking at Circuit City's web site, not all RPTV's are listed as having first-surface mirrors. I've messed around a little with telescopes and it's my understanding that an image bounced off a regular silvered-back mirror will have very low contrast and possibly even double images if examined...

We went to see Minority Report this past weekend in two different muliplexes (first hour in one, whole movie in another a few hours later, long story). For the first time since setting up a DVD player and surround sound at home, I noticed how narrow the screen on our 27" TV seems in comparison...

I have DirecTV service currently, along with cable to receive the local stations. We watched the "Enterprise" premiere and the sound quality was the poorest I've ever heard on a television broadcast. Our cable reception is uniformly lousy but I think this problem originated with the low-budget...

When I got my DVD player a few weeks ago, I ran the Avia basic televison setup procedure on my Sony 27" TV. It made a big difference. The two main changes were 1) I switched to the mode that disable Scan Velocity Modulation (probably should have done that when I first got the TV) and 2) the...