Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out? - Page 20

Ikea is a great store, but they don't have much furniture with Cheery or Rosewood finishes. Mostly they use light finishes like Birch. They do carry quite a lot of pieces with Beech veneers which is pretty close to natural Cherry.

If the use is for a stand, why not look at speaker stands?

If you can work something out with Hank and his hectic schedule permits - I'm sure he could do a magnificent job making a stand with a finish to that of your speakers.

Doc, that's the most off-the-wall remark from you this year! Congrats! Doesn't deserve a reply, but is absolutely a winner in creativity, humor and, that all-important-amongst-us-here-in Austin unique quality of SMARTASSEDNESS!

Hmmm...Ottomans...perhaps veneered in exotic rainforest hardwoods, braced, acoustically treated as Helmholtz resonator bass abosorbers...but I digress.

I would suggest waiting a month for the new harman kardons that are coming out. The hk avr135 is 6.1 with component inputs. I don't have a receiver yet as I am waiting for the avr435 7.1 from harman.

More info on these here:
(can't post links yet)

Harman also has some digital amps like the dpr 1005 and the 2005 but those are much more pricier, all over $1000.

You can also find the hk's first attempt with digitals, the 1001 on clearance at many places, I saw an open box one at circuit city (north location) for $400 a few weeks ago. They used to retail for $1500. I've heard some good reviews on these but some have said its not up to the standard of other harman receivers.

I've been reading about a ton of receivers for the last month. I'm also intersted in the pioneer 1014, panasonic xr70, marantz 4500 & 5500 and many others. All of these are very new and I'm not sure if they're out yet but they should be very soon.

Everyone seems they all sound "good" but they also sound different.

Okay guys (and girls), I need a little help.

I have a Closed-circuit TV system at our church and I would like to rebroadcast the digital channel that carries the active weather radar that also includes the animated voice in the background giving all of the weather data. I can pick it up on my HD DirecTV receiver as channel 24.1 (I think that is the channel) but cannot pick it up using a regular analog NTSC receiver (because the signal is a digital signal).

I am looking for an inexpensive digital TV tuner (preferably one that is rack mounted) that I can use to "tune" to this channel. It will need to have composite video out (BNC/F/RCA connector) and audio out (F/RCA connector) that I can then send to an A/V modulator.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Oh by the way, I am using a Radio Shack OTA TV antenna for the source signal.

Fox 7 is just about impossible to get OTA due to their extreme low broadcast power and antenna height on their tower. They are notorious for doing the bare min. to meet the FCC requirements.

Frederick you have a PM.

If anyone is interested in a sweet deal on an HTPC or just wants to upgrade their computer, here is a coupon that will save you a ton a on a new Dell:
1) 30% off any Dimension Desktop over $999 (coupon code RVJ4709SL0STB4)
2) 40% off any Dimension Desktop over $2,499 (coupon code 51S7S776G77Q3H)

These codes are only good till 8pm tonight so act fast. I doubt you'll ever see a deal this good again. I'm not really sure why they're doing it actually, but I took advantage!

That is a great deal!!!! And I guess this mean you are back in the HTCP camp Doc?

Speaking of Dell's, is anyone in our group comfortable taking apart a Dell laptop? My 5150's headphone/speaker connector has come lose and only works if I hold onto the interconnect and jiggle it now and then...

I suspect it’s an easy fix, but I have to admit, I'm a little naive when it comes to opening up a laptop to access its chassis which I assume is necessary to refasten the connector?

BTW: For those that may not have heard already, last week I was able to get a demo unit of the Panasonic AE700 and have been and will continue to be testing it out on several different HT set-ups around Austin.

(click on the following links for more details)

AE700 Demo Available in Austin, TX

Demo Update

If you have any interest please feel free to drop me an email.

Nils, I think there is a module that is removable on the 5150 that contains the headphone jack. I can take a look sometime, they're pretty easy to disassemble.

And yes, I'm sticking in the HTPC camp for now. I needed to upgrade my pc anyway (it's almost 5 years old) so in my grand tradition of being a cheapskate, I'm sticking with the HTPC to avoid buying a pre/pro and a new DVD player, and I can get an HD card for $150 vs $300 for a stand alone OTA unit. Based on the Momitsu and Zenith DVI players I've watched, the HTPC still produces a better picture for DVD. The Denon 3910 looks like the nearest contender, and it costs more than my new PC did. Plus, I can't design crossovers on a dvd player. I'll reconsider in another 6 months or so. Maybe the new Panasonic S97 will change my mind.

Nils: Awww crap... I want to go to Wings over Houston!!! I went to that many times, having grown up in Houston. One time, we parked on a road (parallel to the main runways just outside airport property) that the thunderbirds used for visual alignment for high-speed low passes. That was freakin' awesome. I bet they don't let you get away with that anymore, though.

The funny thing is, I'm flying into Houston today for lunch on my last solo cross-country before my FAA checkride. I'll have two wings over Houston, anyway.

I looked for that option, but the case design makes it appear like it needs to be completely removed in order to access the jack. Next time I see you I'll be sure to bring it along and see what you think.

We just got back from the show and all I can say is... Holy ____! What an amazing collection of all types of aircraft and incredible displays of piloting skills! We all had a blast, but are now deaf from one too many high speed fly-overs and certainly roasted from a full day out on the tarmac.

Congrats on your final solo. Maybe you and I can make a run to Llano for some Cooper's BBQ sometime! Or at least some zero gravity rolls over the lake.

Thanks. Yeah... Cooper's would be great! I'm not quite ready for acro over the lake just yet, though. Especially not in a Cessna. Especially not with a stomach full of BBQ.

Wus.

If anyone is interested in participating in an AE700 Power-Buy, please drop me an email. I've been told the demand is so ridiculous for this model that Panasonic now has over 11,000 back orders for this projector world wide! Only about 1,200 are being sent to the US as part of the first shipment arriving on the 26th. Of that, the SW sales rep for Panasonic is getting 160 of those, but because he has no HT dealer network he has no outlet for them.

The catch though is that for every unit he doesn't have a paid order for, Panasonic takes them out of his inventory and distributes them to other regions with back orders.

This is why if we can work out a Power-Buy with him, each person in the Power-Buy will have to get their payment in before the 26th. For those that don't, they can still get the projector at the Power-Buy price, but may have to wait a few weeks for the next shipment from Panasonic.

So far I think I have about five who want to participate in the Power-Buy, and a few others that are maybes.

If you have some interest and don't want to wait for the next shipment please email me ASAP!

Feel free to call me or drop me an email and I can forward the info on the PowerBuy.

Speaking of which, I am now tracking our projectors as they head towards Texas! It looks like they should arrive sometime next week. Call me crazy, but I went ahead and ordered the entire allocation for Texas - 30 projectors. There has been such an overwhelming positive response to this projector not only here, but in the US and all across the globe that at the price we were getting it it would have been foolish to pass up an opportunity not to pick up a few extra. If we end up with any left over I'll just sell them to dealers or list them on Videogon, or eBay.

There are currently more than twice as many orders as there projectors in the US so I don't think I'm going to have much trouble finding happy homes for all of them that do not go to our group.

In fact I already got sent a message from a Panasonic dealer who wants at least three of them.

As a side note, I will likely have access to an early demo of Panasonic's highly anticipated 3-chip HD2+ DLP projector as well as their Hi-Def Blu-Ray DVD player/recorder. When I can confirm a date when I might have these demo units available I'll put together a HT meet.

Uh...

Anyone looking for an AE700?

First dibs are for those that signed up earlier for the PowerBuy, I have also agreed to sell about ten to a couple dealers, but I purposefully bought additional units in order to make a marginal profit by selling the extras to dealers and through Videogon/eBay at a higher price point which will hopefully cover my costs that I have had to incur to get this PowerBuy completed.

That being said, for friends, Austin HTers, and HTF members who have not yet signed up, I will still gladly offer them at the PowerBuy price.

I'll wait until next week to post the remaining stock on Videogon/eBay or solicit any sales with additional dealers, so if any of you know someone who might have interest, be sure they contact me via email before next week! After next week, the price to dealers and those on Videogon/eBay will be $2,199.

BTW: AVS now has an official dedicated AE700 Tweak Thread for AE700 owners to share settings & calibration for various types of system set-ups. Should be fun!

Nils,
You're really making me regret my purchase of the infocus 4805 from a few months ago...

:b

I feel your pain my friend. While I have had my 12SF for more than a few months, I paid nearly $5,000 for it and back then that was a bargain compared to the SIM2 HD200DM which also used the same dual mode SVGA DLP chip from TI and Faroudja 2200 video processor, but at nearly twice the price.

It is a tough pill to swallow when you see how drastically projectors loose their resale value after the first two years, especially those selling above $5,000. In fact considering I might not be able to even get $1,500 for my 12SF I may just end up keeping it as an extra projector. After all, I still have the first DLP projector I bought back in '98 and it doesn't even work due to a failure in the power supply - and the fact that the last bulb blew up inside the housing didn't help any.

In fact, I have a bad habit of not selling my previous electronic equipment when I upgrade. Now occasionally it has paid off, as I still have my original 1978 Apple II and my 1984 Apple Macintosh (both of which still work perfectly!) which apparently are now worth a lot of money to collectors. Of course I still have to sell them, which as my wife points out, could be never. :b

Much to my wife's astonishment I did finally sell my first CD player, a '82 Technics (forgot the model number) and my first DVD player,a '97 Panasonic A100, (both of which still worked flawlessly!), but I still have my '98 Pioneer DV-505 player :b And I still have every computer and laptop I have owned for the last 25 years, including all the software I have bought for those computers!

Ok, I admit it - I need help!

Yeah, I need to stop reading about new projectors until I'm ready to upgrade. AE700 now, Sony HS51 in a month (maybe now), Sharp Z2000 a few months later... I'm probably not going to upgrade until DLP 1080p or new lcd 1080 panels drop under $3500... I hope.

I hear you on that one. I myself want to upgrade the Panny pj I have but I think I'm going to try to wait a little while before I do anything. Not only that w/ our wedding coming up in March it has really put a hold on new equipment, etc... That's not stopping me from going to Hastings at midnight to get Halo 2 so I can play it on the big screen! 12am Halo2, 8am Halo2 in 5.1 surround sound!

I need help!

UPDATE:

I am still waiting on the Blu-Ray player (which was supposed to arrive last month.... grrr), but Panasonic did send a demo of their highly anticipated PT-DW7000U (3-chip HD DLP w/Dynamic Iris and adj lumens (1,500-6,000)

I only have access to one unit right now, but if anyone is seriously interested in a demo let me know and I'll try and arrange it.

Define seriously. I would love to see the DW700U compared to my lowly Barco 801 on regular DVD material. Of course, you know I can't afford it, so it's your call if you want to bring it over.

I was wondering if anyone could lend me a projector for one night.

I'm having a movie night/lan party at my apartment on Saturday (tommorow night) with some friends from college and had borrowed Mark's projector. I noticed when I got the projector the bulb had gone over 1900 hours, and it blew very shortly thereafter. I've called around and can't get a replacement for atleast a few days.

Thanks for any help,
Mitch

Ouch! That's a bit surprising as generally the rated hours are rather conservative in order to encourage the user to replace the bulb well before any chance of failure might occur. Tose SHP bulbs aren't cheap either. I'd guess about $400-$500 (still a bargain compared to most Xenon bulbs).

If I had seen your message earlier I would have been happy to lend you my projector. If you find an inexpensive source for bulbs let us know.

Mark, what's the lamp mfg and P/N? Outside chance, so don't get your hopes up.