Recent content by Ryan Patterson

With any luck, Bell will release their version of DISH's DVR-921 by the springtime. Two tuners, 250 GB hard drive, and lots of other bells n' whistles. Considering it goes for $999 US, I hope that Bell will sell it for around $1500 CDN or less.

RG-6 is a type of coaxial cable, but it has a thicker core (ie. the metal thing sticking out at both ends) and sometimes comes with more isolation (thicker cable overall). This helps prevent signal degration over long distances. Since the wall where my cable comes in from outside is about 40'...

"Digital" is becoming an overused term for cable and even satellite companies these days to fiercely compete with each other. For cable companies, "digital" simply refers to some channels being transmitted through the cable stream as a digital signal as opposed to analog. I'm not surprised that...

Hi Bob, Considering I only vaguely know how dB works in the signal arena (the only dB I've really seen is when you turn up/down the volume on a reciever and you see the dB value on that change), I'm not sure exactly what the graph is supposed to tell me. The bird's-eye view of it seems to...

I've been experiencing similar problems with my Panny RV41. The problem's really sporadic and unpredictable. It'll run fine for a couple of weeks, then BAM!... a movie will freeze up and I won't be able to eject the DVD without unplugging it overnight. I'm not sure if overheating is the issue...

It really depends on the quality of the deinterlacing chip in the DVD player vs. your TV's deinterlacing chip. Sadly, many DVD player manufacturers are supplying mediocre-to-poor chips (see Home Theater Secret's reviews) and it's only getting worse as the manufacturers try to sink their prices...

Hi HanLee, Congratulations on your purchase! I hope you get to fully enjoy your new Panny TV. There is an excellent article on deinterlacing here. You can surf their site for progressive DVD player reviews from the last 3 years. (This year's review is apparently coming out soon). Do...

The Canadian Panasonic site lists the S55 at $299.95. Say it isn't so! I really hope that's a misprint... even with US/CAN conversion the S55 should be no more than $210 up here.

Hi Alayn, What is the optimum viewing distance between you and your TV? This can affect your final TV size, as if you sit too close, scanlines can become apparent. I sit about 8.5' away from my 43" 4:3 TV, and I've found that watching full-screen DVDs is only borderline acceptable as I...

Very strange... sounds a lot like a scam to me. Did they ask you to send in your TV first before they would provide you with a replacement?