Gary Merson

Other Tech
Wild Card
Gary Merson  |  Oct 15, 2004
Before premium cable channels like HBO began appearing 30 years ago, you were more likely to have a bowl of waxed fruit atop your TV than a black box that changed channels.
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Other Tech
DirecTV HR10-250 HDTV Satellite Receiver/Recorder
Gary Merson  |  Sep 21, 2004

I'm a huge fan of the video hard-disk recorders (HDRs), also known as digital video recorders (DVRs), that have revolutionized the TV viewing habits of millions. As the ads say, you can watch what you want when you want. But the options for time-shifting high-definition programs have been limited.

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Mitsubishi PD-6130 Plasma HD Monitor and HD-5000A HDTV Receiver/Controller
Gary Merson  |  Aug 19, 2004  |  Published: Aug 01, 2004
The big picture.

The 60-inch-plus plasma is the big kahuna of flat-screen designs. If you want to go really big and really flat (under 5 inches), plasma is the only technology that will get you there. Mitsubishi has adopted the two-box approach for their new plasmas. On its own, the PD-6130 is a 61-inch HD monitor. Add the HD-5000A controller, and it functionally becomes an integrated HDTV.

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Projector Reviews
SIM2 Grand Cinema HT300 XTRA DLP Projector
Gary Merson  |  May 01, 2004
SIM2's new HD2+ DLP projector delivers the goods.

Digital Light Processing front projection has a short but interesting history. It began in the late '90s when the first consumer DLP projector was marketed. This new type of display—which uses a tiny, reflective chip called a DMD (digital micromirror device) that contains hundreds of thousands of hinged mirrors (instead of miniature LCD panels)—provided consumers with an early look at all-digital imaging. This primitive effort made big pictures, but it had many picture-quality issues.

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Other Tech
First Look: Va-Va-Voom!
Gary Merson  |  Mar 31, 2004
Just ask anyone who's spent any amount of time watching a high-definition TV - it's addictive. Maybe it's the seductive picture or the cinemalike sound, but the half-dozen HDTV channels I had available until recently were about the only ones I regularly watched - even though there were hundreds of standard-definition channels I could have tuned in.
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Audio Video News
FCC Approves Plug n Play
Gary Merson  |  Sep 12, 2003
On Wednesday, September 10, the Federal Communications Commission approved a package of standards designed to make digital televisions compatible with a wide range of digital and high definition cable television programs. The "plug and play" agreement will allow consumers to connect digital televisions directly into cable systems, without a set-top-box.
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