Al Griffin

Mordaunt-Short Genie Home Theater Speaker System
Al Griffin  |  Jan 11, 2005

Not long ago, someone figured out it was possible to get good sound from small, inexpensively made speakers - and ever since, the home theater scene has been dominated by compact six-piece rigs that sell for a thousand bucks or less.

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Other Tech
Improving LCD TV
Al Griffin  |  Jan 06, 2005

The popularity of flat-panel TVs with LCD (liquid-crystal display) screens was very much in evidence at CES 2005. From well-established names like Sharp and Toshiba to relative newcomers in the U.S. market like BenQ and Moxell, a good number of manufacturers displayed LCD models ranging from 15 to 55 inches.

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Other Tech
Digital Cable-Ready Diary
Al Griffin  |  Jan 05, 2005

Along with a deluge of bigger, flatter HDTVs of various technological stripes, a hot TV news item at CES 2005 was the arrival of digital cable-ready TVs with slots for a CableCARD. This credit-card-size device was designed to eliminate set-top cable decoders - those ugly black boxes that have squatted, like parasites, on or below our TVs for the past two decades.

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Other Tech
How to Buy DVD Players & Recorders
Al Griffin  |  Jan 01, 2005

So your new HDTV and surround sound system are all set up and ready to rock, but you still need a DVD player. What's that? You saw one at Wal-Mart for 50 bucks but can't remember the brand?

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Custom Installation How-To
Samsung DVD-HD841 Universal DVD/SACD Player
Al Griffin  |  Dec 31, 2004

Ever since "universal" DVD players first appeared, I've waited patiently for prices to come down and for the flood of Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio titles initially promised to arrive. Well, the flood never came - I've got Yes's Fragile on DVD-Audio and Miles Davis's Kind of Blue on SACD, but I'm still waiting on the Beatles' Sgt.

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Other Tech
Homespun DVDs
Al Griffin  |  Dec 31, 2004

They say memories are precious. Well, if that's the case, why do so many of us have years of treasured moments captured on videotapes gathering dust in closets? Recordable DVDs would make a better resting place for your home videos.

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Hitachi 46F510 46-inch HDTV Monitor
Al Griffin  |  Dec 13, 2004

While HDTVs are a lot cheaper now than they were a few years back, the options are still limited if you're looking to score a high-def model for not too much cash. You can get a hefty direct-view tube TV for less than $1,000, but the screen size on that baby is likely to be only 30 inches or less - too small if you want an engaging home theater experience.

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Sharp Aquos LC-37G4U 37-inch LCD HDTV Monitor
Al Griffin  |  Nov 01, 2004

Although flat-panel LCD TVs have been hanging around even longer than plasma models, their small-size screens have garnered less attention. But things changed in the past year: LCD TVs started zooming up in size, undoing the myth that the technology is good only for small displays in the kitchen, bedroom, or office.

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Philips 42PF9966 42-inch Ambilight Plasma HDTV Monitor
Al Griffin  |  Oct 31, 2004

Most folks here in the U.S. know Philips as a company that makes light bulbs. But the European electronics giant has been at the forefront of the flat-TV revolution since Day One, releasing a wide range of slim models in the plasma and LCD categories.

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Samsung HL-P5063W 50-inch DLP Rear-Projection HDTV
Al Griffin  |  Oct 13, 2004

Once high-priced curiosities, TVs based on newer technologies like LCD and Texas Instruments' DLP (Digital Light Processing) now provide a reasonably affordable alternative to the tube sets we've been watching for decades.

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