Al Griffin

Other Tech
HDTV at Large
Al Griffin  |  Jun 25, 2002

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Other Tech
TV Tweaks - Part Two: Behind the Numbers
Al Griffin  |  May 15, 2002

Compared with the "in the lab" box for one of our test reports on, say, an A/V receiver, the lab data for a TV review may seem skimpy. While there aren't a lot of numbers, the ones we do generate can give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the set - particularly its color reproduction, which is arguably the most important aspect of a TV's performance.

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Loewe Aconda 38-inch HDTV Monitor
Al Griffin  |  May 15, 2002

You know your life is out of balance when the best looking thing around you is the TV - and it's not even turned on! That was the predicament I found myself in when reviewing the Loewe (pronounced "Loo-va") Aconda widescreen HDTV monitor. Maybe the set looks so good because Europeans (Loewe is based in Germany) have an evolved design sense.

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Light Years Ahead
Al Griffin  |  May 15, 2002

My first brush with home theater was in a large, dedicated room equipped with a top-shelf cathode-ray-tube (CRT) front projector, a Faroudja video processor, a 100-inch (diagonal) screen, and a killer sound system. Subsequently, I've measured every home theater experience against that one, making me a tough customer to please.

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Other Tech
High-Def Discs and Tapes
Al Griffin  |  Apr 02, 2002

There's no denying that digital high-definition TV (HDTV) is a vast improvement over our old analog TV system, but if you want to record any of the high-def programs delivered over the air by local broadcasters or via satellite from Dish Network or DirecTV, your options are ridiculously limited.

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Mitsubishi WS-73909
Al Griffin  |  Feb 18, 2002

Anyone who's set up a home theater system knows how much work is involved. Once you find the right TV and speaker system, you need to round up a stack of components, including a DVD player, a video recorder, and, perhaps, a satellite receiver. Then you have to spin a frightening web of wires to route all of those signals through your A/V receiver or preamp/surround processor.

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Other Tech
HDTV Year in Review
Al Griffin  |  Jan 21, 2002

First it was shark attacks and the Gary Condit debacle, and then came September 11. The year 2001 wasn't a great one overall, but it was pretty good for high-definition television (HDTV), which continues to make steady advances despite the drooping economy.

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Are You Ready for Some HDTV?
Al Griffin  |  Dec 06, 2001

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Other Tech
Make Your Own DVD!
Al Griffin  |  Oct 16, 2001

About eight years ago, as a recent college graduate working a low-stress job, I made my own short movie. I had a couple grand in the bank and a handful of friends willing to help out.

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Custom Installation How-To
Progressive Views: 4 Progressive-Scan DVD Players
Al Griffin  |  Oct 16, 2001

When progressive-scan DVD players first emerged almost two years ago, the already excellent picture quality we'd come to expect from standard players suddenly got a whole lot better. That's because the new models could convert video signals to a progressive-scan format for display on a TV or monitor with progressive-scan capabilities.

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