Canon EOS Rebel XT for sale at

Here are the pic's for fredmiranda members

LG dual-format plus BD-R at Best Buy

Just dropped by Best Buy online. They now have an LG dual-format HD DVD / Blu-ray player that also burns Blu-ray discs at 6x. I think the $329.99 is a little steep, but if you're looking to protect playback ability for your HD DVD discs while future-proofing your HD on PC setup, this could be a good purchase.

Adding OTA (over-the-air) HDTV to your PC

With a simple indoor antenna (RCA Basic Indoor Antenna), I now have HDTV on my PC. I've been watching the Oscars tonight, and the picture is truly impressive. Gone are the black bars on the sides of my 24" widescreen LCD.

Setup was simple. Open the antenna box, screw in the 2 extending poles and attach the co-axial cable to the "DTV In" plug on my ATSC/NTSC tuner.

Then, go into Windows Media Center and change your TV settings. It's mostly automatic, and Windows Media Center easily configured my signal for over-the-air HDTV combined with basic cable from Comcast.

The RCA antenna was only $13.43 at Amazon. It looks pretty wimpy next to the fancy ones that look like the radar towers on an aircraft carrier, but the user reviews were very positive, so I bought it thinking I could always go for a more expensive antenna if things didn't work out.

No need. The picture is crystal clear.

Sony - 8x Internal Blu-ray Disc Drive at Best Buy

Best Buy now carries Sony's BDU-X10S internal Blu-ray drive. Attractively priced at $199.99, this drive also ships with Cyberlink PowerDVD BD Edition software, so it's a pretty sweet package.

As with the LG dual-format drive, the Sony is 'not availabe for store pickup' and must be ordered online at BestBuy.com.

Plextor releases two Blu-ray / HD DVD combo drives

As reported at Engadget, venerable optical drive manufacturer Plextor is coming out with 2 dual-format drives. A higher-end unit that writes to BD and plays Blu-ray and HD DVD, and a less expensive model that plays both formats and writes to DVD's and CD's.

No pricing information is available, and the drives are expected to be available by the end of this month.

It will be interesting to see how the pricing on these drives compares to the dual-format LG drive, and what, if any, software ships with them.

LG drive returns to Best Buy. On sale, too.

Best Buy has the LG GGC-H20LI HD DVD / Blu-ray player back in stock. It's on sale right now for $239.99 - a very attractive price. Again, it's an 'online only' item.

I called the toll-free number for Customer Service to ask about the bundled software, but there was a 10-minute wait due to "unusually high call volume" - just once I'd like to call someplace and hear "we are currently experiencing normal call volume, someone will be with you in 10 seconds."

3 HP computers that play HD DVD & Blu-ray

You might get the impression this blog is affiliated with HP, as much as they are mentioned. That is not the case. HP seems to be the only major vendor that offers the combo HD-DVD / Blu-ray drive as an option.

After spending a little time at the HP Home & Home Office website, I have 3 systems configured and priced. Click on the PC image to see a web page with the configuration details and pricing.


First is the m9100z.














Next is the a6360t:













And, last but not least, a Slimline model, the s3300t:

HD-DVD / Blu-ray capable PC on sale at Office Depot

Want to watch HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies on your PC? Here’s your chance. Office Depot has a good deal this week on an HP Pavilion Elite Media Center PC that can do just that. With a total discount of $450 the final price is $799.99 – pretty hot. The discount is split - $270 Instant and $180 mail-in.

The main spec’s are AMD Phenom 9500 (2.2GHz) quad core processor, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, TV Tuner and nVidia GeForce 8400GS 256MB graphics card.

This is an ‘in-store’ only deal – you will not find it on the Office Depot website. I spoke with John at my local OD store, and he said there is also free shipping on this system with estimated build time of 6 days.

You can us the in-store Computer Design Station to upgrade components without losing the discounts. Depending on the monitor you plan to use with this, I would recommend upgrading to either the GeForce 512MB 8500GT (I have that card in my HP m9060n, and it drives my 24” Dell LCD without a hitch) or the GeForce 512MB 8600GT. The upgrade price s are $80 and $130 respectively.

To get an idea of how you want your system configured, you can go to the TechDepot site, click the ‘Build a PC’ tab in the upper left, and enter ‘43565888’ in the configuration code dialog box. This will bring up a page with all the options for this system. The prices do not match exactly with in-store prices, but are close.

I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t mention the issue with HP’s high-def playback software. This program, generically titled “DVD Play HD/BD DVD”, does not play BD-J (Blu-ray Java) discs, as far as I know. My system shipped with the October-2007 version of the software, and it would not play Surf’s Up, a BD-J release. And HP had no patch as of November.

So, you’d be within your rights to ask the Office Depot salesperson for a discount or other consideration to cover the cost of Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra, which can handle the BD-J discs, as well as standard Blu-ray and HD-DVD. As you will not really be able to prove your point until the system arrives, you might have to arrange to bring it to the store with a copy of a BD-J movie and prove that it won’t play. It’s possible HP has patched the software by now, but it would be worth it to cover your bases in case they haven’t.

Update - re: graphics cards. I just looked at the nVidia features page for the GeForce 8400GS. nVidia says it supports up to 1920 x 1200 resolution, which is 1080p on a 24" monitor. You can compare this to the resolutions supported by the 8500 & 8600 cards to make your decision.

3 sources for HP m9060n HD DVD / Blu-Ray desktop

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Best Buy no longer carries the HP m9060n. This is the PC I bought and use to watch HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. In addition to playing high-def movies, this desktop also has a combo TV-tuner for over-the-air HDTV reception, or HDTV through your cable or satellite provider. Besides the HD capabilities, it's just a nicely configured system overall with 2 - 320GB hard drives, Intel Core Quad Q6600 processor, 3GB RAM and plenty of ports.

I have located 3 more vendors for this system. Amazon's web site says they have 'only 1 left' - priced at $1450. Then there's PCMall, which has the same price and says they are 'generally in stock.' With a slightly higher price, there's TigerDirect, which has them in stock at $1510.

If you're ready for high-def viewing on your desktop - this is an excellent choice.

Best Buy no longer carries HP m9060n

Well, the computer/vendor combination that initiated my whole 'HD on PC' experience is no longer available.

The HP m9060n which I got from Best Buy, is no longer listed for sale. No big loss, as you could order the m9040n model for $1155 and get the LG HD-DVD/Blu-ray combo drive at the same time (for $299). The kicker, of course, is that you'd have to install the drive yourself or have Geek Squad do it. You'll find it well worth the trouble once you witness high-definition playback (with the right monitor).

HD-DVD / Blu-ray combo player available for PC

Good news! The LG dual-format internal drive, which plays both HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs (and came pre-installed on my HP m9060n dekstop), is in stock at several vendors. You can see a list of vendors at Pricegrabber.

I didn't have time to contact all these vendors to ask what playback software, if any, ships with the drive. I did contact one vendor, PCAlchemy, and they said the drive ships with an OEM version of Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra. This is the software I ended buying for my HP in order to play BD-J movies (Blu-ray Java, as explained at Wikipedia). PCAlchemy's price is $319, a little higher than some.

Now, here's an interesting note. Out of curiosity, I went the the HP site and pulled up the list of replacement parts for my desktop. The dual-format drive has a red 'X' next to it, meaning it is one of the original components that you cannot order a replacement unit for.

So, I was pretty surpristed to see 'HP Small Business' listed as a seller of this drive at Pricegrabber. I checked the link, and sure enough, you can order this drive through HP, but it's not listed as being available for owners of systems that shipped with the drive installed. And, the $250.98 price is the lowest I've seen. What's up with that? If I have time, I'll ask HP about that.

Blu-ray hardware sales jump

People apparently had quite a reaction to the recent Blu-Ray ‘victory’ over HD DVD.
As reported at High-Def Digest, Blu-ray’s market share of hardware sales jumped from just over half to 93% in one week.

Credit also goes to The Digital Bits web site for reporting on this.

The positive piece of this is that it shows people are, indeed, paying attention to what’s going on in high-definition.

Before you abandon HD DVD, there are still a lot of movies scheduled to be released, including American Gangster on 2/19, Beowulf on 2/26 and Bee Movie on 3/11.

Speaking of Beowulf, Apple has a high-def trailer (two, actually) available for free download. It’s pretty impressive, and if you want to get an idea of what HD would look like on your PC, this would be a good place to start. You’ll be prompted to download Apple Quicktime player to view the trailers.

A special thanks to Randy Salas, technology journalist with the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and author of the popular Technobabble blog. It was Randy who brought this news to my attention and provided the links for this article.

What about HDTV?

At this point, I’m sticking to watching HD movies on my computer. I’m quite curious about what HDTV will be like, and plan to add it to my system and this blog, but not right now.

I recently went through a lengthy discussion with Comcast about my internet/TV package, and somehow managed to get my bill down to $60 a month from $130. I have basic cable, which I watch on my computers, but I want to enjoy the lower bill for a couple months before I get into HDTV.

In addition, I’m considering a satellite service for HDTV and need to research my options there as well. So, I can’t offer you any help with HDTV on a PC at this point, but it will be covered in detail when the time comes.

Toshiba laptops 20% off

I got an email from Toshiba today offering 20% off customizable laptops. I started with a basic configuration and upgraded to an Intel T7250 chip, ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 graphics card, 2GB RAM, Vista Home Premium (that was 20 bucks!) WSXGA+ 17" TruBrite display at 1680X1050, dual 120GB hard drives, and, the best part, an HD DVD player that doubles as a DVD/CD read/write drive.

Then I tweaked the wireless from a/b/g to a/g/n for $20, threw in Bluetooth and harmon kardon speakers, and lastly upgraded to the 9-cell battery.

Adding all those goodies generated a list price of $2112. Knock that down by the 20% discount and it's $1689.60. Not cheap, but not bad either. And, you could trim this configuration down and still have a 17" laptop that plays HD DVD movies.

1 great, 1 good deal this week

In this week's Sunday flyer, Office Depot has a great deal on a HP (m9000t) desktop with the dual-format HD DVD/Blu-Ray drive. Other spec's are Core 2 Duo (you'll have to go to the web site to get the processor number), 3GB RAM, 750GB hard drive and TV tuner. The ad doesn't mention the graphics card, but I'm guessing it's an nVidia GeForce 8500GT. So this is pretty much a complete HTPC (home theater PC). Priced at $999.99 for the PC only, it's a very, very good deal.

The 'good' deal this week is at Office Max, of all places. OM has a Toshiba (P205-S7476) notebook with an HD DVD drive, 17" widescreen display, Core 2 Duo T5250 and 200GB hard drive for $899.99. If you go to the Office Max website, it can be difficult to navigate and search results are very iffy, in my experience. It helps to have the OM product number, which is 2152-4316 in this case.

Sony Vaio LT-series All-in-ones with Blu-ray

Sony's venerable Vaio lineup now includes the LT-series. These all-in-ones pack a lot of hardware into a compact and stylish design. With Blu-ray read/write drives, TV tuners and 22" widescreen displays, they should provide a quality desktop Blu-ray and HDTV viewing experience. Missing, of course, is HD DVD capability. I compared 3 configurations at SonyStyle, with prices from $1999 to $3299, and the $2099 model looks like the best buy. As always, you pay a premium for the Sony brand name.

Dell's new Crystal monitor - desktop work of art

Dell has brought out a 22" widescreen LCD called the 'Crystal'. With it's thin, tempered glass extended bezel and 4 speakers prominently encased in the glass, it is as striking a monitor as you will find to sit down in front of. A native resolution of 1680 x 1050 should be fine for viewing HD content, though some might prefer 1920 x 1200. It's HD-ready with DVI-D and HDMI connectivity. You can read Gizmodo's opinion here, and get the technical minutiae from Dell. Seeing is believing, so here you go:

Is your PC ready for HD?

Cyberlink, purveyor of PowerDVD Ultra, has a handy tool on their website, the Cyberlink BD/HD Advisor that will scan your system and tell you if your components are ready to handle HD content. Downloading is a breeze with broadband, the file is 2MB. I hooked my HD-ready HP computer to a non-HD monitor to see if the Advisor correctly identified things - it did. Here's a screen shot of the initial screen:
And here is a screenshot of the scan results, which took less than a minute to run. As you can see, the Advisor correctly flagged the monitor as not ready for HD.

Nielsen High Definition TV (HDTV) Estimates for U.S.

The ubiquitous Nielsen Media Research released, in October, it's estimates for HDTV penetration in U.S. households. You can read their report here.

Interestingly, Nielsen's numbers don't match up very well with estimates of HDTV usage by the Consumer Electronics Association, as noted on the Broadcasting & Cable website.

Amazon giving away 100-disc Blu-ray and HD DVD libraries

Amazon is holding a sweepstakes giving away 60 HD-player/100-disc library prizes. Winners receive either a Blu-ray player or HD DVD player and 100 discs in the matching format. Contest ends February 12. Here are the links:
AMAZON.COM 2008 BLU-RAY GIVEAWAY SWEEPSTAKES
AMAZON.COM 2008 HD DVD GIVEAWAY SWEEPSTAKES

HD from Redmond? Windows Media High Definition Video

If you want to see what HD looks like on your PC, Windows Media High Definition Video has several shorts in 720p and 1080p. Click this logo to get there:

Yahoo Movies has HD trailers

Click this logo to go to Yahoo's HD movie trailer page.

Hoping to hear from LG Electronics

My contact at LG is back in the office today. I hope to hear from her this week regarding my request for a GGC-H20L evaluation unit.

More Vendors For HP m9060n dual-format HD PC

Here are 3 vendors besides Best Buy that carry the HP m9060n - when I checked yesterday, it was in stock at all of them. I think B & H Photo had the best price.
m9060n at Amazon
m9060n at B & H
m9060n at PCMall

You can watch high definition movies on your PC

You can watch HD DVD and Blu-ray movies on your pc. This blog will show you how. More to come as soon as I have time. Come back soon.

HP m9060n not exclusive to Best Buy

I just did a little searching, and my post about this PC being exclusive to Best Buy is not correct. I found several vendors that also carry it. When I bought mine in November, I couldn't find it anywhere except Best Buy. I will try to post some links later.

You Can Watch HD DVD & Blu-Ray Movies on a PC

You can watch HD DVD & Blu-Ray movies on your PC. First you need the right PC. I recommend the HP m9060n that is only available online through Best Buy. This PC has been at BestBuy.com for a couple months, and I don't know how much longer it will be available. This PC will play both HD DVD and Blu-Ray movies.

Next you need a monitor that is large enough to allow you to really enjoy the beauty of high-definition content and also is HDCP-compliant. Rather than worry about what HDCP is, you can just get a Dell UtlraSharp flat panel monitor in the 24" or 27" size. I have the Dell 2407WFP UltraSharp 24" LCD monitor, pictured above, and HD content is absolutely stunning on it. Dell also has the 2707WFP UltraSharp, a 27" version which I haven't seen first-hand, but I hear is terrific also. The 24" is $699 and the 27" is on sale now for $995, a really good price. Don't be mislead by the ads you see for HDTV's. A PC display is a different animal than a TV. Sure, you can get a 32" 720p TV for less than the Dell displays, but the image quality is not even in the ballpark of the Dell's. These Dell monitor's come with a 3-year warranty, too.

OK, you have the PC, you have the monitor, just slip in The Bourne Ultimatum, HD DVD and play, right? Sorry, not so fast. As far as I can figure, and I'm not certain of this, the HP m9060n was a one-time production run by HP exclusively for BestBuy. I have been unable to locate this exact model anywhere else, including HP's web site. (You can configure your own PC at HP's web site, but with the same hardware as the 9060, it comes out at least $200 more. Anyway, HP somehow managed to ship these to BestBuy minus the software needed to play HD and BD discs. So, before you can cruise down the high-def highway, you need an update to your PC software. Just go to the HP website, click the 'Support' link, then 'Support & Drivers', enter your model number (m9060n), then on the 'Software & Driver downloads'click the 'Windows Vista 32-bit' link, which takes you to the page with all the drivers, etc. for your system. You will see HP DVD BD and HD DVD app update. Click that, download and run the file, and NOW you can WATCH The Bourne Ultimatum in all it's 1080p glory.

That's not quite the end of the story, though. Want to watch Surf's Up next? So did I, but it wouldn't play. Surf's Up is a Blu-Ray, and I couldn't get it to play. Thinking I had a bad disc, I sent it back to Netflix and got a replacement, which wouldn't play either. I had already watched some other Blu-Ray movies, so I was puzzled by why Surf's Up wouldn't play. I little research revealed that there is more than one type of Blu-Ray disc (just what we need). Some Blu-Ray movies, including Surf's Up, are what is called Blu-Ray-Java, or BD-J, for short. These discs have some Java code or something that is used for 'special' special features - a kind of souped-up interactive menu. After some frustrating time at the HP Support site, I came to the conclusion that HP's software would not play BD-J movies. By now, I really had a jones to watch Surf's Up, no matter what it took. With a little more research, I found that CyberLink had a just-released version of it's DVD software, CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra, that would play BD-J movies. So I bought the download version for around $100. After setting up PowerDVD Ultra, I put Surf's Up in the drive and much to my relief, the movie played (it looked awesome, and I enjoyed the story immensely).

Well, I was a little upset about having to pay $100 for the ability to watch BD movies with the Java features, so I called Best Buy. They were pretty nice, and after being put on hold for a quick 'check with my supervisor' I was given a $100 Best Buy gift card (came in the mail a week later). Fair enough, if you ask me.

This may sound like more trouble than it's worth, but I would do it all over again in a minute. This is the ideal setup for me - I share my apartment with Lucas, my cat, and space is at a premium. A 'normal' TV set up, with a large TV in the corner or against the wall, and an easy chair or couch from which to watch, just takes up too much space. With a PC as my TV, I can sit in my comfy tilt/swivel office chair, put my feet up on the footrest, and watch TV or movies while I check email, connect to the office and work, or do other stuff. With the HD movies though, I usually turn the lights off and just watch the show.

If your lifespace is similar to mine, this is a great way to get FullHD and you get a smoking new Vista computer to do other things besides watch movies. Go for it and enjoy. Ben

High definition options on Dell desktops

Here is a screenshot of HD drive options for Dell desktops.

High definition options on Dell notebooks

Here is a screenshot of high definition drive options on Dell notebook computers. When you choose the Blu-Ray drive option, you will be prompted to upgrade the processor to a minimum of an Intel T7250, and to upgrade the graphics to a256MB nVidia 8600M GT. Dell has 2 options for the 17" display - 1440 x 900 and a glossy HD display at 1920 x 1200 - which would be great for movies but would really squeeze for desktop for regular applications.

LG internal dual-format drive sold out at Best Buy

Well, I just dropped by the BestBuy web site, and the LG dual-format drive is Sold Out. If you are considering one of these to turn your PC into a high-definition media player, here is a link to product page at Best Buy. This item has gone from 2-3 weeks order-to-ship date, to ships same day, to sold out. The good news is it means there are plenty of people out there enjoying HD movies on their PC displays.

If you're anxious to have HD-movie playback on your PC, you might consider the Pioneer - 8x Internal Blu-ray Disc Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive, at Best Buy now for $299, and ships the next day.

Dual-format drives still available at HP

UPDATE: OK, I just got back for the HP website. They still offer the dual-format HD DVD / Blu-Ray drive on some sytems, for $250. They also have a dual-format that will burn HD DVD discs in addition to playing both formats. That's a $350 option. I looked at the m9100z, pretty nice-looking box. I like the glossy piano-black finish on the front - which is what I have on my m9060n.

What's going on with HD drive at HP?

I just got the latest catalog from HP. Now they apparently only offer an HD-DVD drive as an upgrade. I will check out their website and see if the HD DVD / Blu-Ray dual-format is still an option.

UPDATE: OK, I just got back for the HP website. They still offer the dual-format HD DVD / Blu-Ray drive on some sytems, for $250. They also have a dual-format that will burn HD DVD discs in addition to playing both formats. That's a $350 option. I looked at the m9100z, pretty nice-looking box. I like the glossy piano-black finish on the front - which is what I have on my m9060n.

Details of HP m9060n Media Center PC

HP m9060n Specifics :The price is $1414.99. It comes with the LG GGC-H20li dual-format optical drive, which plays HD DVD & Blu-Ray movies, and also burns/plays regular DVD's and CD's. Other spec's are 3GB RAM, "640GB" hard drive (which is actually 2 separate drives: a 320GB 'C:' drive that includes a 'D:' recovery partition, and a 320GB 'E:' drive, which is basically blank - a nice setup for keeping the OS and program files on C: and all your personal files on E:. This PC has an nVidia 8500GT graphics card with 512MB of memory, which is plenty strong for the monitors I will recommend later on. A combo ATSC/NTSC TV tuner is also included, so you can connect your coaxial TV cable and also connect an antenna if you want to watch over-the-air HDTV.

Another way to watch HD movies on your PC would be to install the LG dual-format drive into an existing PC (you would still need an HDCP monitor, of course). I have contacted LG Electronics requesting an evaluation copy of the GGC-H20 drive, and the person who handles that kind of stuff replied that she is out of the office until January 13. I considered this option before buying the HD-ready HP m9060n, but decided I wanted to get the Quad-Core processor, Windows Vista and the combo TV tuner on the BestBuy model. Another factor was warranty - Best Buy was, once again, the only retailer I found that carries the HD DVD/Blu-Ray capable LG drive, priced at $299. I called Best Buy to find out what a 3-year Service Plan for the drive would cost, and they said it is not an option for that product. When dealing with newer technologies, I like to beef up the standard warranty when possible. I was able to do this with the 9060 PC mentioned in this article, getting a 3-year In Home Performance Service Plan for $299 from Best Buy. I know many articles have been written about the cost/benefit of extended warranties, but to me the peace of mind in this case is well worth it.

About Dell Monitors

Let's talk a litte about Dell's UltraSharp monitors. When LCD's first moved into the mainstream a few years ago, it was time for me replace my venerable Mitsubishi DiamondTron CRT monitor (which weighed about as much as a Honda Fit). My initial research consisted of reading reviews, then going to the local Best Buy and seeing the actual monitors. For the most part, I was not impressed with what I saw. And with LCD prices being what they were back then, I wanted for information before parting with a good chuck of hard-earned dollars. Digging a little deeper into the research heirarchy, I came across some interesting information about LCD's. The most useful thing I discovered is that were are a lot more brands of retail LCD's than there were manufacturer's of the panels themselves. I learned (a little) about the different types of panels that go into retail LCD's : from TN (twisted nematic) to MVA (multi-domain vertical alignment) to IPS (in-plane switching) and the subsequent S-IPS (Super in-plane switching) and so on. If you want the gritty details, you can find them here. I also learned that as panels come off the assembly line, they are sorted, or graded, by quality, with the 'low-grade' panels going into no-name displays, and the better panels being used by the brands we're all familiar with. But, even among the better grade of panels, there is still a significant variation in panel quality. It turns out that Dell was, and is, very picky about which panels go into it's UltraSharp displays. Armed with this tidbit, I looked for reviews of Dell flat-panels, and found one glowing review after another. Usually with unfiltered product reviews, you get the occasional grump the who gives the lowest rating. I'm sure you've seen this when reading reviews of a product you use and love. The only problems with Dell was I couldn't see the display in person. However, I was so impressed with what I had read about their manufacturing process that I decided to take a gamble and order a 20" 2007WFP. The 3-year factory warranty was better than most, providing a little wiggle room in case of problems. It was, after all, my first flat-panel, and they were definitely not as ubiquitous as today. Well, the 2007WFP was a winner with me. And as soon as I could afford, which took a couple years, I ordered a 24" 2407WFP.

The image on the 2407WFP is better than anything I've ever seen, and I hang out at Best Buy a lot, so I've seen a lot of Samsung's (which get good reviews, but I've never seen one I liked) and others. So, for your HD experience on your PC, I highly recommend the Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP at around $700. If you have the moolah, the 27" 2707WFP (pictured above) is even more of a good thing, but might actually be too big for some desktop setups, although some people say you can't have too much desktop real-estate.

Both the Dell's have DVI-D cables and are HDCP-compliant, a requirement for viewing HD content. Don't let anyone tell you you need an HDMI cable to get full HD, HDMI and DVD-D carry the same amount and quality of content data.