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Help, I Need a New HDTV! (Part 2 of 5)
Feeling overwhelmed in selecting a new TV? With all the choices these days, you may feel like, "Where do I start?!" In part 2 of our 5 part article, we the discuss the options in TV technologies --- Plasma. Plasma technology contains millions of "pixels" that contain a rare natural gas. This gas when excited by a small electrical charge produces colors and light to display the picture on the screen. Plasma is great for home theaters because it reproduces high motion video exceptionally well. On the other hand, if you have members of your family who like video games, I would rule Plasma TV's out-mainly due to something called "burn-in". Downfalls. The biggest downfall of Plasma TV's is their half-life. As the TV ages it will naturally loose some brilliance and color depth. The good news-even with an average use of 4 hrs a day your plasma would still yield a half life of ten years. Not too shabby. Burn-in is another downfall. Burn in is result of an image being displayed too often or for too long. Common ones are network logos, computer icons, video games, etc. The pixels involved get damaged and develop a "memory". This information actually becomes "burned in" to the screen. The good news-with care, you can drastically reduce the chances of burn in. Benefits. Plasmas are among the thinnest TVs on the market up to 4" in depth. They are very suitable for Wall mounting or spaces for depth of the TV is a critical factor. Plasmas are produced in sizes ranging from 37" to over 70". Prices range from $1,400 to $17,000. LCD. This technology is emerging from the computer world. Most small flat screen computer monitors are LCD. LCD does well in smaller sizes (50" or less), and produces still images and deep blacks rather nicely. In my opinion, they produce some of the best still images of any TV in the market. LCD TV's uses transistors to supply voltage to liquid-crystal-filled cells sandwiched between two sheets of glass. These voltages make the crystals untwist in varying degrees to filter light into varying shades of color. Benefits. LCD are also very thin TVs with the thickest depth at approximately six inches. Pricing ranges from $600 to $5000. In addition, for the energy conscious individual, LCD's consume the least amount of electricity to operate. DLP. DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology utilizes a small "Digital Micromirrors Device" (DMD) to tilt more than 1.3 million micromirrors. The mirrors tilt to reflect light to create the picture. A color wheel produces the varying shades of colors that reflect on the micromirrors. Downfalls. If you are looking for a thin TV, or to mount on the wall? this is not the option for you. DLP TVs have depths as deep as 18". Benefits. DLP TV's show the intention of having the longest life. The only part that will fail or affect image quality is the bulb life. Rated at 80,000 hours and being replaceable, average viewing of 4 hrs a day, make this a great TV for the next 50 years! * Next in Part 3 of this article: What is HDTV? ©2005 Architechtronics, Inc. All rights reserved. To stay on the cutting-edge of home automation, theater, and technology join "The EDGE" today-it's free! http://www.architechtronics .com/edge.html Brett Griffin lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. Brett has 12 years of experience in the technology industry and strives to seamlessly blend high performance technologies into one easy to use system. As co-founder of Architechtronics, Brett uses his creativity and experience to help builders, dealers, and homeowners meet their technology desires in their home.
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15 Good Programming Habits 1. Before sitting down for coding, you must have formal or a paper-napkin design of the solution to be coded. Never start coding without any design unless the code is trivial one. iPod - Learn How It Can Solve Everyday Problems All over the world, people carry with them walkmans and other music devices so that they can play their favorite music as they move around from place to place. The latest thing in the portable music devices field is the iPod, which offers a higher quality of the music being played and one of the most compact design out there. How To Recognize The Telltale Signs Of Spyware Spyware is the software that collects information about your online activities and preferences. The information is then sent to another computer with the intention of selling it to online advertisers. How to Place Home Theater Speakers You have your television and home theater receiver; you just bought your new speakers and subwoofer and are ready to test things out. It's time to break out the measuring tape because precision is vital to achieving the full potential of your home theater system. For this article, we are going to focus on a 5.1 surround sound system. The term "5.1" refers to the number of speakers and subwoofers in the system respectively. So for a 5.1 surround sound system, there are five speakers (the center channel, the two front speakers, and the two rear speakers) and one subwoofer. Bluetooth Technology: Tips for Buying Headsets or Headphones The technological horizon has always got something new to offer, and among the most recent of these offerings is Bluetooth enhanced hardware. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this latest-and-greatest technology, headsets and headphones in the Bluetooth line offer the ability to use your cell phone without the need for hands or dangling wires. In other words, when you have one of these, you've got yourself a wireless piece of hardware that attaches to the ear which allows cell phone communications to take place without the inconvenience or hassle of holding the phone to your ear or trailing long wires from the headset to the body of the phone. Web Standards HTTP Protocol How to Use SQLXML to Retrieve Data from SQL Server Database? Using SQL Server 2000 and above versions you can retrieve data from SQL Server in XML format directly from the database. Many XML related features were incorporated in the SQL Server database. This enables the development of XML enabled applications very easy and it makes exchange of data over internet easy. In this article we will discuss about how to use SQLXML to retrieve data directly from SQL server database in XML format. Classification of Computers Computers are available in different shapes, sizes and weights, due to these different shapes and sizes they perform different sorts of jobs from one another. Help, I Need a New HDTV! (Part 3 of 5) Feeling overwhelmed in selecting a new TV? With all the choices these days, you may feel like, "Where do I start?!" The Benefits of Open Source If you are a building a website or a forum, chances are you are using a web editor or paying for message board services. The costs of using these "out of the box" products can add up, especially if you are trying to grow your business. Let's look at some good "open source" options for you to consider. You may be surprised at how much money open source can save you. Digital Cameras Ratings Abolish Camera Comparison Guesswork Digital cameras ratings are great tools for deciding which camera best fits your needs and budget. Digital camera reviews are often just the reviewer's opinion. But ratings consider all the specifications, features, how the camera was designed and test results. These facts are then analyzed and summarized to help the reader make an objective decision. Plasma TV vs LCD TV For those seeking to buy their first flat panel TV display device, it is easy to be confused with conflicting and counter claims by different interest parties. So what is the truth in the competition between LCD and Plasma TV? Here's are some pointers before you rush out and buy your flat panel TV on impulse . Just consider and keep them in mind when choosing. Actually, both types of technologies have their pros and cons. Let's start with various factors. Picture Quality Plasma TVs have better contrast ratios and show better blacks than an LCD TV. That means in a dark scene, you are able to see images more clearly defined. This is because in LCD technology, liquid crystals are unable to shut off all the light completely due to the presence of the backlight resulting in light leakage and therefore it is impossible to get absolute black.I understand plasma TVs are able to produce better color saturation than LCD TVs. Generally, the native resolution of LCD TVs are higher than that of plasma TVs so you may get greater details when watching your programs especially in high definition video sources. Screen Size If you looking for a really big screen, then you have to go for plasma TV as they are available in sizes up to 60 inches. LCD TV on the hand come in maximum sizes of up to 40 inches. If you compare prices on both technologies for the same screen size, you will also realise LCD TVs are more expensive. Life span Troubleshooting Computer Freeze (Lockup) Problems How familiar does the following sound? Your computer was working fine, but then suddenly started locking up (aka hanging or freezing), rebooting itself (crashing) or shutting down spontaneously? If you know only too well what I am talking about, then read on! Performing the simple steps below can fix the majority of lockup cases. Why Using an Ad Blocker Can be a Bad Idea Ad Blocking is getting to be a common sport on the internet. Now there are some legitimate uses for an ad blocker. Some ad companies resort to downright harassment when serving their ads using annoying pop ups, flying ads, floating ads and the like. Blocking these types of ads are not a problem. Using an ad blocker though to block all ads on a site including text ads, banner ads, etc is wrong and here's why. Desktop Security Software Risks - Part 2 This is the third in a series of articles highlighting reasons why we need a new model for anti-virus and security solutions. How To Have Two (Multiple) Copies Of Windows Having two operating systems is not as difficult as many of us consider. It just requires little hard work and some good equipment. By equipments I mean good hard disk space and good RAM sometimes, depending upon which operating systems you are going to install. Review of Rio MP3 Players Below you will find some useful information and comments about a few of the most popular MP3 players by Rio, including the Nitrus, Carbon, Cali, and Forge. None of these MP3 players are perfect, but each offers a unique set of strengths and weaknesses that should be taken into consideration before you purchase any one of them. Be sure to compare price, usability, and the overall performance of each. Palm PC critique I met an entrepreneur who hole heartedly disagree with an article in Advertising Age by Bradley Johnson that Palm Pilot can keep their market share through brand name. We discussed RIMM Research in Motion and my stock in that company and I defended the wireless venue, but he went into a tirade, luckily I used a digital recorder and got most of it; basically here is his critique: Customize Your Portable Player with an MP3 Player Accessory Everywhere you look today people are listening to personal audio players. And many look for ways to personalize and/or enhance their experience. That's where the mp3 player accessory comes in. What Exactly are Screensavers? - part I After reading this good article you will know some important information about screensavers and their history. You will find out how screensavers are different from other applications and what advantages you'll have if you use them. If you have a laptop or a notebook you can also find useful things.
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