From dtv2009.gov: “At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital broadcasting. Digital broadcasting promises to provide a clearer picture and more programming options and will free up airwaves for use by emergency responders. If you do not have cable TV or satellite TV, and use only an antenna, and do not have a TV in your home with a built-in digital tuner, you are eligible for a $40 coupon toward a converter box from the feds. Hurry! Supplies are limited! [https://www.dtv2009.gov/]
Archive for the 'Home Theater' Category
An over-the-air HD (high definition) antenna allows you to get your locals (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, UPN, PBS) in HD for free if you have a HD TV. The picture and sound are great, but to take advantage of the HD digital audio, you need to run an optical audio cable to your home theater audio receiver.
- Get you a HD television with an integrated ATSC tuner. Vizio TVs are a great value.
- Get you a HD antenna. I recommend this Philips Antenna.
- Go to your local, non-Home Depot hardware store and get you a 5′ mast pole, a wall antenna mount kit, enough coaxial cable to run from the antenna to your TV, and the coax connectors for each end.
- Assemble your antenna per the directions included, mount the mast pole using the wall antenna mount kit, and slide the antenna onto the mast. Do not tighten completely.
- Run the coaxial cable from your TV out to where your antenna is and be sure to run the cable through that weather-proof rubber boot that is on the antenna to keep the moisture out of your coax. Twist-on or crimp-on the coax connectors and hook-up the coax to your TV and antenna.
- Point your antenna in the average direction of your local stations. You can find out where to aim your antenna by going to antennaweb.com. Depending on where you live, you may need to install a rotor to rotate your antenna to view all channels.
- Plug in your TV, turn it on, and go to the menu where you can scan for antenna channels. If you don’t get all the channels that you should per antennaweb.com, simply adjust the direction of the antenna and repeat. Tighten all nuts and bolts completely when finished.
From Wikipedia: “The series centers around Dan Vasser, a normal man who, for an unknown reason, begins jumping back in time. He soon learns that each series of jumps follows the life of a person whose destiny he seems meant to change, although it doesn’t always turn out for the better. While in the past, Dan reconnects with Livia Beale, his ex-fiancée, whom he lost in a plane crash. And Dan may find that Livia has a secret life of her own.”
Journeyman is basically a mix between any of the good dramas out right now and the classic sci-fi show, Quantum Leap. It has action, drama, comedic timing, great acting, excellent writing, and the mysterious ‘what does it all mean’ element. When he shifts through time, the props and sets are very nostalgic, and the show is suitable for family viewing. Journeyman is on Mondays at 9pm after the popular Heroes.
If you missed the first few episodes thus far, don’t worry, you can watch this season’s episodes online at NBC.com or download them using this tutorial.
- Get high-speed internets or go to someone’s house/business that has high-speed internets.
- Download and install a torrent file-sharing program. I use uTorrent.
- Download and install a video codec pack using default installation settings. I use K-Lite codec pack. This is necessary because Windows by default will not play this compressed avi video format, usually DivX or XviD, that these high-quality videos are in.
- Explore all the options, settings, and/or preferences in your torrent program. Remember or change where your downloaded files will be stored.
- Go to a website that shares TV show video torrents and download a torrent file. I use tvtorrents.com. You can also go to other sites that I will not mention here. If your torrent program doesn’t automatically perk up when you download the torrent file, open the torrent directly from your torrent program.
- Once the torrent file reaches 100% downloaded, share it (more specifically called seeding it) for a little while. Common etiquette is if you download a typical 350 meg show, let it seed for 350 megs.
- Browse to and open the downloaded video with your favorite media player. I use the Media Player Classic program that was installed in step 3 with the codec pack. If the video doesn’t play or if you just hear audio, you screwed up step 3 and must redo step 3.
Super optional bonus step: Go to your local store that is not wal-mart and purchase a DVD player that also plays DivX and XviD. Here is one from K-Mart. Here is one from Overstock. Once you own this player, burn your video(s) to DVD and play it on your console TV much like the one pictured above. If you must go to wal-mart, here’s what you do: find something that you still own, don’t use, and still have the box for. Box it up and take it back to wal-mart. They might take it back even without the receipt. Just don’t lie about it.
I recently purchased the HP dv2415nr entry level laptop (AMD 64 x2 1.8ghz, 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive, DVD-RW) that came pre-installed with Microsoft Vista. I have read many bad reviews of Vista online, but had not talked to anyone firsthand about this new OS. On first start-up, I had to go through a personalization process where I enter my time zone, etc. Once this painless initial setup was complete I got to see the new Microsoft OS.
Driver compatibility is a problem for some systems and Vista, but this HP was built specifically for Vista, so no problems so far. HP loaded this rig with tons of bloatware and I am currently in the process of removing it. Microsoft has added a DVD-maker program that is really promising and an updated Media Center that is slick. So far so good.
UPDATE: I am now very happy with my new HP laptop because I have quit Vista. I have gone back to the very fast and stable Windows XP Pro that I had been using. My problems with Vista were thus: poor wireless performance, extremely high RAM usage (Vista uses about 50% of your RAM no matter how much you have), poor driver compatibility. On the plus side, Vista was easy on the eyes- so I downloaded a skin for XP that makes it look like Vista. My HP is fast. I am happy.
Based on products sold in stores specifically for cleaning LCD displays, here is what I suggest:
- Mix equal parts rubbing alcohol and water in a clean spray bottle (no windex, etc. left in bottle).
- Acquire a lint-free cloth made for cleaning eyeglasses and displays.
- Spray, wipe, repeat (if necessary).
It has been suggested that eyeglasses cleaner works as well, however I have have not tested this.
DO NOT USE WINDEX ON YOUR SCREEN!