DaveSimmons

www.AVSForum.com rear projection forum has owner threads on most models. FYI my brother has owned a 61" Samsung from last year's HLR- 1080p series for about 9 months now and is still very happy with it. I'll probably be buying this HLS- 50" I just need to go see if it's too big for my living room. Also try: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com

This is the best 50" 1080p DLP out right now, it's the new 2006 model with game mode (disables image processing to remove slight lag), upgraded 10-bit color processing, true 1080p HDMI inputs (most 1080p DLPs only have 1080i inputs). Great price too. Pay with a platinum CC that doubles warranty and you'll have 2 years parts/labor in-home warranty including the projector bulb.

Last time I checked the MCE doesn't come with the recording and DVD authoring software for regular Win XP that the non-MCE version has. They expect you to use MCE itself, or another program like SageTV or BeyondTV. I have the regular PVR-150 and it works well for transferring non-commercial (not copy protected) VHS tapes or in my case laserdiscs to DVD.

Curiosity ++ ; // !!!!!!!!!!!!!! If only I hadn't clicked this thread, I'd be spared the torment of wondering!

We adopted a family one year at my old job, but we haven't done that at my current one yet. What I do instead is donate money to Northwest Harvest which supplies food banks for all of Washington state, I figure that I'm helping a bunch of families a little bit instead of one family a lot. Picking up extra toys on BF is a great idea though -- kids need toys and fun not just food :)

It's finally here, 10 years of C&H in one collection! Buy.com http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=31047634&loc=106&sp=1 has it $6.62 cheaper than Amazon, and unlike Amazon it ships free.

I'm too lazy to stay up late or get up early to fight my way to a B&M deal, so unless the deals are here at GD I'll be spending $0. If I decide to get the HD TV this year instead of next I'll definitely be keeping an eye out.

Looks good, I just felt sorry for anyone who missed the fine print from MS on that and didn't realize their $699 preorder would not play Halo 1-2, Fable, etc.

Just a suggestion, but you might save some people grief (and even make a little more) if you add a sentence something like this to the xbox360 preorder page: PSA: if you want to play Xbox 1 games on your Xbox360 you should order the deluxe system, since those games require the hard drive to run. it could also be asterisked to really be obtrusive :) AmazonUK, &209, core system * * PSA if ....

If money's no object, the latest Samsung 50 - 61" DLP TVs do offer 1080p (the HLR-5078W, - 5678W, - 6178W) but prices start at $3500.

Yes, my grown-up side tells me to wait, but my inner child is whining for a new toy. I got a nice bonus this year at the end of May and so far all I've done is send some money off to Schwab. Boring!

I still have a 32" non-HD 4:3 which is a good size for 4:3 viewing but small for most of what I watch (widescreen DVD). I'm trying to decide whether to buy this year or wait, since I'll probably move next year and by then the blu-ray/hd-dvd copy protection might be settled. Today's $1500 Plasma deal looks good from the Amazon user reviews, though from one of them service might be an issue.

Newegg had to step in for their customers after Soyo wasn't sending motherboard rebates. 32" 16:9 is a little small for a main TV, especially for watching 4:3 programming. 42" is more reasonable, or go crazy and buy yesterday's $1700 Samsung DLP 50".

The Axim also works well as a music player (though you'll have the muvo) and ebook reader (free SF titles at baen.com, including a bunch of David Drake).

The only drawbacks are that you can't put in a hard drive (only ever used for FF XI?) and the old desgin is easy to find warez modchips for. Since I buy my games and don't care about FF XI, I :heart; my PSTwo. A really cool uncle will also pick up a copy of Katamari Damacy to go with it :)

Great deal, user reviews on AVSForum.com are positive for a cheap recorder. Only drawback (true of most recorders under $200) is that audio is recorded as mpeg layer 2 instead of PCM or Dolby 2.0 so some DVD players (2+ years old) won't play the audio.

If you aren't going to install Windows MCE 2005, or buy PVR software (SageTV / Beyond TV $65) and a remote, you're better off getting the retail non-MCE version for $80-95 since it comes with software and remote. I think Amazon carries it too. AT's Software forum has had a few threads on Sage and BeyondTV, an Advanced Search could find them. Some power users don't like the Hauppage bundled software, but I'll finally get a chance to try it myself next weekend since I've finally finished off some other projects I needed to do first.

So far I've gotten my Canon A80 digicam, Onkyo TXSR-602 receiver, and Creative Nomad Zen Xtra through GottaDeal deals, and my employer was supposed to be ordering 1-2 of the Dell 2001FPs for trade shows. So I can't complain too much :) EBGames has a buy-2-get-1-free deal on used games, so I was able to get DBZ Budokai free (supposedly about what it's worth) to go with Final Fantasy X and Evil Dead: Fistfull of Boomstick. Now all I need is more free time to play all those and the Katamari Damacy disc I already have. Too bad I can't take a couple of months off from work to catch up on my gaming :)

Looks like I've successfully stumped the ferengi, and will have to settle for the Visa Platinum warranrty extension. That might actually be fine, since the Sony website says the normal warranty is 1 year, not the 90 days labor of most other Sony products these days. Also, it looks like EBGames and Newegg both sell the bare console without forcing you to make a "bundle" like Buy.com does. Newegg got in a few units today but is already out of stock again -- anyone wanting to buy from them should use the email notifcation and order immediately when they notify you.

Looking for a PS2 slim in stock for online orders, with an available extended warranty for when it breaks. Preferably one where they don't make me buy a $50 game to get the console (like Buy.com does). I might take a deal on a pre-owned PS2 (big or slim), but then I'd definitely need the extended warranty This could be a tough one -- Sony's really dropped the ball on manufacturing enough PSTwos after Xmas.

the PVR-150's are the best cards for recording TV and analog video under $150. They're just as good as the PVR-250 models they replaced, they just cost less. For the MCE edition under "plain" XP you need your own remote, and recorder software like Sage or BeyondTV. The retail / non-mce version costs more ($80-100) but includes a remote and software (both for "plain" XP, *not* for Windows XP MCE 2005). I have the retail version, but it's sitting in a box until I have time to install it and start capturing some laserdiscs (Han Solo fired first!)

Nice computer for a parent / grandparent for email and surfing since they don't have to learn scary stuff like connecting the keyboard and monitor to the CPU, and they can use it anywhere without a computer desk. Only bad part would be if it doesn't come with a restore CD (they don't say) for when grandpa clicks on a few "your computer needs optimizing" and weatherbug links.

Like I said when Amazon had this deal, I recommend Simpsons season 1, for good commentaries from Groening & co. on how it all started, and for some surprisingly good episodes. Albert Brooks as Marge's bowling instructor / love interest is almost worth the $15 by itself :)

That's the one everyone recommends in the AT GH forum, though some people also like the OEM Pioneer 108 and Lite-on SOHW-1622S. My Pioneer A06 is still humming along so I'm only considering a new one to set up a home theater PC. Put in the Hauppage PVR250 or 350 (both with hardware MPEG2 goodness) and you have a DVD recorder with hard drive that also can play any music format, and other video formats like divx and quicktime. I didn't get around to using the CompUSA Hauppage deal, so hopefully you guys will find some other one, or will get a deal on the replacement models :)

Since there are media Deals as low as 40-50 cents, you're really paying $50-60 for the free burner. If it's decent that's still a good deal, though you can get some of the best burners like NEC and Pioneer for $70-80.