Stargazer's Garage

I've seen the High-Definition displays in the stores and to be honest, I thought the HD television channels looked great, but not awesome--at least not awesome like the examples shown in high-definition DVD format. I was always worried that maybe spending extra money on an HD PVR to watch just a few shows in HD wouldn't be worth it. We already have a PVR that's been great for us. I didn't think we needed a duplicate. That changed. I am now converted. I am a true believer.... I bought a Motorola 3416 HD PVR (160 gig) on the weekend and installed it on our 37" LG LCD TV. Connected through HDMI, the picture is really, really good on the standard definition channels. That was the biggest surprise. Reading on the forums, a lot of people complained about how bad SD shows were. I found the opposite. The regular channels are actually improved and sharper looking with the new Motorola. And the high-definition channels? Just amazing. It looks so real that it seems "unre...

We had a problem with our brand new 52" Sony KDL-52W3000 LCD TV yesterday and it was a doozy: the picture just died. There was no video displayed from any of the inputs: TV (cable), Video1 (STB), or Component (DVD). Sound came in no problem and the menu showed up fine, but the screen was all black. I did a factory reset and the initial setup, but the problem was catastrophic.... Actually the only way that I could get a live picture was to turn on "Picture & Picture" and watch it on one side of the screen. In the picture above, the live image is the large one behind the frozen, garbled image. When the P&P size was increased or decreased past the mid-size point, it would freeze and show the corrupted image. The only way to get rid of it was to turn the TV off and on again. At least, the P&P screen was still bigger than our old CRT TV. It not all bad news, though. I went into Best Buy last night to arrange an exchange and had it scheduled for this Thursday. Aft...

A couple of weeks ago we retired our old cathode ray tube television, a 27" Sony KV-2781R that was built over 21 years ago in May 1986. It was still running strong (much better than our old Panasonic ) but because this year was my big "four-oh", my wife decided to mark the occasion with a new flat-panel TV .... I went through a very thorough decision process choosing a new TV. I already have a 37" LCD in the bedroom and was looking for a 50"+ for our living room. I was sure that I wanted a plasma, until I did more thinking about what my actual needs were. Reasons why I wanted Plasma first: - deep black levels - vibrant colours - wide viewing angle - cheaper than flat panel LCD Reasons why I changed my mind about Plasma: - 50" was too small, 58" was too big--nothing in between - potential reflections on screen (lots of lights in our great room/kitchen) - going to connect Wii: possible burn-in risk (minimal, but don't want risk) - not as bright as L...

Yes, it's true. Old has been dumped for new!

Lest We Forget.

I made this video today for Remembrance Day next week. For those of you who don't know, " Waltzing Matilda " is a famous Australian folk song and a “Matilda” was the name given to the pack that Australian farm workers carried on their backs. To "Waltz Matilda" meant to travel the bush with the pack on your back. The song “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” by Eric Bogle is about 50,000 Australian soldiers who fought against Turkish troops and died in the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I. The pictures are of Australian soldiers from Gallipoli and of Canadian troops, past and present.

A little over a week ago my R was vandalized. Needless to say, I was and am still not happy. The pictures are self-explanatory. There's more below the fold. No need to spell it out, though. The point was made when the vandal(s) carved the R in the first place, unless it's proof of literacy.