TechLore - Getting in Gear

My HD-DVD Experience - More Than a Better Picture

Ron Repking — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:30:54 GMT

High-Definition DVDs bring quite a bit more than just a better picture. This fact was very apparent to me and actually quite a surprise after watching my first HD-DVD at home. It reminded me in many ways of the switch from VHS to DVDs. (Note that I have not watched a BluRay DVD which is the competing format , so I cannot comment on that.) As I mentioned previously , I purchased an Xbox 360 so that I could watch a High-Definition DVD and see for myself what the fuss is all about. I only really thought that I would get a better picture and that was about it. As it turns out there are several other benefits of my HD-DVD player as I discovered while I watched Troy on HD-DVD. It all started when I put the HD-DVD into the player. Here are some of the features that I discovered: Introduction : When I put in the HD-DVD, it walked me through all of the 'new' features that I could expect with HD-DVDs. It went on for about 5 minutes explaining what the features of my new HD-DVD were and how to use them. I'm not sure if every ...

I Bought an Xbox 360, but not for Video Games

Ron Repking — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:53:35 GMT

Using a Gaming Console for High Definition DVD Capabilities I'm not a gamer, but I recently purchased Microsoft's new Xbox 360 gaming console. Why? Because I decided it was time to see for myself what High Definition DVDs were all about. It's been over a year since I first wrote about the first HD-DVD player being available. I had advised at the time that it just didn't make sense to purchase one yet. Single purpose players were available for the competing HD-DVD and BluRay, but you had to pick a format and hope it won in the end. Since then, not a whole lot as changed. The format war continues with no clear winner. There have been some announcements that have made High Definition DVDs more of an option lately . Microsoft with the Xbox 360 and Sony with the Playstation 3 have come out with gaming consoles that have HD-DVD and BluRay drives, respectively. The price is very comparable to a new standalone High Definition player, but you get the added gaming capabilities. Although I'm not that big of a gamer, I thought if it was time to buy one, why not have the added functionality basically for free? ...

"Must Have" iPhone Accessory - eGrips for the iPhone

Ron Repking — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 03:27:23 GMT

I've often mentioned how much I love my eGrips on my Treo cell phone. eGrips get applied to a gadget, such as a cell phone, to make it easier to hold so that it doesn't slip out of your hand. It also helps make it stick better to any place that you set your device down. You don't want your $500 gadget to fall on the floor! Now, for you Apple lovers, eGrips just announced the product for Apple's new cell phone, the eGrips for the Apple iPhone . I normally wouldn't write about something seemingly this trivial, but the first thing that I thought of when I held the iPhone for the first time was how slippery it was. eGrips will solve that problem and keep your investment safely in your hand.

Playing an HD home movie on an HDTV

Ron Repking — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:59:41 GMT

Now that you have a home movie recorded on an HD camcorder , the next step is to play it back on an HDTV and enjoy the fabulous quality. It may seem fairly simple to do, but there are a few issues that can make this a little complicated. Read on to make sure that you are getting the best picture possible on your HDTV for your home videos. Step 1: Make sure that you have an HDTV Sure it sounds simple, but believe it or not many people don't even realize that they are not watching HDTV according to this recent survey . If you're not sure that you have an HDTV, you can read What do I need to watch HDTV? Step 2: Connect your camcorder to the TV Your HD Camcorder will have a cable that comes with it that will enable you to connect it to your TV. Ideally, the cable is and HDMI cable and your TV has an HDMI connection available to plug it in. For my Canon HV-10 camcorder, I had to connect it to my TV with a component cable, because my camcorder only comes with a component connection (and my TV ...

I Hate My Mac Part 2

Ron Repking — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:48:05 GMT

Last year, I documented why I hate my Mac . I had given up on my Mac Powerbook G4 and decided that it was time to go back to a new Windows laptop. So, I bought a new, Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop fully loaded laptop with an ultra sharp screen. I must say that I've been enjoying my Windows experience ever since. Of course, I didn't completely abandon my Mac. I still used it for some video editing every now and then and to burn an occasional home DVD. But then, something started to happen with the picture. Sometimes it would just die. After awhile it wouldn't work at all anymore. I just let it sit there gathering dust. Then, I got my new HD Camcorder , a Canon HV10 as I've mentioned in many blog posts. However, in order to download and edit HD video, I needed a program that could handle HD video. I noticed that the new version of Apple's iMovie included support for HD editing and decided that was the way I was going to go. Time to boot up the Mac - or not. Sure enough it was dead. I took it into the Apple ...

Recording and Playing HD Home Movies

Ron Repking — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:48:20 GMT

I thought that I'd start a series on my experiences with High Definition (HD) video recording. As you may know, I recently purchased an HD camcorder , the Canon HV10. (I just noticed that it's under $1,000 already, by the way.) I've learned quite a bit as I've been recording video, taking pictures, and playing them back. I've broken it down into the following sections that I'm going to talk about: 1) Taking/Recording an HD movie 2) Playing back an HD movie on a TV 3) Creating an HD movie using software 4) Burning an HD home movie to DVD Each of these has their own intricacies and I will discuss them one at a time through my experience with the Canon HV10. First off, is taking and recording an HD movie. This step is functionally no different from recording a standard definition video on your camcorder. You just point and being shooting as you would with a regular camcorder. The difference is that the recording happens in a much higher resolution. In this case, the resolution is 1080i, meaning that there are 1,080 lines of resolution (compared to 480 on a non-HD television). What is interesting to note, however, ...