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June 7, 2010

Flat Screen TV Stands with Mounts

Ok, I’ll admit that this has nothing to do with helping you move away from Comcast or any other content provider, but this flat screen TV stand is too cool so I had to share it with you.  I’m sure that there are a good number of you out there that have moved or are [...]

Ok, I’ll admit that this has nothing to do with helping you move away from Comcast or any other content provider, but this flat screen TV stand is too cool so I had to share it with you.  I’m sure that there are a good number of you out there that have moved or are considering moving to the new flat screen TV technology.  It only makes sense now that everything is moving to High Definition and you want to take full advantage of it.  It isn’t cheap and there are a lot of considerations before making a selection.  Are you going to get Plasma, or LCD, or the latest LED?  It doesn’t matter because the one thing that they all have in common is that they don’t stand on their own feet like the old TV boxes of yesterday.  Now in addition to selecting the TV you want, you also need to consider how you are going to place it within your home.  Do you have a spare TV table that you can dedicate to this new ‘Monster’?  If you do then I’m sure it wasn’t originally intended for that purpose and will most likely look a bit cheesy in that role.  And that would only work for those TVs that come with a stand that you can place on a flat surface.  When you get into the larger TVs, your only option is to mount it on the wall.  Now you need to buy the special mounting kit specifically designed for the dimensions and weight of you new TV and have a professional install it and hope that they can find the studs along you wall in the location that you wanted to place the TV, otherwise you’ll find yourself having to re-arrange the entire room.  I wish that someone would come up with a better solution.

Mount up to 65" TV

BAM! Here you go.  The marketplace is a wonderful thing.  The consumers say they need something and someone is always willing to step up to the plate to meet the demands.  This HDTV stand is just one of several designs available to provide flat screen TV consumers with the versatility they need.  I like this particular one the best because it will handle the largest and heaviest TVs available today meaning that if I decide to upgrade in the future, I can grow into this piece of HDTV furniture rather than grow out of it.  Now I don’t have to put holes in my wall, or turn my dining room table into a pseudo TV stand.  This stylish piece of furniture will fit in with most any decor and best of all it will allow you to place your TV where you want rather than you having to change you whole layout to accommodate the TV.  Just imagine, one day you are sitting at home with the family watching TV in the den, and the next day you have a ‘dinner & a movie’ party in the family room…all using the same equipment.  Just try doing that with your wall mounted TV.

TV Stand Populated

Here’s another view with a sample TV mount and some other proposed components.  The best part is what you DON’T SEE.  You don’t see any ugly wires and cables hanging all over the place because the stand has a built-in HDTV Cable Management System so you can efficiently route your cables from one component to the other without them becoming an eye sore or a cleaning hazard.

Another thing that you may not notice by looking at the picture is that the shelves are made of tempered safety glass which will improve the reception of your infrared remote controls from various angles.  Opaque shelves tend to block the signal from some angles.  Take it from me, I know because that’s what I’m dealing with in the family room.  Now, the down side to having glass shelves is that they look so nice that you’ll start accumulating little nick-knacks if you’re not careful (-;   Dust is also an issue with the glass shelves, but now that you have a flat screen TV, I’m sure that you’ve gone out and purchase a special cleaner specifically designed for use on electrical components.  This cleaners work great on the glass shelves.

Here is a full list of the features and specifications:

  • Real wood veneer in a mocha finish
  • 8mm / 5mm tea colored tempered safety glass
  • Chrome cylinder glass supports
  • Universal hardware mounting kit
  • Swivel mount allows multi positioned viewing
  • Accommodates most LCD / Plasma TV’s up to 60″
  • Open shelves for proper air circulation
  • Wire management for hiding cords and cables
  • TV weight capacity: 150 lbs
  • Dimensions: Width: 44″ Height: 50″ Depth: 21 1/4″

Like I said earlier, this is just one of quite a few different designs.  This one just happens to make the most sense to me.  Check out all of these specially designed TV stands here, and I hope you find one that makes sense for you and your application…at least more sense than drilling holes in the wall.

May 13, 2010

Smart Antennas Promises a Clean DTV Signal

I’ve been a big fan of the DTV conversion ever since it happened a little over a year ago, even taking into account that I had already CUT-THE-CABLE from Comcast months before it occurred.  We had to go out and buy converter boxes to make our old analog TV sets work with the new digital [...]

I’ve been a big fan of the DTV conversion ever since it happened a little over a year ago, even taking into account that I had already CUT-THE-CABLE from Comcast months before it occurred.  We had to go out and buy converter boxes to make our old analog TV sets work with the new digital signal, and we had to cross our fingers and hope that our analog TV antenna would work just as well as a new antenna designed for DTV and HDTV.  We didn’t mind that too much.  We had the government rebate coupons to work with and we picked up a few low end converters which ended up costing us $10 each after the rebate.  We got lucky with our antenna.  The results for me and many others have been extraordinary.

Before the conversion I was able to receive a total of 11 channels (4 on VHS and 7 on UHF) with varying degrees of reception quality.  Now that we have DTV over the air, I’m getting 44 channels all with CRYSTAL CLEAR pictures…better than cable!  “How can this be” you ask?  It because with DTV, you are getting the signal directly from the source.  With cable TV, your local channels are filtered and compressed before they are re-transmitted which will ALWAYS result in an inferior picture.  Watch this video that was created right before the DTV conversion occurred which still holds true for today and it will explain more.

Pretty interesting stuff, huh?  As I mentioned earlier, I have an old-school directional antenna mounted to the rafters inside my attic which is doing the job just fine for me.  However, I have some friends that weren’t as lucky in the antenna department and others that live in multi-family dwellings that didn’t have that option to start with.

The most cost-effective solution is an indoor smart antenna.  Ever since the DTV conversion, antenna technology has exponentially improved.  Now these SMART antennas have been designed to be OMNI DIRECTIONAL antennas, meaning that no manual adjustment is required and some of them contain algorithms to essentially FOCUS on the signal and filter out interference.

Terk Flat Antenna

This particular design is essentially flat which allows you to sit it on a surface or mount it on a wall, or even hide it behind a wall hanging.  My friends that are using this antenna say they have never seen pictures this clear before.  This DTV multi-directional antenna picks up both High Definition and Standard Definition signals from your local broadcasters.  My friends selected this particular one because of its low cost and because it was a signal amplifying antenna.  The plan was that if it didn’t work they would return it and go the next level up until they found one that did the trick.  Well, there was no need to go any further for them…this one is doing the job.

The other thing you need to know about shopping for an antenna is that you can’t rely on reviews from individuals because no two people have the same operating conditions.  They could be different distances from the broadcast stations, or have things between them and the station that interfere with the signal.  In the case of antennas in general, the only reviews that I would give any merit to are the once conducted by an independent lab in a controlled environment, kind of like what Consumer Report does.  This particular HDTV antenna has exceptional reviews and my personal experiences from seeing it in action at my friends’ places, but the bottom line is that it is your individual conditions that will determine if it will work for your application.

Give it a try.  If it works for you then you got a great product at a great price and you can send me buck for helping you out (*wink*), otherwise send it back and dust off your wallet a bit for the next level up, like the RCA Digital Flat Amplified Antenna with Easel Stand or the RCA ANT806 Indoor/Outdoor Digital TV Antenna.

Here’s another whole page of HDTV antennas at excellent prices.  I’ll keep throwing them up here as I find them.  Just pick one…you can’t go wrong.

No matter which one you choose, it will be yours.  You will OWN it.  There will be no monthly rental fees to pay for obsolete equipment leased from Comcast.  There will be no subscription fees to enjoy FREE DIGITAL TV over the air which is superior to anything that Comcast can provide.  There will be no more bills to decipher with miscellaneous fees and taxes that come and go at will when you eventually decide to CUT-THE-CABLE!

All you need now is a DTV tuner and you’ve turned that flat panel monitor in your car into live HDTV on-the-go!

Enjoy!

March 23, 2010

Enjoy the Convenience of a DVR WITHOUT Cable

Quit throwing away your hard earned money on Comcast cable.  You don’t need any cable service at all to get all of the benefits of a Digital Video Recorder (DVR).  For all of you that have CUT-THE-CABLE or are considering it so that you can watch FREE DIGITAL TV over the airwaves (which has better [...]

Quit throwing away your hard earned money on Comcast cable.  You don’t need any cable service at all to get all of the benefits of a Digital Video Recorder (DVR).  For all of you that have CUT-THE-CABLE or are considering it so that you can watch FREE DIGITAL TV over the airwaves (which has better quality than anything that Comcast offers), then here is the MUST HAVE device for every household.

Channel Master CM-7000PAL-DVR


The Channel Master CM-7000PAL has no subscriptions, no fees, and no advertisements.

It is the LEAST EXPENSIVE  Over-The-Air DVR with no monthly fees on the market…and I LOVE IT!  The DTVPal DVR used to hold the title, but it has been discontinued.  Guess what?  This is the EXACT SAME PRODUCT with a different brand name on it.

The Channel Master CM-7000PAL can record TWO channels at the same time while you watch a 3rd pre-recorded program.

This dual-tuner HDTV DVR supports both HD and SD channels from your antenna signal. Satellite and cable are not supported. You can use pause, instant replay, and rewind on live programming. This no subscription DVR has a recording capacity of about 30 HD hours and 150 SD hours on its 250GB hard drive. These are pretty good estimates but can not be exact because the signal can change within a recording due to commercials and stuff. HD signals are stored on the hard drive in HighDef format and cannot be converted to SD to save space. The remote control that comes with the box includes buttons for 30 sec skip, 10 second replay, and supports four speeds of fast forward and reverse, slow motion, and frame-by-frame advance. It can also be programmed to operate your other devices like your TV, DVD player, and sound system.

One of the coolest features is the FREE electronic program guide (EPG) with up to 8-days of program information when TVGuide On Screen (TVGOS) is available. TVGOS is distributed by many CBS affiliates across the country, but is not available in all markets. You can check at www.rabbitears.info to determine whether TVGuide service is currently available in your area.  If TVGuide service is not available, the Channel Master CM-7000PAL EPG will display the more limited program information — typically 8-24 hours worth — offered by your local broadcasters via PSIP. If TVGuide service is available, but does not have information for a particular channel, then the PSIP information (i.e. 8-24 hours) from that broadcaster is shown instead.

All recording are performed with timers that are created manually or set through a program guide selection. When you select a show in the program guide, you can create a reminder or  schedule a recording in that time slot: once, daily, weekly, or M-F. You have the same options when selecting a show with keyword search within the titles of the programs in the EPG.

The Channel Master CM-7000PAL lacks some features found on subscription-based TiVo, DirecTV, and Dish Network satellite DVRs. Features absent from the product include comprehensive program information on all channels, advanced search functions, external storage expansion, multi-room viewing, guide filters / favorites, and the ability to transfer/offload recordings. Most notably, it relies on time-based recording rather than name-based recording; it does not know when a scheduled program has changed its day, time, or duration. It lacks the ability to record only new episodes and ignore repeats.

The Channel Master CM-7000PAL has RF, composite (RCA), component, and HDMI video outputs; it has analog stereo and optical (TOSLINK) audio outputs. Output via component and HDMI is selectable 480p/720p/1080i through a menu. All outputs are active simultaneously and the box will downconvert HD channels to SD through composite and coax for older televisions. There is no Firewire output, and no way to directly download recordings from the DVR.

The Channel Master CM-7000PAL comes standard with a 90-day warranty.  I don’t usually buy extended warranties, but I made an exception when I bought my DTVPal DVR knowing that I’m dealing with a 250GB hard drive that is not user serviceable.  The $30 for a 2-year warranty seemed like not such a bad deal.

I love mine to death and don’t want to live without it.  I got mine in January and it took less than 30 minutes to have it up and running.  Smooth like butta baby!

Click >>> HERE <<< to get yours

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