The LG 42LD460 Full HD LCD TV!

My 6 year old 43" Philips Rear Projection TV just conked out on me. Went out and got from SNS a LG 42LD460, great service from Sir Vic's staff as usual. Great LCD too. Initial candidates were Panasonic 42X20 plasma, Toshiba Regza 40CV700 and this LG.

The old rear projection Philips. lasted 11 years without repair.

Side by side comparison of the three panels was really a tough decision, on SNS' showroom, the LCDs have an edge specially in resolution (full HD) vs the Panasonic's HD ready panel.  I would say the colors of the Toshiba really won out vs the two others. the Panasonic eked out a little on the contrast and blacks department. to be honest the LG was always the middle of the pack. Materials watched were from media players. btw, all three units sports local manufacturer's warranty.

Bsince the setup was for our living room, in the end I chose the lg for the following reasons:

1. Its an IPS full HD panel.
2. It can play hd media from the unit itself (MKV, Divx)
3. My living room has high ambient light
4. Its two inches bigger than the Toshiba
5. Free wall mount  

The installation walk-through in pictures:

LG LCD boxed!

42LD460 badge

Measuring the height of the install, chose "44 high, a bit on the high side.

The panel unboxed, being measured by installer.

Levelling the wall mount.

Drilling the hole, no turning back!

LCD mounted finally!

Final touches and adjustments.

Voila! Cable TV viewing on the wall mounted LG!

My New Montero!!!

I have been driving my new Mitsubishi Montero Sport for the the past two months, and I can only say that it performs as advertised. I have been dreaming of this vehicle since it was launched last 2009. I was so happy that they in fact decided to launch a 4x2 variant for me to squeeze my company car budget and finally got one last May 2010. And to make it better, the 2010 variant was loaded with extra stuff that the 2009 model was not fitted with, stuff like the Multi Information Display, Back Door Cladding, Alarm & Keyless entry integrated into the key itself just to name some. And I got myself the Savannah White color that is very in demand.

Driving 100 kms everyday to work and back home at an average speed of 100-120 kph gives me an 11-12 km per liter conversion, not bad at all, but driving in the city at a stop and go situation definitely changes the conversion to 8-9 km per liter. The 4x2 variant is equipped with a 4 speed automatic tranny that also features the Mitsu's proprietary INVECS II sportronic system or manumatic mode. I would say since this is my first automatic vehicle, it was responsive and not lacking in torque and power, even when driving in full 7 passenger capacity, I would say the Montero Sport can cut it. Suspension is definitely one of the Montero's strong points, and having driven it confirms this point, ride was in fact car like, even the back passengers commented the same thing. One of the things maybe that I would say is a downer is the more or less not so responsive steering, the return feedback of the steering wheel after turning the vehicle is slow, it needs the assistance of the driver to bring it back to center. This is so different from some of the past vehicles I have driven, like the Isuzu Dmax pick-up. But overall not a deal breaker, just needs some getting use to.

Inside the vehicle, we get the assortment of stuff we come to expect from a vehicle of this class, car audio with usb / ipod integration, audio controls on steering wheels, enough lights inside the cabin, dual aircon. seven seater configuration, and an assortment of adjustment that can be made to make room for baggage or cargo handling. A nice touch would be the extra car accessory adapter at the back of the vehicle for us to use for electrical components like radio when having a picnic. Another thing that caught my attention is the reserve wheel cover that renders the extra wheel protected from the elements and potential thieves, this is one thing the Toyota Fortuner does not have.

 The front face, very macho SUV

 The back part of the Montero Sport

The Steering wheel with Audio controls

The Multi Information Display

Overall, the Montero Sport is a very good buy, it has the power to be a workhorse but still have the great sporty look to be used as an all arounder in the city as well.

SAIGON!

I never been to Vietnam before, so I was happy when I learned that I will have a meeting there. It was also cool that I get to stay a day later because of flight availability. Use that day to explore the fabled city.

Took a lot of pictures of the city, it is a beautiful city, with its strong french influence in some of the building's architecture even food. I was actually surprised to see pushcarts selling great tasting french breads!!! I also got to go inside the famed Notre Dame Catholic Church, and a sudden downpour actually made me stayed to hear mass in Vietnamese!

The above pictures are of my room in Hotel Intercontinental Asiana Saigon, a great room on the 12th floor with a great view of the city. Its got a great tub, with sliding doors that opens up to the room for you to be able to watch the big ass 42" flat screen tv while relaxing on the tub.

The view of the famed city from my 12th floor room, pretty great stuff to see both in the morning as well as the evening. I could readily see the church and the city's central post office. both great old buildings...

Just some of the pictures taken of the city's more famous buildings. The Notre Dame Church, the former Presidential Palace that is now a museum, the French influenced city can't be complete without an authentic Louis Vuitton Store... a shot of the a park with a fountain and its City Theater.

I will try to post some more pictures in my next article. Till the next...

My Second Hobby!

I actually started liking photography when I was in high school, I use to own a Nikon FM-2 Film SLR camera, but taking pictures then was an expensive hobby specially when you have to constantly buy film and pay for development. You can't ill afford to be shutter happy too, as 36 shots after; you are done, I remember buying those cheap ass YKL films just to maximize my money. By the time I was in college, the interest waned and the SLR camera just did not see the light of day again. As time goes on, the idea of taking a picture was using the ubiquitous point and shoot digital camera. But in come 2008 and the Digital SLR, or DSLR for short phenomenon was on its high gear... the technology has gotten to a point that camera companies like Canon and Nikon can now offer their once expensive gears to ordinary middle class hobbyist, and in a snap, people started want to own one.

I bought my first Digital SLR from Amazon.com it was too hard to pass up as its cheaper by almost 7k if bought here in the Philippines, was lucky my parents was there on vacation, so they just brought it back with them. Got myself a Canon Rebel XS / 1000D. It is a 10 megapixel cam, entry level DSLR. It has a kit lens, the 18-55mm with Image Stabilizer. I then started to re-learn the basics of photography, shutter speed, aperture, but at same time has to learn some new stuff that old SLR did not have then Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, the old film ASA is now called ISO (since their is no film now but data to be stored on a memory card), this is its film equivalent. Shooting these days is also a very instant gratification thing, in the past you need at least a few days from shooting to development to see your masterpieces. Today, take a picture, see it in seconds, don't like the shot? Easy, delete the shot and take a new one until the one you like comes up. But at the end of the day, its still taking pictures and these are the memories that you keep until one gets old...

Anyway, after a year, I found the camera to be lacking and the new models coming out are featuring High Definition videos too. In come the Canon 550D, its a high end entry level of Canon, decided to get this one rather their mid level model 7D because the money saved here can get me a very good lens. The days of using cheap lower end lens for me is starting to set in. In a year of shooting, I got to learn that not all lens are created equal, in Canon parlance, the red lined L lens are the ones you had to have. And I got myself two in the span of two months. The EF 17-40mm F4L and the EF 70-200 F4L IS USM. And all I can say is WOW, pictures captured by these lenses were sharper, the build quality of the lenses are nothing short of extraordinary, its weather sealed. its got Canon's proprietary USM (Ultra Sonic Motor), this is the motor that make the Lens' Auto Focus move, and its very silent unlike the non USM lens. As they say, you get what you pay for.

So now, I am in the process of learning more about IR photography, have to also learn more about the different filters to further improve all those photos. I think what makes this hobby fun is you are capturing a moment in time in your own personal circle's life and being or even other people's too. And in essence as other people have said before. Its freezing time itself. Lately, I have seen myself liking to take people's photographs than the usual landscapes but in the end this thing is really therapeutic for me. Just like watching movies on my HT does for me.

The Xtreamer + eTrayz Combo!!!

I been a Popcorn Hour user for the past two years and am very happy with it. But two years in this hobby of ours is considered light years already. Time to move on, saw the eTrayz NAS that was selling very competitively and decided to take the plunge. Pairing it with the right media player, I was deciding on Xtreamer or the new Popcorn Hour A-200.

In the end, I decided on the Xtreamer because of its promise that it will have seamless operation with the eTrayz NAS which comes from the same manufacturer.

First impressions, the eTrayz is not for the faint of heart, not easy to set up, am lucky I got it up and running, but there are still quirks I need to fix, but at least its up and running. I can access the hard disk from anywhere through the internet, from my home network, I can now wirelessly stream my flac audio to my bedroom DIY audio setup through my netbook-Super Pro DAC combo. and off course wirelessly stream my videos through the Xtreamer. It streams 720p flawlessly, unfortunately stutters on 1080p, am glad I use 720p videos mostly.

The Xtreamer, is a very small machine, compared to the Popccorn Hour, its build quality is nothing to crow about. Its plasticky and light as a feather. But setting up was a breeze, upgraded to fw 2.2 before firing it up for video testing.

I like the GUI, not as cool as the previous Popcorn Hour blue, this one is red and black combo. but I liked that it can display a lot of movies on screen and if you have a jpeg file, it will show as a huge thumnail/poster. And once you select the folder, it also has a preview pane for the movie, other realtek based player, can only display 3-4 movies at one time. Its booting time is considerably faster than the old Popcorn Hour, which is a welcome feature, I think from turning it on to recognizing the eTrayz and My Book HDDs to watching is less than 30 seconds. The auto handshake between eTrayz and Xtreamer worked as promised, although you can use other network sharing options like NFS, UPnP or SAMBA, the eTrayz tab option provided the most stable streaming option. I think the makers optimized the settings for this. And since I am not a techie guy, I am happy with this, have not tried the other functions extensively, watched a couple of internet tv (works), the internet radio is pretty cool too, lots of commercial free stations.

Overall, I am happy with my new media player - NAS combo. Movies and music galore!

Some pictures:

The Xtreamer

The eTrayz with 3TB HDDs

The Home Page

Variety of ways to connect to your content, for me just the USB for external HDD and eTrayz for the NAS.

Simple AV settings page, but it gets the job done. No HD audio pass through here.

These logos show up on every settings page, highlighted red means the function is available, no highlight means not available, in this case, I have no internal hdd and no external PC network attached (I think).

Here it shows the movie's poster, not the jukebox we want, but it works. specially with the long movie listing.

Once you enter the folder, it previews the movie on a small pane. Sorry for this picture, it was moving.

Pinoy DVD Forums

I had been a member of this forum for a good two years. I don't usually participate in these forums, I am what they call a "Lurker", a member that does not post or contribute anything but reads and try to get as much information possible from the source forums. There are literally thousands maybe even millions of forums on the Net today, but I usually frequent cellphone and games forums for those occasional tips and cheats we can get to advance in a game or some new apps for our cellphones.

But I finally found a forum that really got my interest, and what's worst was I abandoned all my shyness and began to participate, to the point of even joining EBs (EyeBall = meet ups) among members. And what is this forum all about? It's about Home Entertainment, movies to be more specific and from there a whole slew of sub forums like home theater speakers, amplifiers, players and etc. comes into play. The forum is called Pinoy DVD, its 24/7 DVD and HD Talk!

I have met members from all walks of life because of this forum. Young, old, working men, students, overseas workers, lawyers, doctors, you name it the forum's got it, and all because of every member's love for movies and home theater. Logging into the forum has become second nature to me. A day without visiting just make a day not right, my wife actually complains about this. That's why I was really happy and honored when they offered me a moderating role in the forum, and as these things go, a Moderator's role is to keep the peace among members, make sure the threads/topics are neat and and not cluttered, and of course to participate. It does not pay anything mind you, but seeing all the members appreciate what I do is reward enough. I have been moderating for the past almost six months, and I am really happy with it.

Anyway, anybody whose reading this, feel free to sign up and join in the fun. And before I forget, our Marketplace is one of the most versatile marketplace in the Net. Brand new and pre-owned home theater related stuff at bargain prices. That alone is worth the membership.

SVS PB10-NSD SubWoofer

Finally brought home a SVS subwoofer, its the "small" PB10-NSD model. Got it from the pre-owned market.

You got to hand it to the original owner, he really took care of the unit, it looks brand new, I picked it up all ready, boxed in its original packaging and all. Never thought I would be able to do this with a pre-owned stuff. Very happy I have pictures of the unboxing like its bought brand new.



Set my system up with Audyssey again. Set phase to 90 degrees and sub gain to 12 noon, then watched the incredible hulk, phantom menace, u-571, master & commander and some concert videos.

Well, the packaging & build quality is exceptional. You know you are buying a great product from the packaging alone, it was double boxed.

Performance wise, its pretty obvious that the SVS will perform better than my previous M&K, but I never thought it would be so far ahead. the M&K is no slouch, although its decade-old sealed design and 125 watt amp just can't compete with the SVS' ported and 300+ watt BASH amp. what's surprising is this SVS is a 10" while the M&K is a 12". The dimension of the sub boxes are almost identical except the SVS is longer by almost 3". For my room which is 12 feet x 20 feet by 8.5 feet = 2,040 cubic feet room, the PB10-NSD is more than enough to get the bass going. I initially thought I would like to keep the M&K as a second sub at the back, but after watching the movies I watched. I think I would have to bid farewell to my M&K, one SVS is enough for me.

The movies I mentioned, I watched it last night with my m&k, so the parts for comparison are still fresh on my mind. The parts where bass were evident just sounded so different with the SVS, if I can feel the M&K's bass production, the SVS placed me on the action itself, WOW! For concert videos, I was surprised the SVS handled it very well, clean and accurate bass reproduction, the bass sounds like bass produced by the musical instruments.

I initially read of SVS subs on the internet, and heard it sing (ultras) in one of PDVD's EBs, heard it again when sir streetsmart bought a PB12-NSD, and finally now I have one at home.

Its not marketing, its not even hype, its REAL. If you plan to upgrade your sub. And you feel an SVS is expensive, save some more or like me wait for a good pre-owned one, and get it, as every owner of this sub has been saying, its worth every centavo!!!