HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Joe in Eerie, Pennsylvania listening on WPSE 1450 AM asked: “Considering buying a new TV. I have a 1989 Magnavox. It’s good, but not as good as the new ones. I’ve been seeing LCD and LED. Which one’s better? What’s the difference? Which is going to last longer?”
LCD and LED are pretty much the same, except for the backlighting methods. The marketing of these LED TVs has confused a lot of people. And, add Plasma to the mix for even more confusion. LED TVs are really just LED-backlit LCD TVs using “Light Emitting Diodes.” Wheras, LCDs have used some form of flourescent lighting from tubes to much more advanced flat arrays of lights.
LEDs are more energy saving and produce a very good picture quality. Viewing angles have improved with LED TVs. We have an LCD-LED HDTV from Vizio in our studio lounge.
Click here for the buyer’s guide.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
- For Android, Dave recommends: World Clock
- For iPhone/iPad:Robrecommends: iMovie (iPhone only)
Chris recommends: Farmville - For BlackBerry, Mark recommends: Player for YouTube
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details
Rick in Erie, Pennsylvania listening on WPSE 1450 AM sent us the following Facebook message and asked: “I have audio CDs that I have burned music on, and I notice some of them skip while playing in the car. I have cleaned the player in the car. Do the CDs themselves have to be cleaned every so often?”
Yes, they need to be cleaned. If you’re still having problems after cleaning them, you can try burning them at a slower speed. That’s helped us a few times.
John in Bridgewater, New Jersey listening to the podcast asked: “You talked to somebody at CES about steadicam stuff for the iPhone. I’m not looking to use my iPhone for home videos, but I would like something affordable to use with my Sony HD camera that would give my home videos more of a “viewability” so people don’t throw up after watching my home videos because they are “jerking around.”
The company we talked to at CES (and had on the show again last week) was Tiffen. They are the makers of the various forms of steadicam. The product we were talking about for the iPhone was the Smoothie. They do also have steadicams available for small camcorders. Their Steadicam Merlin will handle cameras up to about 5 pounds. The only downside is it’s not really what a lot of consumers would consider “affordable.” It sells for about $850, but we’ve used one and have been very impressed with it.
Another one available os from their main competitor, Glidecam. They have several models available for smaller camcorders. The HD-1000, that handles up to three pounds, sells for about $400. The HD-2000 will take 2-6 pounds and sells for $500. And the HD-400, that handles up to a ten-pound camera, sells for $600.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Guest in this hour:
Rick Dean, Chairman – D @ Home Consortium
The 3D@Home Consortium was formed in 2008 with the mission to speed the commercialization of 3D into homes worldwide and facilitate the development of standards, roadmaps and education for the entire 3D industry – from content, hardware and software providers to consumers.
William in Montgomery, Alabama asked: “I have a terabyte HD. I’m getting ready to put a 64-bit version of Windows 7 on there. My other hard drive is a 32-bit version of Windows 7. I’m going to make the terabyte drive my main boot drive. My question is will Windows 7 64-bit be able to recognize the 32-bit hard drive?”
Your old hard drive will work fine with a 64-bit Windows 7, if you can get the right drivers for it. 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems use the same standards to write and read information to and from a disk (FAT32, NTFS, etc.). What they need help with is being able to communicate with the disk in the first place.
To find out if there are drivers available for your particular hard drive, you should visit the manufacturers website and look in their “support” or “downloads” section for 64-bit drivers.
If your hard drive is new enough, the 64-bit version of 7 might just pick it up completely on it’s own, but given that you have a big hard drive to move files into, you might want to check with the manufacturer first and make sure you shouldn’t be moving those files to the new hard drive to retain your information.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Rebecca in San Antonio, Texas listening online sent us the following email and asked: “We have started looking at getting a big old high-def TV. We want to stay under $600, and can fit a 42″ into our TV armoire. It looks like if we got an LCD 42,” we could only stay under $600 if we got one with 60Hz return rate, but we prefer the 120 Hz (which takes us up to $700 at least). I hear the plasmas are cheaper, but run hotter, do not show as well in low lighting, and have more reflection off the screen in dark scenes since the screen is glass. I have basically learned all of this in the past few days since I have never had anything more than a 27″ tube TV. And we’re watching just broadcast signal, nothing fancy, and want to hook up the computer so we can watch Hulu.”
Most of what you heard is correct. The plasmas actually tend to be more expensive than an LCD of the same size. Some manufacturers, however, are lowering the prices of the plasmas because fewer people are buying them.
It is true that they run hotter than LCD. At home, Chris has a 50” Plasma in the spare room (which he uses as his “man room”) and a 42” LCD in his bedroom. When he stands in front of the Plasma, he can feel the heat coming off of it. That’s the biggest drawback to plasmas in his opinion. That, and they also weigh at least twice as much as the LCD. It’s also true that the Plasmas don’t handle reflection well. On the plus side of Plasmas, you tend to get a much higher contrast ratio, meaning the blacks are darker and the whites are brighter. Personally, he prefers LCD, mainly because of the reasons he mentioned earlier. They are less expensive, don’t heat up as much, and aren’t too bothered by reflections or light coming in from a window.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports: “What Not to do on Facebook” with Donna Tapellini
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Honestech: VHS to DVD 4.0 – Easy to use video conversion software
iMPROV Electronics: Several Boogie Board Paperless LCD Writing Tablets
RadioShack: Weather Clock Radios with SkyWarn