Weekend of July 16th, 2010 – Hour 3 – Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline

HOUR 3:

Tech News & Commentary

Ryan in Baltimore, Maryland listening on XM Ch.139 asked: “Looking to buy a new flat panel TV. Heard that different stores, like Walmart with the Vizio brand, could sell them at a lower cost because the components are of lesser quality. In fact I’ve heard that manufacturers would only sell certain models to those stores that offer them at such a discounted price. Wondering what thoughts, comments, or concerns you would have about that.”

We don’t think that the TVs are really made of lesser-quality components. If that were the case, they would break a lot more often, people wouldn’t buy them, and the stores would then stop stocking them.

What happens a lot in this industry, especially with the smaller companies is this: An overseas company manufacturers a product. That product is then sold in different parts of the world to various companies and offered under different brand names. Because the companies buying them don’t have to worry about the manufacturing costs, research and development, staff, etc. They are able to sell the product at a lower cost than, say, a Sony or Panasonic.

We’re not saying that’s the case with Vizio, however. A spokesperson for Vizio said the company was relying on high-volume sales achieved though retail giants, like Costco and Sam’s Club, to give it buying leverage with their suppliers, thus keeping prices of flat-panel TVs at previously unseen lows. The company manufactures the product in Thailand, which apparently saves on labor costs.

“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager

Jack in Odessa, Texas listening on XM Ch.139 asked: “What mobile Internet card is the best and what network will I get the fastest speeds from?”

Having Internet access over the air, using the data network of a wireless provider like AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon is typically accomplished in one of two ways. You can get a device that plugs in to the USB port on your laptop, or you can get an external device that connects with your laptop via Wi-Fi.

Both types of devices offer approximately the same performance. The external devices, available on Sprint and Verizon as the “Mi-Fi,” offer an advantage in allowing more than one laptop to connect with the Internet at the same time. So, which is best? If you’re just talking about one laptop, and you’d never have another one to connect at the same time, or you’d never want to have Wi-Fi for an iPod Touch or iPad (for example), then the USB device will be cheaper.

For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.

Philip sent us the following email and asked: “I have a few questions. I am possibly planning a move for a year or two to the Philippines. I would like to know, is it possible to use a satellite system from here, in America, such as Direct or Dish? Will they work there? Or do you need a system purchased in Philippines to be used there?

I also wanted to find out about satellite Internet. I would like to be able to access the Internet, and because the place I am going to is not near a high speed Internet service (the land line telephone system in the Philippines is not as reliable as in the USA), do you have any ideas?

Would it be better to contact these 2 services and ask them?”

The problem is your satellite dish needs to have a clear view of the satellites it’s working with. Those satellites are, for obvious reasons, in a geostationary orbit above the earth. That means your satellite dish in the Philippines isn’t going to be able to see the DirecTV satellite because the earth is in the way.

As for high speed Internet, Hughes has service in the United States and Europe now, but there is no word yet on a satellite that covers the Philippines. You’ll want to stay in touch with both companies to see when they might add service, but remember that this involves launching another satellite into space. That’s an expensive proposition, even in the best of economies.

Bob in Raleigh, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked: “I’d like to know how to get Television and put it through my traditional regular TV set. Trying to get rid of my cable bill. And what technology I need, what services you recommend, that have a wide variety of TV inexpensively. Any suggestions are helpful.”

Of course, the cheapest way to get TV is over-the-air. It’s free. The drawback is it’s only your local channels. If by traditional TV set, you mean an analog, not Digital, non-HD television, you’d need a DTV converter box to make that happen. You cannot get over-the air TV anymore without it. There were coupons from the government that allowed you to get free converter boxes, but unfortunately that program is over and there are no more coupons left. But, basic converter boxes are inexpensive. You can find them starting at about $40 at just about any electronics retailer, like Walmart, Target, and other stores like that.

Another way to watch TV programs is online. There are many sites you can go to, to watch the shows you see on TV. Probably the most popular would be Hulu. Not all the networks make their shows available there, but many of them do. It is a free site, but you won’t always find the shows there right away. You may have to wait a day or two, sometimes a little longer.

HOUR

Lisa Sherman, Marketing & PR – Gwinnett Chamber	Dave with friends	Andy Zhang, General Manager – Edovous Intelligent Technology

“Into Tomorrow” Broadcast Booth	Crestron Wi-Fi Touchpanel (Report from show floor by Jason burns)	Edovous Intelligent Technology

Gary Shapiro speaking at SINOCES	Dave & Wu Tie Jun,

Vice-Mayor of Qingdao“Into Tomorrow” crew with Little (Middle) & James (back-right)

IFA2010 Update

Learn about the rich history behind one of the largest consumer electronics trade shows we report from each year in Berlin, Germany.

Nigel in Canada listening on Sirius Ch.108 asked: “We have a 42-inch plasma TV. Generally happy with it, but what drives me nuts is, on dialogue, the sound drags. It’s like half a second behind. It reminds me of the old Japanese movies with English dubbed on. Last week, you were talking about the quality of HDMI cables. Is that a factor? I even noticed it on live TV.”

The cables, themselves, shouldn’t be a factor with the audio lag. It sounds like an audio processing issue. There are tons of forum posts on the web from people experiencing the same issue. Some are saying that a firmware update was required for the TV. Some of those people said that it still didn’t fix the problem. Some others said that there was a known bug between certain TVs and certain manufacturer’s cable and satellite boxes.

One thing you can try, before calling the manufacturer of your TV, is make sure that, if you have a tuner that you’re using for audio, your sources are connected directly to it, instead of passing audio through the TV. This will give the audio a “straight line” to your ears, rather than having to snake through multiple devices. It may or may not solve your problem, but it’s worth a shot before you have to start trying the more difficult things, like upgrading the firmware on your TV.

If you do have to upgrade your TV’s firmware, they will tell you how to do it. Usually, you can download a file from the net and save it on a flash drive. Most newer TVs have a USB port on them that may be marked “service.” This is where you’d put the flash drive to update the software on the TV.