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You're Not the Big Bad Anymore...You're Not Even the Kind of Naughty."
"Into every generation a Slayer is born..."
Nowhere in the books does it say the Slayer goes to college. But, as any avid fan (or superfan) would know, Buffy defies all that is set in front of her, and this season, the Scoobies go to College. ...
Is Online DVD Rental Or Pay-Per-View The Best Way To Get Your Movies?
With renting methods such as online DVD rental and pay-per-view, it seems almost old-fashioned to go to the rental store. But with all the different ways to get the latest movies, which way is the best? Well, that depends on what is important to...
Review of Monster Magnet's "Monolithic Baby" cd
Monster Magnet release possibly the best rock album so far this year!
Review by Les Lewellyn copyright 2004
Preying Lizard Music Ezine
If you are new to Monster Magnet's music then I can tell you that if you dig hard rocking music that...
Sin City; Antagonist Fatalism or the Ultimate Good vs. Evil?
The Sin City DVD blew my mind, or maybe I should say,
warped my mind. I haven't been a great fan of Graphic
Novels, but this movie encouraged me to purchase a few of
the Sin City books. Frank Miller's now famous, series
creations have taken...
The Movie Industry and the Comic Book Superhero
The public fascination with comic book superhero characters
have been exploited by movie production companies for
years. Hollywood has been creating feature length comic
book movies, movie serials and TV shows to continue to whet
our...
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What is better; Satellite TV or Cable TV?
Satellite TV is Making the Cable Companies Run Scared
Satellite TV holds a great advantage over the cable TV companies. Not only is the picture and sound quality superior, but there’s more choice in what to watch. If you said to yourself ‘there’s nothing on TV’, switch to satellite. The differences couldn’t be more obvious.
Cable quality vs. Satellite quality
With the limited bandwidth that cable offers, it’s no wonder the quality is poor. First, the cable wire comes from a hub transmission system somewhere near your home. At source, the signal is passable, but by the time it runs through your community, splitting to each house, the signal has degraded. As the cable is RF (radio frequency) based, it has converted from an audio/video signal (at source) to RF and then needs to re-convert back into audio/video for your television. Along the way, anything broadcasting through the air has tried to get into the cable line and will appear as noise on your TV screen.
Unfortunately, we are our worst enemy as well. Look at your cables and splitters inside your house. Poor quality RG6 or RF cable can cause great loss of signal too. Turn on your TV and have someone bend your cable in half and watch for ghosting on your picture. If it is ghosting, you have unshielded cables! Replace them with something better like Monster Cable. RF cable has a tough time producing stereo sound too, so don’t expect great audio. Another culprit of poor cable quality is the cable splitter. Most splitters have just a positive and negative wire inside (it’s a noise box). Throw it out and again replace with a good splitter (Monster Cable makes quality ones).
Satellite signals stay digital until the receiver. That means better picture and audio. The picture can be 2-3 times better resolution from your cable picture. The sound from the satellite receiver is true stereo and can be Dolby Digital surround depending on the program you are watching. Plus there are many more channels to choose from.
By the way, if you have a digital box from the
cable company, you have only a handful of digital channels, the rest are the same if you remove the cable box.
Satellite companies like Direct TV (or DirecTV) and Dish Network, provide national satellite service with hundreds of digital stations. The picture is clear and crisp, especially if you spring for a high definition receiver to match your HD ready TV. While most cable signals are below 150 lines of interlaced resolution, standard satellite can approach DVD quality (480i) and HD content will be sent at either 1080i or 720p (progressive). A regular 27” TV has the capability of no more than 500i while a HD television can produce the full range.
What are interlaced and progressive signals? Interlaced broadcast was developed from the old NTSC format where the designers in the 1920’s and 30’s couldn’t get the TV to scan every line from the top of the screen to the bottom fast enough. They needed to cheat by having the TV scan all the odd lines; 1, 3, 5 etc. then go back and scan the even lines; 2, 4, 6 etc. The result is thick black lines running horizontally across your screen and only half the picture appearing. These flickering lines prevented you from sitting close to the television without getting eye strain. As the TVs got bigger, you sat farther away.
The new HD televisions scan all the lines progressively and refresh the screen much quicker. It is like looking through your front window with horizontal blinds. Turn the rod so the blinds are half open. The street outside is now half covered like interlaced pictures and you only see half the picture at one time. Now pull the cord to fully open the blinds. You now see the entire window unobstructed or like a progressive signal.
Satellite TV and Radio: Your #1 Source for Satellite Television and Satellite Radio.
Satellite TV and Radio is a resource-based site bringing the latest satellite TV and radio information. If you want to read more, please visit my site.
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