Gizmo gets you through DVD wars
No one knows when the battle between the HD-DVD and Blu-ray video formats will end, but what’s an early adopter to do without ending up like the poor folks who bought Betamax? Until one format is the clear winner, you could try improving the video from your current DVDs instead.
The Oppo DV-980H plays standard DVDs but sharpens and improves the image for big-screen high-definition TVs. The best HD format, called 1080p, is usually 1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels, considerably sharper than the 720-by-480-pixel video stored on standard DVDs.
The Oppo uses a number of technologies to simulate HD quality. The DV-980H supports HDMI, S-Video and component video connections, and it plays back DivX, JPEG image and SACD discs. It can also connect to 7.1 surround-sound receivers to ensure that the movies sound as good as they look.
The player is $169 from .
This tool could bridge the gap between DVD and HD to tide over videophiles until the last disc falls in the great HD wars. – John Biggs, The New York Times
Tablet PC fits student priorities
Parents and students seeking a back-to-school computer may want to consider a tablet PC. These convertible devices, which allow you to switch from keyboard to pen input, are ideal for note-taking.
Fujitsu’s Lifebook T2010 is its latest entry into the tablet PC market. As a laptop, it has all the standard features: a 12.1-inch display, 1 to 4 gigabytes of memory, a hard drive of up to 160 gigabytes, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.
On the tablet PC side, the T2010 comes with the Vista version of Microsoft’s tablet PC operating system, which was developed for hand-writing recognition and some voice recognition. Both systems become more accurate the more you use them.
The machine comes with the note-taking program One-Note but can handle the full version of Microsoft Office.
The T2010, which starts at about $1,599 and is available at . and most major retailers, weighs less than 4 pounds.
To keep the weight down, there is no built-in CD/DVD drive, though a docking station, which adds the drive and several other ports, can be attached, adding a pound. – Stephen C. Miller, The New York Times
