Hurricane Satellite Weather Tracking - View Hurricane Weather Track

Home Improvements With a Home Entertainment Center

With high-definition television (HDTV) growing in popularity, HDTVs are much lower in price now than when they first came out. You can also pick up high-definition DVD players, or HD-DVD, and Blu-ray Discs (BD) for them.

Before jumping into home improvements with these latest gadgets, though, heads up. Follow these basic guidelines to help you and your family make educated decisions about them.

Digging in to the Next Generation of DVD

Remember when DVDs came out in the marketplace? It was roughly 10 years ago. The initial discs offered multiple times the storage capacity (4.7G over the basic CD (around 700MB, seven times less than DVD).

Then double-sided DVD came out, doubling the capacity. And of course double-layered discs were next in the evolution chain, thus you had:

Type, Capacity, Maximum play time

? Single-sided, single-layered 4.7 GB 120 minutes

? Double-sided, single-layered 9.4 GB 4 hours

? Singled-sided, dual-layered 8.5 GB 4 hours

? Double-sided, dual-layered 17 GB 8 hours

Despite some early technical difficulties, the DVD soon became a read-write medium, not just read-only. With that change came another round of acronyms to understand. DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM are the three most common. All types can be recorded on.

Now don?t forget the DVD-RAM, more costly, yet supposedly able to be re-written 100,000 times over the course of many years (OK, so the better ones, anyway). And since their stores data is non-sequent, they are said to be better for video editing than the other types. A downside, though, was that not all players can read this kind of data.

DVD-R can only be recorded onto once. Discs are cheap, so that isn't a problem these days and the format is compatible with nearly any player on the market.

DVD-RW, though, is only slightly more expensive and can be recorded onto many times. Not quite so many as DVD-RAM - only 1,000, in theory, but that's many more times than most people will need.

That was the state of things until very recently. Now comes the interesting part. Two new formats are coming onto the market and they're lining up for a good old-fashioned format battle. HD-DVD, developed by Toshiba, and Blu-ray from Sony have more in common than they have differences but one type will not play on a machine made for the other.

HD-DVD will store 15GB (30GB on dual-layer discs), while Blu-ray does better at 25GB (50GB on dual-layer). But the time differences are minimal. HD-DVD will hold about 8 hours of movies, etc and Blu-ray 9 hours. (100GB, quad-layer, Blu-ray discs are in development.)

Toshiba has lined-up support for its format from Microsoft, Intel and a few movie studios. Blu-ray is supported by nearly every major movie studio including Paramount and Disney along with Apple, Dell and several other PC companies.

Early HD-DVD machines from Toshiba (the HD-A1 and HD-XA1) are already on the market, retailing for around $500 and $800. Reviews are mixed, but that's usually the case with machines targeted at early-adopters.

On the upside, they can display high-definition discs in 720p or 1080i, and will show what your HDTV is really capable of. Blu-ray will display 1080p, the highest quality possible, assuming your TV has this capability. Few yet do.

A dozen HD movie discs are already available, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Serenity, and Phantom of the Opera. More are slated to become available (in both formats) soon.

For those who like to adopt the latest and greatest and are willing to accept some of the limitations always found in first generation technology, the new formats offer astounding visual quality. Be prepared to replace your equipment, though, in a couple of years once the format situation settles out and the bugs in the early machines are overcome.

Beam me up, Scotty!

Visit, subscribe to and bookmark our site for: home improvements and sign up for our free newsletter to keep up with the latest home improvements for your home and family.

MORE ARTICLES:

Leading Tarp Manufacturer Prepares For Major 2008 Hurricane Weather Season
A1 Tarps, a California-based manufacturer of tarps and hurricane preparedness supplies prepares for "above average" 2008 hurricane season in the Atlantic basin with 15 named storms predicted between June 1st and November 30th.

Archdiocese of New Orleans Selects Harcourt's Learnia to Monitor Student Progress
Leading test publisher Harcourt Assessment, Inc., announced today that the Archdiocese of New Orleans has selected its Learnia product as an assessment solution for use in Orleans Parish elementary schools. Learnia, a classroom assessment tool for grades 3-8 examines student achievement through both formative and summative assessments and provides real-time, student-centric assessment data to make teaching -- and learning -- successful and rewarding. The Archdiocese will begin testing with Learnia this month.

Vino at the View - The Beginning: Wine Tasting with an Unbridled View of Las Vegas
View 215 presents its first ever, Seasonal Las Vegas wine tasting event, "Vino at the View - The Beginning".

Weather Decision Technologies Unveils Automated Weather Warning System for International Airports
Dubai International Airport is first venue to deploy aviation weather decision support system.

LegalView Mesothelioma Blog Reports that Asbestos Exposure Slows Hurricane Katrina Cleanup in New Orleans Parish
Cleanup from Hurricane Katrina continues to be slow because of possible asbestos exposure. In a New Orleans parish, officials have determined to use a controlled burn rather than to demolish and move debris to a landfill, which could increase the potential for asbestos contamination.

Pensacola Lawyer Launches ‘Florida Hurricane Hotline™’ for 2006 Hurricane Season
Attorney Samuel Bearman has launched the Florida Hurricane Hotline™ to help answer people's questions on hurricane law, insurance and other hurricane-related questions. The toll free number is (800) 760-6065 and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

June 2005: Weather Forecasts for Weather Traders
If Johannes Kepler, the renowned 17th century astronomer and discoverer of the planetary laws of motion, could speak from the heavenlies, he might have a few words of wisdom to share with the National Weather Service. Although Kepler's name is not normally associated with meteorology, he was quite the weather forecaster in his day.

Follow the Path to Literacy with Training from Parents as Teachers National Center
Interactive Training identifies the five stepping stones for children's overall development.

July 2005: Hurricane Forecasts for Weather Traders
Tropical Storm Arlene formed as a tropical depression on June 8, 2005 near 83 West Longitude and 17 North Latitude. Although Dr.

Results of Global-View.com Monthly Forex Tracking Survey
The results for the Global-View.com monthly forex sentiment survey conducted on December 3-5. The results show U.S. dollar sentiment deteriorated vs. the euro and jpy.

Hurricane Katrina's Delicious Aftermath in New Orleans Wins an International Award
Author Amy Cyrex Sins has recently been honored with an international cookbook award from Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Post-Katrina, award-winning cookbook from the Big Easy gets International attention; features Cajun, Creole, and Louisiana home cooking; famous restaurant recipes; and stories of hope from those who love New Orleans while helping charity in the process.

Hurricane Season 2007 Satellite Phone Rental Packages Now Available
All Road Communications announces special package deals for satellite phone rentals for the upcoming 2007 Hurricane Season.

Bourbon Orleans New Orleans Hotel Invites Guests to Enjoy Christmas New Orleans Style
The Bourbon Orleans New Orleans Hotel, located in central New Orleans, is offering guests front row access to Christmas in the French Quarter this season. The Papa Noel rate, with rates as low as $94.00, allows guests to discover the wonders of New Orleans at Christmas. The historic New Orleans French Quarter Hotel is also offering guests a traditional Reveillon dinner at the hotel's signature restaurant Paillard's.

Hurricane Season Easier to Weather with Launch of Generatorstore.com
New Internet site offers sales and delivery of popular Guardian and Generac emergency power generators to consumers and businesses nationwide.

Dish Network Satellite Tv Brings A World Of Viewing Opportunities
Gone are the days when all you needed was a rabbit ear antenna to bring the most popular television stations into your home. Television has evolved from a pastime where viewers were content to watch whatever was on to an obsession where people feel addicted to particular shows and cannot go without seeing them.