One Tip A Day » AV

The Way To Extract Maximum Performance From A HDTV Setup

mitchbuchannon — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:49:34 +0000

Nowadays the bulky CRT TVs have almost become extinct and the LCD and Plasma TVs are in vogue. However, not may people know how to get the maximum performance out of their LCD HDTVs. While it is true that most of the present generation HDTVs are easy to setup and offer plug and play compatibility,some amount of tweaking is still required to get an immersive audio-visual experience.

Even if the HDTV set supports FullHD display, you will never get to see the colors as they should appear unless calibration is done. While calibration is not as easy as changing the brightness it is not excruciating either. It can be easily done with a DVD that has a movie featuring THX audio. THX certified Blu-Ray discs and DVDs contain calibration tools. One just needs to select the THX optimizer and abide by the instructions thereafter. It is imperative to set the room light to ideal viewing condition.

Before running the optimizer the sharpness needs to be reduced to normal and the color temperature should be set to 6500K. It is not difficult to navigate through the test patterns shown by the optimizer application. There are some high-end calibration setups in the market like DVE that can be purchased in both Blu Ray and DVD versions.

Apart from the calibration the HDTV owners also need to decide if they want to use the motion blur reduction technology or not. The blur reduction technology is referred by many names by various manufacturers. Sony calls it Motion Flow while LG calls it Tru Motion. However, all these techniques interpolate extra frames to eliminate motion blur. While some people prefer it, some others do not and say it makes the motion seem artificial. It is up to a HDTV owner to decide if he wants to enable this feature or not. A number of HDTVs use a technology called overscan that may incorporate artifacts and reduce HD resolution. Therefore, the users need to set the Zero-overscan mode active in their HDTVs.

The HDTV experience can never be complete without sound that matches the visuals. The aforesaid THX optimizer also contains audio calibration tools. The HDTVs have speakers but they can not match the performance of external speakers. If a person does not want wires spread out all over the room he can try a sound bar. It sits below the LCD TV on the wall and produces rich sound. Sound bars are not expensive either. The physical position of the speakers can play an important role in ideal sound reproduction. For example, in case of a 5.1 sound system, two speakers should be put at side at ear-level. Other two should be placed by the side of the screen. The center channel needs to be put below the screen. Generally sub-woofer is placed on the floor level.

For PC to HDTV connectivity it is best to use HDMI port. DVI is another good option but it only transfers the video signal and so using another audio cable becomes necessary. If the TV is in a position where direct connectivity is not possible, it would be a good idea to use a media player box.

Top 5 Anti-Virus Software Of 2009

Tony Williams — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:31:05 +0000

Standing in the 21st century, where one’s lifestyle is driven by technology, where Internet is the order of the day; one might find himself getting cobbed up in the “web world”. Along with the evolution of the mass phenomenon called Internet there also has been a parallel evolution of certain negatives targeted at the internet, which are specifically termed as “Virus”. These small software programs are designed to spread from one computer to another thereby interfering or maligning computer related operations. A computer virus can even crash an entire system or may delete or corrupt your data that is stored in your PC, can use your email program in order to spread itself to other computers and may wipe off every single data of your hard disk.

In order to battle against these malicious viruses which are quite voracious in nature, programmers have come up with counter-software which are termed as “Anti Virus software”. For years, these anti-virus programs have been helping the web world to counter these hazardous programs, thus preventing them from corrupting your system files. But nowadays the computer viruses are more deadly and sophisticated in their operations. So hereby we have come up with the latest and top rated ten anti-virus software which have been quite useful of defending one’s computer from these malicious programs. These softwares have been highly rated and recommended on the basis of user’s ratings. 1. Bit Defender Anti-virus 2010: When it comes to battling the deadliest of viruses, Bit Defender is the one on which you can completely rely on. The “Top Ten Reviews Gold Award” winning software has been hugely acclaimed for its security features that enables your PC to stay aloof from all sorts of viruses, malwares, adwares, worms etc. The latest Bit Defender Anti-Virus 2010 has exquisite features which includes real time protection, advanced heuristic Active Virus Control, Intrusion Detection and Optimized Scanning. Buy the original copy now and get your PC protected. 2. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009: Known for defending systems globally from malicious programs and software such as Trojans, bots, worms, spyware, malware, blood hound etc. The software is well equipped for comprehensive security and is also a treat for the users as it offers a 3-user-license option for one year period. An awesome, cost effective software to try out. 3. Webroot Anti-Virus: This uniquely sophisticated software includes not only the various components that is required to battle off the virus but also comprises of an abridged version of Spy Sweeper anti-spyware software. This outstandingly well equipped software includes some brilliant features like gamer mode for uninterrupted play, the award-winning “spy sweeper” which provides advanced spyware protection. Webroot also offers free remote file storage, thereby making it one of the best anti virus software in the web world. 4. ESET Nod32 2009: Supports your system extremely well and does not slow down your PC. Regarded as one of the fastest growing anti-virus software in recent times, Nod32 provides you with some exclusive features which includes effective anti-virus protection, effective scanning speed and excellent proactive protection. Worth a try out for all the PC users all over the world. 5. F-Secure Anti-Virus: This easy-to-install software not only protects your computer from worms, Trojans, virus etc, but also provides you an in-depth outlook or guidelines on general security practices. An extremely useful software and a must install for those using pair to pair softwares.

Ultimate Guide To Windows 7 Media Center Codecs

Tony Williams — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:04:26 +0000

My mate Everton has published a very comprehensive guide to setting up codecs for Windows 7, which covers how to play mkv, flac, h.264 and other files easily on Windows 7, without needing a quad core PC. The guide will work on any PC that has been built in the last 4-5 years.

Windows 7 is coming out on October 22nd. If you want to find out more about Windows 7 and more about what versions will be available to buy, then check out Windows 7 News.

Exclusive: $5 Off Fixtunes For Readers

Tony Williams — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:34:35 +0000

Yesterday I wrote a review about FixTunes, one of the best tools that can automatically tidy up your music collection by adding missing track information, album artwork and other corrections. The software is free for a limited number of uses, but the generous folk over at FixTunes will give One Tip A Day users a $5 discount if they buy the full version. All they have to do is enter the Discount code: DD9D6.

Here are the key features of FixTunes:

Edit the song title, artist, album, track, year and genre tags of your music
Fix your songs automatically, without having to type all the information yourself
Automatically download and add album cover art images to your music files
Look up online information on your music like artist bios and reviews with one click
Rename the music in your library into a standard format
Organize your music into folders according to artist, album, year or genre
Remove duplicate music files from your collection with ease, saving the best version
Quickly search and edit only a portion of your music collection

To try FixTunes for free click here.

How To Watch Man Utd Vs Arsenal Champions League Football Online

Tony Williams — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:05:31 +0000

Despite not having any goals, last night’s game between Barcelona and Chelsea was still a very good game to watch. I still think that Barcelona will be meeting Man Utd, who face Arsenal tonight, in the final.

If you want to watch tonight’s European Champions League match between Man Utd and Arsenal live online on your PC for free, then check out my guide below.

More: How To Watch Champions League Football Online

How To Watch Barcelona Vs Chelsea Champions League Football Online

Tony Williams — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:08:51 +0000

Tonight’s Champions League game between Barcelona and Chelsea is set to be a classic with two different playing styles colliding – power Vs skill. My money is on Barcelona as they are unstoppable at the moment and Messi is the best player in the world.

Using my guide you can watch tonight’s European Champions League match between Barcelona and Chelsea live online on your PC for free, as well as tomorrow’s Man Utd V Arsenal game.

More: How To Watch Champions League Football Online

Burn ISOs With Windows 7

Tony Williams — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:38:19 +0000

If you haven’t heard of Windows 7 yet, it’s the replacement for Windows Vista that will be launched at the end of 2009. Millions of users around the world have been testing out the beta version of Windows 7 since February, and te Windows 7 Release Candidate will be launched on May 5th, which will be a 99% complete version. If you want to learn more about Windows 7, then check out Windows 7 News.

One new simple feature in Windows 7 that is also very handy, is the inbuilt ISO burning tool. Previously to burn isos you had to install a 3rd party program like MagicISO. Now in Windows 7 for the first time you’ll be able to burn ISOs directly. To burn an ISO image in Windows 7, all you have to do is right-click on the ISO image in your hard drive and choose “Burn disc image”, which will launch Windows Disc Image Burner.

Convert Text to Video and Gain Huge Traffic

Umar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:01:52 +0000

I have seen tens of different online applications that lets you convert your text to audio. Today, I’ve confronted one that will allow you to turn your articles to Videos. ArticleVideoRobot seems to be a very useful software that converts your text into a movie in less than 3 minutes of time.

All you have to do is copy and paste your article in the content box and leave the rest to ArticleVideoRobot. The biggest advantage of creating videos out of your article is that the video counts separately for each video website you submit it to. What this means to you that with a single click your video will be going out to 17 different video websites.

If you use the servive sensibly you can distribute these videos to top websites and top social networks to gain huge traffic. Here are the simple steps you will need to use to create your video

Paste your article in the content box
Arrange your article into paragraphs
Summarize each of the paragraph
Select your movie background
Set your background music
Fill In Author’s Information / Resource Box
Preview your newly created video and save your file in AVI or SWF format
Submit your newly created to the top 17+ video websites instantly.

You can download the trial version here or check out the official website for additional information.

Control More Applications With Your HTPC or MCE Remote

Tony Williams — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:12:29 +0000

I have a new Home Theatre PC that I use to watch TV, play music and watch movies on. I do this using a Microsoft MCE remote which is fantastic, but it doesn’t allow me to control any apps outside of Vista Media Center (VMC), so I frequently have to get a keyboard and mouse out which are hard to use on a sofa.

For the last couple of days I’ve been testing out Intelliremote and so far I’m impressed. This application allows applications like iTunes, Winamp, MediaPortal and Zoomplayer to be controlled by the Microsoft remote. It’s shareware ($24) which is a shame, but at least you can try out most of the features before you buy.

More: Intelliremote

How To Avoid Plasma Screen Burn

Tony Williams — Sat, 24 May 2008 11:25:02 +0000

I have a friend who has a very expensive Plasma TV, but because he didn’t take steps to protect his screen he’s suffering from screen burn. It’s easy to suffer from screen burn; just watching your favourite TV channel for too long can result in the logo being permanently displayed.

Although modern plasmas don’t suffer from screen burn as much as older screens, it’s still prudent to be careful in the first 200 hours of viewing when the screen hasn’t been burnt in. Things you should be careful of is to not display static logos or images for too long (more than 30 mins). If your screen has a zoom mode then use it so that when you are watching standard programmes they fill up the whole wide-screen.

If you want to burn your screen in quicker, then you can follow this guide from hdtv:

Adjust the brightness and contrast correctly on your plasma TV. If you don’t have calibration material just set them to slightly below half of the maximum possible.
Display a pure white image covering the whole of the plasma screen. Reference Materials, Title 14 (System Evaluation), Chapter 6 (100% Flat Field) in Digital Video Essentials works well, just make sure you don’t display the pause button too.
Gradually increase the hours during the power-on/ power-off cycles (i.e. do this for 2 hours then switch the TV off for one hour; then 4 hours on, 2 hours off; then 5 hours on, 2 hours off; and so on and so forth). This way the phosphors can stabilise properly, and you can catch any potential problem before it becomes worse.
50 to 100 hours of power-on running-in will age the phosphors sufficiently to minimise the risk of plasma screen burn.

This method works by burning the phosphors EVENLY by displaying the same intensity across the whole plasma screen, so that they get a good even workout.