Change your Bookmarks!

Happy Holidays from the TEK Staff!

I’m one of those people who can’t remember the first time

The Vizio P50HDTV is an unassuming model on any showroom floor. It’s relatively easy to not notice the set amidst a sea of other competitors who perhaps enjoy name recognition. Once you step back and take a good look at all of them, your eye will likely gravitate towards a handful of sets, with the P50HDTV one of them. The set itself has a glossy, almost Apple-like black finish that manages to not look gaudy, but rather elegant and refined even. It’s a fairly heavy set, weighing in at about 121 pounds. This is a bit of an irony as the set isn’t the thinnest on the market by a long shot. It isn’t very thick, but it doesn’t weigh quite as much as some slimmer sets. The black casing gives way to a silver cascade of speakers and a stand. Overall, the set looks very elegant in most settings, albeit in an unobtrusive, understated way.

Fortunately, the P50HDTV has more than enough image quality to hold its own in the class as well. As a bit of an oddity, standard definition television seems to be hit or miss in terms of quality depending on how good the signal is. If the signal is relatively strong, you’ll definitely enjoy even SDTV on this set. If it’s a weak signal, you absolutely will not like it. Fortunately, the television’s true strength lies in displaying HD signals and content. Maxing out at 720p/1080i, the television does an excellent job of displaying up to 1080i where necessary. If standard definition content leaves you a bit uneasy, high definition stuff certainly will not. Also of note is that the television works hard to pull off some of the darkest black levels I’ve seen on an HDTV, period. The P50HDTV boasts a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 50” screen, high brightness, an integrated NTSC/ATSC tuner, and an incredible viewing angle.

The set also features a surprising amount of input/output solutions as well. On the input side, the P50HDTV has a veritable arsenal of ports, featuring two HDMI ports, two component ports, two s-video ports, three composite, an RF adapter, a VGA port, and a service port. On output, the amount is obviously a bit less dizzying, bringing an analog output, as well as a 5.1 SPDIF optical audio port.

On the usability aspect, you’ll find the menus to be rather simple, with an emphasis on graphical representations of settings when possible. It makes navigating through the settings much less of a chore. The interface is not revolutionary, which in this case is a good thing. There’s enough to learn about this television without having to go through a completely unfamiliar user interface. I was a bit disappointed with the remote control that comes with the television, however. There aren’t a lot of buttons on it, which typically is great. Some of the buttons are not exactly self-explanatory and can cause problems for an unfamiliar user. Additionally, too many of the buttons are a bit smaller than my hands and thumbs can accommodate.

Despite a few minor faults, Vizio’s P50HDTV is an excellent television that will likely get overlooked too often because of its brand name. Admittedly, I had not intended to purchase this television when I was in the market, but it won me over due to its abundance of inputs, high definition picture quality, and its price. The P50HDTV is working double overtime to dispel the misconception that a nice plasma set has to be exorbitantly expensive. The P50HDTV carries a MSRP of $1899, but I have seen it priced (and purchased it) for $100 less. It’s a wonderful set for those looking to enjoy their new (or upcoming) PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, their HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Disc players, or even if they’ve never owned an HDTV before . At that price, you would be hard-pressed to find a better set for the value.

The build quality of the controller is excellent. It’s solid, it’s pretty, and it’s semi-wireless. Instead of plugging into the Wii directly, the Classic Controller plugs into the Wii remote. While it may seem like an odd design choice at first, it’s actually a godsend. You won’t be worrying about batteries since it feeds off of the Wii remote’s power and the lack of a battery compartment makes it nice and light while keeping the cost at a very affordable $19.99. The only real issue here is that you’ll need a Wii remote for every Classic Controller you want to play with (4-player matches will require four Wii remotes). The buttons are a bit squishy, but in a good way. They lack a real distinct click that is so synonymous with retro gaming, but it’s a fair trade-off for the increase in overall aesthetics and comfort. The directional pad (d-pad) is much like what you’ll remember from the SNES but it’s a bit stiffer. It’s ultra-precise and should be perfect for many of the popular old-school genres such as shooters, fighters, and platformers.

I guess rather than a game-by-game analysis of what I thought of the Classic Controller’s abilities, it makes far more sense to comment on how well it emulates the controls for each console represented in the VC library. Right now the VC is offering games from the NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and the TurboGrafx-16. I’m hoping we’ll see more in the future, but for now it’s a great start. So, let’s talk about how well the controller performs.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Nintendo’s first home console is controlled beautifully with the Classic Controller. I have some rather large hands, so I appreciate the increased size of the Classic Controller when compared to the old NES pad. It makes controlling stuff like Zelda a lot more comfortable. Fans of the NES controller will adapt quickly to the feel of the Classic Controller and newcomers to NES games will probably feel as if the games were designed around the controller in the first place anyway.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
The Super Nintendo sported what is arguably the best and most well-rounded controller for its respective library. It never felt like games had to suffer with shoehorned controls to accommodate for any controller shortcomings. This, I believe, is the reason why the Classic Controller so closely resembles the SNES pad. It is, however, a bit more comfortable to hold than the SNES pad due to the extra thickness of the controller. Still, I think I might prefer the SNES d-pad to the one found on the Classic Controller. It’s not that the Classic Controller’s d-pad has anything wrong with it, it’s just that the SNES d-pad was as close to perfect as it gets. Much like with the NES, SNES fans should be pleased with the Classic Controller’s look, feel, and functionality.

Nintendo 64
Unlike the much-loved Super Nintendo, the Nintendo 64 controller was a bit of an oddball. Sure, it introduced the masses to analog control, it had a good d-pad, and it brought us the ever so popular trigger button, but the way the controller was split into thirds weirded a lot of gamers out. While I personally liked the N64 controller, I did always find it weird that there were some buttons you couldn’t physically reach at times. With the Classic Controller the weirdness has been done away with, and the Z trigger has been moved up to the shoulder and the analog C-buttons are now mapped to the right analog stick. I found doing Mario’s long jump in Mario 64 a little less comfortable than it was on the original controller, but that’s the only instance where the Classic Controller didn’t feel superior at this point. In the long run, I think most gamers will find that the Classic Controller is what the N64 controller should have been in the first place.

Sega Genesis
The Genesis was the console that first introduced me to 16-bit gaming and was known for being home to countless classics. Even though the controller worked well, I never really liked it all that much. I was never fond of the three buttons in a line (or the two rows of three later on); especially when the SNES pad came out with shoulder buttons. The d-pad was also inferior to the one found on the SNES, but it wasn’t ever much of an issue after getting adjusted to it. Like the other consoles mentioned thus far, the Genesis titles play better on the Classic Controller thanks to its superior design. I got quite a kick out of playing Sonic the Hedgehog on a controller that felt so close to a SNES pad.

NEC TurboGrafx-16
Simply put, I was never the biggest fan of the TurboGrafx-16 (also known as PC Engine) controller. It wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t feel up to par with it’s contemporaries across all fronts. Once again I feel that the Classic Controller really ups the enjoyment factor of each individual title to be found on the VC for the TG-16. Playing Bomberman ’93 with my wife is an absolute blast (pardon the pun) and Super Star Soldier never felt so good. Hopefully the TG-16 support remains strong since many long-time Nintendo fans may have missed out on this system during its short and mostly turbulent life.

Basically the Classic Controller is the perfect fit for the Virtual Console games. Hopefully the existence of the controller encourages publishers to keep 2D gaming alive on the Wii as well, but we’ll see how that pans out over time. For now, I’m just glad to see that Wii owners aren’t forced into using a GameCube controller to control the VC games.

Oh, and for the first person that can find out why there’s a clip on the back of the remote, you’ll get some sort of prize from me. I’ll dig into a pile of media swag and find something good, but only if you find the real reason behind it before I can.

From Engadget; “We’ve received word that a respected member of our tech community, James Kim (whom many of you may know as CNET’s senior editor of digital audio), and his family have gone missing. As we understand it, last weekend James, his wife Kati (above right), and his very young girls Penelope (left) and Sabine (baby), drove from their home in the SF Bay Area to Seattle. They were expected back some time Sunday, but were last seen by a hotel clerk at 5:45 PM on Saturday in or between Gold Beach or Portland, Oregon. We sincerely do hope they are all safe, and our hearts go out to the Kim family.

We’ll have more information as we get it. If you have any information as to the Kim family’s whereabouts, please contact the SFPD at 415-558-5508 during normal business hours, and 415-553-1071 after hours.

Update: Crave reports that James and his family are driving a 2005 silver Saab station wagon with license plate “DOESF.” The official missing person report can be found here.”

James Kim’s family was found but he had left to look for help; Yahoo News has the story posted here.

Advanced Media Network and TEK pray for the safe return home for James Kim and many well wishes go out to his family.

Isn’t she lovely? A prize in gaming and technophile’s hearts to be sure because Pyramat did everything they could to make the common Gamer furniture into something delightful and delicious to both the eye and ear. Now, whenever one goes to Best Buy or Target, they’re usually keen to some of the underdogs of the gaming furniture business and those should be scoffed and belittled as they’re not even CLOSE to the furnishing that Pyramat can provide.

Enough of the romanticism, forgive the fact I get mushy over awesome tech — but with all that aside; Pyramat deserves this month’s TEK of the Month and OUR first award altogether! Let me get into logistics, shall we?

From the moment I opened the box, the weight was something I immediately took notice on. It’s huge! Heavy as the dickens too, which just proves this isn’t something that can be torn, broken and tossed aside after a party – this thing is built to LAST. With dual blue-lit speakers on the back of the headrest (You can’t tell from that picture because the chair isn’t turned ON.) and the most pounding bass you can ever imagine (Hehehehe.. /pervert), Pyramat put as much as they could into a chair that you can easily put infront of your television.

On the right side of the chair, you’ll notice three knobs; one for volume and power, one for bass and one to turn the chair from the normal audio position to the MP3 position. On your left side is a small strap and a headphone jack which will plug into your iPod, Sansa, Clix – whatever it is you have and you’ll have all your music blaring through the Rocker. If THAT were not enough, if you have more than one of these Rockers, you can plug both in together and have a virtual IMAX theater in your living room!

Alongside the cute little GFlex unit that Pyramat provided me with, my friends and I had a blast watching “Cars” and playing “Resident Evil 4” with the power of these awesome Rockers. You’ll be hardpressed to find anything more enjoyable to sit in while watching movies or gaming – did I mention you can even boost up the sound of your PSP and DS with the connections provided with the Rocker?

Mario Kart DS was never that intense before, let me tell you.

Education is a huge subject for me because in the gaming industry, a lot of times we lose sight of what is going on in our brains when we’re playing videogames. Our synapses fire off and our hand-eye-coordination becomes something to behold, we’re becoming more and more intelligent with every game we play and that’s not a coincidence. Companies have jumped on this idea and some have even formed OUT of the simplistic notion that gamers are getting younger and younger and the best way to nurture a seed is to give it water and food to grow.

Currently, my favorite gaming company out there that is geared towards educational software has to be The Game Factory, a company that releases games based on popular franchises that teaches young children valuable lessons and helpful tools on the path to growing into gamers years from now. What fascinates me about this dedicated group of men and women, is that they’re tireless about their cause in an area that is so underpopulated. Their competitors take the other ground, catering to older audiences while they will put their toes in the water and take care of those little future gamer guppies.

Recently, one of the fine people at The Game Factory sent me some of their Nintendo DS games to try out and since I’m such a huge supporter of educational technology – I had to take a look. One of the games, a franchise out of the Nick Jr. series “Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends“, comes an interesting DS game where simple puzzles and memory games come in a palatable form that don’t confuse and bewilder young players. Fantastically enough, my five year old daughter seemed to have no issues with controls or figuring out the guidelines in each level. I find it’s important in games like these to show players who aren’t your general Halo players – what they’re doing without losing them in the hyperbole of instructions.

Another game they sent me was “Strawberry Shortcake: Strawberryland Games“, which is made for a slightly older audience than the “Miss Spider” group. With a bit more reading involved, I found I had to help my little niblet along with certain objectives. However, the objectives were still the kind that were simple but still enriching and rewarding come the end of the level. She’ll still sit there and quietly tip and tap at the screen with the stylus until her bedtime because by now, she’s got the characters and their objectives MAPPED out. That’s how brilliant our gamer kids are becoming folks.

The good people at The Game Factory sent me a game that hadn’t been released at this point and I really wanted to work up some more for a nice write-up, so I sat on it for a bit. I played it and while playing it – I noticed a harrowing situation. See, they sent me the game based on “Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties“. The situation comes from the fact that not only had I not seen this movie, I had no clue what kind of story I was being pushed into. I was playing, bouncing from one goofy platform to another and setting off voice reactions to certain things with no clue how I was doing so. It was then, that my five year old came in the door, took the DS Lite out of my hands and literally “showed me” how it was done. Schooling me in every sense of the word, she pointed out that to get him to move certain directions and/or set off an event – you spoke into the mic on the DS and this made him meow. So, all those times I kept hearing him meow while I was talking on the phone — finally made sense!

This is what it all boils down to, our children are getting SMARTER and adults can’t deny any longer that videogames are an inevitablity. They’re fascinating and proactive to every child’s development now and thanks to companies out there that are willing to market towards those kids — not only will our kids be more intelligent, but they’ll be entertained.

I’m currently moving this Tek page to the actual Advanced Media Network server, so if you don’t see a review for a couple of days — that’s why! I’m happily programming our lovely WordPress into that site.

Thanks for the patience, folks!

I’m addicted to watching things on the internet, whether it be something silly like on YouTube or anime fansubs — I am a child of the Internet. DivX and their video-on-demand feature seems to be coming higher and higher up the food chain of video sites that allow downloading.

There’s a ton of Blu-Ray DVD players and even DVD recorders out there that are hideously overpriced and horrifically difficult to manuever even for the most technologically advanced of us cavemen. So what does the world have to offer us in terms of function, style and quality?

Welcome in the Philips DivX DVD Player! Ever since Philips started in with these glorious machines, they’ve become fast favorites of people on the internet that want to easily take their favorite clips, shows and such – and watch them in an easy form on their televisions. This thing plays EVERYTHING and with multiple formats, including Windows Media format and DivX codecs up to the latest; it’s stupid to overlook it because of it’s cheap price.

At the deliciously inexpensive price of $50.00 (Walmart sells these both in store and online even!), Philips made a quality product with a sleek look that will play almost any format you throw at it. An easy to manipulate menu system for burned CDs and MP3s, a new style of remote that makes the buttons easier to memorize — this DVD player packs a lot of function into a tiny price package.

Finally, you can burn all those inappropriate videos onto disks and get them off your parents computer!

Awhile back, Logitech sent me their G5 Corded Laser Mouse that was, for all intents and purposes DESIGNED for the gamer in mind. This thing had weights for better FPS precision, it was easy on the eyes and had more buttons than you could shake a stick at. I didn’t think it could GET much better and then they sent me this gorgeous little dream-car of a mouse.

One thing I’ve got to boast on behalf of Logitech is the quality of their products, these aren’t just mass produced and shoddy pieces of plastic. When I opened up my G7, I had a USB powered recharging unit that also doubled as the reciever, as well as an extra battery to have in the charger while you’re using the other in your mouse. The installation was insanely simple and once I had the mouse up and running on my computer, I was quick to start programming my buttons.

Seriously, I don’t know how I used any other mouse before. The G7 has buttons on top of buttons that are mostly cleverly hidden from the naked eye. By nudging my scroll wheel to the left, I can copy highlighted text and by nudging it to the right, I can paste that same text wherever I need it! People who send out lots of emails and do a lot of editing will be in ecstasy over this mouse for the sheer delight of program functions. Also, next to your thumb is a button you can easily program to go “BACK” on your browser – how awesome is that?

Other than the programming function for the mouse, there’s the glory of it’s cursor speed. If you feel perhaps it goes just a bit too slow, you can press the tiny (+) button right under the scroll wheel and speed that little bugger up – or if you’re noticing your eyes can’t keep up with that tiny cursor, just click the (-) and you’re back in business. The G7 gives you control without trouble and perhaps give you ease where you once found tedium. In essence, I think I’d lose my mind now without this little smooth bauble of a peripheral.

At a price tag of $99.99 – it’s certainly not an impulse buy but you definitely get what you pay for. For those people out there that are tired of replacing their cheap mice and finding constant issues with the outgoing format of Optical mice – you mustn’t pass this item up.

I’m five-foot nothing, so it was quite daunting when the delivery man got here and a box ALMOST five-foot high was standing infront of me. I couldn’t even see the delivery guy walk away! With the help of someone else, I pulled the huge box in the house and squealed as I tried to tug it out of the cardboard hell it was encased in. Once I finally got it out of there, I plopped it on the ground and dove in.

You would not think that a beanbag “thing” made out of military-grade materials would be as comfortable as this thing is. While it’s admittedly not made of a soft material on the outside, it’s stunningly conforms to your body with no effort. For two hours I tried every single position I possibly could on the Sumo – all comfortably hugging to me while I played my videogames or even took a cat-nap. This thing is utterly amazing!

Not all reviews will go this smoothly though and so it was a week or so into owning the Sumo that I realized it’s major fault: It’s SIZE. Since it’s not made of a form-holding fabric and it’s quite slippery against carpeting, the Sumo doesn’t hold shape very well and with such an expansive size – it can be daunting for smaller rooms. If you’ve got a big living room however and don’t mind a big colored blob taking up space, it’s perfect. A dorm room with a couple of these and the Sumo’s OTTO (An ottoman-like section that can be used for putting your feet up and as a table.) would be ideal and hip on the eyes. However, when you’re trying to mix the Sumo with a normal living room or bedroom, it almost appears as an eyesore.

With all of that aside, the actual pros to this item far surpass those of the cons – and once you can figure out where to put the damn thing, you’ll be happy for life. Spill something on it, wipe it up without fear of stains or ruining your uber-chic furniture. Need a good position for… extracurricular activities? This piece of furniture is yours to mold to whatever you need it to be and more!

In a league with tons of “rocker” type chairs and gaming seating, the Sumo doesn’t seem the most likely candidate – but for those of you out there concerned more with comfort and versatility – the Sumo is perfect for your every desire. Go ahead and pick one up and when you’re done abusing it with all the different comfortable positions and uses, shoot me an email!