You might think that my first computer was a Mac. Not true! My first computer came a decade earlier, and was all I could afford…don’t laugh…it was a Commodore Vic 20.



I played games on it and did some simple programming. Then I sold it and pawned a bass guitar to get a Commodore 64. The C64 got me through college between 1984 and 1986, with a 300 baud modem and an Olivetti Ink Jet printer.

I frequented bulletin boards in the area, and played lots of Infocom text adventures (which you can still play on iDevices thanks to a program called Frotz).

I used the Macs and laser printer in my school’s Computer Resource Center for serious work, like my resume. But that was not nearly as fun as the Commodore products!

Over the years, I have accumulated a variety of wireless solutions, all Apple, and generally called Airport. I have two of the original Airport Express units, which allow you to play audio and wirelessly print to a USB printer (what a combination). Mine are only wireless b/g (the current model is wireless n), but they are still quite functional.

So I went on a quest to get one of the Airport Expresses to transmit music to my old iHome iH6 Clock Radio in the bedroom. The iHome has a 1/8 inch stereo line input. The Airport Express has a 1/8 inch stereo line output (that also works with 1/8 inch optical cables, but I did not need optical for this project).

I needed an extension power cord, which you can order from Amazon, but I ended up ordering an iPad power adaptor from Apple, because I needed another one of those and could use the extension power cord from that. I also needed a 1/8 inch stereo patch cable. I’m sure I have one in the house somewhere, but be damned if I could find it! So I ordered one from Amazon.

I got all the cables yesterday and plugged everything in…the Airport flashed green…i selected a song from my iPhone, directed it to the Airport…and it did not work.

Damn. This is Apple. It’s supposed to be simple!

It turns out, the iHome was not plugged in. Once it was, the aging 60 gig iPod in the dock started to charge, and the line input started to work.

The only thing left is controlling the music. That takes a simple “Remote” app that runs on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. The Remote app can control an iTunes library, and direct music to any networked device, like the Airport Express.

So now I have my entire iTunes library available in the bedroom at the touch of a button. I went to bed last night listening to The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, streaming from iTunes. Cool!

Here is the old HDTV Resource site. Not much happened between 2007 and 2012!

It’s been five years since I updated this site. A lot has changed since then. I would like to get back into the blogging business, with reviews and commentary to keep things going.

I started web sites in 1995 with The Power Macintosh Resource Page, back when I had a problematic Power Mac 7500. That site evolved into The DVD Resource Page in 1997, which started when DVD made its debut in the Dallas-area test market. That site continued for three years.

HDTV Resource started after that with the purchase of the domain, and a couple of years later, with content. If I can find it, I will upload it for old time’s sake. At the time, I was into HD-DVD and I wrote several reviews, although they were not much compared to the 300+ reviews I wrote for DVD Resource.

Times have changed, too. There was nothing for me to get angry about with HDTV…that kept me going for the Power Mac and the DVD sites (remember DIVX? Ugh…)

HDTV is not all that controversial. My first HDTV, a behemoth Mitsubishi 65907 purchased in 2000, lasted nearly 11 years, before the convergence went out and the set would no longer power on. In 2006, I bought a smaller DLP Mitsubishi for my downstairs living room. It has not been perfect, but I liked DLP, so when I went to replace the original Mits, I bought a larger (screen-wise) DLP Mits for the upstairs home theater. Of course, the new set only weighs 100 lbs, where the old set weighed 400. I’m just glad the installers were able to get the old set down the stairs without hurting themselves.

My new DLP set is a Mitsubishi 73838. It was 3D-capable out of the box, with the use of DLP link 3D glasses and a software update. With a trusty Oppo BDP-93, I’ve been able to watch great 3D content like Avatar and Hugo, and even listen to my legacy SACD and DVD-Audio collection. (Did you know you can still get SACD’s?)

As for 3D, I’m a fan, but I recognize that not everyone is. For one thing, people complain about having to wear the glasses. I understand that sets not requiring glasses have been in development, but I don’t see them coming to market anytime soon. Instead, we have two types of 3D technologies on the market today, those that use Active Shutter glasses, and those that use the passive glasses (like the ones you get in most movie theaters). The passive glasses are much, much cheaper than the active-shutter glasses. There are advantages and disadvantages to both technologies, as covered by CNET.

Of course, the advantages of the technologies are moot as long as the content on blu-ray is limited. It’s been a good couple of months since I have last acquired a 3D blu-ray. I don’t care as much for 3D conversions (those movies that were not originally filmed in 3D) although I saw The Avengers in 3D and it was pretty good. The only movie filmed in 3D on the horizon that looks any good to me is Prometheus.

So anyway, this is the first of hopefully many posts on a little bit of everything, including HDTV, blu-ray, and all things digital. Enjoy!