This is very heavy and very large – the box is about 50% bigger than the unit.Aside from putting the glass top on and setting the hight for the adjustable shelf – it is ready to go, right out of the box.So first stop is the manual and it’s here you find the biggest disappointment – The specifications for the RHT-G800 given by Sony are:”Coax Digital In X 1, Composite In Audio/Video X 1, Opt Digital In X 3, HDMI In X 2 and HDMI Out X 1″So that’s 7 Inputs and 1 Output – isn’t it?WRONG!…. This presented my first headache – I have 4 digital audio sources – XBOX360, Sky Satellite, DVD player and AppleTV.I had to sacrifice digital input from one of those devices – I choses the Apple TV, mainly because I don’t have any content with multi-channel sound – YET.
Monthly Archives: June 2007
Damn Cyclists!
I’ve just endured the annual trial which is the London to Brighton Cycle invasion. Each year I am trapped by inconsiderate neanderthal cyclists, as the route passes by my front door from 07:00 to 17:00I’m not going to rant here – only say that if these people want to raise money for charity, they would be doing us all a favour if they just sold the bikes and donated the proceeds!
I’ve Joined the World of HD
There were also a number of apparent issues with the technology: Poor Contrast – because the cells of plasmas could not be switched off, only dimmed.Delicate – Had to be professionally installed and kept upright at all times or they would lose pixels.Screen Burn – Static images, such as the annoying logos on all satellite channels burning onto the screen.Next came LCD – these only came in small sizes and also had issues: Poor ContrastSlow refresh rate (causing motion to be blurred)Limited viewing angle – you had to sit right infront of the screen in order to see the pictureDead/Stuck pixels – a manufacturing defect that the manufacturers seem to think was acceptibleBasically the picture on an old fashioned CRT screen was far superior to both these technologies – the only thing it didn’t offer was High Definition but this was not an issue as the was no HD content to view.I waited, and two or more years on, there are beginning to be reasons to want HD. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs – Nice but who wants to end up with another BetamaxSKY-HD Satellite – too little content and too expensiveApple-TV – HD connections only, but nice and I needed something to replace my aging, Windows only, Pinnacle ShowCenter.XBOX360 – HD games – hardly a necessity, but nice all the same.So time to review the situation.