Black Friday Deals!

As you may know, I'm writing from Canada and we do not have Black Friday or Cyber Monday here. However that doesn't mean that we don't take advantage of it. Tons of stores will have sale posters in the malls showing their support for Black Friday. I guess if they can cash in on the shopping associated with Black Friday they may as well.

I try not to bother too much with local mall sales as they may be decent, but not the best I can get. If I spend a little more time and drive over the border to the United States I can get wicked deals on the same items I'd buy here. The great thing about crossing the border is that sometimes you can find things that aren't carried locally and they may be better than what you wanted in the first place. Border hopping is probably is a must for any Canadian who wants deals before Christmas.

Now as any smart shopper knows, looking online is very important to finding the best deal. Even if you cross the border and find the item on sale for $20, you might find it online for $15 with $2 shipping. The issue with shopping online is that you have to know where to shop. I'm the kind of guy that likes to find a great online store, and stay loyal. On a recent post, Replace DLP TV Bulb or Buy a New TV? I recommended a great electronics company called Northstar AV. I was looking for a good deal on a DLP TV bulb and they were able to give me the lowest price, and an additional 5% off with a coupon code. I was so happy with them, I contacted the Sales Manager and made a deal to provide 5% off to all Ian's Blog readers. That code has since expired but we've decided to bring the deal back for Black Friday. So if you're looking for a great deal on projector and TV lamps between now and Cyber Monday you should click the banner below and use the special Northstar AV coupon code, brought to you by Ian's Blog

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the deals this year. Don't forget to compare prices from one site to another and consider the cost of shipping and the delivery times.

IaN

Star Wars Ultimate FX Light Saber

I posted about how I drool over the Force FX light sabers a few months back and now I've finally got one... kinda. The Force FX models have metal hilts (handles) and long blades but tend to sell for $99-$150 depending on the source and features. Now to me that isn't a ton of money, but it is when you are buying a movie souvenir. I just don't have that much in my budget for this type of thing.

However, if they offered a cheaper version I might be interested in it. Well it turns out that the Ultimate FX light saber, also made by Hasbro, goes for $30-$35 and is very similar to it's more expensive Force FX brother. The Ultimate FX light saber comes in a blue (Anakin) and red (Darth Vader). Both sabers are made of plastic but keep the detailing of the movie hilts. If you are a fan of the Force FX blades you'll be used to the 36" blade, but with the Ultimate FX blade at 23", you're going to notice the difference.

Even with a shorter blade and a plastic hilt, the light saber is very functional. It uses the same motion sound effect and lighting technology as the Force FX models. For me, this is exactly what I wanted. I plan to use my new light saber as a Halloween costume prop and I might even clash it against a few ninja swords or harry potter wands while I'm out there. The best thing about it is that if it breaks, it was only $30 at Costco so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Don't get me wrong though, I still plan to get myself the red Darth Vader Force FX blade... some day.

Check out my quick video review of the blue Anakin Ultimate FX Light Saber below. It's not my best work but you get the point. In the store, I found that the blue blade was brighter and the LED gaps were less obvious than with the red one. Enjoy!

Shaw Gateway vs Telus Optik

A recent comment from an anonymous blog reader brought up the topic of Telus Optik vs Shaw Gateway. One of my most read posts is my review of the Telus Optik service. Telus offers a solid television package with Personal Video Recorder (PVR) abilities and they do it for a decent price. Our other local home service provider, Shaw has been getting hammered by Telus since Optik was released, and continues to get hammered on a quarterly basis. However Shaw would not sit on the sidelines forever, they have been offering their new service, Shaw Gateway for several months and it wants to prove that Telus can be outdone. Outdone... but at what cost?

I'm going to start with the positives. Shaw Gateway has superior hardware. The PVR and remote HD boxes have HDMI ports that can output in 1080p resolution (best television quality to date) and the head unit carries a 500GB hard drive. These Shaw boxes are also 3D and DLNA ready meaning you won't be left behind when 3D television channels become more popular and you'll be able to integrate your local video, music and picture content from your home computer network. The DLNA feature is really nice (assuming it's implemented properly) as it could save you from getting a separate media server device. A big bonus with Shaw is that they do offer a higher end internet bandwidth. Telus Optik currently tops out at a constant 25mbps (approximately) while Shaw can get you well above 50mbps, if you are willing to pay for it. These internet speeds were once only to dream of, and now they are a constant reminder of how technology is rapidly advancing.

I think it's important to note that Shaw Gateway is also capable of the PVR Anywhere technology. Being able to pause live TV and resume your shows on any one of your other TV's is a great feature that both Optik and Gateway share. Also keep in mind that Shaw Gateway and Telus Optik are both capable of steaming up to 3 HD channels at the same time, and the ability to record more on the side. Keep in mind that both services will likely evolve and you may need software, hardware or even service updates to obtain the new features.

Telus really doesn't offer much (currently) over Shaw Gateway. Telus has a few small features like their Iphone and Android application to view the guide and record channels while not at home. As well Optik has Facebook integration that allows use of common Facebook features while still being able to watch TV. It is my understanding that the Telus hardware is not as advanced as the Gateway hardware but that being said, a lot of features could be added to Telus via software update that could allow it to match capabilities.

I find that Telus Optik is the solid choice for a great service at a fair price. Telus customer service has improved drastically over the last 2 years and is there to help you and keep you happy. Shaw is now the new kid on the block and is hoping to win back a lot of the lost Optik customers with their fancy Gateway service. Gateway is great but keep in mind that once you get the hardware and installation done, you need to be happy with the programming and it has always been my experience that Shaw loves to gouge people with content costs. You might get into Gateway for a good price but don't get wrangled into paying an extra $80 for another 5 HD channel packs that you didn't realize you wanted. I currently have Optik with about 80 HD channels and I will not pay more than $110 a month during my 3 year contract.

As always, be sure to call the companies and find out exactly what you can get for your dollar before you sign the dotted line. Also watch out as if you are an existing customer with either company, they will likely spit in your face when you ask for a mailed in promotion or deal. I would love to hear some experiences from current Gateway subscribers.

Ian

Can 6 = 8 For My Camaro?

This has been the burning question for years now. Should I replace my Chevy Camaro's under powered inline 6 engine with a V8 full of horsepower and potential? Could I ever really be happy with just a 6 cylinder machine under the hood? Can the straight 6 be modified to give me what I want? Just when I have it all figured out and I decide to switch over, someone talks me out of it. However when I decide to stay with the 6, I talk to someone else and they tell me to drop it and get an 8. How does one decide? Lets setup a comparison between the two options and see what we come up with...

Right now I have a Chevy 250 cubic inch inline 6 engine in my 67 Camaro. The car is a factory inline 6 car, but not the one that's in there now, someone swapped it out at some point. So it's not numbers matching but the tags on the car show it should be holding 6 cylinders. With that in mind, the current engine works perfect. The only issue with it is that it's lacking in spunk compared to it's big brother, the V8. However, what if I spent $1500 on a performance cam shaft, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, carburetor and headers? Well sure, I'd be out $1500, but what would that give my tired i6? According to the guys at Clifford Performance, I could expect to see a minimum of 45% power and torque gains! Now don't get me wrong but if I were to increase the base horsepower from 155 to over 250 and the base torque from 235 to anywhere over 350... I would probably have a hard time wiping the grin off my face. Don't get me wrong though, it would be no built up V8, but that's not the main point as an important factor to me is originality. I don't know about the car shows you go to, but the ones out here are all V8's and nothing but. You're lucky if you can find a straight 6 in anything around here.

Lets take a step back then and say that I spend the same $1500 on a V8. I might be able to find a cheap, short block crate motor to start with, but the rest would need to be bought separately as I just wouldn't have enough. The other thought is that I could hunt down a good used engine and hope that it's from a donor vehicle that has a clean engine bay, as I will need almost the whole thing to convert my i6 to a V8. I think it's safe to say that to get a running V8 in my car, I'm spending at least $2500, and that isn't the 396 that I would be opting for, if I were to go that route. So my new 396 will probably provide 330+ horsepower and 400+ torque, and will likely put out a lot more if the price is right. V8's a are a cost effective way to get some real muscle under the hood, but is it still if you already have a running straight 6, and are trying to keep the price down?

Clearly the V8 could stomp the straight 6 if a real build war were to fire up... but I have to be honest, the straight 6 can come pretty close to a decent V8, and for a lot less money. I love the sound and power of a V8, but is it possible to satisfy that craving for raw power with an inline 6, and even be a little unique at the same time? I've been leaning in one direction on this for quite a while but I was hoping to get your opinions before I spend all my money. What do you think?

IaN

Home Theater Solutions - Part 2

Well I hope you didn't get too much of me blabbing about home theater junk because your going to get some more. My last post was focused on ways of getting the media files on your desktop or laptop onto your TV screen. I want to direct your attention to the control aspect of this type of setup. I don't know about you but with technology the way it is today, you get a remote control with just about everything. TV's, amplifiers, DVD players, Blu-ray players, cable boxes, PVR's, game consoles, car stereos, digital cameras, digital picture frames... hell, if it's digital, you can probably get a remote for it! The big question is, what do we do with all these remotes?

Well you might jump in and say "one of my devices came with a fancy universal remote that controls all of my devices". That might be the case but then I ask you, have you ever had to find one of the remotes, and a pair of AAA batteries for it, just so you could access some random function that the fancy universal remote couldn't do? Your darn rights you have, and I tell you what... for me, that is unacceptable! I absolutely can't stand that the single remote that I spent time programming, can't do everything I need it to. Especially if the desired function is something common like volume, channel, guide, video source or menu access. I need my remote to do it all, and I can tell you right now, if you add a computer or media device, your going to add one more remote to the table. 

So now your telling me that your universal remote has a learning function? Ohh that's fancy! Except you probably still have trouble with it because the initial code didn't cover all of the desired functions so you sat there and forced it to learn 50 different commands from 3 different remotes and ran out of memory on the controller and didn't get all of the things you wanted in. On top of that you had to force the "audio source" command to the universals "video source" button because there was no actual "audio source" button on the remote. I will admit that I don't care too much about mislabeled functions as I am good at remembering how I set it all up, but once you hand it to your spouse... your gonna be answering the "what button do I push to make it..." for the rest of your life. Sure this universal remote will do for a while, but your eventually bound to pull out one of the factory remotes to access some crazy feature that you didn't know you needed.

We need to take this remote business to the next level. We need a universal remote that can replace every single function of all of our remotes and still have room to do a bunch of stuff that we didn't know we needed it to do! Where do I get such a remote you ask? You get it on the internet of course! Of course you could find one in a local store, but I would bet my right butt cheek that it will cost you way more locally, than through a web store. There are a bunch of high end universal remotes available right now and some of them are fairly cheap. To be honest though, I have only personally tried the Logitech Harmony series however Phillips and Acoustic Research also make a few comparable models. The Logitech Harmony remotes are programmed to match your exact hardware so that no functions are left out. Some of the higher end models feature color touch screens, tilt sensitive back-lighting, charging cradles and Bluetooth capability. Don't get me wrong though, you could get the cheap Harmony 300 for $25 but it would be easy to blow $250 on one of the better models. Keep in mind that with any of the Harmony's you really get a remote that will last forever as the online database of hardware is always growing and it's simple to use the software or website to program your remote... no more code punching! 

My point from all this is that I urge you to spend a few bucks to get yourself a decent remote control. You will enjoy your $1000+ home theater system a lot more when your not using a $15 remote to control it. You can easily get a Bluetooth or infrared adaptor for your computer to make surfing your entire home theater, even your computer, possible with just one remote. I think that is a solution to a highly overlooked problem!

IaN

Home Theater Solutions - Part 1

So you've got your big TV and your Blu-Ray player and you think your in the now? Guess again! Blu-Ray's are fantastic and are no where near being obsolete, as they are presented in 1080P, and 1080P is the high definition standard. The problem with Blu-Ray is that your working with physical discs. Sure, everyone likes to have a collection, but why not move your collection into the digital world. What if you could have all of your favorite movies in a single machine, like a big disc changer, and all you had to do was use your remote to pick the movie you wanted to watch, and it would just play. Better yet, what if your remote controlled a super fancy interface that showed trailers, cover art, plot summary's and links to online content for the movie you've selected. Wouldn't that be awesome? Well for those of you born yesterday, this technology is years old and has only been getting better and cheaper. Lets go over some of our current options (sorted from cheapest to most expensive) .

Western Digital Live - This is a great entry level option. It connects to your router and will allow you to stream all media content from all networked computers to your TV. It can do 1080P and it plays a wide variety of file formats. It is by far the cheapest device and offers a good bang for your buck. The only major downside to this unit is that its interface is simple with no eye candy. Unfortunately, the WD Live does not support the XBMC (X-Box Media Center) software at this time. If your just wanting to get your media files from your computer to your TV, for as cheap as possible, this is the answer.

Apple TV - This device is ridiculously small and being in it's 2nd generation, it comes with a high potential. It has a very flashy interface and can be loaded with the XBMC software. I'm a big fan of the XBMC software for home theater setups, so Apple TV is one of the cheapest solutions to get high definition content from your computer to your TV, with a big hit of style. The price of the unit is very fair for what your get, but what you get isn't perfect. The Apple TV box does not support 1080P as it is limited by hardware to output at a maximum of 720P, however it will upscale to 1080i. Luckily, it will downscale all 1080P content to 720P or 1080i, so you don't need to convert all of your media files to make it play. I don't know about you, but I have trouble paying for a device right now that doesn't support the maximum resolution of my television. Oh, and for those of you who say that the human eye can't tell the difference between 1080i and 1080P, if that makes you feel better about your TV. then keep it up.

D-Link's Boxee Box - Have you seen a picture of this unit yet? It's shaped like a cube standing on a tip. Very strange looking, somewhat intriguing but strange nonetheless. The Boxee Box uses it's own Boxee software, that is a remixed version of the XBMC. The great thing about the software is that it shares a lot of qualities, some improved, with the XBMC. The bad side of the software is that it is not as customizable as the XBMC. I can look past it though as I've read that the Boxee is always changing and improving and is really very good at what it does, which is stream full 1080P content from any computer on your network, to your TV. It is one of the more expensive dedicated set top boxes but it may just be the best one (for the price) out there. If you want a box that can play anything through a very fancy interface, this just might be your best bet. Not to mention that it's the only device shaped like a cube.

Home Theater PC (HTPC) - This is a small computer that is dedicated specifically to serve your media files to your television. The diffence between this and the ones above is that you can usually have them custom made or buy them with whatever software you want, that way you have more control on the functions and abilities of your device. You can have just a basic software installed, or you can run XBMC or even Windows Media Center. You can get a cheaper model that only does 720P, or you can pay big bucks and have it run multiple programs at once and still play your 1080P content. There are a lot of resources online on how to build a budget HTPC. If you look around at local computer stores you can sometimes get a good deal on Pre-made HTPCs. If you like to customize your system or tinker with computers, this may be the route for you.

Video Gaming Systems - This could be the most expensive route, but it does come with a lot of bonus features. Both the Xbox360 and PS3 are capable of steaming high definition media from a network computer to your television. Technically the PS3 is better at this than the Xbox360, but either way, if you already have one of these systems then you can save your money by setting it up to access your content via your network. A popular program for streaming to these system is the PS3 Media Server. Obviously these systems have other abilities such as the being great video game consoles and providing access to online content. If you already have one of these in your house, they can act as a good entry level device, but aren't exactly the most user friendly to get going. If you have content and don't want to be bothered with configuring programs or scrolling through forums, you may want to start at the top of this list. 

That's all I'm going to cover in part 1. You've seen some of the options available to you. None of the above are cutting edge as they have all been available since at least late 2010. I currently use my middle floor PS3 to stream movies from a full size computer stored in my basement. Technically it works fine, but is lacking in presentation. I am leaning towards the Boxee Box but haven't made up my mind. Check back later for Part 2.

IaN