Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Hi-Tech Woes Part 1

Well it seems I have bad luck with hi-tech or probably bad luck in general. I broke down and bought a Home DVD Recorder. I got a killer price through rebate at ecost.com. I figure it was about time to get into DVD recording. Our VCR is crappy that I wouldhave wasted $50+ bucks to get another one that'd be obsolete next year. So anyways, I have this DVD recorder and it has given me some grief.You first have to understand, it is not like a vcr. First you have to use DVD disks, just like for the computer which have different rules and formats like: DVD-R, DVD+R, or DVD+RW disks. Some other differences 1) Set up is hard to understand. They do not make it easy to set up, in fact depending on your tv, there are 3 options in setting up. 2) The dvd remote has double the buttons your vcr remote had. More to learn. 3) Online menus aremore complicated than your vcr. Settings, tv format, etc. Ugh. Well it took me a while to get it working which I think is right but the volume of the audio duringdvd playback is very low. Also viewing or recording a tv show through the dvd unit, you notice the picture is degraded (grainier than normal). I put inan email to the company, Aspire Digital with no response, not even an automated one. Today I sent the question again to support, info, and sales departments.Hopefully they can solve my problems. There is a known screen freezing problem with this model (number AD-8091), but you can download firmware onto a cd to fix it. I didn't notice a freezing problem but I figured if I install it maybe it will fix other problems. So I downloaded the file to cd, installed as directed and now it seems tomake my dvd player freeze occasionally. When I first saw the model on sale at ecost, I tried to do research on the model like eopinions.com or shopping.com but could not find any reviews. I'll let you all know how it all works out.

We just watched "The Debut" on dvd. It is the first movie by and about Filipino-Americans. Starring Dante Basco and Joy Bisco. I related to it in many ways with themain character, Rueben. He wanted to be an artist but did not get support from his parents. Coming from the Philippines, Rueben's dad had higher aspirations for his son in coming to America and could not understand what could come out of drawing cartoons. Between Rueben's comic book collecting to the clothesline in the backyard, that was all me and my family. The DVD was filled with extras. And you learn how hard itis to get an independent movie made. I think it took them 7 years to complete the movie because of their grassroots funding. Traditional dancing, modern dancing, suped up hondas, flips playing basketball: maybe I'm a bit biased, but I thought it was a great movie.

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