Dusty Chalk

Recommend watching it on full-screen, and with sound. The music is nothing spectacular, but the sound editing is quite nice. And then read the end credits. And then watch it again.

WAT.

Philips MCD709/37, and save the rest. Oh, whoops, sorry, not two-channel. EDIT: Yes it is, it's just 2.1. I think. They also have a surround version that's <US$1K. Make sure you get the faux-rosewood finish speakers with the ribbon tweeters.

[dusty]Watch better movies.[/dusty]

There were some pretty good used CD and vinyl stores when I went there every couple months back in the late 90's -- anyone know if any of them still exist?

I can has "E.X.P." in surround?!?!? Oh, and: Huzzah!

Winner, most obscure 80's one-hit wonder reference.

I'm thinking you should just hire a babysitter, Dinny. The resolution in the theater is something like 4x 1080p, I read recently (which I think really means 16x).

Yeah, see, that sounds like hardware, so you may be right.

I'm not of this mind at all. If you were aware of just how lofty bigwigs at companies can be, and how much they depend on the information of their subordinates, you'd have no problem believing (as I do) that this is isolated to at least as high up as her (obviously I would have no problem believing that her immediate subordinates at least knew about it).

3D is not really right around the corner (although I doubt that would stop HDMI 1.4 from introducing it as a standard, I just don't think hardly anyone will use it right away). ...unless of course that's what they're waiting for. Some updates can be done entirely in software (3D), but yeah, wireless internet might be different. That said, I don't really like wireless, so don't care. (I like wired.)

Dollhouse -- jesus christ...x2!

Nothing to be ashamed of, I'm not a Stones fan, neither. It just stands out to me, easily the weirdest placed comma in all of rock and roll.

Nope, but both are now officially on pre-order -- which is more than could have been said even a couple months ago.

Any feelings on the Outlaw vs. Emotiva question, anyone? Emotiva UMC-1 appears to have Dolby Digital Plus over the Outlaw 997, but the Outlaw has DTS-24/96 over the Emotiva. I realize these are minor, wouldn't mind hearing from someone who has more video experience than I saying which I'm more likely to run into more. The Emotiva appears to have video scaling, nothing about the Outlaw.

I forgot to bring it home over the weekend. So the only impression so far is that it's low maintenance. You forgot the comma. (Not a Stones fan?)

I think that's the exact one I got with mine -- even in smooth "race car" red. It didn't smell, but I didn't get it new. But then again, it didn't smell at all, so...who knows? And the red is fine. It's not "me", but other than that, it's fine.

They should sound more or less the same. The biggest difference is that the disk drive will eventually fail in the iPod, and the EPROM on the USB stick will eventually fail (I'm not sure which way the comparison goes, unfortunately). Are you sure the car radio will be able to play files off the USB stick? It probably does, but it might be there specifically for an iPod (this I'm not so sure about).

Compared the Oppo BDP-83 with the BDP-83SE upgrade. It should be said that there was only 1 hour of burn-in on the newer one, and at least a hundred -- if not hundreds -- on the old one. It's worth the upgrade just for the better stereo separation alone, especially with headphone listening, clearly, audibly better. Bass is just a touch more on the old one, but can only be heard on the best of headphones, and it's close enough that I'll just get used to it. Top end is nice and extended. Old one might just be a little smoother, and at the same time just a touch punchier, but only one of us could hear the latter difference (I.E. not me). I suspect the smoothness factor will go away with more burn-in, but will never know, since the other is being shipped off as soon as the RMA is received. I might ask my boss to bring his (old one) in after a month or so to see if we can tell the same differences.

The sarcasm detection is weak in this one...

Definitely cover the whole thing, that's what Hirsch uses, and it's very easy to deal with.

I don't intend to travel with it, and if I do, I'll get a hard case or something. Thanks for the advice. PS I went ahead. She's not expecting to see any money until April at the earliest, which is really nice of her. My co-worker said she didn't have any trouble with the extended warranty people -- they even shipped her a new one before she shipped back the broken one, so that she wouldn't have to be without. So I think I'll go to her for advice on how to deal with them if I do.

Very red Invicta

You're branching out, from Mike Oldfield to...Mike Oldfield-like music. If you like that one, also check out Magician's Hat (my personal favorite).

Shiny!