Rabbit Ears The Perfect Posteaster Gift

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

Easter came this year and you may have hunted for decorated eggs, had a nice brunch, or exchanged little chocolate bunnies, all of which are quite nifty.

But you missed out if you didn't buy yourself some rabbit ears.

Happily, it's not too late.

For those of you who have grown up with cable and satellite TV, you may not know what I'm talking about.

Rabbit ears are those adjustable metal rods that come out of a ball-like base that squats on or near your TV set in order to improve reception. Along with rooftop antennas, they're what households used before the advent of cable and satellite TV.

Admittedly, the clarity they bring is less than perfect, but heck, if you're looking to dump that cable or satellite TV provider; they're just what you need.

I bought my rabbit ears at the 99 Cent Store, and I can't tell you how happy I am.

I am getting about 25 stations for FREE. Compare this to paying anywhere from $39 to $69 a month for what is dubiously called, "America's Top 30" or "America's Top 50" by one of the satellite firms.

Their channels are no better than what my ears and I are pulling out of the air.

If you've been reading my articles with any regularity, you know I've been "unplugging" from needless technology, especially that which requires an outflow of money on a subscription basis.

There are some exceptions, such as Major League Baseball, which I can get on my laptop or my PC.

But I found the customer service at the cable and satellite firms so abysmal, and the quality of their programs so low, that I decided to take action.

If you can't summon the gumption to go completely TV-less, try rabbit ears, and tell your friends.

When you tune in that first free show, you're going to be in for a thrill!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to: http://www.customersatisfaction.com

A Media Center Pc Gives You The Ultimate In Home Automation

Writen by Chris Robertson

Our homes - and our lives - are increasingly filled with electronics, yet more often than not, our home electronics are so independent of one another that they're cumbersome at best and useless at worse. A Media Center PC solves that problem by integrating any number of home electronics and, as a result, giving you the ability to unlock the full potential of everything from your home entertainment system to your home security system.

The secret to full integration is a Windows Media Center, also known as a PC Desktop Media Center. When connected to your TV or HDTV, the Window Media Center becomes the hub of your home electronics. Offering everything from personal logins for each family member to an incredible variety of software, hardware, and services, a Media Center PC gives every person their own document and media libraries.

When it comes to home entertainment, the Media Center PC keeps everything in one place. When connected to a home network, you can watch TV and movies, listen to music, and view photos anywhere in your home. You can connect your digital camera and manipulate photos, create slideshows with music, and even burn them onto DVDs. With the Personal Video Recorder (PVR), also known as a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), you can record up to three live television shows at once and watch them at your convenience. Best of all, the PC Desktop Media Center isn't simply a box dedicated to home entertainment; even while it's playing or slideshow, you can still surf the Web, check your email, and have all of the functionality of any desktop PC.

When it comes to a Media Center PC, home entertainment features are just the tip of the iceberg, though. You can also integrate video gaming systems and automatically synch your Windows Media Center with any number of portable devices.

Most compelling of all, a Media Center PC gives you the ability to automate any number of other devices around the home. You can, for example, turn your lights on or off, control the thermostat, and make sure your doors are locked - all with a click of the mouse or the remote control. You can also create your own video security system and run any number of other security devices right from your Windows Media Center. And, you can even set the entire system up to use voice control.

Although such functionality and integration may still seem like the wave of the future, with a Media Center PC, the future is now.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Media Center PC: The Ultimate or Majon's Electronics directory.

Which Dvd Player Is Right For You

Writen by Robert Barnard

Now that you've decided to purchase that DVD player, you need to determine which DVD player is the best choice for you - which application fits best and what features will be the most useful to you. Let's take a look.

With HD-DVD's and "Blu Ray" technology being the next generation of DVD applications, many consumers are trying to wait until the products on the market match the new technology. The problem is that there are only a few HD-DVD's available at the present time, even though advertisers are blanketing the markets with ads that promise higher-quality, sharper and crisper movie quality. The cheapest HD-DVD player on the market today is the Toshiba HD-A1, which will set you back about $500 at current prices. Should you wait to buy an HD-DVD player? We'd recommend that you do - prices will come down as selection increases.

Probably the best single-disc DVD player is the Sony DVP-NS55P/S - it's a standard DVD player that will run about $70, and is a good, basic player. It has an easy set up, straightforward menus, a small footprint and excellent picture quality, and supports 5-channel surround sound or Dolby Digital sound. This is an all-around good basic DVD player that will serve as the foundation for your system.

A DVD player with HDMI is another way to approach High Def quality in your DVD's. HDMI stands for High Definition Media Interface, which is a fancy way of saying that a player with this capability can transfer uncompressed digital video, and can carry multi-channel audio. Players that have a HDMI output can upgrade or "upconvert" regular DVD video quality to a resolution that approaches HD TV. The Sony DVP-NS75H - coming in at about $130 - has excellent picture quality, supports Dolby Digital sound and surround sound. The downside here is that Sony doesn't include the HDMI cable for connections - that will run you an additional $30 - $80.

Samsung also offers a DVD player with HDMI, and in some respects the Samsung is a better deal. The Samsung can also play DVD-A and SACD audio discs, and the package includes a HDMI interface cable with your purchase. (DVD-A and SACD are both DVD's that are formatted to reproduce superior sound quality and a richer, fuller sound more faithful to the original sound quality of the DVD.) The Samsung model (DVD-HD950) comes in at about $180, making it a comparable purchase to the Sony model.

For those who want to play multi-disc movies or listen to continuous CD's, you might want to invest in a standard 5 disc DVD player, such as the Panasonic DVD-F87S. With a smooth backward and forward scanning feature, plus the ability to listen to one CD or DVD while changing the other four, this simple to operate player - costing about $130 - can be a multifaceted addition to your AV system.

And last but not least - what are you to do with all those VHS tapes you've been collecting over the years? A VCR-DVD combo might just be the answer - at least until you convert your VHS tapes to DVD's. Samsung offers a combo machine with it's model DVD-V5500 for right around $100 - and has excellent picture quality for both VHS tapes and DVD's. The downside of this machine is that it doesn't offer upconversion.

Keep in mind that in all of our discussions here we're talking about upconversions and HD-DVD's - which are the future of this technology. A DVD player that features upconversions won't actually convert regular DVD movies into HD movies - what it does is enhance the video resolution so that your picture quality approaches HD quality. But this technology is the next generation of DVD's, so you're better off learning about it now, so that you can make an informed choice when choosing your next machine.

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