Digital Revolution

In taking my mind off other matters, I am torturing my grey cells with other, less important items.

I continue to be plagued by indecision, which I flatter myself is an uncharacteristic trait. I've mentioned before that my hi-fi system is acting up and my DVD player is becoming more erratic. At the same time, the TV is showing signs of age, though I have decided that it will last me until I am sure that I can get a decent digital signal wherever I live and that's certainly not true where I am at the moment. The digital signal is, to put it kindly, variable, so I refuse to dispense shekels on an all-singing, all-dancing TV until I am sure that I shall get my money's worth from it. Plus the longer I leave it, the cheaper they become.

That leaves me with the hi-fi – in particular the CD player – and the DVD player. I can solve the former by taking advantage of a kind offer from rumfuddle, though that will be a midi system rather than a mini. This leaves me with the DVD conundrum. I don’t think that at this stage I want a DVD/HDD machine for the same reason that I am prepared to wait before buying a new telly; I want my money’s worth from the machine via digital broadcasts. What I do want is something region-free (not difficult to get these days as bibliogirl pointed out), but I have decided that it must also have DivX playback capability and that complicates the issue. I have seen a nice one on Play.com that may well fit the bill. The problem is, I should rather like one of these:

Freecom Network Mediaplayer
Freecom Network Mediaplayer 3.5" 320Gb

This little beast would allow me to stream downloaded movies and music direct to my (or anyone else's TV or hi-fi. It's an awful lot more expensive than a new DVD player, mind and doesn't really get rid of the need for a new one at some point.

Oh, decisions, decisions.

Digital Revolution

In taking my mind off other matters, I am torturing my grey cells with other, less important items.

I continue to be plagued by indecision, which I flatter myself is an uncharacteristic trait. I've mentioned before that my hi-fi system is acting up and my DVD player is becoming more erratic. At the same time, the TV is showing signs of age, though I have decided that it will last me until I am sure that I can get a decent digital signal wherever I live and that's certainly not true where I am at the moment. The digital signal is, to put it kindly, variable, so I refuse to dispense shekels on an all-singing, all-dancing TV until I am sure that I shall get my money's worth from it. Plus the longer I leave it, the cheaper they become.

That leaves me with the hi-fi – in particular the CD player – and the DVD player. I can solve the former by taking advantage of a kind offer from rumfuddle, though that will be a midi system rather than a mini. This leaves me with the DVD conundrum. I don’t think that at this stage I want a DVD/HDD machine for the same reason that I am prepared to wait before buying a new telly; I want my money’s worth from the machine via digital broadcasts. What I do want is something region-free (not difficult to get these days as bibliogirl pointed out), but I have decided that it must also have DivX playback capability and that complicates the issue. I have seen a nice one on Play.com that may well fit the bill. The problem is, I should rather like one of these:

Freecom Network Mediaplayer
Freecom Network Mediaplayer 3.5" 320Gb

This little beast would allow me to stream downloaded movies and music direct to my (or anyone else's TV or hi-fi. It's an awful lot more expensive than a new DVD player, mind and doesn't really get rid of the need for a new one at some point.

Oh, decisions, decisions.