Electronics

I was having major problems with streaming Netflix on our new Sony Bravia internet enabled TV recently. It used to work great, but at some point it started to take really long time to do “speed test” that Netflix uses to determine the compression level and picture quality your connection will support as well as load the movie itself. I’ve reset TV, removed TV from Netflix account, restarted firewall, restarted my cable modem, did speed tests, checked my cabling and switch…and more. At the end – everything looked right, but Netflix was still very slow to start the movie. After getting finally fed-up with the situation, I’ve decided to use network packet sniffer to capture traffic on my wired gigabit home network to see what TV was doing and why it was taking so long.

This lead to several interesting discoveries, which I’ll tell you about in a second, but, first – let me describe my home setup:

Cable modem<-> SonicWall<->gigabit switch<->Sony TV

As you can see – all the network traffic is flowing through the gigabit switch, to the sonicwall and then through the cable modem right out to the internet. One of the great features of the SonicWall firewalls, is that even in low end models like mine, they have enabled “network packet monitor” that shows you individual packets that are going through it. You can see every piece of data passing through your network in these “packets” and on occasion – you can derive some very interesting information about the network traffic itself.

But let’s get back to my Netflix streaming problem. Once I’ve configured the packet monitor to only show me data sent to and from my TV, I’ve quickly discovered that some DNS packets from the TV were dropped and as a result, the name resolution on TV would have problems.

Finnaly after a very long wait Boxee Box by D-Link is avaliable for pre-order from Amazon. This Box is truly amazing device that will transform your living room into a digital theater experience. It will play almost every format out there, stream movies/music/pictures, as well as run your favorite social networking apps.

If you have been on the fence waiting for a perfect multi-media device - forget Apple TV and other crippled devices and get this Box. It will rock your digital world and it comes with a really cool remote as well.

The wonderful thing about buying from Amazon.com: Free shipping, No tax, best return policy!

It is 2010 and the latest big thing in video is 3D movies. All of the major manufacturers are starting to sell their 3D audio-video receivers and processors and prices for 3D capable gear are starting to settle down to reasonable levels. So let's take a look at mid-range receivers from  three major manufacturers - Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo and Yamaha.

Before we look at individual units - let's take a look at a few basic features that are mandatory in the new generation of receivers:

HDMI 1.4 - in reality there is nothing special about HDMI 1.4 vs the 1.3a. In fact, it is only a change in specifications for the ports and cables that do not introduce any hardware changes. In theory, all HDMI 1.3a devices would be 3D capable if they had powerful enough processors to crunch the massive amounts of data associated with 3D. So while the HDMI ports and cables are not really any different, the processors in the new machines are upgraded to ones with enough power to work on more data.

Room sound auto-calibration - this is one of the most essential features that eliminates the need to manually set speaker distances, individual sound levels and it will even tell you if you got your cabling wrong.

HDMI upconversion - this allows one to take video and audio from any type of connection and any  source and upconvert it to 1080p over HDMI. If you don't have this feature, you may have to connect more than one cable to your TV to enjoy the old sources.


On screen display (GUI, overlay) - the ability of the receiver to display all the settings and controls on your TV instead of small LED screen on the unit itself. Very handy and mandatory in this day and age.

Connections and ports - Last by not least - What and how many devices can be connected. Everyone has different needs, but a few types of connectors and ports are essential nowadays. HDMI, digital audio (RCA/coax  and Optical/SPDIF), component for older HI-Def sources, USB for iPod/iPhone and other sources.

As you can see, I'm not listing 7.1 or 7.2 for that mater as a required feature. Most of these receivers will have the ability to hook  up seven speakers and at least one subwoofer, but it is not as widely used as industry wants us to believe. Majority of people (around 78% according to AV magazines) use either stereo (2 speakers), 3.1 (left, right, center and subwoofer) or 5.1 (left, right, center rear left, rear right and subwoofer) setups. This is due to the fact that good speakers in general are quite expensive and many chose to have less but of better quality, others don't have enough space for 7 speakers, and many have already built their 5.1 theaters that they are happy with. Even most 7.1 receivers are 7.1 only in name and not in function as one would have to sacrifice second zone connections and even may need to get a separate two channel amplifier to power those two speakers.   

Now that we are done with the basics, let's take a look at our lineup in more detail (in no particular order):

Pioneer VSX-1020-K: This is a mid-upper range Pioneer receiver that is aimed towards people with good speakers, good understanding of cutting edge technology and a variety of old and new sources of video and audio.

The good:
Works with iPhone/iPod  - this receiver has front USB connection to let one use iPod or iPhone as the source for the music and video. It will display full album art and controls on the TV screen and will allow for almost all iPod functions

Here are just a few splash screens that I've made. Some of them feature elements created by folks at www.avic411.com. Recommended splash file size is 800x480. You can easily create similar by looking for Toyota logos and backgrounds on Google Images and then combining them with car pictures from official Toyota site.

The first step was to get the F500BT and test it out. After having the unit for a few weeks I can highly recommend it to everyone - the system works great. I did do some modifications to it  by applying Maverick's customization pack posted at avic411.com.

I was searching for feature rich navigation system for quite some time. I had a few specific functions I was looking for and it just happens that most of the common systems avaliable for sale are lacking one or more of these features. Here is the list of what I want:

1) Good navigation - sounds trivial but a lot of the lower end units have very small databases of points of interest, outdated maps, poorly designed interface.

2) Factory radio integration - FM transmitters re finiky, unreliable and do not mute the sounds of your stereo system when navigation prompts sound.

3) BlueTooth - very important feature, esecially here in California where a first time ticket for cell phone use while operating a vehicle is $130. But the system also must be able to sync the contacts from the phone, so the driver doesn't have to fiddle with the phone in order to call someone.

4) Rear view camera - I drive a mid-size SUV with rather limited rear view. It would really help during parking on manuvering in tight situations to see how close you can backup and if there is anything behind the car.

5) Expandibility - features such as iPod integration, ability to read USB flash memory, SD memory cards, play audio, video, accept XM radio, MSN Direct, traffic updates, etc.