<![CDATA[Gizmodo: ten things you should know]]> http://tags.gizmodo.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gizmodo.com.png <![CDATA[Gizmodo: ten things you should know]]> http://gizmodo.com/tag/tenthingsyoushouldknow http://gizmodo.com/tag/tenthingsyoushouldknow <![CDATA[Ten Things You Should Know About the Palm Pre]]> You've seen our Palm Pre review, but if you only had to get ten things out of it, which ten things would they be? It would be these ten things.

1) Palm's webOS is tremendously usable. The new concepts they introduce—gestures under the screen, cards to represent running apps, searching for contacts and apps from the main screen—are all intuitive and easy to pick up. The look of the UI is also soothing, with largish icons and largish text, fluid animations and rounded corners. It's definitely a "web" OS in that it takes a lot of cues from web design patterns and motifs.

2) The Pre is a fantastic size and shape and feels natural in both your pocket or your hand. The rounded pebble shape is pleasurable, and the weight is solid without being weighty. That said...

3) When you open up the phone, the story changes dramatically. The edges are too sharp—sharp enough to cut cheese—and the keyboard is tiny and difficult to type on. If Palm had included iPhone/Android-level word correction, basically a system that would basically fix misspellings for you to correct for inaccurate typing, this wouldn't be a problem.

4) Multitasking is handled elegantly. Palm's webOS introduces the concept of "cards" as apps, where you can shuffle them around, scroll through your deck and deal them off your phone to close them. It's great most of the time to be able to swap between emailing and texting and YouTube and your browser without having to close out and lose your spot in each app. Unfortunately, multitasking works the same as it does in your PC in that you have a limited amount of system resources to go around, and using heavy apps will mean you can't do much else without a significant slowdown—like having your music stutter.

5) There will be various hardware editions with this OS. Unlike the iPhone, where there's basically only one phone with the iPhone OS every year, Palm's planning on releasing different phones in different form factors all running the same OS. There's already been one leaked: the Centro-like Palm Eos that's heading to AT&T.

6) It works with iTunes. Palm went to the trouble of making the Pre pretend to be an iPod when synced to iTunes, allowing you to transfer your music and video and photos without a problem. Playlists make it over just fine, but song ratings and play counts aren't supported on the Pre. And your DRM'ed iTunes songs won't make it over either, but your MP3 and DRM-free ones will.

7) Facebook and Google sync well. Not only does it have push Gmail, there's something called Synergy that grabs your Facebook and Google contacts and merges them together on your phone. You may not want ALL your Facebook contacts or everyone you've ever emailed from your Gmail account to be on your phone, but it's all or nothing at this point.

8) It works with your old Palm apps. If you're an old-school Palm OS user that really needs some random app, like the eBook reader or Epocrates medical software (before their Pre version comes out), this can ease your transition.

9) The screen and multitouch are both high quality. Like I said in the review, the screen is crisp and sharp and clear, and the multitouch seems to track slightly better and quicker than the iPhone.

10) The app catalog is tiny now, but will most likely grow quite fast since the phone is slightly more consumery than Android phones (Android is a little more hardcore-based than this). Although I don't see an explosion as big as the iTunes App Store, I do think there will be quite a few apps for the phone eventually.

11) BONUS! The Touchstone charger charges really slowly. If you're looking to charge in a hurry, plug the microUSB charger directly into the Pre. But if you're just docking it at work and want to keep the screen on standby so you can see emails and texts come in, the Touchstone is a decent solution. It does, however, make your phone quite hot. I think there was something wrong with the first Touchstone charger unit. The second unit Palm sent out charged fine (without heating up the phone), and brought the phone from 0 to 100% in 2:30. Charging via microUSB filled it in 1:55. It's not a huge difference, but if you're in a hurry, use the microUSB.

These are the ten main points, and serve as a fast introductory course to knowing the Palm Pre. If you're interested in doing more research on the device before you buy, here's the review and the FAQ.

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<![CDATA[10 Things You Should Know About The New Xbox Experience]]>

The New Xbox Experience, a.k.a. the new Xbox 360 Dashboard, hits tomorrow. If you've got an Xbox 360 that's connected to the internet, you're going to be prompted to update your console as soon as you turn it on. No exceptions; this is what your machine will look like until either it dies, you die, or Microsoft decides to make ANOTHER Xbox Experience. Unfortunately, unlike Batman, you didn't have time to prepare. Here are the ten things you should know about the new Xbox experience so you can be set for tomorrow.

1) Installation is quick. Owners with hard drives that aren't 100% full will be able to update with no problem, but Xbox 360 Arcade fans that rely on memory cards can get in on the free 512MB card deal from Microsoft. We'd recommend you go for the 20GB hard drive for $20 if anything. The update won't be as fast as the 10-second patches you're used to for standard Xbox Dashboard upgrades, but clocking in at somewhere between five to ten minutes, it's still faster than standard PS3 firmware refreshes. And this changes the entire UI!

2) Avatars are neat, but need some work. They're not necessary in the sense that you've still got the option of using your old gamerpics to represent your gamertag to the rest of Xbox Live, but everyone can create a Nintendo Mii-like avatar. Because there are only a handful of clothing options and customizability selections, your Mii will only kinda look like you. They're neat, though, and can be used in future games so you can control a virtual you instead of, say, Venus Williams or Marcus Fenix—the second being extremely unlikely.

3) Performance gains are found everywhere. One of the things Microsoft with the new Dashboard was lift restrictions about how much resources it could use, resulting in a much speedier and more fluid browsing experience. For example, your Xbox Live Arcade game list loads instantly, instead of one at a time in the order you downloaded them. Other time savers are the ability to bring up the Xbox guide from wherever you are and jump into another game, bypassing the need to reroute from back in the Dashboard.


4) Everything is much more usable because it's organized better. By putting in a game and going to its info screen, you can look at its achievements, all its possible downloads and access game details like whether or not it supports 1080p and co-op. In fact, you can do this for all the games in the marketplace, giving you an easy way to browse around and learn whether or not Fable 2 supports online multiplayer (it does).

5) Blades are still there if you want them. Although you're "stuck" with the new interface in the actual Dashboard, you can hit the Xbox guide button on your controller and hop around the console that way. There really isn't a reason to dislike the new interface, but if you're one of those weirdos that hates things because they're new (why are you on THIS website again?), you've got an option.

6) Netflix movie and TV streaming look great. As Mark covered in his impressions, Netflix streaming to your Xbox works fantastically as long as your connection is fast enough. HD streaming requires 8Mbps for their highest tier quality, but Mark was fine with 5Mbps in their second tier. This all requires you to have an actual Netflix account to be able to access the feature, but the convenience of movies on demand, directly to your TV should make you at least sign up for a trial.

7) Hard disk game installs save time, save wear-and-tear on your DVD drive. As bingegamer details, installing a game on a hard drive usually cuts down load times and improves streaming from the disk in sandbox games. It's very rare that installing actually makes games slower, but it's been known to happen in Halo 3 and a couple other titles. The other benefit, besides speeding up gaming sessions, is that you eliminate DVD noise. You still need to have the disc in the drive when you play, so you can't go rent games, install them and return them.

8) Media Center and media playback still work. No change in Media Center or DivX/XviD playback functionality in case you were worried about compatibility issues before upgrading.

9) Ads are basically everywhere. You know how there's space set aside in the current Dashboard for ads and promo content? Well, in NXE, promo content can be mixed into the regular menu system, which makes it more difficult to tell at a glance whether you're firing up your own copy of Gears of War 2 or clicking to the Gears of War download page where they want you to download themes. It's not too horrible, on the whole.

10) The future looks good for NXE. Instead of sticking to the Spring/Fall update cycle, NXE allows Microsoft to roll out incremental updates for your Xbox whenever they're ready. This means more timely feature bumps (stuff like Netflix, for example), and special one-off changes that can skin your interface based on whatever hot game is due out soon. And hell, who wouldn't want to be able to download a Gears of War suit for your avatar?

Our final verdict is that NXE is a good thing. It's great of Microsoft to be devoting precious resources to revamping a usable interface (you won't see a new Wii Experience anytime soon) three years into a console's lifetime because they think they can do a better job the second time around. Get ready to install a whole new Xbox tomorrow. [Xbox Coverage on Gizmodo]

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<![CDATA[Ten Things You Should Know Before You Upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard]]> Those of you who haven't been poring over all of Mac OS X Leopard's feature list (because you actually have lives) probably only know a few things about it. There's this new backup software...and...some iChat stuff? That's where we come in. We distill all the features down to ten points to help you decide whether or not the upgrade is worthwhile for you. Here are Ten Things You Should Know before you upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard.

1. Leopard works fine on old machines as long as they're not too old. Leopard only works on Intel, G5 and G4 Macs that are 867MHz or faster—meaning your really, really old PowerBooks or iBooks are borderline. You can try rigging up an install on Macs that aren't too old (like the one we tested on), but you don't get the Core Animation or other fancy effects. It's slightly slower to start up and shut down compared to Tiger, but you get more features.

2. Veteran Windows users probably won't change their minds about switching. If you're thinking of making the switch to OS X, Leopard doesn't provide a dramatic change over Tiger—so if you didn't like OS X before, you're probably not going to change your mind now. That said, the improvements over Tiger just makes it all the more worth your while to give OS X a shot. Depending on whether you absolutely need certain Windows apps (you can find many Mac equivalent apps), you can have the option of dual booting with Boot Camp or running both operating systems at once with Parallels like myself.

3. Time Machine provides the easiest built-in backup software on any OS. Even compared with the built-in backup software on Vista, Time Machine is super easy and super automated—all the while keeping functionality high by including easy-to-use file versioning as well. If you're not already backing up your Mac with apps like the similarly powerful SuperDuper, Time Machine is a big reason to upgrade. All you need to do is plug in an external USB hard drive and everything's taken care of for you, all in the background without any input from you. If you're already happy with your backup method, this will be a marginal feature, but if you're tired of dealing with backups or losing data, Leopard is for you.

4. iChat gives you powerful video, screen and document sharing. Another one of the major improvements in Leopard is in the iChat app. Not only do you get video effects, there's lots of work-focused document sharing and screen sharing as well for working with people over long distances (totally would have been useful when I was writing my book). There's also iChat recording for recording your video chats or meetings for later viewing. That's a killer feature for some, totally useless for others. But if you're going to be doing any kind of screen-viewing with other people, iChat is probably the easiest way to do it since it launches right from your chat application.

5. Leopard is the only way you can dual-boot Windows on your Mac. Boot Camp may have been free before, but your old copy will expire at the end of the year. That means you need Leopard to dual-boot Windows and OS X. You can still use virtualization software like Parallels or VM Ware for using Windows at the same time as your Mac, but you're sharing system resources between the two applications. If you only need to use Windows—and you need to maximize your RAM and CPU—you're better off with Boot Camp.

6. Leopard probably will work with your applications. It's likely that Leopard will work with just about all your applications and plug-ins, but there are going to be a few bumps along the way. For us, our Griffin PowerMate, a NAS driver (which caused us a massive chain of consecutive kernel panics), various Unsanity add-ons and Mail.app plug-ins all have to be updated for Leopard before we can use them again. You should make sure all your critical apps are Leopard-compatible before you upgrade by checking their web sites, otherwise you're going to find yourself actually downgrading back to Tiger while you wait.

7. If you use your Mac every day you should upgrade now. On the other hand, if you use your Mac for more than just a few hours a day, chances are you're a hardcore user. If this is the case, you should definitely buy Leopard. There might not be one glaring feature that makes you rush for your credit card, but all the small improvements—from iCal to Mail to Address Book to Finder—will make your day-to-day computer use that much more convenient that you'll be glad you upgraded.

8. Leopard is not much more resource intensive than Tiger. We've noticed slightly more RAM usage compared with Tiger, but as long as you have more than 1GB of memory it's not a huge deal. You do need about 10GB of free space to install Leopard, but after you're done there's no real noticeable storage increase demands. In fact, we're pretty sure that our MacBook Pro runs faster now after upgrading to Leopard than it did back on Tiger. You probably don't need to buy more RAM for this, but it couldn't hurt.

9. 64-bit performance speeds up newer Macs. If you're on a Core 2 Duo Mac (that's pretty much all new Macs purchased in the last year or so), Leopard will eventually give you 64-bit versions of your apps. It's a bit technical when we get down to talking about frameworks and the building blocks for new applications, but just know that 64-bit versions of the same applications will run faster than 32-bit versions. Plus, you have no performance penalty for running 32-bit applications along-side 64-bit ones.

10. You might not need Leopard right now if you're on an old machine. Although Apple lists 300 new features in Leopard, on a few of them are critical—and none of them are showstoppers. If you're going to buy a new Mac soon, the new Mac will come with a copy of Leopard, saving you $129 in the process. Plus, the cost of iLife '08 isn't included in Leopard, meaning you're going to have to shell out another $79. If you buy a new Mac, you get both of these for free. Even if you're not planning on a new machine, you need to take a good look at the features listed above and see just how important they are. If they're only marginally crucial to your every day usage, it's safe to wait until you really need Leopard for something before upgrading.

Bonus: There are three very tangible reasons to upgrade to Leopard: Time Machine, iChat and Finder/Quicklook upgrades. If you have a good backup solution now, or don't use iChat video, and don't have to browse a lot of multimedia files in finder, you might not need to upgrade.

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<![CDATA[Wait! Ten Things You Should Know Before You Buy an iPhone]]> Although Apple's iPhone may be feature-packed and great to use, it, like every other product, has limitations. And that's why we're putting it through our Ten Things You Should Know buyer's guide series so new buyers and people who don't live and breathe the iPhone (your parents, your co-workers, or your wife) can be just as well informed as you. Here are the Ten Things You Should Know Before You Buy an iPhone.

1) Not all iPod Accessories and headphones will work with the iPhone: Unless your accessory specifically claims that it works with the iPhone, you're going to have mixed results when you plug in. Some work (but prompt you to turn on Airplane mode), some don't. So far our test show good results.

As for headphones, if you've got an L-shaped plug or a fat plug, you're out of luck. Thanks to the recessed headphone jack, you're going to actually have to buy an adapter to get some of your regular headphones to work with the iPhone.

2) AT&T is Evil: You know this. Being stuck on AT&T for two years is going to be horrible. This is the company that had managers forcing customers to buy accessories with the iPhone just so they could meet their sales quotas. Plus, their reception and customer service leave a lot to be desired.

3) No video recording or MMS: The iPhone's 2-megapixel camera is great if there's enough light, but there's no video recording at all. None. This is odd, since the iPhone has so much video playback capabilities in its iPod "app," but don't expect to make movies with this thing. And since you can't record video, you can't send any video messages (MMS) either.

4) No Instant Messaging: The SMS app may look great with its iChat-esque bubbles, but there's no IM app to be found anywhere. With the Helio Ocean and the Sidekick both featuring on-board multi-client IM apps, and Windows Mobile and Palm smartphones able to add them on later, there's no excuse for not having an IM client.

5) Not for business use: BlackBerry enthusiasts need not apply. In addition to the keyboard being totally different (we're already typing fast with two thumbs, but less "adaptable" people may not pick up on this as fast), there's no push email except for Yahoo Mail. There is Exchange support, but it's just using IMAP access. Good luck getting your IT department to hook this up.

6) It's not a full iPod Replacement, and it has no games: With 4GB or 8GB of storage, this is essentially an iPod nano. It's definitely not an iPod Video, both in terms of storage and functionality. You can watch videos, sure, but there's no TV out, and not nearly enough room to keep all the TV shows and podcasts you keep downloading. Plus, all those 5G iPod games that you thought were going to make it onto the iPhone? Nope. No games at all.

7) It's not a smartphone: As much as Apple wants you to think their "open application development" using webapps is actual apps, it's not. You can get some stuff done using webapps and Safari, but as of right now, support sucks. Until people start developing apps specifically customized for the iPhone's quirks, you won't be doing anything super fancy. And of course there's no way for you to get "real" Cocoa-based apps onto the iPhone.

8) The data connection is slow: Although the iPhone has both EDGE and Wi-Fi, you're probably going to be using EDGE most of the time. Why? Because if you're in Wi-Fi range, you're usually at home or at work, when you've got an actual computer in front of you. When you're outside driving or walking, you'll be on EDGE. If you're on EDGE, expect emails with large attachments and Web pages to download slowly. Unlike other gripes, this is something they can't fix with a software update. Real time traffic is nice though.

9) There's no GPS: The iPhone may have a Google Maps application with turn by turn driving directions, but there's no actual GPS in there. You're going to have find your current location yourself, plus tell the phone exactly when you're turning. Like the data connection, a software update can't fix this.

10) There are no custom ringtones: You can't use your own ringtones (whether they're MP3s, downloaded music, or iTunes tracks) as ringtones for your phone. Luckily for us, since the default ringtones are pretty lousy, custom ringtones may be coming soon.

As you can see, the iPhone has caveats galore. Even though we're still enjoying the iPhone, any prospective buyers should be aware of these limitations before throwing down $500 or $600. Many of these problems (video recording, MMS, Instant Messaging, custom ringtones) can be fixed with a software update, but if any of the other features are important to you, you may have to wait until iPhone 2.0.

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<![CDATA[Ten Things You Should Know Before Buying a High Def DVR]]> With the recent launch of CableCARD Vista Media Centers, many people are reconsidering buying (or upgrading to) a high definition DVR. But with all the different choices and various benefits and drawbacks of each, it's hard to choose the one that's right for you.

Do you go with a cheap $9 a month rental from Comcast and put up with all its flaws to save money? Do you plunk down a couple hundred bucks and a monthly fee for a TiVo Series 3 because it just works the way you want it? Do you go all out and spend a couple grand for a Vista Media Center that has every single extra feature you could possibly want in a PC? Or do you go to the other extreme and build your own MythTV/SageTV/XP Media Center machine out of spare parts?

Here are the ten things you should know before you decide.

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0) Do you have HDTV cable and an HDTV set? The pre-requisite to even getting an HD DVR is actually having high def cable and an HDTV. Make sure you're signed up for high definition cable from your cable provider (it's usually $5-$15 more a month) and have an HDTV to watch it on. The super-cheap EDTV sets you find at Costco won't support up to the 1080i resolution that HD cable brings, which means all those extra pixels are going to waste. Make sure you have the necessary equipment before you go and spend the money on an HD recorder.


1) Are you cheap? This is the biggest and most important question. Admit it, you're cheap. Hell, I'm pretty cheap too. Do you really need to spend $500 or $2000 for a system only to have to keep on paying rental or subscription fees of nearly $100 a month? Do you really want to watch that much TV? If not, then renting a HD DVR from your cable company or building your own Myth TV or XP Media Center Edition box with an over the air (OTA) HD recorder could be for you.

2) Are you familiar with Linux/PCs? If you are cheap (see #1), then you're probably contemplating salvaging an old PC and building a media center out of that. The only problem is that MythTV requires anywhere from slight Linux knowledge (installing some packages) to uber haxor Linux knowledge (recompiling kernels, fiddling with code and compiling), depending on what PC components you already have and which ones you can get your hands on. Even if you're going for a Windows XP MCE-based box, you might still have to go out and look for drivers and download updates to your current software. It's not nearly as easy as buying a TiVo or a pre-built Vista Media Center box.

3) Does someone nontechnical need to use it? If you or your wife/husband/roommates don't know the first thing about computers, you're going to want to go with TiVo. Although Vista's CableCARD HTPC is pretty easy to use (as we saw in our TiVo head-to-head), it's still a PC and still suffers from the same old PC problems like freezing or crashing. If you want the absolute simplest interface while still keeping features intact, you'll want a TiVo Series 3. Also, if you've already owned a TiVo before, you're going to want to stick with TiVo. Learning another system, even if it is easy like Vista's Media Center, is unnecessary if you're already an expert at one.

4) Do you need DivX/XviD playback? If you're often downloading TV shows and movies off of BitTorrent, you're going to want a way to watch them on your TV. And if you don't have an upscaling DVD player that supports DivX, a Vista CableCARD HTPC or a do-it-yourself Myth/XP machine can do the trick. However, most of the time HDTV encodes you find on BitTorrent are of poorer quality than the feeds you get from your cable provider—because they've been re-encoded, naturally. You'll want to watch most of your TV programming from your DVR instead of from BitTorrent if you can help it.

5) Do you have Satellite TV? If you have Dish or DirecTV, your own provider has a box made just to cram down your throat, so you're usually stuck with those. The DIY solutions like MythTV or XP MCE won't work with satellite, but Microsoft and DirecTV said they're going to integrate an app/plug-in into Vista Media Centers that allow reception of DirecTV. In this case, the receiver is your Vista HTPC, which brings with it all the benefits that HTPC systems have.

6) Do you need photos and music? Gaming? Internet browsing? Vista Media Centers trounce TiVo when it comes to viewing photos and playing back your music. To a slightly lesser extent, so do MythTV and XP MCE boxes. If you're going to want to play games or browse the Internet from your couch like some kind of non-shitty WebTV, a PC is the way to go.

7) Do you need On Demand? HD cable in general? This one's a little tricky. For On Demand, the only HD DVR that supports this is the one from your cable company. Both TiVos and Vista machines don't. Also, if you want HD cable, that totally rules out home-made machines like MythTV, which don't have CableCARD support and can only get cable over the air using an ATSC card. Depending on where you live, how big an antenna you use (yeah, you'll have to use an antenna), and what channels your local stations broadcast in HD, you may or may not have the same experience as HD cable.

8) Do you watch a lot of TV? If you record a lot of TV, you're going to need a lot of space. The DVRs from your cable company only have 120GB of space (the Comcast Motorola box), TiVo only has 250GB unless you upgrade it with an external hard drive, but Vista Media Centers and do-it-yourself solutions are almost infinitely expandable thanks to the fact that they're PCs. In fact, you could even store the recordings on another server over the network, or burn them to DVDs if you want to archive them.

9) Can you stand a PC in the living room? We're fine with it, but many people hate the sight of a PC in their home entertainment setups. This is a huge win for TiVo, since it looks like it belongs in your media center. However, you can technically get an extender like an Xbox 360 and get the exact same experience as if you had the Vista Media Center in your living room. This way, you can house your machine in another room and have a (relatively) quiet front-end. The same is true for MythTV systems, which can also be extended with smaller front ends and have larger servers in the back room.

10) Do you love Macs? Although we prefer to go with a TiVo 3 or Vista Media Center, we know of a couple people that are so tied into the Apple ecosystem of iTunes music and movies that they really want that experience in the living room as well. Using something like a Miglia TVMini HD+, you can turn your Mac Mini into a DVR that even records in DivX. Add to that the fact that you have a Mac with Front Row attached to your TV—so you can easily watch iTunes movies or listen to iTunes music—and you have the perfect setup for a Mac head who wants DVR features. The only caveat, like the issues MythTV systems run into on #7, is that you can only record over the air HD and not stuff from cable. (Of course, TiVo's desktop app is well supported on the Mac, so you can stream music and photos from your Apple, and a MCE PC can still run iTunes.)

With all these options, it's probably tough to decide which one is right for you. There's no perfect solution right now (neither TiVo nor Vista HTPCs are great for everyone), so you should pick the features you really, really need to have and choose the DVR that meets most of them.

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<![CDATA[Ten Things You Should Know Before You Buy an Upscaling DVD Player]]> Ten Things You Should Know is a new feature series here at Gizmodo aimed at first-time buyers or people who don't have (or need) extensive knowledge on a product before making a purchase. To blast things off, we're starting it up today with Ten Things You Should Know Before You Buy an Upscaling DVD Player.

Although the high definition players are already fairly cheap (HD DVD at $299 and Blu-ray getting close), the lack of content and their uncertain future is still putting a lot of people off. What's the alternative? An upscaling DVD player that turns all of the movies you own—plus all the ones you can rent from Netflix or Blockbuster—into high definition goodness.

Sure, the quality isn't going to be as good as HD DVD or Blu-ray, but if you add in the extra features that these very refined DVD players have—streaming, Internet radio, and DivX playback—you can possibly get an even richer media experience. Here are the ten things you should know before you buy one.

0) Before we start, you should understand that Upscaling DVD players aren't the same as actual HD DVD or Blu-ray players. You still have the same amount of data in terms of pixels you came in with, namely, a lot less pixels than actual HD players. These don't turn SD content into HD content technically, they just make your SD content look a whole lot better than they do on regular SD players.

1) Does it upscale to 1080p? Not all players do—especially the very cheap ones (under $100). If you've got a fancy HDTV that supports 1080p, you'd want a player that can output everything your display can handle. However, it's not a huge deal if both your TV and the player are 1080i. The difference in quality isn't enough to make it worth your money to upgrade your equipment for at this point.


2) Does your TV support HDMI? Some players that do upscale to 1080i or 1080p only do it over HDMI. If you've got an older set with only component cables, check to make sure the DVD player you get upscales both DVDs and other video files over component and not just HDMI.

3) Does it support DivX, WMV, XviD, and other file formats? One of the benefits of getting an upscaling DVD player over either Blu-ray or HD DVD is the addition of file playback. If you regularly download TV shows or movies off of BitTorrent, you'll be happier if the player you get can play these back on your widescreen TV. For the DVD fans, you'll want to find out whether it supports playback of DVD images as well. Instead of having to switch out DVDs, you could essentially make your own DVD changer by dumping 100 of your favorite movies onto an external hard drive.

4) Does it support video/audio streaming? Instead of having to burn DVD-Rs (which could get costly) or DVD-RWs (still time consuming) whenever you've downloaded something new to watch, why not just stream the files directly from your PC or file server? If the player supports audio streaming as well, you've got yourself a nice music player in your living room at no extra cost.

5) Does it have wireless? If your player does stream, check to see if it supports 802.11g as well. You may not necessarily have your entertainment center wired up for Ethernet cables as well as it's wired for audio/video equipment. With wireless, you can stream data with no extra wiring involved.

6) Does it have 5.1 audio? Is it a built-in receiver with speaker tabs? Almost all the upscaling DVD players will have 5.1 audio with either optical or coaxial audio outputs, but if you're going the super cheap route ($50 and under), you should make sure it's got the right connections. If you don't have a receiver already, you could go the opposite route and spend a little more on a DVD player that's also a receiver built in (Home Theater in a Box gives you speakers as well).

7) How are the extras? This is optional, but some players have extras like shoutcast Internet radio streaming, Internet TV stations, and Weather forecasts. If you're into stuff like Internet radio then make sure the player you have supports it.

8) Is it region-free? Not all players are, and if you're going to be playing back DVDs you buy overseas for $2 a pop, you should make sure the player you buy supports it.

9) Does it play back burned discs? Again, if you're going to be copying discs "you already own", you should be sure that there's support for it. Then again, there's nothing more fun than taking merchandise back to the store because it doesn't work the way you want. So, it's mostly up to you.

10) Would you be better off with a Home Theater PC? Instead of getting a set-top box that tries to emulate everything a PC can do, why not get a PC? If you're looking for all these features, plus DVRing (for recording your TV shows), gaming, Internet browsing, and BitTorrenting all in one, then you won't go wrong with an HTPC. The only thing to worry about is the price, which will probably be a bit more than what you'd spend on one of these upscaling DVD players.

Upconverting and Upscaling players [Gizmodo]

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