Reviews by duckdodgerz

duckdodgerz says "Clear, crisp, and colorful" about Pioneer - Kuro PDP-5080HD Television

duckdodgerz — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:05:04 GMT

The Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080HD is a 720P, 50" plasma display. It has a built in HD tuner and is cable card capable. The set has a plethora of inputs, including 4 HDMI 1.3.

The built in scaler/deinterlacer is top notch and seems to be better than the scaler/deinterlace in the Yamaha RX-V3800 AND the Panasonic BDP-30BK Blu-Ray player.

The set is crystal clear with a good source and even manages a good picture with a standard definition cable source.

I was worried about glare on the screen due to an adjacent, perpindicular, wall being mostly windows but I need not have worried. Glare is not a problem although you can see reflections of the windows/lights when the TV is off. This not a problem when the TV is on and there is an image. You can see the reflections but it has never interefered with watching TV or movies.

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duckdodgerz says "Great Home Theater Receiver" about Yamaha - RX-V3800 Receiver

duckdodgerz — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:59:28 GMT

The Yamaha RX-V3800 is their upper-mid level A/V receiver. It features 140 watts/channel, 7.1channel, HDMI 1.3 (allowing decoding of advanced audio codecs like DTS-Tru HDMA, etc), and video upscaling/deinterlacing of analog sources up to 1080P.

It is a fairly heavy, well built unit that can e intimidating at first glance, even second. Still, the manual does a very good jo of explaining hook up, and set up. The automatic setup program works rather well.

Sound is excellent, clear, and smooth.

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duckdodgerz says "2.5L Value Edition is wonderful" about Volkswagen Jetta - 2006

duckdodgerz — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:52:10 GMT

Our 2006 Jetta 2.5 VE is a wonderful car. It has enough room that my 6'6" frame is comfortable in both front seats and in either back seat if there is a normal sized person in the front with the fornt seat up.

We average about 25mpg in combined driving with fairly lead foot driving style. Long highway trips have shown the car is capable of 33-35mpg. The worst mileage we ahve ever gotten was 22.5.

The car is solid as a rock, accellerates rather well for it's power/size, and handles very well. Cornering and "fun" driving are excellent. Interior is quiet and comfortable.

Would have liked to have had power seat for at least the driver's position but it was the Value Edition. Lack of sunrrof is another drawback but, again, it's the VE.

The 2.5L engine should be replaced by the 2.0 Turbo. The 2.0 is rated for better mileage and actually performs better. It is available in the Jetta 2.0/GLI but they tend to be MUCH more expensive.

This car was chosen over the Honda Civic (a little too......

duckdodgerz says "Great Purchase" about Canon - Rebel XTi Digital Camera

duckdodgerz — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:44:55 GMT

I love this thing. It works flawlessly. Only drawback is that it is a little much to lug around for quick trips to beach or around amusement parks....