Reviews by john

john says "Forgot how much I enjoy using SLRs" about Nikon - D80 Digital Camera with 18-135mm Lens

john — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:32:09 GMT

I picked up the D80 several weeks ago after playing with my Dad's Nikon SLR and really love it so far. The picture quality is great but I really enjoy the flexibility of interchanging multiple lenses and the response speed of the SLR vs my old point & shoot digital cameras.
I am not a fan of the lenses that come bundled with the Nikon D80 as I've read they are not that great quality wise so I went with the stand-alone camera body and added a Tamron 17-55mm telephoto lens as well as a Nikon 50mm 1.8/f primary lens. I'm very glad I did so as they produce great shots!
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john says "Great prices on home theater accessories" about Monoprice

john — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:43:46 GMT

I read about monoprice.com when researching places to get cheaper cables for my new home theater/HD TV setup. I bought a Sony LCD with HDMI but was shocked at how much these cables cost at any big box retailer (Best Buy/Circuit City, etc). I learned that Monster and similar brand names are not only outrageously expensive but also completly not necessary. As long as the cables are certified, an HDMI cable will provide a great picture and the ones I have purchased on monoprice.com are not only bargains but they work great! I have also purchased a toslink to mini-plug optical connector to hook up my mac mini to my Onkyo receiver and this works great as well. Great quality stuff!

My last pucrchase was the wall mounting hardware for my new tv as their prices were in the $20-30 range vs the local store prices close to $100. As with cable purchases, I am extremely happy with the mounting hardware!

Shipping was fast and I had no reason to contact their customer service so cant comment...

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john says "Looks fantastic mounted on the wall - great picture too!" about Sony - KDL-46XBR2 46in. HDTV LCD Television

john — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:23:56 GMT

I like this TV a lot! I love the HDMI inputs that allow me to set up all of my components through my receiver and have just one HDMI cable connected to the TV. With it being easy to install on the wall, it makes it look fantastic overall...even when off!

I cant really comment on the sound quality since i dont use it because I use my receiver for all audio.

The HD tuner/receiver is pretty cool. you can connect a regular UHF antenna to this (or any HD ready tv, I guess) and pull in crystal clear HD signal for the major networks. Being here in Chicago, I get all the majors with no problem at all. I think it's actually a better signal that I get from my HD Dish. Oh, and did I mention the over the air signal is free?!

I went with the silver bezel on my Sony and think that's fine. I was tempted to go with the black but that's about $150 more - I dont miss it as I'd rather use the money for a few BluRay dvds or PS3 games to enjoy on the new set!

Great set and would recommed it to...

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john says "Nice intro to home theater receiver but needs more HDMI" about Onkyo - TX-SR674 7.1 Channels Receiver

john — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:09:19 GMT

This receiver is my first upgrade since a Kenwood receiver I purchased back in high school. I must admit the Kenwood had some serious sound behind it but since I'm not into just volume as much as a nice home theater set up with true surround sound, I dont miss the extra decibels too much.

The many inputs (both digital and analog) and HDMI capabilities are great although it can be a bit tough to go through the setup process the first tie to assign all the inputs. I do wish it had more than just 2 HDMI inputs however so I can connect not only my HD Dish receiver and PS3 but also my mac mini that I have set up as part of my theater system for iTunes and web browsing on the big flat screen from the couch.

One weird feature that I can't figure out is the Zone 2 capabilities. It lets you connect a 2nd set of speakers (say for a porch) but it can only play analog signals! Why in the world they didnt set this up to accept a digital signal is beyond me since this IS a digital receiver. Since...

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