Building a media center is something that can take a lot of time, effort and above all else: money. So testing the foundation before building the house makes sense right? Right.

Finding the right cables that work for you can, if not anything else, be a real pain in the rear. Thats why we’re sacrificing our hard earned paychecks testing this stuff so you don’t have to. (insert smiley face)

This review is actually just a portion of a much larger walkthrough for building your own media center and doing it for under $1400. But since that project is taking much longer than expected, please enjoy this quick review of one of the basic components.
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Opposable Thumbs just posted a great look into the seedy under belly that is technology, apathy and stupidity. Particular companies prey on the innocent, giving sacrifice to their lord and master, Satan, in hopes that people will skip any research whatsoever and buy the first thing flung in their face.

Here is a quick list that Opposable Thumbs provided for pricing on HDMI cables:

• GameStop brand: $70
• Monoprice: $18.93
• Sony brand: $50-$100
• MonsterCable: $100
• Nyko brand at Best Buy: $60
• RCA at Meijer: $50
• That Nyko cable again: $26
• Nyko one more time: $25
• From the Apple Store: $19

As you can see getting your coveted HDMI cable doesn’t have to be as bad as mom said it would. But I’m still going to rant anyway:

Enter the new world of HD, this years new buzzword. People talk about it like its the second coming of Jesus yet have no idea what 720p means. I’ve tried explaining it to friends, family and a special lady friend, but it really comes down to either you get it or you don’t. So when you throw out a new word out there like HDMI, people’s heads either systemically explode or they mess themselves in an explosion of pure geek goo. Hit the jump for more ranting.

[via Opposable Thumbs]
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Victor is keeping the lead on the growing HD camcorder market with the GZ-HD7 (part ot the Everio series), bringing a full 1920 x 1080i resolution to the table. This “full HD” camcorder, with its 60gb hard disk and HDMI output, looks to kick the ass of anything else out in the consumer market, far outshooting the current max resolution of 1440 x 1080i. Your naughty movies have never looked better.

Victor will bring this to the market in March, and will be asking ¥200,000 (roughly $1650 US) for the unit.

[via Tech-On]

Those of us with a large DVD collection and an HDTV are loathe to figure out the best way to watch the old standard definition DVD’s on our new sets. Using the old player is pretty much out of the question. You’re best bet is an upscaling DVD player. Problem is up till now most of those upscale to 1080i, which is a little bit of a drag if you just dropped major coin on a 1080p set.

Enter the Marantz upscaling DVD player. This bad boy also plays CD’s, SACD’s (Super Audio CD), DiVX and WMA’s. And it outputs it in 1080p over HDMI 1.1. It’ll also handle all your audio problems as well with DTS, Dolby, and SRS Tru Surround output.

And it looks like it’s made out of solid gold, which I suppose is an added bonus to some of us out there.

[AkihabaraNews]