DL.TV

episode 182 (1x182)

Air date: Jul 12, 2007

STUFF • Debating who's ship is bigger? Check out Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions to compare the size of everything from TIE Fighters to Klendathu Plasma Bugs, Base Ships to Firefly class freighters. • There's been quite the debate on our feedback over our fuse spiel on Tuesday. We like what Mike posted best: • NEVER replace a fuse with one of a higher current rating - it might kill the equipment, cause a fire etc. • NEVER replace a fuse with one of a lower voltage rating - it might kill you because the fuse may blow but could set up an arc that will allow current to still flow. • NEVER replace a quick blow fuse with a slow blow fuse. You can do it the other way but expect the fuse to blow. • And for recursion, NEVER take advice from an internet forum without doing your own research. -Mike • This week's viewer pic comes from Chris in Wellington, New Zealand... a nicely setup lan party, 5 on 5 Battlefield 2142, if you're curious, complete with a tub full of beverages for all. • Sanyo's Xacti VPC-HD2, $700, captures 720p video to MPEG-4 files on SD (or SDHC) memory cards. Quality is a big step up from the VPC-HD1, with good colors. We wish the auto focus was a tad more precise, and the if the image stabilization was more robust the 10X zoom would be more useful (at least without having a tripod.) Pocket sized, it's certainly the smallest HD camcorder of any quality. • Panasonic's HDC-SD1, $900, also captures video to SD or SDHC cards, but won't tuck so nicely into a pocket, with it's big lens (which feeds 3CCDs, not one). The HDC-SD1 has a better image stabilization system than the Xacti, but a major caveat: make sure your favorite video editing program has support for AVCHD video, otherwise you'll be re-rendering viddy captured on the HDC-SD1 before you can edit it! • Search directories thru Google for file extensions instead of sites for links? Very useful when your'e looking for specific file types! Roger found the tip on Jimmy Ruska