If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going. ;)

Funny thing is, the Burr-Brown (now Texas Instruments) DAC chips are only about $30 or so.

The Wolfson codecs used by iPod, Zune, et al., are a bit cheaper, though, at about $3-4. The Wolfson parts are no slouches, either...

It's not watts per second, it's watt-seconds. 1,400 kW-Sec means it can deliver 1400 kW for one second; or, 140 kW for ten seconds, etc. Incidentally, this means the floor generates 388 watt-hours per day.

Hi Gabe,

The following is a replica of a classic Neumann studio microphone, the U47. Take a gander at the price. :)
http://www.telefunkenusa.com/products/show_product.php?item=20&cat=mics

Anyway, $60 for a podcast-grade preamp and audio interface is pretty darned reasonable. I wouldn't disparage the 16/44.1 sampling, though; remember, you're ultimately going to turn that audio you recorded into a CD or MP3 anyway, so your 24/96 audio is getting cut down one way or the other (until you get into your own DVD-Audio authoring).

Where this device would fall short in the sound quality department is not due to its sample rate/bit depth, but rather the grade of componentry in its preamp, and in its ADC. But hell, for podcasting I'm sure this will be a fantastic tool; hooked to a good quality, professional mic, this will likely get you better results than any of the USB-connected mics currently on the market.

Andy, great start to your mic locker. Take a listen to the Audio Technica 4033 ($400) and 4047 ($550)!

Limitations of the 5DII for shooting video:
- Two minutes at a time
- No XLR microphone input (means you can't use professional microphones)
- No SMPTE sync
- 30 fps only
- No HD/SD-SDI output

As a photography hobbyist, I was excited to hear about the 5DII, but I found the video feature to be a little pointless.

I've worked with filmmakers occasionally as a sound engineer; they were shooting a documentary and interviewing some people. My audio feed was plugged into the video camera (a Panasonic prosumer model similar to these). Yes, higher-quality microphones are used rather than the onboard mic, but they wouldn't put XLR mic inputs on the camera if it wouldn't be useful.

These TVs won't be available until next year... How do you know it's a crap LCD if you haven't even seen it yet?

I bought a Samsung series 6 LCD after walking through Costco and staring rather blankly at all the TVs. The Samsung they had there (actually a Series 5) caught my attention because its contrast and color saturation seemed higher than all the others; there were no gray-blacks even in the brightly-lit store, there were actual blacks. I looked closer to see what it was (didn't realize it was a Samsung). I compared it to the Panasonic Viera TVs they had there, and its contrast was on par, but color saturation and brightness were higher. I didn't buy that particular TV because I wanted a bigger one.

Watching true HD content (HD-DVD, PC output), the image is eye-poppingly gorgeous. The Samsung 6 does have some failings; its internal image scaler is abysmal (ghosting on 720p broadcasts... WTF?), and its analog audio output is fixed-only. I imagine all of this can be fixed by a firmware update (will it? That's another question). I displayed pictures from my computer on it (component video input) and the very rich color gamut made photos -- particularly photos of flowers in sunlight -- veritably pop. It does over-sharpen, and the contrast is exaggerated... But for sheer spectacle, it's gorgeous to look it.

I guess all this is to say... If the KURO is based on a Sharp LCD as rumors have it... And if it has the same image quality problems as other Sharp LCDs I've seen (gray blacks, noise, slow pixel response time)... I think the Samsung TVs have little to be afraid of.

Just my 25.04 KRW.

I think online distribution will eventually be the way things work, but I'm not going to buy into it until they get their bitrates up. I know, I know, it requires more internet/network bandwidth; I'm cool with letting it buffer for a while if it means I get a better picture. ATSC bitrate for 1080i images is up to 19 Mbps... and even at that rate, some picture details are smudgy. The 27 Mbps of HD-DVD is, I'd say, a minimum for a truly HD picture. (I know, HD-DVD's VC-1 codec is more bandwidth-efficient than ATSC's MPEG-2.) Call me a snob/elitist, but I did not plunk down that kind of money for a very nice HDTV, just to watch low-bitrate content with a picture so lacking in detail that it looks finger-painted.

There are a couple of sample images on Canon's Japan web site:

http://cweb.canon.jp/camera/eosd/5dmk2/sample/eos5dmk2_sample-j.html

EOS = Electronically Operated Shutter.

All of their SLRs (film and digital) are EOS-series cameras, though nowadays the moniker is a little silly; probably kept around for its recognizability.