Many players look at Halo Wars as a pushover. But Think Again, Halo Wars has many new units at your disposal, including, cyclops, cobras, wolverines, grizzlies, hellbringers, vultures, and vampires. I’ll let you figure out what each unit is capable of.

Halo Wars takes place 20 years before the Halo event. There are three leaders you will learn of, Captain Cutter, Sgt. Forge, and proffesor Anders

Campaign:

The game is lacking in its campaign. The campaign does not have enough depth to it. Its too short and easy to go through to really be able to get into the game. So if your looking for a long campaign mission don’t go for this game. I personally only play the multiplayer but i have completed the campaign. In multiplayer you also get to play as the covenant, there only new unit was the vampire. There’s also the flood and the rebels which are in multiplayer but you cant play as them.

One of the best things about the game in my opinion are the cinematics. They are very enjoyable to watch and it makes you itching at the bits to see the next one.

I’m a big Age Of Empires fan, but personally Halo Wars is much better made. The multiplayer makes it to where you can have endless hours of of fun and its much easier to use than a computer game. Halo Wars doesn’t copy the strategy of Age Of Empires. It has its own unique gameplay.

Snow Leopard is here, and what’s great about it, is that it gives you something that OS developers never give you… Less.
With 7 gb less in footprint size, OS 10.6 has been slimmed down, and lost a lot of weight. A lot of times, OS developers (Microsoft) get in the false mindset that we as the end-users just want more features. While features are nice, a lot of times we just want stability, streamlinedness, clarity, and speed. Forget the features, give us speed.

I think apple got it right. They gave us what we wanted, even if we didn’t know what we wanted.

If you are for productivity, stability, and all around “Ahh… that’s nice” moments, then Snow Leopard is for you.

Microsoft has just debunked new rumors that it will integrate Blue Ray players into its consoles. The rumor came from within the storage industry that a company called Lite-On will be manufacturing a Blue Ray add on for the 360.

Microsoft claims that consumers can still enjoy their HD content from the download store. A quote from Microsoft states

“For our customers who want a premium movie experience we offer the largest library of on-demand HD content available, and the ability to play back DVDs in high definition.”

This isn’t surprising that Microsoft is denying claims of a Blue Ray add-on. Even if they are planning a Blue Ray add-on, it would be foolish to announce it at this time in the year. It would probably be released closer to Christmas time.

A company called Pantel has just started shipping HDTV’s that are water/weather proof. The company boasts that the TV is for outdoor use, showing pictures of the TV covered in water.

They are currently shipping two models, a 40″ and a 32″. The LCD tvs claim to have double the brightness of standard televisions. Both TVs come with a 720p resolution (1336 x 768) and have a contrast ratio of 1600:1.

These TVs are made to withstand rain, snow, wind and dust in temperatures ranging from -40 f to 140 f. They also have the capability to wirelessly broadcast HD audio and video up to 150 feet.

This is good news for sports fans wanting to watch the game while grilling or kids with bad parents that are so addicted to Sponge Bob that they have to watch it even during outdoor activities.

The bad news: the price tag on these puppies. The 32″ can be picked up for around $3,950.00 and the 42″ for $4,450.00. I think I will just stick to limiting my TV time to when I am indoors.?

The Top Five Apple Apps for Web Developement:

1. Coda:
   Beautiful Design, simple intuative interface, and a transmit like ftp. You just can’t beat that! Overall I love Coda, I wish it was not so unstable. Out of all of the programs I run, the most UNstable is Firefox, followed by Coda. But besides that, Coda has everything you need as a web developer, except CSS. Which is where #2 comes in.
2. CSS Edit: I have tried every CSS editor out there, and none compares to CSS edit. It takes a lil’ getting used to, but once you get used to the instant changes being realized on your live HTML page, there is nothing better! I love the X-ray | Inspector combo, absolutely invaluable. It allows you to find those pesky weird CSS errors quickly by being able to click on the area that has problems, then inspect them. Along with a simple interface, and tabbed browsing, makes CSS Edit a gem for web development.
3. SnapNDrag: Some people may wonder why I have a screen capture program as my #3. Well, because it also doubles as my color picker. SnapNDrag is a screen shot capture program that allows you to choose the area to shoot by selection, window or whole screen. It auto saves in a simple stage where you can grab your newly taken image and drop it wherever you like, Photoshop, Finder, etc. I find myself using this tool many times a day, even for simple color grabs. I’ll warn you though, if you try it, you will definitely find it in your dock to come.
4. Clean Text: This simple program is like the old notepad for windows, but way more powerful for a web developer. You can take your text then remove all formatting, then you have numerous options like replacing tabs with spaces or visa-versa. It works wonders with text that needs to be pasted into WordPress or your favorite blog webware. Try it out, you will Love it!
5. Free Ruler: I know there are other great programs out there, but this is my list, and I want Free Ruler on it! Simply becuase I use it all the time.When developing in CSS sometimes widths can be decieving, and also making sure images will fit in a certain area, all that and more, is where Free Ruler comes in. It is FREE, and it pops up on top of anything allowing you to measure whatever you need. I find it critical in my Web Development process.
6. WAIT! Hold the Press. I had to add one more…
   Pixadex: I use a lot of icons in webdev, because of that, I find pixadex is a brilliant way to organize all of my icons and famfamfam as well! Easily export them to png with the size that you want. Pixadex is a wonderful tool and should be owned by every graphic designer and front end web developer. Pixadex is now combined with CandyBar, so don’t get confused by the name.

Well, that is the list…
Here is a quick Obvious Honorable Mention List:

• Firefox
• Dreamweaver
• Photoshop
• Quicksilver

Feel free to add your own list in the comment area! I doubt you have a better list.

HDDVD or BluRay. Ever since the release of the next generation media players, there has been a heated debate going on between both parties. Those HD DVD hard core supporters, and the Blu Ray fan club. They argue about image quality, player availability, publishing houses that support thier format, movies made just for thier format and of course price. In the midst of all of this arguing, it is tough to find a clear answer if you are in the market to buy the best available nextgen player for you. And really, that is what it comes down to. Practicality. That is why I wanted to write this “Real World” comparision, becuase I have never seen a review that compares bluray and hd dvd in light of the average consumer. So without further ado, here begins my comparison of HD-DVD and BluRay Disc. I do own both players and am only biased by which product will best suit me as a consumer.

A Brief Overview of HD-DVD:

HD DVD or High-Definition DVD is a high-density optical disc format designed for the storage of data and high-definition video. It is designed to be the successor to the standard DVD format and is derived from the same underlying technologies. Since it employs a blue laser with a shorter wavelength, it can store about 3 1/2 times as much data as its predecessor (Maximum capacity: 30 GB instead of 8.5 GB). A 51 GB triple-layer preliminary spec has been approved.

As of November 6, 2007, 331 HD DVD titles have been released in the USA.

A Brief Overview of BluRay Disc:

The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write this type of disc. Because of its shorter wavelength (405 nm), substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format, which uses a red (650 nm) laser. A single layer Blu-ray Disc can store 25 gigabytes (GB), over five times the size of a single layer DVD at 4.7 GB. A dual layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB, almost 6 times the size of a dual layer DVD at 8.5 GB.

As of October 23, 2007, 351[2] titles have been released on Blu-ray Disc in the United States (32 of those titles have since been discontinued).

How to compare Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD:
I am going to compare HD-DVD and BluRay Disc in the most pratical way for the average consumer to make an educated buying decision. I am going to compare these following areas:

• Image and Sound Qulaity (True High Definition Comparision)
• Benefits and Features of Each Format
• Available Movies / Studio Support
• Players and Accessories
• Price

In comparing these, you can make a decision that will best fit your desires in the next generation format war.

HD-DVD vs. BluRay Disc
Image and Sound Quality Comparison:

Image Quality:
So people always say “Oh is so much better higher quality than [enter opposing format name here]. Because it has the ability to [enter high definition jargon here] and also to [enter more HD jargon here].” But really who cares if all of those specs don’t transfer to what you actually see on your television screen. So let’s discuss the important things that really make a picture better. Resolution, Codec, bit rate, FPS and quality of initial content. Although there are slight differences in most of those areas, they really are almost negligible to the average consumer. So suffice it to say that right now, content on both HD-DVD and BluRay look absolutely amazing and are very very close in quality.

Thus it is a clear tie on Image Quality:
HDDVD: 9 out of 10
BluRay: 9 out of 10

Sound Quality:
When it comes to audio quality there are only 2 things that really matter. First is your codec, and second is your bit rate. Both formats have the ability to play the common surround sound codecs: Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS-HD High Resolution. But the truth is, all of those codecs suck! Becuase ther are what is called “lossy”. In other words, when they convert the audio into that codec, information is lost, that is never re-gained. So what I like to compare are the lossless codecs. Which means when the audio is converted into a codec from the studio, NO information is lost. It is a perfect digital transfer. Now on to comparing the lossless codecs that each format supports. There are 3 major lossless codecs for audio, Linear PCM, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio. Both bluray and HD-DVD have the ability to play all 3 of those codecs. Now the only slight advantage goes to HD-DVD where 2 of the 3 codecs (Linear PCM and Dolby TruHD) are mandatory on all HD-DVD’s while on BluRay disc, only 1 (Linear PCM) is mandatory. So what does that mean to you? If you have a nice sound system, chances are slightly higher that you can play HD-DVD’s with a lossless codec than with Blu Ray. But the differences once again are almost negligible.

Thus it means that once again it is a tie, but this time for Audio Quality:
HDDVD: 9 out of 10
BluRay: 9 out of 10

HD-DVD vs. BluRay Disc
Benefits and Features of Each Format – Comparison:

Each format has its own way of loading, showing content, displaying menu items, interactive content, computer usability etc. This section is going to briefly compare each PRO or Benefit that each format has over the other.

Better on HD-DVD	Feature	Better on BluRay Disc
15 GB	Storage Capacity	25 GB
Slick and Simple	In_Movie Navigation (Personal Prefrence)	Nice but Akward
Mandatory	Internet Connectibility (For content and upgrades)	Optional
Great Logo, Ugly Maroon Color	Appeal (General feel of the quality of the product and corporate image)	Great Logo and Colors
Dual Layer can increase capacity to 30GB	Future Upgrade Ability	Dual and Triple layer capacity increases to 75GB

Altough not a super important category, the features and benefits showcased by each format make Blu-Ray a clear winner:
HDDVD: 3 out of 5
BluRay: 4 out of 5

HD-DVD vs. BluRay Disc
Available Titles and Studio Support Comparison:

Available Titles:
Because this list is ever expanding, I am just going to link to a place that keeps the list up to date:
High-Def Digest: HD-DVD Complete Title List
High-Def Digest: BluRay Disc Complete Title List
at the time of this post HD-DVD had about 5 more movies released than Bluray. Bother were around the 300 title mark.

Now here is where the comparison really comes into play. There are big studios that support only one format or both or none at all. And it is these studios that will make the content that you watch. So Let’s take a look at what studios support each format. Keep in mind, it is not the total amount of studios that make the content greater, but the bigger size of the studio and quality of content that should make a difference.

HD-DVD Studio Support (Games / Movies / Television):

• Buena Vista Home Entertainment
• New Line Cinema
• Paramount Pictures
• The Walt Disney Company
• Universal Studios
• Warner Bros.

Bluray Disc Studio Support (Games / Movies / Television):

• 20th Century Fox
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment
• Electronic Arts
• MGM Studios
• Paramount Pictures
• Sony Pictures Entertainment
• The Walt Disney Company
• Vivendi Universal Games
• Warner Bros.

(Note: All you people out there who see Walt Disney under HD-Dvd support and think that is wrong because there is not conent, take a look here: Disney and HD-DVD )

Because BluRay has the larger publishing house and studio support, it is the clear winner:
HDDVD: 6 out of 10
BluRay: 8 out of 10

HD-DVD vs. BluRay Disc
Players and Accessories:

Regardless of your predisposition to a format the players are really similar. Who makes a better product? Toshiba or Sony? Hitachi or Samsung? In both cases the BluRay supporters have a better manufacturing company making them. Samsung and Sony make some of the best Bluray players while Hitcji and Toshiba make the best HD-DVD players. Now that is just based off of company history and general product quality. If you like a good looking, sexy, player. Than go bluray all the way, but if you want to have a much better price, well then, that leads us to the next section, Price comparisons.

Once again not a super important category, but the sheer names backing the players make blu-ray a clear winner:
HDDVD: 3 out of 5
BluRay: 4 out of 5

HD-DVD vs. BluRay Disc
Price Comparision:

Up to this point, bluray seems to take the winning circle, but truthfully, how much are you willing to pay for the difference. Here is where we make another meaningful average consumer comparison. There are 2 MAJOR costs when upgrading to a next generation media player. First, is the cost of the player, and second, is the cost of the media to be played in the player.

So here we have a simple comparison:

There are a couple more things to consider when looking at cost or the price tag, that is the lowest available player cost. If you just want to get in on the ground floor in this next gen format war, how much would it cost, bare minimum?

Well, Wal-mart just announced a couple of weeks ago, an HD-DVD player for only $99. Yeah… I know that is crazy cheap! Here is proof. And I can’t find a BluRay player that would be considered inexpensive.

In the realm of price, BluRay is grossly expensive and HD-DVD has just some into the range of affordability. With that said, HD-DVD is taking this category by a landslide!
HDDVD: 9 out of 10
BluRay: 6 out of 10

HD-DVD vs. BluRay Disc Comparison Totals:

Image Quality:
HDDVD: 9 out of 10
BluRay: 9 out of 10

Audio Quality:
HDDVD: 9 out of 10
BluRay: 9 out of 10

Benefits and Features:
HDDVD: 3 out of 5
BluRay: 4 out of 5

Titles and Studio Support:
HDDVD: 6 out of 10
BluRay: 8 out of 10

Players and Accessories:
HDDVD: 3 out of 5
BluRay: 4 out of 5

HDDVD: 9 out of 10
BluRay: 6 out of 10

HD-DVD – Grand Total: 39 of 50
BluRay Disc – Grand Total: 40 of 50

Conclusion – The Never Ending Format War:
There is definately no clear winner in this format war as of get. They both have momentum going into this Holiday season and it will carry through to 2008. So what does this mean for you? If you are ready to buy, think of what is more important to you. Price or Overall Quality. If you answer price, go HD-DVD. If you answer Overall Quality, go BluRay. If you could not answer, either wait for a dual format player, or flip a coin.

I hope this little review has opened your eyes to some of the interesting dichatimies in this format war. I hope the format war ends soon, because whoever wins, the truth is, the consumer will be the real winner.

Emergence Day has come and gone, and now the Halo 3 release is over. The question remains though, which of the next generation HD multiplayer games is superior. This is my take, I have spent may hours with both games so I will be blunt and making sure not favoring any title. Before I begin, those of you who say that I cannot compare gears with halo 3 because one is a 3rd person shooter while the other is a 1st… well, I have something to say to those people: shut up! I am comparing them now, Ha! Anyway, I am going to compare the multi-player side and not really the campaign or single-player side, because these games are what they are becuase of thier great multi-player characteristics.

Comparison Format:
I am going to compare the major elements of video games and also some characteristics and nuances that each game has that the others lack.

Graphics:

Gears of War: The graphics in GoW are freakin amazing! Even though it came out in November of 06, the graphics are bar none! Everything has a real feel from the look of the humans to the look of the aliens (I’ve seen them in real life) to the look of the weapons. The particle effects of grenades exploding to bullet holes piercing the surrounding structures. On the downside, to get that realism, the GoW team felt that some of the motions had to be animated, thus there is some serious glitchyness. When trying to chainsaw someone on the ground, they automatically stand-up while being chansawed. So, there are a bunch of cookie cutter animations that are really akward looking when you put them in a different context. If only there was more light in all of the levels to see the great level detail!

Halo 3: The graphics in Halo 3 are also amazing! The textures of the levels are very revealing. Every plant and blade of grass has a realistic feel. The lighting is wonderful from the shadows to the sunlight to the manufactured light, all very real and add a huge amount of realism. Although master chief loooks great, the other characters models are frankly pretty cheap. They look blocky and not quite human. They still look good, but they feel also very cartoony, and not realistic.

Conclusion: The graphics in Gears of War are simply better. There are less bugs in the graphics in Halo 3, like the camera jumping behind walls and other wierd places they should not be, but overall, although a lot of the animations are static in gears of war, they just look better.

Playability and Controls:

Playability here is multiplayer playability. Playability encompasses the objectives of games and how well they accomplish thier task. Generally, playability can be summed up into, how fun the game is.

Gears of War: First the controls for gow are great. It reacts as it should and the 3rd person view is great to combat in. But frankly, there are times that the controls get frustrating! I really do not like that the “duck and cover button” is the same as run. The walls endup somehow reaching out and grabbing you. You have to be a skilled driver in order to navigate your character around objects. But over all, the controls are good. Now the playability is just ok. Don’t get me wrong, I really like shooting people in the game, but I wish there were more objectives. I really think some sort of capture the flag or other type of skirmish style of gameplay would have been awesome!

Halo 3: This is where Halo 3 just takes the vote! The controls are awesome! 90% perfect. From shooting to jumping and throwing grenades, all of it is perfect. But there is one HUGE flaw. Why in the heck did they change the “talk” button? It used to be “LB” but now it is up on the direction pad. So unless you have 11 finger or three hands, you cannot run and talk at the same time. I think that is horrible design. I cannot believe the game got released in this fashion. Oh well. The playability of Halo 3 is truly perfect. There is a type of game for everyone. For those who just wish to kill, slayer, for purpose oriented or goal oriented, you have land grab, CTF, and others.

Conclusion: Halo 3 is just a little bit better. Less weirdness and it just feels a little better. Although I think gears pulled it off awesome as well, this is just comparing gold and platinum.

Audio and Xbox Live Communication:

Gears of War: Great! Communication is easy and the Audio sounds online are great! Nothing to complain about here.

Halo 3: Honestly, they were so close to perfect. It’s just that they made theat dumb direction pad the freakin talk button. That is strait up dumb. I hate it!

Conclusion: Gears takes the vote because Halo 3 is stupid with its dumb talk button.

Online Weirdness: Bugs, Lag, Host, etc.:

Gears of War: GOW is first of all horrible at matchmaking. It takes forever and it is tough to get a full room. Especially a full room of committed players. That is because it does no matchmaking. It bugs me that a game this awesome could have this big of a flaw. Either way… the online weirdness is barely tolerable.It takes weeks of playing to finally figure outwhy when your host you are so much better. So when you are not host, you have to play with a different frame of mind. In other words, the host has a big advantage. BIG! And when you are not the host, you have to predict where the player is going to be in the next 10th of a second. And if your the last one on your team vs. the host, do not expect to win a sniper of shotgun battle.

Halo 3: Overall, online, Halo is superb. It is tough to tell who is host, and even if you are, the advantage is only slight, albeit there is still an advantage. The whole matchmaking is SUPERIOR to gears of war in every way. In fact, Halo 2 was superior in multi player matchmaking than gears of war.

Overall Pro’s and Con’s of each Game:

Gears or War: Pro’s

1. Graphics: The graphics are freakin’ amazing
2. Realism – If you like realism, this is the place! It reminds me of the movie fargo when you use that chainsaw.
3. Balance – Very balanced. It comes down to skill and knowing when to use the right weapon. Teamwork also helps.
4. Originality – No game ever like it. Brilliant Cliff, simply brilliant.
5. Communication – Easy to communicate online, simple. That is what is needed here.

Gears of War: Con’s

1. Host Advantage – The host advantage is just too great!
2. Animation – the chainsaw animation and “downed” animations make it too cookie cutter. There are a lot of bugs that happen in those two states, and that makes it not realistic and very frustrating.
3. Multiplayer Matchmaking – Frankly, unless you have 10+ friends online playing GOW, then you will not have a full room for at least 30min, and the chances of finding one are even slimmer. They need to fix that in “Gears of War 2″.

Halo 3: Pro’s

1. Online Matchmaking – Whether you go online, it will always find a match that you want to play, and people stay on even if they are losing by a lot. They way the system was built is just genious! How you can veto a map, or take your party to join another, or create matches on the fly. All if it is simply the best!
2. Balance – This game is extremely balanced. And considering the plethora of vehicles and weapons you can use, it is very balanced. It all comes down to the relative skill on each team, and even then it balances it for you. But, Halo 3 depends moreon teamwork than GOW.
3. Matchmaking options – ctf, territories, land grab, slayer, doubles, all of it just makes sense! What ever you want to play, you can find it.
4. The Forge – It is a blast! Edit maps on the fly and play with them with others edit. Great idea!
5. Co-op – 2-4 players, that is just fun!
6. Stats and more Stats – I love the stats, they are everywhere, including on the bungie website. It is amazing!

Halo 3: Con’s

1. The freakin talk button! I hate it…
2. Load times – it seems like everyonce in a while it takes WAY longer than it should to find a match or load a map.
3. Teamwork – Also a plus, if the team you are on is not working together, but if they are not… it just sucks and you can get very frustrated, becuase you keep losing.

Conclusion:

After lookin at all of the pros and cons, it is difficult to declare a winner. But at this point I would have to say Halo 3. It is tough for me to say that because I am a huge Gears fan! But becuase of the team game style and how unbalanced gears can be at times, I’ll have to give it to Halo 3. But just barely.

yournintendowii4free.com appears to be affiliated with the site Transcendent Innovations or trainn. Train describes themselves as

“Transcendent Innovations specializes in online marketing through value added services and is a leader in online customer acquisition. Through our business relationships, we develop and operate a number of trustworthy sites with the goal of providing a rich online experience that deliver the desired results for both our advertisers and consumers.“

They operate quite a few sites that give away lots of free stuff. How can sites like this make money you say?

The way sites like trainn make money is through a referall and offer process. Basically in order to receive your free stuff, you must complete 1 or more offers. These offers include signing up for free trials on sites like netflix, blockbuster, and others. For every referal that trainn sends to them, those companies pay trainn (quite a lot). So them forking out $250.00 for your nintendo wii is a small price to pay for your referral. Now on to the good stuff.

How to get a free Nintendo Wii

1. Go to yournintendowii4free.com via this link (I get credit for referring you (help a brotha out)) and sign up for an account.
2. Make sure that you enter valid information. After complete all of the steps, they will verify that you are not trying to trick them.
3. Complete 1 level A offer. Some of them are free, some aren’t, just sift through them and find one of interest to you.
4. Start referring people
   1. In the “My Account” section of yournintendowii4free.com you will be given your referral link. Post this sucker everywhere. You can put up ebay listings and craigslist postings
   2. The amount of referrals you need will depend on the prize you seek. (Only 5 for a Wii base system)
   3. Remember, you wont get credit for a referral unless they complete an offer, so encourage your buddies to complete their offers asap.
5. After all of the steps are complete, your account will undergo an approval process to make sure your info is legit. After about 2 weeks you should receive your free nintendo wii.

Hope this information helps you to obtain your free nintendo wii. Let me know if you get one! Again my link is http://www.YourNintendoWii4Free.com/index.php?ref=4042653

Happy Free-Wii getting! -Brandon

Home Theater Showdown – Battle 1: High Definition Projector Screens
Fighters: J.J. vs. Brandon

Competing Products:
Brandon’s – 120 inch Generic Screen
J.J.’s – 100 inch Saaria Screen

Battle Overview:
Battles are formatted in such a way where the owners talk about the Pro’s and Con’s of their product in each round. Each round has either e heme or a question. At the end of each round there is a winner declared by both competitora and an additional 3rd party. Whoever wins the most rounds at the end, is declared the winner of the battle.

The Specifics of the Projector Screens:
J.J.: My screen is a 100′ inch Saaria Grey Magic II with a gain of 1.1. It is a fixed velvet lined screen.
Brandon: My screen is 120 inches an it is sweet!

Round 1 – The Price and Size of the Screen (Cheapest):

J.J.: I bought my screen on ebay for $262 and that included shipping. My screen is 100′ inches diagonal. To be geeky, I paid $2.62 for each diagonal inch for my screen. I did a lot of research for my fixed screen and this is the one I found, it was a great price in my opinion!Brandon: I also bought my screen from ebay. Ebay is the best place (in my opinion) to go to find great deals on screens. Mine was $220 shipped. My screen is 120 inches (10 feet) on the diagonal. Pretty sweet deal for a fixed screen of this size.

Round 1 Winner:
Brandon and his 120 inch generic projector screen

Round 2 – Screen Quality, Construction / Image Quality:

J.J.: When I received the box in the mail I was surprised by its size! IT was recommended that 2 people do this job, but I was too eager to wait, so I tore into the set-up process. The construction of the screen was very impressive. The metal used as the frame for the screen was very sturdy. The assembly of the screen took about 30 to 45 minutes, but the instructions were clear and as the screen took form, I was glad to see that my $200 screen was not just a piece of junk, on the contrary, once fully assembled, the screen has a lot of physical integrity. The saaria logo on the bottom set’s it apart from generic screens. Saaria also has a very unique way of getting the projector screen material stretched across the frame. It usees metal rods that are then snapped around plastic holds that stretch the screen to it fullest extent without leaving any indentations or stress marks on the sreen. The end result is a water like surface of the screen. Very impressive!Now on the image quality side. It is tough to say how the quality of the image is, because it depends on more than just the screen. But since my competitor and I have almost identical projectors, I would say that my gain is higher. And for my room and my projector (Sony vpl-hs60) that is great! I think the importance of a brilliant picture is important. I know a lot of people talk about how the grey screens are much better for DLP and LCD projectors because the lumen’s are enough, but I think that is bull. I think the picture should be bright and that the colors should be distinct and not washed out. And my screen does just that! It is bright and vibrant while watching it at night, the colors are deep and the blacks are black enough. Needless to say, it is impressive.

Brandon: First off, mine came in like a 10′ box. I had to pay like $90 somthing to ship this bad boy. It was pretty confusing because the screen came with two sets of instructions and they both were very ambiguous. Needless to say, I was up to the challenge. After about 1 hour of battle (and almost cracking the plastice L-joints) my screen was finally assembled. I would have been able to do this by myself, however the wife wanted to help, so we did it together. This was a battle in itself. j/k (if my wife is reading). When it was all said and done, the screen hung on the wall in all its 120″ glory. My only complaint is that it barely fit in my little 10′ x 11′ room.

Mmmm high def goodness… ahhh…… I honestly can’t see a quality difference between screens as far as picture goes. The only drawback to mine, is the frame appears to be made of cheap flimsy metal and plastic. Also the metal is fairly reflective, it’s not covered in velvet like JJ’s is. Overall, I think this screen is great. It would be hard to find a better/larger screen for the same price.

Round 2 Winner:
J.J.’s 100 inch Sarria Projector Screen

Round 3 – The PRO’s & CON’s:

J.J.:
PROs’ – The PRO’s for my Saaria screen are endless! I have been 100% satisfied! The image quality is great, is construction is sturdy, it hangs perfectly flat on my wall and it was easy to assemble and install The back of the screen has a black back so that no light can be transferred from any blocked out windows or anything else. The velvet trim on the frame blocks almost all light so that any overscan (projector light that does not fit inside the screen) is not visible. The screen looks professional and receives compliments all the time. I have been 100% satisfied. Also, keep in mind that other projector screens like dalite, stewart filmscreen, infocus and others start around $700 and go up to $3000 for a screen this size, so to get one this size for $200 is amazing!CON’s – Well, I guess the only CON would be that I wish it was bigger. Even though I already get motion sickness playing video games on this thing, but as a guy, we always want the biggest and the best. Besides that, i would say that there has been NO downside to this screen whatsoever!

Brandon:
PRO’s: Uhh do I even have to say. If you don’t know the pros of having a 120″ widescreen, you probably should not be reading this post. This thing is freaking huge and it’s great.

CON’s: The screen does feel a little flimbsy when not hanging on the wall. May be hard to transport when I move. Thats my only complaint.

Round 3 Winner:
It is a Tie!

Conclusion:

This was a tough decision. Do we take the 120 inch generic mammoth, or the 20 inch smaller quality Saaria. Well, it comes down to what you want. Do you prefer quality or size? They are about the same price, Brandons screen was $1.83 per diagonal inch and J.J.’s was $2.20. Either way, these are a great buy! Sreens this size for this price, you simply cannot lose!!

Winner of the Home Theater Showdown – Battle 1 is…
Brandon’s 120 inch Generic Monster (He Barely won)

Now the PS3 is a slick looking machine but it is a beastly huge piece of equipment. I heard that you can actually transform it into a lean mean fat grilling machine but when one of you out there spends nearly $600 to grill a hamburger think of me when someone calls you an idiot. But in all seriousness the PS3 has covered some eye catching new features such as a nearly buttonless console with the exception of the power switch in the back of the console. It is those new ideas that make playstation edgy and futuristic and draw a crowd to see what Sony will come up with next. But on the flip side of the market Xbox 360 is just another plane Jane looking console. About the only cutting edge idea that Microsoft had was the console now can stand up on its side to make room for your TV or whatever you put in that extra space. News flash Microsoft, Sony already had that idea with their previous console. But I will give the Xbox 360 one thing, the glowing power button will let you know how many controllers are actually calling to the system. yee ha.

Controllers

Now I don’t want this to turn this into a Xbox 360 bash but in comparison to the PS3 the controllers are worlds apart and the PS3 has all of my votes. Now there are some good things about the 360′s controller, it does have a very formfitting feel to the grip of the controller, but the buttons are confusing and hard to get used to if you are not previously accustomed to the Xbox style of controllers. Once you get the hang of it the buttons will still get crossed for some reason and you will be logging off your profile before you know it.

The controller for the PS3 must be 3 times lighter then the 360 and less confusing to a very busy set of hands. I just felt that the PS3 has made and continue to make a very comfortable controller over the years and though the many consoles.

Graphics

Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 have taken big steps on the graphics side. The backgrounds on both consoles are phenomenal. They are leaps and bounds over any of the realism in previous consoles. You tend to get lost some where between reality and around the garbage bin that you are ducking behind comprehending your next move to get out of the sticky situation that the aliens have you in. But when the buzzer on the dryer goes off you have to take a step back and admire the detail that you see in every game from the sparks flying from your car bottoming out to the hole in your arm that was make when a stray bullet hit you from friendly fire. The PS3 boasts an advanced interactive background with more functionality from most things in your grasp. The Games that i played had a bit of a difference but not enough that it mattered to me at all. I was not impressed. The 360 spent more time in making the actual characters or cars as realistic as possible. I have to give this one to the 360 hands down just because i don’t care about shooting out lights but i do care about seeing the spine of the guy i just blew the head off of. I know I wouldn’t trust me with your kids either.ConclusionUpon

Conclusion

Upon comparison I definitely made a decision as to which console i would spend my money on. I bet you think you know which one i will choose……………….. drum roll please………… and the award goes to the Xbox 360. After thinking about it i can get over the bulky controller, the plane Jane console and the lack of revolutionary ideas coming out of the minds of Microsoft for one reason; game play. Between the couple of games that i compared the graphics of the bad guys and the good guys is easily a 360 victory. I thought that the PS3 game , Resistance: fall of man was sub-par to the 360′s Gears of War as well as Call of Duty 2. But beyond that i haven’t found one 360 game i dithatslike and thats the truth. If i was to spend my money on one of those consoles i woXboxgo with aeveryones but everyones opinions are different and find certain things that they like and don’t like about both. Either way your getting into the next generation of great gaming.