the galaxy's best gift ideas…

Rear projection televisions are sometimes advertized as RPTVs and are often a popular pick when buying a large screen TV.  The brand names who are still designing rear projection televisions have narrowed down to JVC, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, RCA, Hitachi and Sony.  Even though many electronics companies have stopped developing rear projection technologies to concentrate their resources on the higher priced, LCD flat panel televisions, the companies that remain are using the most recent technology designed to benefit rear projection televisions. 

At the moment, manufacturers are employing three perfectly usable kinds of rear projection televisions.  The technologies are CRT technology (small cathode ray tubes), LCD projector technology and digital light processing.  There are strengths and weaknesses in using each of these technologies, however, an increasing number of rear projection televisions today are manufactured to incorporate either an LCD projector lamp or digital light processing. 

Rear projection televisions are considered the best option for large screen TVs seeing as they can project a clear picture which is free of distortion.  Up until about 2004, those CRT rear projection televisions had a history of being regularly purchased by people for the reasons that these units produced state of the art audio and video, and were also less expensive.  Most consumers sought rear projection televisions instead of the LCD flat panel televisions for the reason that they could be considerably lower priced, which negated the issue that rear projection units were not able to be suspended from the wall like an LCD TV. 

The theory at the heart of rear projection televisions is that they receive a diminutive movie by means of a digital video signal, then magnify the video to fit the screen.  Rear projection televisions are digitally enhanced to recieve this type of signal and give you a better picture than an ordinary television.

On top of getting a high-tech video and theater-style sound with a reasonably priced television, many customers who choose the rear projection televisions enjoy them for the reason that RPTVs provide a digital picture.  Digital signals will be mandated for all televisions by mid 2009, and many television stations are no longer using analog signals.  Many people may discover that a person could purchase a new, digital quality home theater unit which costs about what it would set them back for a digital converter box.  This might be the most practical advantage to the rear projection televisions. 

Even though these units are not as slender as flat screen televisions, today’s rear projection televisions have been substantially thinner and more lightweight than older units.  While LCD televisions have some superiority because of the flat screen, more and more people have realized that rear projection televisions provide them with a wider range of viewing angles, especially those with a CRT projector.  CRT rear projection televisions generally are remarkably long lasting too because rear projection technology has been perfected over the past couple of years. 

The DLP rear projection TV’s produce high definition viewing and a thinner appliance in comparison to the CRT projected televisions and seem to be the coming standard for rear projection televisions.  DLP technology is able to give you a better picture from any angle and a DMD chip which is engineered to be simple for users to replace, contained in a appliance that is increasingly thin and offers outstanding sound and image quality.  If you are in the market for rear projection televisions, you may want to focus on companies that are already employing DLP technology.

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Spy cameras – nothing new here, right? Hidden cameras have been around for years and have slowly made it from the upper echelons of the security services down to typical consumers like us. Here we’re going to feature some of the various types of cameras that are available right now.

Kicking off our list is the calculator spycam. It’s a desktop calculator with a very small video camera embedded in its side. It also functions as a desktop calculator making the illusion complete. Expect to get at least 25 frames per second at a 320×240 resolution. Also look for multiple video and photo recording formats, such as AVI, MPEG4, and MP3.

Of course, we had to include a spy camera watch. These wrist watches have been inspired by spy movies like James Bond. They typically look like pricey analog watches and have the camera lens hidden in the face. In one example, the lens is expertly hidden in the numbering. While the video quality may not be as nice as in a larger spycam, it is amazing what you can get for less than $200.

No roundup of spycams would be complete without a pair of spy camera sunglasses. These should take both video and photos. You should be able to find a pair that takes at least 1.3 Megapixel shots. For under $200, you can turn into a secret agent fast.

Now let’s say you need to get some air to ground shots. Then get a spycam plane! This is perfect for reconnaissance. Most people wouldn’t even stop to think that a remote controlled plane could take photos or record video.

If you would rather keep things on terra firma, then there are lots of options for RC cars and trucks with cameras. You could even attach your own camera to an RC toy. Some will even instantly transmit video wirelessly to a headset or other screen.

Perhaps you have children and have babysitters or nannies take care of your children periodically. A desktop calculator may not cut it as it won’t fit in in a child’s bedroom or the living room. In this case, there are toys (teddy bears for example!) that have embedded cameras, some of which can be hooked up to your home computer network and that can transmit real-time. You can then view that from any computer with a Web browser.

For more specific examples of gadgets with embedded spycams, take a look at this popular electronics reviews blog.

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