Peter Pachal

DVD Cool

Better, cheaper, with features galore—today's players offer more than ever.

By Peter Pachal
Posted January 28, 2003

(Photo Illustration by Tony Cordoza) Ever since Sean Connery shot a bad guy out of his Aston Martin's ejector seat in Goldfinger, James Bond's gadgets have become a staple of the franchise. In each Bond flick, the cantankerous Q outfits 007 with a few ordinary-looking items that can do much more than meets the eye.

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Delphi SkyFi XM Satellite Radio Receiver

Into Orbit

By Peter Pachal
Posted February 28, 2003

From their TV ads, it's easy to see that both XM and Sirius satellite radio are aimed first and foremost at the car market. Sirius commercials portray a typical listener as a family man who loves being behind the wheel, while XM's incorporate strangely violent imagery of grand pianos plunging onto highways and shattering into millions of pieces.

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Plasma Partners

For TVs, thin is definitely in. Now speakers are slimming down to match.

By Peter Pachal
Posted August 28, 2003

Photo by Tony Cordoza In the future, people won't have to worry about speakers for their TVs. At least that's the message from most Hollywood filmmakers, who invariably depict future TVs as super-sharp wall-size screens with audio that comes out of thin air.

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Shopping Made Simple: DVD Gets Real

A guide to DVD players $400 or less

By Peter Pachal
Posted November 18, 2003

Photo by Tony Cordoza The success of DVD is so colossal, so rampant, so relentless that anyone discussing the format is almost obligated to gush about its astounding features and many victories in the electronics arena. For a change of pace, I think it's time to admit a dark secret: a lot of people hated the format when it first came out.

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CES04 Live: Photo Mix #1

By Peter Pachal
Posted January 8, 2004

Steven Van Zandt of The Sopranos (and Bruce Springsteen's band) lends some celebrity cred to the Sirius satellite radio press conference.

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CES04 Live: Photo Mix # 2

By Peter Pachal
Posted January 9, 2004

The insanity begins at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Thursday, January 8, Day 1 of the International Consumer Electronics Show, when the doors open to the public - tens of thousands of dealers, installers, and just plain folks eager to see, hear, and get their hands on the latest high-tech wonders.

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CES04 Live: Photo Mix #3

By Peter Pachal
Posted January 11, 2004

A big, wide world of LCD televisions is just one of the eye-catching displays at the Philips booth. Connected Planet is the company's umbrella for a broad range of products - like Internet-connected Streamium TVs - that use "wireless, broadband, and mobile-enabling technologies to provide seamless accessibility to entertainment, information, and services."

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CES04 Live: Photo Mix #4

By Peter Pachal
Posted January 11, 2004

Austin Powers and Felicity Shagwell - or close approximations - give a groovy pitch for D2Audio's new digital amplifiers.

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CES04 Live: What Just Happened

A personal view of trends and portents at CES 2004

By Peter Pachal
Posted January 12, 2004

If New York is the city that never sleeps, then Las Vegas is his loud, drunk cousin who's keeping him up all night. Add to Sin City's inherent rowdiness the congestion and general sexual frustration of the 100,000+ people attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and insomnia becomes less an inconvenience than a benefit.

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Shopping Made Simple: HDTV For Less

Our guide to HDTVs under $3,000 shows high-def doesn't have to mean high prices

By Peter Pachal
Posted May 22, 2004

Been to your local electronics store lately? If you have, you've probably noticed that price tags on HDTVs don't hit you with the same sticker shock that they used to. Even those sleek plasma and LCD models - once reserved for people who spend as much on a TV as a new car - have prices a lot less coronary-inducing.

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