The Super Helpful Little Things Forum

[vexion]

Sorry for derailing this thread even further but I must ask. Whats the best TV brand for gaming/using as a monitor for the laptop/high def tv?

HDTVs put out a far poorer quality image than an LCD monitor for 5-10 times the price. When you actually hook up your PC to a big-screen TV, whether it's HDMI or S-Video or whatever, you find out that you max out at really crappy resolutions. Just save yourself the trouble and buy a nice 24" monitor for $230. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ageSize=20)

[merichard87]

Well I already have a seperate monitor for my laptop. I really do need a tv lol and I would just be hooking my laptop up to it occasionally and gaming on it. And of course using it as an actual tv. So any suggestions?

[eth3n]

Well I already have a seperate monitor for my laptop. I really do need a tv lol and I would just be hooking my laptop up to it occasionally and gaming on it. And of course using it as an actual tv. So any suggestions?

pixel pitch, smaller = better

[merichard87]

Well I already have a seperate monitor for my laptop. I really do need a tv lol and I would just be hooking my laptop up to it occasionally and gaming on it. And of course using it as an actual tv. So any suggestions?

pixel pitch, smaller = better

And that means .... ? Buy a smaller screen? So like 32 inch or 36 inch? Or smaller?

[eth3n]

Well I already have a seperate monitor for my laptop. I really do need a tv lol and I would just be hooking my laptop up to it occasionally and gaming on it. And of course using it as an actual tv. So any suggestions?

pixel pitch, smaller = better

And that means .... ? Buy a smaller screen? So like 32 inch or 36 inch? Or smaller?

It means you should look at that on the specs sheet. 32 inch with .255 (or .xxx) pixel pitch will look much crisper than a 36 with the same pixel pitch. If you want a sharp TV:
1) find what size you are looking for (e.g. 32 or 36 inch)
2) find the TV with the tightest pixel pitch.

Not the only thing to consider, but most of the downfalls I see when people buy large TVs is that you can see each individual pixel. Its like stretching a tiny image onto a huge screen.

There are other factors to consider for gaming (you want a fast response time, anything 15ms or higher and you will see ghosting), and for movies you want to have good contrast ratio so your blacks are actually black and the bars on the top and bottom of the screen don't distract you from watching (dynamic contrast [the big number] is darkest black to brightest white possible, normal contrast is the maximum dark/bright difference that can be on the screen at one time). etc etc etc.

[Chupavida]

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[vexion]

Well I already have a seperate monitor for my laptop. I really do need a tv lol and I would just be hooking my laptop up to it occasionally and gaming on it. And of course using it as an actual tv. So any suggestions?

Of course it all depends on your price range and the size you're looking to buy. The first debate is always LCD vs. Plasma. If you're going to be gaming on it, plasma is the way to go. No motion blur, crisper images. The colors won't "pop" as well as an LCD. But the set will last longer. For years people railed against plasma for "burn-in" (image retention) problems, but with modern tech that's pretty much a thing of the past.

Personally, I own a 50" Panasonic Viera plasma, and I'm in love with it. Brand-wise, you can't go wrong with the Panasonic plasmas. They're absolutely the best out there. Except the Pioneer Kuros, but Pioneer pulled out of the HDTV business, so all their warranties are null and void, and you can only buy older sets or used ones. Right under Panasonic for overall quality is Samsung.

I did a lot of my research on the Flat Panel TV forum at highdefforum.com (http://www.highdefforum.com/flat-panel-tvs-38/) These people really know their stuff. Make sure to read all the stickies! CNET has a decent HDTV Buyer's Guide for beginners (http://www.cnet.com/1990-7874_1-5108580-1.html) and Gizmodo has their own, shorter version (http://gizmodo.com/5067130/giz-explains ... like-a-pro). Also, Lifehacker says if you want to buy an HDTV, May's the time to do it (http://lifehacker.com/5535215/the-best- ... buy-in-may).

Seriously though, here's one vote for a Panasonic Viera, at whatever size and feature set you want. Find the lowest prices by comparing vendors at froogle.com or on CNET. Work that no-tax/free shipping!

[Alyssa]

Don't want to fill this up with too many of these, just one more -

24" Dell monitor (1920x1080) for $189 with free shipping
$259 - $70

(coupon code FT6B71L27TZ$VW expires on Saturday)

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod ... 93-600263-

[mmmadeli]

Not to derail too much from the gadget-talk, BUT. How many people actually slice the binding off their casebooks? I first heard about that...somewhere, I forget where, a while ago, but people don't seem to talk about it here much. Is it something people actually do, or is there a good reason not to, or what?

[macattaq]

Not to derail too much from the gadget-talk, BUT. How many people actually slice the binding off their casebooks? I first heard about that...somewhere, I forget where, a while ago, but people don't seem to talk about it here much. Is it something people actually do, or is there a good reason not to, or what?

I haven't seen/heard of anyone at my school doing this. But, I am planning on doing this for the next year, because the conlaw text is massive. Some websites like Barristerbooks have loosleaf versions of texts, and these run a bit cheaper than bound versions.

[odon59]

Never been much of a fan of the dual monitor config when you're using your laptop screen as one on your setup. I'll be shelling out a few hundred to get 2 apple 20 in LCD displays along with a matrox dualhead2go digital box so that I have two physical screens and can put my macbook to sleep.

That Matrox box is exactly what I've been looking for! I don't think I'm going to buy the apple displays, but I'm definitely going to get a couple of nice led-backlight screens. Any thought to getting the triple screen version? Thanks for the suggestion!

[Matthies]

Personally, I own a 50" Panasonic Viera plasma, and I'm in love with it. Brand-wise, you can't go wrong with the Panasonic plasmas. They're absolutely the best out there. Except the Pioneer Kuros, but Pioneer pulled out of the HDTV business, so all their warranties are null and void, and you can only buy older sets or used ones. Right under Panasonic for overall quality is Samsung.

I agree I have the same Panasonic and a 46" Samsung LCD, panny beats the samesung in everyway (but same sung still a good TV, I just really like plasma better).

[Paichka]

Not to derail too much from the gadget-talk, BUT. How many people actually slice the binding off their casebooks? I first heard about that...somewhere, I forget where, a while ago, but people don't seem to talk about it here much. Is it something people actually do, or is there a good reason not to, or what?

I haven't seen/heard of anyone at my school doing this. But, I am planning on doing this for the next year, because the conlaw text is massive. Some websites like Barristerbooks have loosleaf versions of texts, and these run a bit cheaper than bound versions.

I didn't do it, and I wish I had. Hauling around those casebooks sucks. You can take your books to Staples (or your school's copy center) and have them take the binding off and punch holes in the book. I'm doing this next year.

[Duralex]

Not to derail too much from the gadget-talk, BUT. How many people actually slice the binding off their casebooks? I first heard about that...somewhere, I forget where, a while ago, but people don't seem to talk about it here much. Is it something people actually do, or is there a good reason not to, or what?

I haven't seen/heard of anyone at my school doing this. But, I am planning on doing this for the next year, because the conlaw text is massive. Some websites like Barristerbooks have loosleaf versions of texts, and these run a bit cheaper than bound versions.

I'm going to experiment on a few books over the summer to see if I can tolerate the results.

I recently found out (by reading 1L of a Ride) that a lot of texts and supplements can be purchased digitally from the publishers--notably most if not all of the Aspen books. So an alternative to buying and debinding a printed edition is buying a digital edition and printing it on demand. I'd also assume the text is searchable and copyable, which is nice. They might be in some kind of cumbersome DRM wrapper, though, I haven't checked.

For me, debinding isn't just about portability--I want to digitize and OCR the texts, so as to be able to read them on a tablet as well as index them and be able to run queries against them simultaneously.

[Matthies]

NotI want to digitize and OCR the texts, so as to be able to read them on a tablet as well as index them and be able to run queries against them simultaneously.

What are you gonna use to OCR them, as a dyslexic this would be like gold for me, but even with my super dupper printer scaning them to OCR is a total time consuming pian in the ass and seems to do about 3 pages before something gets out of whack and I have to relaod.

[Duralex]

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M (~$400) and ABBY FineReader and/or ReadIRIS and/or Acrobat 8. I've already dumped bags full of old bills, statements, college handouts, etc. It's 30 pages per minute or so, double sided. I do the OCR during import to DevonThink (rather than in the scan utility itself, which is also supported) so the scanner can go continuously.

I haven't tried to feed a book through it yet, though. I also don't know how large I can make PDFs before scrolling starts lagging severely on my macbook, so I'll have to play with that--split the books into volumes, etc.

If you have a documented dyslexia severe enough to warrant accommodation, consider asking the school library to do this for you. If they agree, they'll probably just send it out to someone like Blue Leaf ( http://www.blueleaf-book-scanning.com/ ) and eat the bill (which would be large--especially for casebooks.) They could justify the cost (maybe) by having the files available going forward for other LD students.

[Matthies]

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M (~$400) and ABBY FineReader and/or ReadIRIS and/or Acrobat 8. I've already dumped bags full of old bills, statements, college handouts, etc. It's 30 pages per minute or so, double sided. I do the OCR during import to DevonThink (rather than in the scan utility itself, which is also supported) so the scanner can go continuously.

I haven't tried to feed a book through it yet, though. I also don't know how large I can make PDFs before scrolling starts lagging severely on my macbook, so I'll have to play with that--split the books into volumes, etc.

If you have a documented dyslexia severe enough to warrant accommodation, consider asking the school library to do this for you. If they agree, they'll probably just send it out to someone like Blue Leaf ( http://www.blueleaf-book-scanning.com/ ) and eat the bill (which would be large--especially for casebooks.) They could justify the cost (maybe) by having the files available going forward for other LD students.

Oh yea, I got dyslexia bad enough for accomdiations, but I allready graduted law school. I'm looking for something for work and that can scan the docuemnts and read them back to me like Read Please does. I like that cnaaner you posted, but man i am runing out of room for gagdtes!

[Duralex]

It has a very small footprint folded up. About 12"x5". Take the "M" off of the end of the model number for the Windows version.

[A'nold]

1. Why are two screens so awesome, especially when you can just click on a tab on the bottom of a screen?
2. LOL at rebinding books. Just use the freaking book.

[Mr. Matlock]

1. Why are two screens so awesome, especially when you can just click on a tab on the bottom of a screen?
2. LOL at rebinding books. Just use the freaking book.

A DUAL MONITOR NAYSAYER!!!!

[Duralex]

I use three displays. Trust me, it makes a tremendous difference. Especially if you're trying to use online references or ebooks in place of printed materials. Sometimes it's even better than printed materials, too--I like reading documents on a 21" hi-res LCD rotated to portrait orientation. They're bigger than they are on the page that way.

[merichard87]

Yes, two monitors is good, one 30 inch is better

Also the super cheap but huge desk:

$25 interior door from Home Depot on two $50 file cabinets. FREAKING HUGE desk space to spread all your crap out on.

4-color pens for book briefing instead of carrying around 19 highlighters.
[http://www.amazon.com/BIC-4-Color-Refil ... B000F2PFPS

Hey where did you get the hanging supply organizer?

[Matthies]

Yes, two monitors is good, one 30 inch is better

Also the super cheap but huge desk:

$25 interior door from Home Depot on two $50 file cabinets. FREAKING HUGE desk space to spread all your crap out on.

4-color pens for book briefing instead of carrying around 19 highlighters.
[http://www.amazon.com/BIC-4-Color-Refil ... B000F2PFPS

Hey where did you get the hanging supply organizer?

At the containor store, its just a normal kitchen type thing, but I bought the parts that would hold office stuff and hung it on the wall

[Netopalis]

My setup, complete with built-in Torts professor:

[merichard87]

^^^ Might wanna try that again buddy.