Windows Media Player is a media player for all your digital media (audio, photos and video) for computers running Windows XP and Vista. It is available as a downloadable application for Windows XP directly from Microsoft or via Windows Update and ships with Windows Vista as its default player. It is also available on Pocket PC and Windows mobile based devices. In the following sections, I will show you the basic interface, library management, ripping/burning audio cds to the library and how to sync your media to a portable MP3 player. This article focuses on Windows Media Player 11. The Interface Windows Media Player 11 (WMP11) is the latest version on Microsoft's Media Player. It has undergone a complete overhaul from previous versions and sports a slicker user interface. It is pretty simple to navigate and access your media by just a few clicks of the mouse. You can use it to share media with other pcs, media streaming devices (XBox360, PS3, Netgear EVA8000, etc.), to rip and burn cd's to and from your library and sync your media to/from portable media players (both audio and video). There are 5 main buttons on the interface, they consist of the "Now...

Finding the right size TV for your room is easier than you might think. But picking the right resolution is just as important. Written by Dennis Burger - Maybe it’s due to my job, maybe it’s fate, or maybe I’m just being punished for something my karma did in a last life—or however that works—but when my friends are in the market for a new TV, I’m always the first one they call. And the conversation invariably plays out the same way every time: “I just want to make sure I’m getting my money’s worth.” OK. “I want the best TV I can afford.” I love to hear it. “I don’t need anything as monstrous as yours, though!” Insert the sound of a phonograph needle being dragged quickly across vinyl right here and you’ll get the gist of how this scene will play when they film my life story. My 56-in. Samsung DLP TV, I explain, falls right in the middle of THX’s acceptable range for my room size and eight-foot seating distance. In fact, it could actually stand to be a teensy bit bigger or I could benefit from sitting just a smidge closer. “I don’t care,” I hear...

Do you have a LCD monitor that turns on but has no picture? Does it display for only a few seconds than go blank, or maybe it just turns off completely? I've been seeing this problem more and more and I find myself doing the same repair over and over again. Thats right, I'm talking about the power inverter. The power inverter is a power supply that takes the low voltage that runs all the logic and steps it up to around 600 to 800 volts with an even higher initial start voltage. It does that in order to run a cold cathode flourescent lamp (CCFL) that illuminates the LCD panel itself. These inverters seem to be a weak point in LCD screens and my experience is that they fail most of the time because the electrolytic capacitors failed, or filter caps. There are usually 2 or 4 caps that range in value between 220uf to 1000uf and I've just made a habit of changing them. If you're failry proficient with electronics you might save yourself a lot of grief by changing these first. They're usually pretty easy to spot because they'll be around the input side of the inverter...