Watch DLTV online: Episode 182 episode 182

STUFF • Debating who's ship is bigger? Check out Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions to compare the size of everything from TIE Fighters to Klendathu Plasma Bugs, Base Ships to Firefly class freighters. • There's been quite the debate on our feedback over our fuse spiel on Tuesday. We like what Mike posted best: • NEVER replace a fuse with one of a higher current rating - it might kill the equipment, cause a fire etc. • NEVER replace a fuse with one of a lower voltage rating - it might kill you because the fuse may blow but could set up an arc that will allow current to still flow. • NEVER replace a quick blow fuse with a slow blow fuse. You can do it the other way but expect the fuse to blow. • And for recursion, NEVER take advice from an internet forum without doing your own research. -Mike • This week's viewer pic comes from Chris in Wellington, New Zealand... a nicely setup lan party, 5 on 5 Battlefield 2142, if you're curious, complete with a tub full of beverages for all. • Sanyo's Xacti VPC-HD2, $700, captures 720p video to MPEG-4 files on SD (or SDHC) memory cards. Quality is a big step up from the VPC-HD1, with good colors. We wish the auto focus was a tad more precise, and the if the image stabilization was more robust the 10X zoom would be more useful (at least without having a tripod.) Pocket sized, it's certainly the smallest HD camcorder of any quality. • Panasonic's HDC-SD1, $900, also captures video to SD or SDHC cards, but won't tuck so nicely into a pocket, with it's big lens (which feeds 3CCDs, not one). The HDC-SD1 has a better image stabilization system than the Xacti, but a major caveat: make sure your favorite video editing program has support for AVCHD video, otherwise you'll be re-rendering viddy captured on the HDC-SD1 before you can edit it! • Search directories thru Google for file extensions instead of sites for links? Very useful when your'e looking for specific file types! Roger found the tip on Jimmy Ruska'ssite! You can also check out his hompage, JimmyR.com • You can get more Roger Chang at the podcast he cohosts with Tom Merrit: East Meets West • "Why didn't HP use standard connectors on my PC?" Carlos, they used that weird connector for the front cover's HD LED, power LED, power and reset switches to make it faster to assemble. You could buy a new case and dump the old HP case, or get the regular leads from an old case and solder 'em onto the leads inside your case. Or pay the 50 pounds to import that 2 pound adapter from the UK. (ouch!) • No, Scott, if you salvage a bunch of parts from an old Dell PC, there's no reason they should kill the system(s) you put them in. Just don't try to run, say, a brand new Core 2 Duo and a hi-po graphics card off an on old 300W power supply! • You want to rip some of your DVD collection onto your notebook so you've can play them when you travel? Handbrake is an excellent choice on the Mac, Chris... H.264 compression will give you the best quality in the least amount of space, but you might find it easier to enjoy those DVDs if you just sacrifice some more HD space and make them ISO files.

click here to see where to watch or .