CO1

Single player game is the same. Multiplayer has some new maps, warthog with a rocket launcher, you can fly the banshee and there are two new weapons; a flamethrower and some kind of plasma launcher.

Yeah if I was buying right now the Z2 is the way I would go for a low priced WXGA projector. I have not seen the Z2 but I demoed the Z1 several times and it was nice so I inagine the Z2 will be even better.

My PC runs at 3600mhz but I've been playing Halo on my brother's P4 1.6 with a Radeon 8500 with no problems. Get the 1.02 patch and go here if you need to tweak http://halo.bungie.net/site/halo/features/hpcperformancefaq.html

I'm on vacation right now and I've been playing a lot of Xbox Live and online PC shooters. I've been a console gamer since the Atari 2600 and a PC gamer since Quake but still to this day I find a game pad does not measue up to a mouse and keyboard. It's like your half drunk when your playing. Some of my buddies thought they could measure up with game pads but a LAN game with both types of controllers soon dispelled that foolish notion. While I'm enjoying playing Xbox Live for right now because I can only do it while on vacation I'm still turning back to the PC shooters. I'm sure I would be bored with Live after a few months with regards to shooters but other types of games play well with game pads so there is that option. Try Halo for PC and you will fell a big difference in control compared to the XBox. One negative thing I found with Live is that there is a lot of swearing and talking about drugs/alcohol which really doesn't bother me but I wouldn't want my kids on there. So to sum it up I think for racing & sports games it is OK but shooters it takes a back seat. Try Call Of Duty, Halo & Battlefield 1942+mods for PC online because they are some of the best right now.

j-malotky is right. I use my HTPC mostly to process video and the sound is passed digitally to a receiver which processes the audio. If you want to do a lot of reading head over the the avsforum.com and check out the HTPC section.

I play all online games under the name BARBARIAN because it's a nickname I picked up from work. Won't have access to a decent connection until the 10th but you may regret playing with me. I have a habit of singling out one guy on the other team (usually the guy doing all the trash talking)and just killing him over and over until they leave the game. Screw the flag or any other objective of the game I just like to go hunting. I get great pleasure from this but I have a lot of issues.

2 more yesterday, up to 541 and should be close to 600 when I get back from vacation because I usually buy a big load when I'm in civilization.

pinipig523, that's a Paradigm PW-2200 and it may look small but it's probably more to do with the fact the cylinder is a 16-46PC rather than the more common & shorter SVS 20-31. The PB1-ISD & the PW-2200 are roughly the same size; the PB1-ISD is 18" wide x 21" high x 20" deep, the PW-2200 is 16-1/2" wide x 19-1/2" high x 22-3/4" deep with a difference of 9lbs between them in favor of the SVS which Im sure half is a result of the base-plate. So unfortunately for you even though it is not the PB1-ISD it is about the same size. Wheelman, I dont have a problem with midrange. My problem area is in the lower frequency range but since I hooked up the Pioneer Elite it seems much better. I haven't actually run any sweeps since getting the new receiver so I can't say 100% for sure but I have watched a lot of movies and it appears to be much improved.

I'd go with the SS.5 over the Quintets.

Currently I have 537 DVD's which I started buying 2 years ago this January. I probably have about 20 or more on pre-order at any given time. Like EAR I am over the 300 mark on PC games and a little under a 1000 music CDs. I went to a store one time and bought over 50 DVDs at one time and the sales person asked me if I owned a movie rental store. I just told him I was doing time. Delivery guy just showed up so make that 539 DVD's.

skonopa Aww! Don't tell me you got the 'B' word as in Butchered Offensive Sound Emitted. I said I dont like to talk about it OK. Actually BOSE would be a step up in this case. It has been a real source of argument between my wife and I but in the end I guess she won. Did you build that HTPC yourself? Where did you get that case at? Yes I build all of my computers and I also build some for experienced users. The case is just a regular desktop case that I bought from http://www.colorcases.com/Cases/gothdesktop.htm which I added some fan holes to and 10 low rpm fans to allow 24hr running in a closed in rack. The only problem with the case is that the color was dark grey when I got it not midnight black as advertised. I ended up having to paint the case and a forum member of avsforum.com custom made the aluminum faceplate for me. The link I posted has the color listed as black instead of midnight black which may mean they changed the color to actual black. It definitely looks black on the website but it looked just as black when I ordered mine so I dont trust the pic. The big advantage with this case compared to most desktop cases is that I can use any ATX power supply I want where as a lot of other desktop cases have specific power supplies just for their case that are usually under powered with under spec rails. There are currently a lot of very nice HTPC cases on the marked which werent available when I built the one in the pic so going through the same crap as me is not necessary. The only problem is that they are usually expensive but they look great. You could also poke it out of sight and use a regular tower. Also, what is that big thing on the bottom shelf? That is a dual deck VCR but its real claim to fame and the reason why its in my rack is because it will copy any tape regardless of protection. Back a few years ago they changed some law which made it illegal for a company to make a dual deck that could copy protected tapes so I decided to hang on to it. TheEAR I hope you have all the bass you need Im there for now. The RF3's look so small...dude get some RF7's up front and feel the true EXPLOSIVE Klipsch might. When I bought this system back in 99 so there was no such thing as RF7s. RP-5s and RF-3s were the top Reference speakers so considering that I'm not a fan of the RP-5's it was an easy decision. As of right now I dont need an upgrade yet. Im still an apt dweller so my current system can easily exceed any level that would be considered sane for my accommodations. I am currently in the process of designing my new house and if all goes as planned we will be putting hammer to nail this spring so you know I have a spot for my gear. I dont want to buy much more equipment before I get out of here because I will have to sell it all at a loss so upgrading right now would be stupid. Dont worry because RF-7s and the new THX Ultras are being considered for my new HT room but I'm leaning more towards Klipschorns all the way around with a Belle center all in black lacquer. My latest experience with purchasing Klipsch speakers has been poor and it also has me considering other brands for my new HT. They have shown me that as long as there is nothing legally binding a longtime repeat customer means nothing to them. I personally despise this sort of attitude from a company and usually purchase elsewhere as a result but in this case I fear that I will be the only one suffering from this decision. Lets just say that before this all I would consider was Klipsch but that has changed now.

Its one of four 5.1 systems in my apt. and a second is in the same room which I will post pics of next month after my vacation. The third is in my workout room with my second projector but Im not about to clean up all the steel plates lying around for pics so use your imagination. The fourth I dont talk about because the wife made me buy it. Lets just say when we give people the grand tour I forget the bedroom. "What type of stand/support is that your using for the center channel speaker?" It's a Rubbermaid Roughneck tool box. The handle is coated in rubber so I can place any object under the recessed handle to give the desired angle for the center channel which will not slip due to the rubber. Pretty high tech! What is that beast sitting under your reciever? Its one of my HTPCs (Home Theater PC) and it is pretty much the heart of the system. From scaling & deinterlacing movies to music, games, internet, TV, PVR and anything else a PC can do. These things provide more entertainment than any one piece of electronics I can think of. I have it connected to both the projector and the RPTV and it gives me the best DVD playback I have seen so its the one piece of equipment that I would never get rid of. Im surprised that no one took a dump on my speaker placement especially when the screen is down. Well given the fact that the seating is all off to the left side and that my room has 10 corners thats the way she goes. I could have centered the screen with the speakers like I did with the TV but it blocks my equipment rack causing problems for some remotes so I perfectly centered it for where I like to sit. Screw the guests.

Marshal, he just has to turn off the lights and everything will look fine.

Well I finally received the game and it only took 2 and 1/2 weeks to get here. Still no speakers yet but apparently my RSX-5's are in and the RCX-4 should be in soon. I was not going to play this game until I got my new PC speakers so after I got my SVS & PW-2200 blanced out I packed away the ProMedias and now I'm using headphones. I couldn't help it, I had to play. This game is freaking amazing but now that you guys are telling me how great the surround effects are I'm wishing I had of waited. It's kind of like knocking up the town *****, in hind sight you know you made a mistake but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I guess I'll have to play it again when the speakers come in. BTW I apologize if I have offended any town whores who may be reading this. All I can say is that it was a feeble attempt at humour that I will forever have to bare.

He's only pissed because he bought an RW12 and now realizes he could of gotten better for the same amount of money. Guess it makes him feel better.

Thanks for the input guys but I have all problems solved now. I literally did not have anywhere else to place the PW-2200 in the room because the computer that is attached to the sub is also in the same room as my main HT system. Having two surround systems in the same room along with couches and other furniture leaves me with zero space to place a sub other than under the desk or in front of a doorway. Of course the doorway is out and even though I was able to place the sub in a decent spot under the desk for sound I was still not happy because I had no choice but to place my receiver on it. So where did I place the sub? Under my SVS. Now I have both my PC surround system and my main HT system connected to both subs so no matter which system I use both subs are belting it out. The Paradigm also sounds better in this spot on its own and even better again combined with the SVS.

The rack looks like 4 sticks of dynamite ready to blow. Now thats some serious bass. Give a tripod a try just to see if it makes a difference and if it does theres your problem. You can also see how the photos come out with lots of light on in the room because as mentioned earlier they have trouble focusing in the dark. Some cameras will give a repeated flash burst while focusing so that the camera can focus properly on the subject.

It should be really good with no lag depending on the server but if you scan for games there should be no problem finding a good ping. Enjoy!

Oh man I'm still waiting for the mailman. Got my new PW-2200 doing sub duty on the PC so I'm ready for the explosions. Still waiting on new speakers so I may even wait to play until then because this was one of the games I was looking forward to with the new system.

Yeah I love my 1GB card. Lots of pics. I just spent a couple of weeks researching cameras in that price range for my bro. If you want to look at some nice digital cams check out the OLYMPUS C-750UZ (best cheap 10x zoom) and the Pentax OPTIO 550 which has a really sharp pic with a small size. The Canon Powershot S400 is even smaller but the OPTIO 550 has the better PQ, both are nice. G3 is also a nice cam. I own one so I'm biased.