Herb Goodman sent us a brand new list of magazine offers as of December 1999. The prices are available only for SPCUG members and are not to be posted on any BBS or on the Internet.

The prices printed in Sacra Blue, page 15 are for new subscriptions and renewals. For renewals you must supply an address label from your present subscription to ensure the correct start date for your renewal. Please allow 10 to 12 weeks for your subscriptions to start. All orders must be accompanied with cash, a check, or a money order.

Make your payment payable to Herb Goodman and mail to:

From the Deals Guy
by Bob Click, Greater Orlando Computer User Group

By the time this column appears, some motherboards you can buy will have Intel's 810 chipset. A chipset is the surrounding chips that support the CPU. One caveat though: there is a problem because Intel's 810 chipset will not support the Pentium III. It supports the Slot 1 design, and the Pentium II, but not the Pentium III.

If you plan a new motherboard or computer purchase, it wouldn't hurt to see if your motherboard has the updated 810e chipset, which is expected late this year or early next year. If you don't plan a later upgrade to the Pentium III, or don't plan to use the Pentium III in the first place, it won't matter. The fix will also be incorporated into the 820 and 840 chipsets and then all three will support the Pentium III.

The general belief was that there would be little worry about this problem since these chipsets are targeted for entry-level motherboards using the Celeron or Pentium II. Still, many resellers are concerned that if an owner wanted to upgrade, they could upgrade only to the Pentium II- a limited option. Just thought I'd mention this so you could check into it if you are buying a new motherboard or computer (and actually, many consultants feel the Pentium III isn't that much of an improvement anyway).

InfoCom was a great show, especially if you visited the "shoot-out" room. Of all the shows I have attended, I think that in terms of dollar value for equipment displayed, InfoCom has to be about the richest of any trade show, even superior to the famed Comdex or Consumer Electronics Show. I have no handle on a dollar value for the entire show, but the shoot-out room alone contained about $38 million in equipment.

What an impressive array of projection systems, all side by side, displaying the very same thing on each screen. The rotation of displays ran from still shots- some with the right picture chosen to check gray scales- to movies, to crosshatch and other things to make good comparisons in picture quality. A voice on the PA system told you what was showing and what to look for.

There were 79 lower-end projection systems, from the $4000 CTX and Sony to a BARCO for $25,500. Resolutions varied. A projector from Plus Corp. was ultra-thin at 2.28 inches. Then there were 12 mid-level projection systems from the $15,000 Sanyo/Fisher to the $170,000 Electrohome, with resolutions ranging from 1024 x 768 to 1280 x 1024. Most impressive were the nine theater-type projection systems ranging from the $10,000 Toshiba to the $150,000 Electrohome (I mean only $149,995). Resolutions were 1280 x 1024.

Also in the shoot-out room were some very large monitors. Some were the "hang on the wall" type. I think Panasonic had the thinnest one, which was a 42", but only 3.5" thick. Its list price was $10,000. Large monitors with a resolution of 1365 x 768 ranged from about $4,000 to a mere $34,995. HDTV (High Definition TV) has a 16 x 9 aspect ratio, (16 units wide by 9 units high). All could be either a monitor or HDTV.

As an aside, we're used to the 4 x 3 aspect ratio, but you will see 16 x 9 more and more with the advancement of HDTV. By FCC mandate, all commercial TV stations must transmit DTV (Digital TV) service by May 1, 2002. Many will do it by the end of this year. DTV is not compatible with analog TV, so both systems will be transmitted for a while, but either a new HDTV or a converter will be eventually needed for proper reception.

Back to the shoot-out: Extron supplied the complete distribution system, valued at about a million dollars, to provide signals for the entire shoot-out room. Stewart furnished the screens, except for a few by Da-Lite. Each item had an illuminated sign with the manufacturer's name, model, resolution and price. Crestron provided touch-screen displays to see specs for the various manufacturers' equipment. Nineteen other companies contributed support for the shoot-out.

I visited several booths in the show containing a couple million dollars in equipment, not including the booth cost. One small exhibitor paid $8,000 for a 15' booth and $18,000 for the display, not to mention the equipment shown, shipping, setup and dismantling costs. Many booths were elaborate, with all types of unique projections.

One day Sony featured an all-electronic robot dog, and what a neat dog! It walks, it talks, it chases a ball and even cocks its leg to ...well, you know... but no water, fire hydrant or not. It was only shown one day and they sold 3,000 units in about 15 minutes at $2,200 a pop. Another buyer has an order pending for 3,000. I'm told it's on the Sony Web site but haven't found it yet.

Video walls abounded. One with about 15 cubes was priced at $300,000 including the digital processing equipment. I was surprised to find that, like many projectors, it used Texas Instrument's digital light processing (DLP) technology. Video walls with one or two rows of cubes were also offered as electronic signs by a couple of booths. Prices started at about $10,000.

The new 16 x 9 monitors were abundant in the show, as I have noticed in most shows with computers these days. As you can imagine, thin flat monitors abounded, and expect to see more of the plasma displays as this new technology gathers momentum. The show floor was filled with attendees from all over the world.

Enough trivia for this month. Here's what I have in special offers:

The DataDepot items will still be good this month. Give them a call at 1-800-767-3424 or 1-813-445-3402.

Many user groups long for a better projector, as do some businesses, and prices are coming down. I just saw an InFocus LP 400 featuring 700 ANSI lumens and not a bad resolution in the CDW catalog for $2994.88. (1-800-599-4239)

On the other hand, if you want to check the Web, I read that you can do better. In fact, a manufacturer's rep at InfoCom also told me about that. Projectorcentral.com is a place to check out specs for different models and manufacturers. Here are Web sites from the article to check further:

• www.ccsprez.com
• www.onsale.com (offers at-cost and at-auction sections for new and used equipment)
• www.buy.com
• www.onsale.com
• www.123present.com
• www.projector.com
• www.shopper.com

The article I read in Presenting Communications warns to be careful of extra handling charges, etc. They noted that some sites' ethics leave something to be desired. They sell at cost, but make money via extra charges. In other words, buyer beware. Making a deal with a local salesperson, even if paying a bit more, may be better. But a good deal on a Web site might be leverage to get a better deal locally.

They have put together a "Summer User Group Price Special" on behalf of Power Quest, and it has been sent to all user groups in their database. Here is what they sent:

Special offers are only good for users group members and expire August 30, 1999. Full refund within 30 days of purchase if you're not satisfied. To order on the Web, visit www.ugr.com/order/.

Meet me here again next month to discuss deals. This column is written to make user group members aware of special pricing, and my comments should not be construed to encourage, or discourage, the purchase of products.