Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat. Also, the trade press is full of gadgets for Christmas and special deals for Black Friday, that crazy shopping day after Thanksgiving. If you want to avoid the madness of Christmas shopping, here are a few display-related gifts you can buy on the internet.

Matt Brennesholtz
Insight Media Analyst

Hammacher Schlemmer (www.hammacher.com) has a $199.95 projector aimed at kids. Videogames on the ceiling, movies on the wall. Supposedly it is so easy to switch video sources that kids can do it without adult supervision. The system uses a "standard" 35W incandescent bulb (not included), has a built in speaker and comes with AV cables. It will produce a 60" picture when the projector is 100" away from a surface such as the ceiling or wall. Details such as resolution and lumen output are missing, but it sounds like fun. Insight Media has looked at toy projectors before, and the ones we have seen have been unacceptable, but hopefully this one is better. Stay tuned-we’ll probably buy one and try it.

Are you more a Target (www.target.com) person than a H-S person? They have the Senario Torpedo Digital Game Projector for $179.99. While H-S didn’t identify the brand or trade name, the photos look suspiciously alike. They say you can "Turn any room into a professional-style home theater or a giant game room." Details are missing from the Target web site, even such basic details as to what bulb is used. They do say it works with your DVD player, gaming console, digital camera, MP3 player, computer, TV or cable/satellite box. Insight Media will probably be buying one of these, too, if it turns out to be different from the H-S projector.

The Wal-Mart (www.walmart.com) crowd can get a Torpedo Projector for $149.97. Wal-Mart also has online ratings from consumers - out of ten ratings the Torpedo received an average 4 stars out of 5. A typical comment from BigPoppy was "I can’t believe how cool this projector is. I recently purchased it for my son’s 7th birthday and he cannot get enough of it. Loves to play his movies on the big wall and Wii with his buddies. Looks like I have the coolest house on the street now!"

Most of the ratings at Wal-Mart were either one star or five stars. The five stars came from people who bought the projector for their 7 year old, the one star ratings came from people who bought it for themselves. Take heed!

If your slightly older kids want to create their own video, Wal-Mart also has the RipRoar Video Creation Station for $98.72. This is a VGA video camera designed to interface with your PC for creating videos to share on-line or, presumably, show on your Torpedo. It includes software, cables, etc. plus a green screen. The green screen allows you to make a video of yourself or a friend in front of the green screen and then superimpose your image on any background. Way cool.

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