The chief complaint about Office 2007 is that Microsoft replaced the menu and toolbars with a new user interface called the Ribbon. In their arrogance, Microsoft refused to provide a classic mode. In this segment, we’ll review two products that bring back the classic menu:
Excel Classic Menu – Available for Word, PowerPoint, Excel
Toolbar Toggle – better, but only available for Word and Excel

Show notes at http://www.mrexcel.com/tip144.shtml

Excel Classic Menu comes from www.AddInTools.com
http://www.addintools.com/english/menuexcel/default.htm

Toolbar Toggle comes from http://www.toolbartoggle.com/

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS
www.MrExcel.com

PRODUCTS SHOWN
Excel 2007 Miracles Made Easy
$24.95

High definition is where it’s at these days when it comes to the home theatre experience, but trying to figure out what you need when you head into the store can be a bit of a challenge. That’s magnified slightly when it comes to the new high-definition DVD formats, because there are two competing camps, Blu-ray and HD-DVD. But in the end there are only three main factors you have to worry about if you want to get a high-definition picture from the DVD to the TV.
The DVD player

You have a choice between two competing formats in the world of high definition DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD. The choice used to be a bit simpler: HD DVD was less expensive but had slightly less resolution, while Blu-ray gave you full 1080p resolution at a premium price. But Blu-ray has come down in price, while HD DVD’s resolution has bumped up to the same level…so it’s much more competitive. Right now the biggest problem is that your choice may be made based on what format your favourite movies are available on.

Toshiba HD-A20
www.toshiba.com
$499
Toshiba’s first generation of HD DVD players definitely had a price advantage on Blu-ray (the entry-level model was less than half the price of the entry-level Blu-ray models), but they didn’t feature 1080p output. The new HD-A20 not only features 1080p output, but it does it at a cheaper price than the debut of the first generation HD DVD players. You could argue that HD DVD’s lower per-layer capacity puts the format at a capacity disadvantage when compared to Blu-ray, but since all HD DVD movies are still comfortably fitting into the 30 GB two-layer capacity of most available media, it’s not really an issue.

Samsung BD-P1000 / BD-P1200
www.samsung.com
$699 / $799
Samsung was the first of the major manufacturers to get a Blu-ray player to the market, and it’s already on its second generation…the price of the player has also dropped from over $1200 down to the more tolerable $799. That’s still fairly high compared to the HD DVD competition, but it’s certainly a lot more attractive now.

Sony Playstation 3
www.playstation.com
$599
While Sony’s standalone Blu-ray players are insanely expensive, the company has snuck Blu-ray DVD playback capability into the much less expensive Playstation 3 gaming console. The lower price despite the higher capabilities of the unit seems like a mistake until you realize that Sony’s got a lot riding on getting PS3s into living rooms. If you’re already a gamer, this option will get you both high def DVD and the ability to play high-definition games.
The TV

While you can hook up the new high def players to almost any television, to get the best experience, you want a newer television with a 16:9 aspect ratio, and the ability to display high-definition output. Because 720p, 1080i and 1080p all qualify as high definition, you’ll need to take a look at output in all three formats to see if you can even tell the difference…because 1080p screens are still relatively new, they tend to be more expensive than the lower-resolution 1080i/720p screens, so if you can’t even tell the difference, you can save yourself some money.

Samsung LN-3242H LCD Television
www.samsung.com
$1099
This 32-inch LCD display is only a 720p screen, but at this size even that lower resolution looks fantastic when compared to the old-school 480p resolution. This model has three HDMI inputs, two component inputs, composite input, and S-Video, as well as dual antennae (both on-air and cable TV) and a VGA input for hooking up to a computer. There are stereo speakers built in, but there’s also an optical output for looping out to a set of surround sound speakers.
The connectors

There are several ways to connect your DVD player to the TV, but for the highest-quality picture, you want to choose either component (red/green/blue, plus stereo audio) or HDMI (a single High Definition Multimedia Interface cable). HDMI is definitely the preferred interface if you’re trying to get 1080p output, but the cables can be extremely expensive ($50 for a basic short cable, to over $100 for a higher-quality cable).