Need a good way to set up your high resolution monitor?  Most of the setup tools we've found in the past were either incomplete, hard to work with or too low a resolution for today's high quality monitors.

Graphics Depot has put together a nice set of 5 calibration screens that allow you to tweak your system for Focus; Pincushion effect and geometry; Brightness, gamma  and color tracking; Contrast; and Resolution.

You can use the low resolution 640x480 tests online for free, but if you want to get the high resolution tests (up to 1600x1200 resolution), you will have to pay a very reasonable 7 bucks.

^½

We had to search the shareware archives of the Netherlands to find this unusual product.  Although it is marketed as a way for people working in an office to share control over the office music system, it has many applications in the home and in HTPC applications.

What LAN Jukebox does is allows you to set up a music server that connects to your sound system and control it from any computer in the house.  You can pick the music you want to hear, control the volume, browse the collection, and reject any song from client computers anywhere in the home (or even out in the back yard, if you have a laptop and a wireless LAN card).

The server runs under Windows, but there are Windows and Mac versions of the client software as well as a web page based interface that can be used with most computers having a web browser.

If you can use a web page, then you can use this program.  It is that easy!  Pretty much the ultimate in full-house music control for under $50 bucks.

DVD-TO-AVI is a easy to use software to convert a DVD movie to a Divx file!  DVD-TO-MPEG does the same thing, but converts the movie to a MPEG file.

Just put a DVD disc into the DVD drive, select a target file, click "start" button, you can get the Divx or MPEG file in hours.

Very easy to use.  Anyone can become a DVD ripping expert in a very short time, without having to learn a whole list of arcane programs and commands.

Supports all Windows platforms, only a 800K package.

Ahh... the pursuit for the perfect TV Guide!  Online guides are often slow and not very customizable.  Most of the software ones we've seen are very amateurish and clunky to use.  The professional ones cost way too much and are often missing channels you receive or can't be personalized.

DigiGuide changes all of that.  This program originated in the UK, so it has an international flavor to it.  But it works very well in the USA and can give you all of your local listings by just putting in your Zip code.

Not only does DigiGuide make it easy to get your local listings, you can pick from over-the-air channels; cable TV (both standard and digital); C-band satellite; DirecTV; and Dish Network.  You can even combine them into one guide by re-selecting your provider and adding more channels to your favorites.

The program has the feature of allowing you to flag favorite kinds of programs with bullets and colors, so you can do things like highlighting all the HDTV programming every day or building a custom group containing just those channels.

There are also quite a few add-ons by 3rd parties, such as one that shows all the new DVD releases in the USA and UK.

We really like this program and give it 5-Weenies!