Christmas Decorations and a Christmas Wonderland

Christmas decorations will transform your home into a Christmas wonderland if done properly. And you don't need to spend a fortune. All you need is some thought and planning. Christmas decorations, if used correctly indoors and outdoors, can turn your Christmas experience from great to awesome. Here are some tips that my wife and I have used to great effect...

First, you need always to be aware of the dangers that decorations and ornaments pose at Christmas time. How often have we heard or read about fires being caused by decorations catching fire? Too many, that's for sure. So be vigilant.

Never, ever place Christmas decorations, or ornaments, near a fire, flame or any other source of heat. And that goes for your Christmas tree as well. You have to make sure that curtains or drapes can't touch or blow onto your tree. Christmas tree lights can get pretty hot and that can be enough to ignite those drapes. And never use real lighted candles on or near your tree.

Another very important item is the use of electrical ornaments and decorations outside in the yard. Always ensure that they state that they are suitable for outside use. And as with all electrical goods always read and follow the instructions.

When choosing what Christmas decorations you want always consider the look you want to achieve, and, if that 'look' is in keeping with your decor. Everything needs to be in balance. For instance, a room stuffed full of classical Victorian-style decorations and ornaments will just not look right if that room is modern minimalist, and vice-versa. Try to match classical rooms with classical ornaments, decorations and Christmas trees, and, modern decor with modern, lighter decorations and trees.

Many folks seem to have problems dressing their tree(s). It's very easy: start with lights winding them upwards towards the top, then the garlands and then the decorations and ornaments last. At each stage stand back and check for 'balance' and readjust where necessary.

At the time of writing this article, I am aware that we are pretty near Christmas, so time is short. You really need to order your decorations and ornaments now so as not to be disappointed. The quickest way is online as long as you act today.

Roku XDS Streaming Player - The Future of TV

The Roku streaming player truly is an impressive device. While not necessarily a replacement, the Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p is a serious alternative to cable TV. If you're tired of cable TV prices this is the product for you. My motivation to buy Roku came from high cable bills.

This small device free sports streaming movies, TV shows, music, and other entertainment to your TV via the Internet. Since Roku streams video, it provides instant access to a huge library of entertainment without having to use a computer or store files locally on a hard drive.

There are free and premium entertainment channels on Roku. Free channels include music services (like Pandora, RadioTime), major network news (Roku Newscaster), original programming on current events and culture (Revision3, Twit.tv), photo and video sharing (Flickr, Facebook Photos, Vimeo), and much more.

Premium channels include subscription movies, TV, sports, and music services (like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, Pandora) and on-demand services (Amazon Video On Demand). Many of these channels offer free trials or make parts of their service available for free. I'd recommend signing up for the free trials of these services and poking around.

Hulu plus is nice and worth the money for sure. When you subscribe to shows on Hulu, when there is a new episode it goes in your queue. The shows take a day to hit.

Crackle is free and hosts a lot of classic shows and some movies. The USB player can play your mp3 collection, photos, and even movies. Roku is an open-source device so anyone can make a channel. Do a search and there is some cool stuff out there. "Nowhere TV" is one of the best.

There are so many options on how to connect the Roku xds streaming player 1080p to your TV which allows you to move the Roku box around in the house and attach it to other TVs. Even if your old TV only has red-white-yellow connectors you can connect Roku to it.

The setup of this device took only minutes and the picture is awesome on my 1080p LCD. The Roku has composite, component and HDMI outputs; only composite cables are furnished. You'll have to buy an HDMI cable if you want to use the HDMI output. HDMI cables are much cheaper from amazon than a local store where they tend to be pricey.

The ROKU XDS Streaming Player 1080p is the top of the line Roku player and features the latest wireless technology (B/N/G compatible), as well as Ethernet, and USB.

The wireless networking on the device is extended-range dual-band 802.11n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and backward compatible with b/g routers with WEP, WPA, and WPA2 support. If wireless isn't an option for you, the unit has an Ethernet port.

The physical installation using the provided installation instructions and a separately purchased HDMI cable was straight-forward. The set-up option chosen was "wireless" using my existing router, rather than poking a hole through the wall.

You will, of course, need an 802.11n router to take advantage of 5GHz 802.11n's. You also need a fast high-speed Internet. 3Mbps is a good minimum for streaming 720p HD and 6Mbps is probably preferable if you share your internet connection with family. According to the user's guide, there's no power button and the unit is always on when connected to a power source. This makes me curious about power consumption.

During playback (using WiFi or Ethernet) the power consumption is a modest 6 to 7 watts, and when the screen saver is in standby mode the power consumption is 5 watts.

However, there is no cooling fan so it is as quiet as a church mouse.

The remote control operates excellent and also fairly quickly. Navigating any stations is without a doubt quite simple, despite the fact that I think it is much easier to perform heavy research associated with Netflix upon my personal PC. It is quite simple to use if you're technology experienced. If you're not, there'll be an understanding contour in comparison to common TV. However once you understand exactly what exhibits tend to be upon that channels, it is truly fairly simple.