KOGAN AGORA NETBOOK PRO

Ok folks, time to kick the son off my Desktop computer and laptop! So I have decided to give him my old Lenevo Thinkpad (less than a year old) and buy myself the new kogan agora netbook pro for when it is handier to fire up the smaller unit watching sport or away from the house etc.

As you will know I purchased the 42 inch Full HD telly last year and it has not missed a beat and I am pretty confident that Ruslan Kogan has done his homework and found us a good system spec and deal on price.

Just like before I will be doing a running commentary on the whole process from order to delivery, setup and function etc...Now all we need is the 10th of April to roll ahead people.STAY TUNED

My Kogan has not missed a beat!

Hi guys and gals, I haven't been here much and in a way that is good news as nothing has gone wrong with my TV which is fantastic. Since the first setup I have not touched a thing on it and the picture quality is still superb, no sound problems that I believe a few people had, nothing to report really!

Having said that, I'm always here for anyone wanting to ask a question to an actual owner of a Kogan telly like myself rather than at forums where everyone seems to have an opinion though most don't own one so work that out?

Just pop your question here and Id be glad to try and answer it for you. All in all I am happy with my purchase from Kogan, and will certainly be happy to buy again when I see a product I want

Cheers for now
Rob

KOGAN BLU-RAY PLAYER FULL HD 1080P PRESALE ON NOW!

Now a blue ray is something that goes hand in hand with a nice TV. Kogan has this deal coming up for $349, but will not be available for dispatch until 21st November 2008 , read on

Kogan’s Blu-ray disc player further defines Full HD Entertainment and proves that Kogan is at the forefront of affordable high technology for all Australians!

The Kogan Blu-ray player provides Full High Definition Playback with True 1080p capability. The result is an unrivalled viewing experience in exceptional 1080p resolution. This is Blu-ray, this is high definition! View scenes as they were meant to be seen and enjoy true picture quality.

This groundbreaking model is the ideal solution for anyone who enjoys Blu-ray, DVDs or CDs. The Kogan Blu-ray disc player accommodates all of these formats in one unit, and offers state of the art viewing with CD and DVD playback compatibility. What's more, it can upscale standard DVDs to 1080p resolution for Full HD video playback and crystal-clear picture even from older media. The Kogan Blu-ray player also plays many additional movie formats such as wmv, mpg & avi.

The Kogan Blu-ray player delivers Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus audio playback allowing you to transform your home into a true cinematic experience. Step into the future with a truly immersive viewing experience for movies, gaming, sports and more. With 5.1 channel surround, Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD you can now have remarkable sound that has both power and clarity.

Designed with fans of multimedia technology in mind, the Kogan Blu-ray player easily connects to your TV and other digital peripherals through an HDMI port for expanded colour delivery and easy home theatre control.

The Kogan Blu-ray disc player provides an unrivalled home theatre experience at Australia’s best prices!

Unrivalled Entertainment
Unlike standard analogue signals and DVD content, the Kogan Blu-ray disc player provides a 1920 x 1080 picture resolution source. Combined with uncompressed audio and Dolby TrueHD Surround Sound, the Kogan Blu-ray disc player provides a home theatre experience that is quite simply unrivalled.

Get the most out of your Current DVD Collection
Kogan Blu-ray players embrace DVD. Enjoy all your old DVD favourites, with images sharper and more detailed than ever before! Thanks to an onboard algorithm, Enhanced DVD Playback raises the quality of your existing DVD collection to HD quality with 1080p resolution.

Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD
The Kogan Blu-ray player supports the new Dolby Digital Plus audio format - the next generation in sound. It also supports uncompressed PCM audio and legacy dts 5.1 Dolby Digital. Dolby® TrueHD is Dolby’s next-generation lossless technology developed for high-definition disc-based media. Dolby TrueHD delivers lossless studio master quality audio designed specifically for high definition entertainment like Blu-ray Disc™. An incredible sound stage, dynamic range and a stellar Home Theater experience await you with Dolby TrueHD.

All is good with My Kogan

Well its kind of disapointing in one aspect as I dont have much to report here on the blog about our telly because everything is going great.Not one problem of any sort and the family is very happy with my idea to give Kogan a go...

The only prroblem now is staving off the temptation to go a buy a few more gizmos through Kogan. They have been great but we all remember the same cannot be said for their delivery partner Toll. Hopefully that is being resloved and it is full steam ahead for future products and their eager clients.

When I started this blog I also made a thread in the well known Aussie forum at Whirlpool, which is a great place to discuss communications, computers, ISP's and plenty of other stuff. At times I have shaken my head at some of the replies that seem to want to bash a product for the sake of it.Maybe to make their own choices feel justified...

Take a look here and have a read, let me know what you think about it all. In the meantime here is the last thing I had to say there...

well said sail, people are forgetting why I started this thread, I don't mention another brand, it is all about buying a Kogan, not if another telly is better, blah blah blah, freedom of choice, and this was (or might be someone else s) be happy with what you have guys, I don't feel the need to get on other threads to boast about what I bought and why, bagging another brand(or bloke for that matter)
Now I'm watching the AFL Grand Final today on my full HD 42 incher, and am as happy as a pig in you know what...That's all that matters to me, and anyone else happy with their "Cheap" Kogan, for gods sake people why so much about the cheap? WE are not buying family heirlooms here its just a telly...
Go the Cats
Have a GREAT DAY, WHATEVER YOUR WATCHING ON FOLKS!

Other comments at Kogan

In case anyone is interested in a bit more from the horses mouth so to speak here is a link to the blog at the Kogan website.The good the bad and the ugly is all there, just scroll down to the comments, I have had a bit to say there myself as Rob...

Linking up to a Laptop?

If you are considering linking up your laptop, or desktop to your TV don't make the same mistake I made. I hooked up via the VGA connection with a cable and switched over to the VGA via the AV/TV button on the remote to get "No Signal" I of course thought "Damn, a fault with the telly" and went into panic mode.

After a lot of wasted time rechecking every cable and connection I "Googled" the problem and soon discovered the problem is quite common. I did not have Extend Desktop/Clone Desktop enabled on the laptop. (depending on your system it will be in Display settings in the Advanced section for XP and Personalise in Vista, both assessable by right clicking on your desktop)
So if this happens to you check your settings first guys...

AFL Final on channel 7HD

Watching the AFL preliminary final last night on channel 7's HD channel was fantastic. The imagery was so clear and vivid, the skin tones excellent.I am amazed at the detail that is now so apparent and realise what I had been missing out on with a normal analogue telly.

We had some artefact blocks in the 1st quarter and the sound played up but I put that down to our aerial as it was only on channel seven. I had to watch the game with foxtel turned off as for some reason ( note to self, find out why) channel 7 does not work on foxtel...Contractual maybe? Yeah, so the other channels etc all worked fine so pretty happy still...

TV up and running

Well our Kogan 42 inch LCD Hi Definition telly is up and running and I must say I am pleasantly surprised.As much as I wanted to ignore the folks who want to bag something they have never had it does stay in the back of your mind.Firstly I will explain our particular setup and how we went about it, seeing everyone will have all sorts of systems and add-ons.

Out of the box all that is required to use the TV is to connect the power lead (Quite short 1.5 metre at a guess) and the aerial cable direct. We have Foxtel but not the new HD IQ so there is no HDMI connection leading out of the Foxtel box.If you happen to have the newer HD IQ it is as simple as connecting one end to it and the other to the TV.

Otherwise you connect the video audio cable (the 3 leads are Yellow to video socket, Red and White are for left and right sound sockets) from the foxtel box to the television. There are so many available options at the rear of the TV it is mind boggling, so it is best left alone by me other than to say every combination possible is seems available.

Once you have remembered to place the batteries in the remote and fired up the TV, a signal search takes place.

1. If you are going direct to an aerial use the controller and select AV/TV and then the down arrow to select TV option. Use the right arrow to select your viewing area (State, region etc) and then you have the option of running an automatic scan or to do it manually.We chose manually and it worked perfectly, finding all the Australian digital and analogue channels, which total over 30 here in Geelong, Victoria... Job Done
   
2. If you have Foxtel your aerial obviously runs into the Foxtel box, and either your 3 audio visual leads run to the TV or the simpler HDMI cable does the job on its own. Turn Foxtel on and as above the TV will search for a signal, if you are still set to TV you will need to change to AV with the remote. All the channels should be tuned from the the Foxtel box already.

One thing I noted during the setup was that with a foxtel box connected the TV Tuning options on the TV are NOT available. The option appears when you are running the aerial direct to the TV, therefore kicking in the in built HD tuner

In summary the process was pretty painless and the picture was excellent without touching any controls, one option we did select was the Flesh Tone ON, which can be found in Video-Advanced Video settings.

Setup

We are in the process of setting it up now as I had to wait for wife to get home...(the hired help) So stay tuned, as we have some rearranging to do, but we checked out picture at it is excellent so far...I will update a bit later tonight

More Pictures

Telly Finally Arrives

Well, at last, our television was delivered today about lunchtime, and I must mention here, it was not by Toll, although it could of been subbed out to a smaller mob.

The driver had me sign a screen accepting delivery on electronic hand held device, I asked him if there was any paper work and he said if there was it would on the carton! The driver carried the carton inside (upright by the plastic straps) This is how it looked on arrival.



All I did was cut the plastic strapping off and slit the tape on top to open the carton.The TV was protected in one of those foam type covers and large thick corner protectors on the sides. I would suggest have a helper when you remove it from the carton as it would be tragic to drop it or something before it sees any action! Here is the view from the top looking down.
JUST A REMINDER TOO, KEEP ALL THE PACKAGING, BOX, FOAM PROTECTORS ETC, IN CASE YOU NEED TO MAKE A WARRANTY CLAIM FOR RETURNING TV

Received a Tracking Number...

Last night we received a tracking number via email letting us know that the telly has been dispatched on 17th September, with expected delivery to tack place today, being Thursday 18th September.

At first I thought it odd that the email arrived at 9.30 last night but after thinking about it the transport industry is a 24/7 thing so fingers crossed it arrives today. Apparently logging in the tracking number at Tolls website allows you to follow its progress.I will update this accordingly...

Delivery Update 17th September 2008

Well no sooner than I start this blog and I get an email from Kogan explaining the reason for the delays.In fairness to them they did reply quickly to my email this morning and apparently Toll, there delivery contractor has been letting them down. From what I can gather that is certainly an understatement. Here is the email I received from Kogan today

Dear Valued Kogan Customer,

The shipment containing the Kogan 1080p-42 and 1080p-47 LCD TVs
arrived at our warehouse on Friday 12th September. All of these TVs
should have been dispatched on Monday 14th September, however there
are still numerous deliveries outstanding. Please accept our sincerest
apologies for these delays.

Kogan Technologies outsource our warehousing operations to Toll
In2Store, and Toll have not been fulfilling their obligations to Kogan
and our customers. Over the last few days we have been in close
contact with Toll senior management in order to have all outstanding
deliveries sent as quickly as possible. Toll have advised us that most
orders will be sent today, with the remainder being sent on Thursday
and Friday this week. Once your TV is sent you will receive an email
from Toll with your consignment number and contact details in order to
track delivery.

This level of service is unacceptable and not in line with Kogan's
business standards and philosophy. To ensure these delays never occur
again, we have terminated our contract with Toll and are in
negotiations with several other companies that can deliver the high
level of service that our customers deserve.

Please be assured that we are doing everything possible to accelerate
this delivery process and we thank you for your purchase and your
patience.

Kindest Regards,
The Kogan Team

Kogan Technologies
www.kogan.com.au

The Specs

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Specs

Top of the range, 100Hz Full High Definition LCD TV

1080p LCD panel, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 2x HDMI, High Definition Digital Tuner, On-site warranty!

The Kogan 1080p-42 is the perfect family TV. The addition of a swivel stand lets you watch crisp High Definition images from anywhere in the room.

It comes with an Integrated High Definition Digital Tuner to ensure you can take advantage of all the new HD Channels and Content in Australia - including the Olympic Games which will be broadcast in High Definition for the first time ever!

The Kogan 1080p-42 comes with Kogan MotionMax Technology with advanced signal processor which enhances the picture quality and ensures sport and action movies will be smoother and more responsive.

The Kogan 1080p-42 features:

• Full HD 1080p LG LCD Panel 1920 x 1080 (16:9)
  
• Kogan MotionMax Technology - enhance fast moving images
• Integrated HD Digital Tuner
• 100 Hz Image Processing Engine
• Dual HDMI inputs
• Swivel Stand
  
• Connects easily to PS3, Xbox36, Blu-Ray devices
• Five High Definition inputs including HDMI/DVI
• PC Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Teletext (including closed captions)
• Electronic Programme Guide (EPG)
• 12 month on-site warranty - optional extended warranty

Take full advantage of the Full High Definition capabilities of the Xbox 360, Sony PS3 & Blu-Ray with this TV!

PRESALE ON NOW!

$1449

• Will be dispatched on 14th September

Buying a Kogan TV

Hello, we have purchased a Kogan Television and this blog is to create a history of our experience with this newish company as well as our experiences with the model we purchased, a KOGAN 1080P-42 - FULL HD LCD TV WITH HD TUNER AND 1080P LG PANEL, SWIVEL STAND AND 100HZ IMAGE PROCESSING ENGINE

We actually ordered online on Thursday 11th September 2008, and the website stated that orders were being dispatched on 14th September 2008.I found that odd because it was on a Sunday. We were advised the a company called Toll would be the courier delivering the telly and would get a tracking order to follow its progress. As it stands today Wednesday 16th September we have not heard anything and this is not a good start.

Stay tuned as I'm sure others here in Australia will be interested in how this goes as Kogan was widely featured on Current Affairs shows promoting the cost savings and consumer benefits...Time will tell I guess
(I have made this post a sticky, so this information remains at the top)