Question: I am going to get a PlayStation 3 for watching Blu-ray movies and playing games. It seems you are emphatic about owners connecting the PlayStation 3 to the Internet. Why do you think this is so important, aren't all the movies and games self-contained on discs?

Anaswer: There are two primary reasons I strongly recommend connecting the PlayStation 3 to the Internet. The first is firmware updates and system maintenance. The PlayStation 3 requires regular firmware updates to work its best. If you do not have these updates installed regularly, as time goes on a lot of games and movies will not play properly and may not play at all. The PlayStation 3 connects to the Internet to download and install these firmware updates automatically via its Ethernet connection or built-in WiFi. I use the WiFi connection with my own PlayStation 3 and it makes upgrading the firmware a breeze. I highly recommend it.

The second reason is the extra content and value found online. When you connect your PlayStation 3 to the Web you can visit a Sony portal called The PlayStation Store. It has lots of free demo games, movie trailers, and other content. There are a wide variety of classic and new games you can purchase and download, often at very low prices. For example, I recently purchased a card game called "High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition" and "Red Baron Arcade," an easy to play WWI air combat game. Both were only $9.95 each and I was able to try the "Red Baron Arcade" demo for free before I bought the game. Neither game is state of the art, but both are easy to play, a lot of fun and well worth the small price.

You can also surf the Web with your PlayStation 3 using an included browser.

In short, it isn't absolutely necessary to connect your PlayStation 3 to the Internet, but if you don't you will be missing out on a lot of what it has to offer.

Question: My parents will soon have an HDTV mounted above a gas fireplace. Is there a way to create HDMI input/outputs on the wall? The cable box will be approximately 5 feet from where the TV will be located.

Answer: What you need are HDMI wall plates near your TV and near your cable box. These look like an electrical outlet plate but have female HDMI connections instead of power sockets. I have seen them with both one and two HDMI connections per plate and they are very inexpensive.

Connect the plates with an HDMI cable run through the wall. Be sure to test the cable with the plates and your components before you permanently install them. If you are using an HDMI receiver you can connect your components to the receiver and run one HDMI cable to the TV via the wall plate connection. If you are going to be connecting more than two components directly to the TV you can add an HDMI switch between the components and the first wall plate. Just be sure that whatever switch you purchase supports HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection.)