It was an effort. First I had to get everything hooked up properly and set the proper settings per input channel (some are in game mode most times, though Beautiful Katamari looks best in the TV’s super-saturated, super-postprocessed Vivid setting, and it’s not so time-sensitive/reaction sensitive to really sweat the little delay in display).

During this time, the TV and its associated stand was about 3 feet closer to us than it would finally be. That was way too close. As misia said, it felt like we both had to lean waaay back in the sofa to not feel like we’d fall into the screen.

Now that most of the cabling is settled (for now, until my cable management crap arrives, anyway, and I am still in want of a basket to bolt on the back of my rolling stand and put the big-ass transformers of the XBox 360 and the Wii in), so the TV is rolled back to its regular position, 2-3 feet closer to the wall opposite the couch. It’s much more tolerable that way.

For the first 3 or 4 days, though, the HDTV felt wrong somehow. I guess I was just too used to the old TV and the space it took up. The new TV is much bigger, much wider and has a much more grandiose presence (partly, I suspect, because of the cost associated in my psychology).

But I’m getting used to it, as is misia, I think. We’ll see how it goes in the long run.

From ckd, a link to an Ars Technica summary that points (as well to other discussion and original content) to a forum post by an electrical engineer about cheap vs. expensive HDMI cables, as well as a discussion about HDMI 1.0, 1.1 and 1.3 compliant cables.

The summary: [Read more →]

Just thought I’d log the recent purchases and rationale for them that I made to support my gigantic TV upgrade. [Read more →]

It looks huge. It is huge. It is gigantic for our living room.

I am engaged in advanced cable management tactics just so I can push the damned thing back another 2 feet.

But lest I sound like I am complaining, I’m not. It is in fact just right, only it’s just friggin’ huge.

The newly arrived Hannukah XBox 360? Beautiful. HDMI cables? Even the cheap ones are freakin’ expensive.

I’m being told now by co-workers and other well-meaning, well-wishing geeks that now that I have an HDTV (or will soon), I should invest in power conditioning/surge protection and possibly even UPS for the thing.

Is this just a load of hooey, or is it something I should be concerned about? Honestly, having a central point of power with 10 or 12 outlets might not be a bad idea for me as my current “solution” is two daisy-chained relatively cheap ($20-$30) surge protector power strips.

Opinions?

Edited: On further talking with geeky folks I know, it sounds like it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to buy a computer-wise UPS (technically, these are actually SPSes, since the UPS part isn’t always on, but kicks in during stress) that would support the total load of my devices, because UPSes automatically also do power conditioning. There’s a decent looking APC UPS for about $200 (Heck, looks like it may be $40 lower at Circuit City) that looks good.

Yesterday evening was a great deal of fun.

[Read more →]

Sony Bravia 40″ XBR5.

Ordered for delivery from Tweeter. After consulting the both living and “stone” (written, online) oracles, I bought a 5 year extended warranty. Tweeter’s service/delivery is said to be decent. This seemed to me wiser than buying for less from Amazon and letting UPS knock the TV around some before dropping on my doorstep to get stolen.

I still intend to look into both an improved sound system (but the built-in speakers will do for now), as well as intend to get at least the XBox 360 if not also the PS3 soonish.

But first the delivery, which should be Friday, 12/7.

It’s not entirely committed, but today I may go out and order that HDTV I’ve been going on about. And some accessories.

[Read more →]

I talked with my boss today. He’s an HDTV owner, who bought his probably 6 months ago, and is already experiencing “buyer’s remorse” (because of how quickly technology moves).

He thinks that since there may be deals that appeal to me and my purchasing priorities, I should just take advantage of them if I get a close match to what I’m looking for buying anyway. I’m a bit on the fence with that. I’ve been checking Amazon for various prices, of both bundles and of the actual HDTV model I’m looking at, and the price very recently dropped by $300, probably within the last week. I noticed this almost as I was strongly thinking about going for a bundle deal from Sony that would have cost in total probably $500 or so more than just buying the TV via Amazon and buying the bundled product alone from Amazon as well.

My boss thinks that you don’t normally see a large price drops except in increments of 6 months or more, and thinks I probably won’t see prices go any lower than they already are right now sooner than that.

I remain skeptical, but I also don’t really want to wait needlessly. I guess without knowing industry insiders I’m not going to know any better than I do now, but if anyone’s got any opinions to share, I’d love to have them.

I figure I can talk about this a little bit more.

I asked misia to help me evaluate the new Samsung 81F series (the 120 Hz refresh LCD flat-panel HDTVs with the new LED backlight technology) in contrast to the ones she already picked out as liking in our last window-shopping event, the Sony Bravia XBR4/XBR5 (another 120 Hz refresh LCD flat-panel, but without LED backlighting) HDTVs. This all boils down most of the research I’ve done, which is that with HDTVs, after all’s said and done, and all research i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed, and you’ve totally geeked out on specs and features, what really ends up mattering is how the image looks, personally, to you, and the primary consumers of the images (so in my case, me and misia).

A couple of months ago, misia identified the Sony Bravia XBR4/XBR5 line as best looking among that stage’s lineup (without the Samsung 81Fs in the picture), and after due consideration, I agreed. These are top of the line TV sets. After this weekend comparing the Samsung LED backlight (promises a higher contrast ratio, i.e. deeper blacks), we both still think the Bravias look better.

Current prices are well over my initial estimate of investment in these techs, not quite 100% higher, but definitely up there. Still, after thinking about it, weighing the impact on our savings, etc., I think I’ll probably go for it.

We’re not buying immediately. There are some decent package deals up and available (toward my priority of getting some decent audio out of the deal as well) to encourage holiday buying, but I’ve resolved to stick it out and buy after this holiday season, per my original schedule.