media center going in!

[susandennis]

John (Sheri's handyman) is assembling my media center... I'm watching on the web cam. I think he's actually trying to unhook the bits - 2 TiVo's, 1 DVD/VCR and a cable box - to fit them all in. I hope not because I can't believe he'll get them all hooked back correctly and, even though I hooked them up myself, I'm not entire sure I could do it again... Oh well. I need a new TV anyway with better outputs. Part of the reason the setup is so dodgie is that my TV is too old for what I make it do every day.

Comments

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Personally I think it's time for wide screen and high definition for both of us. I have visitors this summer and I owe it to them ;-)

[susandennis]

I know you are right. And I admire your dedication to your hosting duties. I think I'm about one more TV away yet. But, that could change.

[ruralrob.livejournal.com]

Just taking a peek on the old webcams, it looks like he did it. But what's that on camera 2. Can't quite make it out?

[susandennis]

I think you are talking about my decorative plate. I put it up there leaning on a box just so that when I'm not at the computer it's not just a blank wall. Besides, Sheri will never let me keep it so I figure I'd give it a nice job for its last days...

[geordie.livejournal.com]

So does it all still work or are you still trying to glue it all back together?

[susandennis]

Actually he didn't get it finished. He's coming back tomorrow to finish it up. So I suggested to Sheri that she have him move it far enough away from the wall so I can get behind it and then move the TV on to it and leave the rest for me. So I'm all hooked up still now but tomorrow - that could be an issue. However, tomorrow the hot water heater will be installed from 3-5 so I probably use the time to fix up everything TV wise.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Good news on the HDTV front, the 1280x768 DLP tvs are down to $2500 and Sony has brought out an LCD projector at about the same but the resolution is something like 1366x768. The DLP and LCD tvs seem to be putting the squeeze on the plasma panels too, their prices are well down but still significantly higher than the projector technologies. I guess at some point the price will reach what I'm willing to pay.

Ah, the water heater at last!

[susandennis]

Ok, I see where we're going with this... you are going to do all my research. Excellent! Keep in mind, I have speaker issues. As in, I don't have any. I don't particularly want any - I like the ones that come built in. This could keep me out of the game...

[geordie.livejournal.com]

The Sony set has built in speakers, fairly substantial looking ones I think. Ah here we are, it even has a silly memory stick interface. I wonder when Sony will get with the plan and nove to an industry standard memory format. Here's a review. It's too early to make a recomendation though. I know the DLP tvs don't have any convergeance issues, the same is probably true for the LCD projectors but I'm not certain yet.

http://www.hometheatermag.com/rearprojectiontvs/166/

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

I've been struggling with this tv upgrade thing myself. I bought my Sony Trinitron somewhere around 1980 -- it was the first purchase I made after getting my very own Visa card. In those days Sony Trinitrons were something like $800 (really) so I should have been suspicious when I found one on sale for four hundred something (and then, after buying it, when I saw the same sale price at many other places). There was nothing wrong with the tv, per se, but the price explanation turned out to be that it wasn't cable-ready and it has no remote control (two things I had never even considered at that point), so it was wholly obsolete for the sort of buyer who would be spending that much money on a television.

A couple of years back my friend bconn (who lives near you in Seattle and works across the street at Cray) was visiting and when he saw the tv he made some appreciate comment about its vintage nature. I was stunned. This is my NEW TV!!! An electronics-savvy friend explained to me that if I've gotten this many good years out of a picture tube I'm very lucky, but that at some point it will simply blow out when I turn it on.

I went window shopping for televisions after that conversation but, honestly, I don't see that the acuity or color reproduction is any better in the new stuff I see at Best Buy. Generally it seems worse --those old Sonys were great things. Besides, I find myself paralyzed by the array of current choices, mostly because I simply want a television set and I pooh-pooh the idea of a "home entertainment system". From what I've read, none of the new technologies last very long (remember, I think a 25-year old set is new).

[susandennis]

Ok 1. You tease me with a new friend (bconn) who works right across the street from my house! and when I go to check out his LJ, I discover he's a reader and not a writer... pooooh. That really takes the v out of my voyerism!

and 2. I honestly thought my ideas of home theater were backward but you have me beat, dude! I do eschew any HT of any kind. My personal 'draw the line' is speakers. If they are built into the TV, ok. If not, that TV is too much for me.

And the living room TV I have now is a big old thing but it has a good picture and it's behaved nicely and plays semi well well with the stuff I need it to play with. And, it has speakers.

But, I recently got a flat screen number - 15" - for the bedroom that has all kinds of inputs and outputs and probably shotputs for all I know. It's pretty - really pretty. And it kind of, a little bit, makes me realize that the living room one is old. and could be replaced...

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

You tease me with a new friend (bconn) who works right across the street from my house! and when I go to check out his LJ, I discover he's a reader and not a writer... pooooh.

I've been working on that, believe me.

Maybe we can set up a Briancam from your building, pointing at Cray's door.

[susandennis]

The funniest part about this is that I once actually had a web cam pointed at Cray's door!!! I was working for a start up across the street and built up an intranet and was trying to entice people to come see. So I put up a web cam out of the CEO's office window that happened to point right at Cray! I'd nearly forgotten about that. Wild.

I just friended Brian - so tell him the heat is on.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I think a better-resolution photo is in order. It looks from this one as if John might be cute, but I can't tell for sure.