Easy Decision
I didn’t have to think very long about getting the new TV. I put the old one up on Craig’s List and ordered the new one earlier this week. I found selling stuff on Craig’s List a breeze. Several people emailed and called me about the TV and one guy drove up and got it on Thursday. I had the new one (HL-50A650) delivered on Saturday so I was only out a TV for a day. Well that’s technically not true. I have a 32” HP LCD in the computer room so I was never really TV-less.
Overall I’m very pleased with the new DLP. It has 3 HDMI ports so I don’t have to use my 3x1 switch anymore. I’ve got the Satellite PVR, DVD player and XBOX 360 connected via DVI. The 360 looks AMAZING in 1080p!! I was playing Burnout yesterday and was truely blown away. Last night I watched Enemy of the State, just standard DVD upconverted, and I discovered the only thing that I don’t really like about the new set. When the room’s pitch black, the left side of the TV emits a glow from the bulb that can be a little distracting. I never noticed this on the old set.
Click more for two pics of the new set!
Thinking about selling my TV
So I’ve had my 50” Samsung DLP for 2 years now. It’s going to be paid off next month and I’ve started thinking about just putting it up on Craig’s list and buying a brand new one. There are a few problems with that TV.. 1) It’s only 720p and 2) it only has 1 HDMI port (ONE!!! WTF!) Plus it’s the first generation DLP so it takes forever to turn on and the picture quality isn’t as good as the newer models.
Not sure what I should do.
Satellite Update
So it’s been 24 hours since I unwrapped all of my satellite presents (except for the DVR 722 which should be here next week). My initial thoughts are well...mixed. The external hard drive rocks! It takes a while to archive because it’s USB 2.0 but you can archive in the background while you’re watching TV or while the receiver is “off.” Video playback from the external is flawless. I watched a little bit of Star Wars and the last scene of The Sopranos and both played back without a hitch.
The new HD is where I’m really torn. It’s not really all that it’s cracked up to be. Most of it is stretch-o-vision. That’s where they take a show that was shot in 4x3 aspect ration and stretch it out to fit on a 16:9 TV. Animal Planet and Discovery are the worst about it. TLC has American Chopper on in HD right now but they’re bad about it outside of prime time. The only channel that is truely 24/7 HD is MHD. The problem with that is you have to wait for something good to come on. Today must be CMT day because it’s nothing but country music videos and Reba. This has me wondering if DirecTV subscribers really want 100 channels of HD if half or more will be stretched out.
DISH’in it out!
Woah today has been an awesome day in Satellite Technology for me! So this morning was like Christmas morning. I jumped out of bed and ran to the TV, flipped it on and saw that there were 6 new channels! Thanks Charlieclaus! Here’s the skinny on the new channels: MHD (MTV, VH1, CMT had a baby and called it MHD), Discovery HD (not HD Theater...think Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs in HD!!), TLC HD, Animal Planet HD, Science Channel HD, and Golf/Versus HD. To be honest I’ve been watching MHD more than anything (surprised?) This must be Green Day hour. I just watched their VH1 Storytellers performance in HD and now there’s some Green Day concert on. Pretty sweet! Oh but that’s only the start! Wanna know more? Find out after the jump.
How to give your iPod iCPR
OK...I admit it...I abused my iPod. I left the poor guy in my car overnight last night and temperatures dropped to near freezing. When I got in the car this morning I found the icePod in a persistant vegitative state known to mac-thusiasts as “the white screen of death.” When I turned the iPod on the screen illuminated but that was all that happened. No sad face, no apple logo...nothing. So I was forced to make the trek from Jacksonville to Atlanta with the new 99x Live X 11 cd and the radio. Both got old real quick.
When I got home I did a little research and found some useful iPod troubleshooting key combinations. All it took was the reset combination and I was back up and running! Here are the combinations that I found:
Hold Menu + Center button = Reset
(when the apple logo appears) Hold Center + Rewind = Diagnostic Mode
