I finally went HD

After at least 4 years of waiting for my SD TV to die I finally said "screw-it" and bought myself a Sony HDTV. Got a good deal from Best buy and the kicker was that their delivery guys hauled away the big-old TV. Monday DirecTv will be out to install a new dish and HD DVR.

MikeS.


After at least 4 years of waiting for my SD TV to die I finally said "screw-it" and bought myself a Sony HDTV. Got a good deal from Best buy and the kicker was that their delivery guys hauled away the big-old TV. Monday DirecTv will be out to install a new dish and HD DVR.

Monday, between 6am to midnight, most likely the later, those people drive me nuts, although they have improved on what was once a laughable service record...Congrats on your new toy, great brand Sony!

Yeah, they said noon to 4. Right. If they get there by 6pm I'll be suprised.

I bought mine thru COSTCO, a SHARP 52", and it was delivered and installed right on time...They said 9-11AM and he got here at 9:30AM. No Gripe.
The Direct TV guy came in later the same day ( I already had Direct TV Service- but not HD), After calling to be sure the TV had arrived.  Everything done in one day !  That was 15  months ago and I still haven't mastered the DVR Remote !!!

I've so far got 5 of 'em and counting (3 in SF, 2 in Tucson) but all smaller than yours, apparently (2 are Sharps, one's a Samsung, one's a Sony and one's a Vizeo).  The largest is 42".  I didn't want my rooms dominated by the TV sets and how big you really want/need depends on how close you are when watching.  Anyway, I'm happy with 26 inchers (Sony, Sharp and Samsung)  in the bedrooms and a 42" in one LR (Vizeo), 32" (Sharp) in the other. Don't have satellite--in SF my condo provides ATT U-verse TV/internet/phone and I'm quite happy with it.  I think while the technology is very different from satellite, the user experience may be similar in that you can record something on the "box" in one room and watch it on a TV in the same or another room (and you can record up to 4 shows at once).  Here in Tucson I've got conventional cable which works fine too.
 
Anyway, I can't watch SD TV any more nor can I watch commercials.  I record everything and watch it later so I can fast-forward through the commercials.  And I get really annoyed on news shows when so much of their remote video is still shot in SD (so you get some blue patterned bars on either side of the picture which looks so fuzzy compared to HD).
 
On the other hand, DVD movies I find are just the opposite.  A lot of them look just as good to me in SD (420p I guess is what a standard DVD is) as HD versions.  I have a Blue-Ray player but own no Blu-Ray discs--I got it mainly to rent streaming movies from the likes of Netflix and VuDu which offer HD or SD versions (VuDu seems to offer 420p, 720p and 1080p versions).  And I find that the 420p versions look nearly as good as the more expensive HD versions.  The same goes for TV shows that were filmed for HD broadcast but which can be streamed (or purchased from iTunes) as either SD or HD versions (all seem to be 9x16 format and look great regardless).

Now plug in your laptop and you're good to go!

mayor al


I bought mine thru COSTCO, a SHARP 52", and it was delivered and installed right on time...They said 9-11AM and he got here at 9:30AM. No Gripe.
The Direct TV guy came in later the same day ( I already had Direct TV Service- but not HD), After calling to be sure the TV had arrived.  Everything done in one day !  That was 15  months ago and I still haven't mastered the DVR Remote !!!

Al, did you buy it direct or online? I ask because I wasn't aware they delivered or installed!

jeepguy


Now plug in your laptop and you're good to go!

 
Don't even have to plug it in directly.  There are a growing number of devices that will allow your TV to play content accessible on your home network (i.e. wirelessly from your computer or internet sources).  Western Digital and Seagate each sell a "box" that does that as does Apple (the "Apple TV" for $99).

My Monday DTV install was a big bust, the tech they sent out claimed that his work order didn't include a new dish. My new HD receiver got put off until Thursday. Took that tech 3 hours to do the job, he had some bad wiring and multi-switch issues.
 
But now I have a nice HD picture.

chewingthefat

mayor al


I bought mine thru COSTCO, a SHARP 52", and it was delivered and installed right on time...They said 9-11AM and he got here at 9:30AM. No Gripe.
The Direct TV guy came in later the same day ( I already had Direct TV Service- but not HD), After calling to be sure the TV had arrived.  Everything done in one day !  That was 15  months ago and I still haven't mastered the DVR Remote !!!

Al, did you buy it direct or online? I ask because I wasn't aware they delivered or installed!

 
If you buy at the warehouse I don't think they will deliver. But you can schedule for installation on their website once you haul the TV home.

Hmmmmmmmmm
 
Standard def is fine with me
 
I have been watching a CRT tv for years and i prefer it over anything else!
 
I am grateful to have as much stuff ON VHS as i do! (Good movies from the 80s that are better IN ANALOGUE)

Sorry Dude HD is much better IMHO. I'm really loving blue-ray in 1080p

If you ever get a hankering to recreate the VHS/CRT experience (you never know!), for about $100 you can get a thing to digitize your VHS tapes as MP4 files.  Then you can toss out all the tapes filling your home, hook up your computer to the TV (using it as the monitor) and get that old analog jolt the 21st century way.