HDTV - my new passion

[Jeff]

My dream has been fully realized. I have my very own home theater now. A 6.1 Onkyo DTS sound system last night was given a new playmate, a new 51" HDTV.

Today I got the new HD tuner from my cable company, and subscribed to the HD package.

OMG!

It's just too awesome. Tuned to HDNet and my jaw hit the floor. Add to this my progressive scan DVD player (which I can now take full advantage of) and I feel like I've died and gone to heaven.

I'm off all day tomorrow, and I think I'll just melt into the sofa, and do nothing but watch movies and HD programming all day.

Oh, and xbox in 480p on a 51" screen, with optical 5.1 audio -- :shock: hell yeah!

[Octavious230]

Amen your preaching to the choir!! The first HDTV I got was like stepping into the furture. The picture quality really has to be seen to be understood. It's friggen amazing! I just got my new 34 inch hdtv today as well. Sadly I can't friggen do anything with it because I'm the only one home and it weighs more then me!!

  I still have to get the speakers which isn't going to be cheap... But damn when you get this stuff setup right going to the movies is pointless!! Enjoy your new setup!

  Oh which tv did you get? Here's the one I just picked up. http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=34hf84
I'm really excited because I wanted a widescreen tv really badly since most of what I watch is movies.

[Bulletpig]

I'm jealous  :x

Congrads though!  I have my eye on the Sony 70" big screen but since it's like 7 grand it's going to be a long time  

I was thinking maybe if I only eat one week out of the month or something  :lol:

Pig

[stiffler]

It really is like looking through a window.  A really clean window!

I don't think I will ever want to go to another live sporting event ever again.  Man, watching college football all Saturday in HD with a nice little system pumping and I wake up the next morning bruised.  It's just that awesome.

Until I actually got HDTV I didn't buy the hype.  I'm sorry I doubted you, HDTV!

Oh, and widescreen is great.  If I really want to show off (on mine, at least) I can watch two shows side-by-side on the screen and just hit a single button to toggle the sound between the two.  Screw you picture-in-picture!

I can't wait for the next evolution in television: holodecks.  Woohoo!

...and now I'm depressed because I know I am going to either be dead or too old to care when all that good stuff gets here

Oh well, at least I can be comfortable with HDTV NOW!

[Jeff]

Very nice Toshiba!

Mine is here:

Magnavox 51"

Mine is a "low end" TV, but read the customer reviews there on it. That's what sold me.  And after 24 hrs with it, I totally agree. The picture quality is fantastic. I am extremely pleased.

[Octavious230]

Sweet tv!! You actually paid less then I did for my 34 inch tv!  
I personally can't stand the picture on the projection tv's so I didn't even consider getting one. The only ones I like run like 4 grand!! Which I'm not willing to spend right now on a tv.

Oh, and widescreen is great. If I really want to show off (on mine, at least) I can watch two shows side-by-side on the screen and just hit a single button to toggle the sound between the two. Screw you picture-in-picture!

My tv's picture and picture does this as well. I doubt I'll even get around to setting it up let alone using it but it's there heh. My big thing was that my tv does 720P and it's widescreen. I don't like missing features it bothers me! I'm sure there's something else really neat that I'm missing but that's for the next tv.

[Nth Power]

I am addicted to HDTV.  I never thought TV could look so good, especially nature shows.  Anything with lots of trees or underwater scenes look amazing.  I'll end up watching shows I'd never watch on standard broadcast, just because it looks so much better.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

When my brother and I got an HDTV, the first show that was on in HD was the movie "Glitter" on HBO. Because it was in HD and we were entranced, we actually watched a good portion of that crapfest!  :shock:

[Jeff]

Anyone have any good websites they recommend for finding HD programming? Something that maybe lists all the HD programming for the day?

[JLu]

I just got my 42" Sony rear projection last week and I'm also loving the HD now.  I find myself just watching the HD channels and not even looking at anything else now.

No good websites for finding HD programming; but I know that for my cable (Comcast), the only HD channels are in the 800s.  Your cable company should have a listing of the true HD channels in your area?

[JSHAW]

One thing that I've noticed when watching FOX sunday football on HD vs. the regular fullscreen broadcast is that there's a time delay of about 5 seconds. The regular broadcast is normal and the same game broadcast in HD is 5 seconds behind.

Maybe this is just an issue I have with Adelphia, maybe not? Anybody else have this issue with their local cable provider?

Another thing I've noticed is that one of my local TV channels audio is delayed about 2-3 seconds behind their normal broadcast. When watching the HD broadcast on the specific channel the lips aren't synched with the audio. It only happens when watching their nightly 5-6 o'clock news. It's a CBS affiliate.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

One thing that I've noticed when watching FOX sunday football on HD vs. the regular fullscreen broadcast is that there's a time delay of about 5 seconds. The regular broadcast is normal and the same game broadcast in HD is 5 seconds behind.

Maybe this is just an issue I have with Adelphia, maybe not? Anybody else have this issue with their local cable provider?

Another thing I've noticed is that one of my local TV channels audio is delayed about 2-3 seconds behind their normal broadcast. When watching the HD broadcast on the specific channel the lips aren't synched with the audio. It only happens when watching their nightly 5-6 o'clock news. It's a CBS affiliate.

HD Monday Night football is usually a couple of seconds behind the normal feed. I think the HD delay fairly common when watching live sports.

P.S. I'm on Time Warner Cable, so I don't think it's due to your provider.

[croman]

I have had my 65" WS HDTV for almost 2 years now.  I could not live without it.

I went through the first year without any HDTV programming. Of course movies looked great on it though.

About a year ago I finally was able to get HDTV when my cable company started offering it and I swear, for the first week we sat there and watched nothing but HD Nature shows.   Just something about feeling like you can reach into your TV and pull a fish right out of the water.

As for sports, my favorite by far is Sunday Night Football on ESPN. I personally feel like the HD ESPN broadcast is the best one out there.

The only thing left for me to do now is to finish the Theater room (working on finishing up the basement).   Have already picked out the Theater seating.   We will also have a Bar, Fridge and of course.. Old Fashioned Cart Style Popcorn maker to make real theater style popcorn.

I think when we finish up the room and move the TV down into it, we will probably buy a smaller 51" or so flat TV to hang on the wall in the living room where we have the big TV now

[gellar]

As for sports, my favorite by far is Sunday Night Football on ESPN. I personally feel like the HD ESPN broadcast is the best one out there.

I used to think the same thing... but currently CBS HD Football broadcasts have won my heart over.  The colors just look better.

gellar

[croman]

Maybe it is my provider, but I am just not to thrilled about the CBS broadcasts.  Obviously they look better than the Non-HD CBS channel, but just not as good as my HD ESPN channel looks

Heck, I even love watching Sportscenter in HD

[Jeff]

The only thing left for me to do now is to finish the Theater room (working on finishing up the basement).   Have already picked out the Theater seating.   We will also have a Bar, Fridge and of course.. Old Fashioned Cart Style Popcorn maker to make real theater style popcorn.

You are now, officially, my hero That sounds awesome.

btw, after more googlating... I found this:

HDTV Galaxy

There's the daily HD broadcasts for most HD channels. It defaults to Monday, but just click on whatever day it is to jump to that day.

Oh, and I noticed Hack is on HDNet tonight. Anyone know if those are reruns, or did HDNet pick up the show and continue it? I used to watch that on CBS, till they suddenly dropped it.

[JSHAW]

Heck, I even love watching Sportscenter in HD

Damn straight!  :lol:

My cable provider Adelphia just bumped ESPN-HD to their "extended tier" of HD channels, meaning that it was one I was receiving with my current package, until they changed it.  

I called them up yesterday and added it and all the other extended tier HD channels to my cable package. I've got ALL the HD channels that Adelphia currently offers. ALL of them! YES they are mine, ALL mine.  :lol:

It was an extra $5.00 a month tacked onto the bill, but what the hell, it's worth it.

I spend that much in 2 days on 20oz. Pepsi's that I drink at work.

Watching football in HD then switching back to a non-HD broadcast of the same game, there's NO going back to a non-HD football game. The turf is a sharp green color and for me it just brings something back to the whole experience.

This year I'll be watching the SuperBowl on FOX in HD, it's gonna be great.

[JLu]

After one week of seeing games on each network, I'd say ESPN by far the best, followed by CBS and FOX a distant third, judging solely on picture clarity.  At least via Comcast in my area.

[Thin_J]

I hate you all.

[cameltoe yumyum]

Good to hear you like the set, Jeff.  I've been eyeballin' that same one for a few weeks now.  Was very impressed by the user reviews at Circuit City's site.  Now there's an official GGFE also! Hopefully after I finish Christmas shopping I'll have enough left to get it.

[Chaz]

Man, I'm thinking pretty hard about getting a nice, big widescreen HD set.  I should be getting a nice tax return at the beginning of the year, and then a pretty nice bonus a few months in.  The girlfriend wants me to get a projector, which I'd like to do, but can see light being a big problem, so I'll probably go with an actual set.  She's really against that, since if we need to move again, it's going to be a pain to move the TV.  While this is true, I still want a big, honkin' TV.

[Crusis]

I am also a HDTV fanatic, in fact I hate watching anything that isn't HDTV.  We bought our Hitachi 57" Diamond scan almost a year ago.  

The TV is huge and I had a set of Energy Take 5's for my speakers.  I felt the speakers were too small (I can't believe the logic worked on my wife) so I had to upgrade the fronts to Monitor Audio silver S 8's.  Once those were in I explained that we now had a 7.1 system but no reciever capable of producing 7.1 sound - thus came the Yamaha RV-V2400 reciever.  

Once all that was in it turns out we had an old DVD player that was unable to play progressive scan.  Once again I explained how important this was (not how much I wanted high rez audio CD support) so we got a Yamaha DVD player that could do all that goodness.  

Looking back now it is almost comical that I pulled that one off.  I think one reason this worked is that my wife is Japanese and she is pretty addicted to electronic goodies.

Anyway, can't reccommend a HDTV enough, if you have the means GET ONE!

-Crusis

[Jancelot]

Toshiba 52" DLP Widescreen is on the way and should be here Wednesday at the latest!  I'm hoping for Tuesday as the Mean Green are playing in the New Orleans Bowl.

Although I was somewhat nervous about not buying from a local store, I got the set on Amazon for $750 cheaper than any local retailer.  I ended up getting the matching stand, cables and a new DVD player, tax and shipping all for just a little over what the price of the tv alone would have been.  Now I have to find out if my cable company offers HD.  <crosses fingers>

[croman]

Toshiba 52" DLP Widescreen is on the way and should be here Wednesday at the latest!  I'm hoping for Tuesday as the Mean Green are playing in the New Orleans Bowl.

Although I was somewhat nervous about not buying from a local store, I got the set on Amazon for $750 cheaper than any local retailer.  I ended up getting the matching stand, cables and a new DVD player, tax and shipping all for just a little over what the price of the tv alone would have been.  Now I have to find out if my cable company offers HD.  <crosses fingers>

When I was looking at getting my TV, I found it online for $2700.  I went into Audio King and they had the same TV for $3200.  I told them about the online price and even though they do not do online pricing as a standard, they matched the price on the spot.    Made me quite happy

[croman]

Man, I'm thinking pretty hard about getting a nice, big widescreen HD set.  I should be getting a nice tax return at the beginning of the year, and then a pretty nice bonus a few months in.  The girlfriend wants me to get a projector, which I'd like to do, but can see light being a big problem, so I'll probably go with an actual set.  She's really against that, since if we need to move again, it's going to be a pain to move the TV.  While this is true, I still want a big, honkin' TV.

Well.. moving the Big TV is scary.

When we were moving to our house (we used to live in an Apartment), we rolled the TV down to the Elevator, down 3 floors and then rolled it out to the U-Haul Truck.  5 of us rolled it up into the truck.  I went back upstairs to get some other stuff.  I guess while I was up there, the TV started to roll and came 1-2" away from rolling off of the back of the truck.  Luckily one of the guys that was down by the truck saw it at the last second and stopped it.  When I found that out, I almost cried.

Then when we got it to the house, we backed the U-Haul into the backyard and tried to take the TV through the Back door. It would not fit, we had to drive the truck around to the front yard (and block a main street with the truck).  We backed the truck up to the front door and had to take it in that way.   We blocked traffic for about 5 minutes and it is a very busy main street.  

So yea.. a projector is easier for moving

[Rich in KCK]

Last year when I got my 50" LCD I was able to get the online pricing I had found rather easily from a local store it was about $700 off the regular price and $350 off their sale price of that week.  I would have had it but I wanted their 2 years no interest financing as well and they wouldn't give me the deal and the financing so we almost split the difference.  I still got the TV for about $100 less than their sale price and the 2 years of free financing.  If I had only had the cash or a credit card with no financing at the time I could have saved a couple of hundred on it.  I really didn't want to go with an online retailer because of the great store warranty that this store offers.  No restrictions whatsoever on dead pixels.  If I have a single bad pixel they will fix or replace the TV the manufacturer warranty is not that good.  The only thing it doesn't cover is light bulb replacement.

It still took 11 more months until I saw anyone selling my TV for less than what I paid for it, so I'm happy with the deal I got.

[Jancelot]

Well, crap, how dumb of me not to bring that up around here.  Do you think a chain like Best Buy would do a price match like that?  Or should I try to swing by a Hi-Fi store?  As is there's only the manufacturer's warranty on it for one year.  If I could match it tonight I'd call and cancel the order.  Although I'd still lose a hefty chunk of change from shipping it would be nice to have a better warranty.

[Rich in KCK]

Well, crap, how dumb of me not to bring that up around here.  Do you think a chain like Best Buy would do a price match like that?  Or should I try to swing by a Hi-Fi store?  As is there's only the manufacturer's warranty on it for one year.  If I could match it tonight I'd call and cancel the order.  Although I'd still lose a hefty chunk of change from shipping it would be nice to have a better warranty.

Getting price matches from internet sites not in the same area has a better chance of working at places where they work on commision.  I don't think BB will match anything other than a local stores price.  In my case the warranty from BB wasn't that good with CC only being slightly better.  Most people I talked to said Sears had the best warranty but the place I got mine from, Nebraska Furniture Mart, had a damn good one as well.  I do a lot of shopping on the internet, most of it actually but with something that expensive and large and that type of tech. I wanted a local place to deal with if something went wrong.  The extra money was worth the secure feeling I got when buying it.

[cameltoe yumyum]

On the subject of Home Theater, has anyone tried/bought a DLP projector instead of a TV?  I've been looking at that option also, for about a thousand bucks I could get a projector and have a 5x8 foot picture.  They claim the projectors are HDTV compatiblecan be used with progressive scan DVD players, digital cable, XBox, etc,  and the picture is great.. any experience?  I've got a new 12x18 room that I'm going to use so space is not an issue.

[whiteboyskim]

I hate you all.

Ditto.

[Jancelot]

On the subject of Home Theater, has anyone tried/bought a DLP projector instead of a TV?  I've been looking at that option also, for about a thousand bucks I could get a projector and have a 5x8 foot picture.  They claim the projectors are HDTV compatiblecan be used with progressive scan DVD players, digital cable, XBox, etc,  and the picture is great.. any experience?  I've got a new 12x18 room that I'm going to use so space is not an issue.

No experience, but I have a couple friends with them and they absolutely love them.  You might want to consider getting some sort of screen as a bumpy wall will deflect the light somewhat, but it's not required.  I considered it, but they way I just rearranged my living room it wouldn't be possible.

The biggest issue I was concerend about was fan noise on a projector.  We have one here at work in our conference room and it's very noisy and very hot.  I wouldn't want that whirring sound thoughout my movies.

[cameltoe yumyum]

I've looked at screens, they're very expensive but just look at this:

[croman]

Well, crap, how dumb of me not to bring that up around here.  Do you think a chain like Best Buy would do a price match like that?  Or should I try to swing by a Hi-Fi store?  As is there's only the manufacturer's warranty on it for one year.  If I could match it tonight I'd call and cancel the order.  Although I'd still lose a hefty chunk of change from shipping it would be nice to have a better warranty.

Getting price matches from internet sites not in the same area has a better chance of working at places where they work on commision.  I don't think BB will match anything other than a local stores price.  In my case the warranty from BB wasn't that good with CC only being slightly better.  Most people I talked to said Sears had the best warranty but the place I got mine from, Nebraska Furniture Mart, had a damn good one as well.  I do a lot of shopping on the internet, most of it actually but with something that expensive and large and that type of tech. I wanted a local place to deal with if something went wrong.  The extra money was worth the secure feeling I got when buying it.

Best Buy may not "Officially" pricematch a online site, but if you ask.. they will take money off of the price

If you "ask" about them matching a price and then ask what kind of deal can they give you, they will usually give you at least a 10% discount

[Rich in KCK]

I don't know too much about projectors either but I have read that light is one of the biggest issues.  You supposedly need a very dark room to get the best picture and at the main store where I've seen them on display they build little mini theater rooms that were not affected by the rest of the store lights to showcase them in.

[Jancelot]

Thanks for all the advice, but the set is already on its way.  I'm just really hoping that this doesn't turn in to a bad experience for me.  I almost just bought the set locally for the repair issues before I knew I could get a deal.

We have our screen up against a large window.  When the sun comes in we can barely see the screen in the morning.  If that's the rule then darkness seems to be a must for projectors.  I hope you have good curtains.

[cameltoe yumyum]

I got the InFocus X1 Projector today, Circuit City had them on clearance for $650.. that's about $300 less than I thought it would be.  There's still 1 left at the Gastonia NC Circuit City Hooked it up briefly to my laptop and DAMN!  Played LOTR and Shrek 2 against the wall and it looked awesome.  104" diagonal screen size (at 16:9).  Can't wait til I get my good DVD player hooked up to it and get a projection screen.

BTW Jeff Jones, that TV is now on sale for $999 instead of $1099..according to CC you have 30 days to get 110% back!

[Moggy]

On the subject of Home Theater, has anyone tried/bought a DLP projector instead of a TV?  I've been looking at that option also, for about a thousand bucks I could get a projector and have a 5x8 foot picture.  They claim the projectors are HDTV compatiblecan be used with progressive scan DVD players, digital cable, XBox, etc,  and the picture is great.. any experience?  I've got a new 12x18 room that I'm going to use so space is not an issue.

I've just got one - an Optoma H77.  It's a high end projector with the H2+ chip.  Gives me 1280x720 native resolution.  That's 720p!  Projected on to a 100" screen - yeah baby!!

I also added a DVDO IScan+ to do my upscaling for me and to act as a switch.  You need a switch to reduce the number of cables going down the side of the room to the projector.  It's a little more expensive than a pass thru switch but the scaling is incredible.  No overscan either!

I'm a DVD nut and have amassed a large collection over the years.  So I've got a DVD jukebox (Sony 777ES) and a Escient Fireball DVDM-100.  This little beauty accesses the disks in the DVD changers (upto three), connects to Escient's movie database and downloads the cover art and movie info.  An on-screen menu allows me to choose between the movies.    Once picked, it tells the changer through an RS-232 cable, to load and play the movie.  Brilliant! (Guinness in a can?)


Oh yeah, both the XBox and the PS2 at 720p rock!

[Rich in KCK]

I got the InFocus X1 Projector today, Circuit City had them on clearance for $650.. that's about $300 less than I thought it would be.  There's still 1 left at the Gastonia NC Circuit City Hooked it up briefly to my laptop and DAMN!  Played LOTR and Shrek 2 against the wall and it looked awesome.  104" diagonal screen size (at 16:9).  Can't wait til I get my good DVD player hooked up to it and get a projection screen.

BTW Jeff Jones, that TV is now on sale for $999 instead of $1099..according to CC you have 30 days to get 110% back!

Not really my place to say but Jeff didn't get it at CC he just did some of his research on it there.

[Jeff]

BTW Jeff Jones, that TV is now on sale for $999 instead of $1099..according to CC you have 30 days to get 110% back!

Not really my place to say but Jeff didn't get it at CC he just did some of his research on it there.[/quote]

True. Suffice it to say, I got a much better price on that TV Thanks anyway  to cameltoe, for the tip.

Just as an update, I'm about 5 movies and 10 HD shows into it, and still loving this TV  

[Jeff]

BTW Jeff Jones, that TV is now on sale for $999 instead of $1099..according to CC you have 30 days to get 110% back!

Not really my place to say but Jeff didn't get it at CC he just did some of his research on it there.

True. Suffice it to say, I got a much better price on that TV Thanks anyway  to cameltoe, for the tip.

Just as an update, I'm about 5 movies and 10 HD shows into it, and still loving this TV