My thoughts on the hunt for a new television.
July 04, 2005
Audio Visual Problems
I am currently listening to Missile Lock from the album “The Incredibles” by Michael Giacchino
Those of you who know me, know that I love auto racing. Specifically Formula 1 and NASCAR. On Formula 1 weekends, I look forward to my Sunday morning ritual of making coffee, and sitting down in front of the TV, firing up the TIVO and start watching a the race. For those of you who don't know, Formula 1 for the most part starts around 7:30 AM EST, so I am usually 30 to 45 minutes behind, by the time I get up. On Sunday afternoons (I love what I call the double - F1 in the morning, NASCAR in the afternoon), I sit down and start watching the NASCAR race which can go off any time between 12 pm and 3 pm, depending on where they are racing.
So, by now you are asking yourself, what the heck does this have to do with Audio Visual Problems (see title). Well, imagine this, it is a beautiful summer Sunday, and what am I doing? I am sitting in the living room watching TV. Hell, I spend 5 full days a week sitting inside, I should be outside enjoying the fresh air and pollen like everyone else. I mean, after all, what a waste of a nice day. So how do I get a signal from inside to outside, and what do I watch it on? That my friends is the problem.
Lets start with the signal, that should after all be the easiest problem to solve. “Pete”, you say with a look that says boy are you dumb, “just run a cable to the backyard”. Well, okay; do I run a satellite cable, or a (shudder) Cablevision cable (yes I have both)? “Uhmmm....satellite?”, you hesitantly exclaim, knowing that satellite provides the superior picture. Okay, so then I will need to bring a receiver outside every time I want to watch TV. “Cable, I meant to say cable!” you shout, before I can finish. Okay, but I am going to drop cable as soon as Directv gets all the HDTV channels up and running. After all, the only reason I got cable, was to provide HDTV. But, you are right cable could be a good temporary fix. So, I need a splitter, and about 100 feet of cable, a shovel, and a free weekend to bury a cable line from the side of the house around the back to near the cement patio, I will need to create a patch cable that I can bring back and forth outside, to plug into the newly buried cable, I better get some kind of box to protect the end of the cable, less the landscaper weed whacks that. I hope this new line doesn't degrade my HDTV signal, or worse, my cable modem. So, lets say I do all of that (not likely), there is still one BIG problem. I am not getting my TIVO signal, I am only getting the “live” cable feed. I need my TIVO - remember what I said earlier about the F1 start times. So, the real problem is not getting a satellite or cable feed, it is getting the feed from my Satellite TIVO box, besides I still want to pause, rewind and fast forward, and I can't do any of that with either the live satellite or cable feeds, and no, I am not dragging a TIVO box with me.
Well, I think I may have found the solution. Belkin, the maker of all those great IPOD accessories has come out with a wireless audio/video extender that transmits A/V signals. I read a review for it in the July/August issue of Sound and Vision Magazine and they were very impressed. Here, is the cool part, not only does it transmit the audio and video, it extends the IR remote, so I can still use my TIVO remote outside, to control the TIVO box in the living room (I am such a nerd). The price point is high, $499 from Belkin direct, I found it for $449 from Amazon. I am looking forward to reading some additional reviews about it.
So, issue 1 solved. Lets say, I get the Belkin extender, I still need something to watch the signal on. I have considered the following solutions:
- Buy a small TV for outside - I don't love this idea since it would only serve one purpose
- Buy an LCD computer screen that accepts A/V signals - PC Magazine did a review on these, and liked the Sony and Samsung models. This is an okay solution, but I don't really need a 17“ or 19” computer monitor, and I already have 17“ and 15” Powerbooks with great screens, so again this solution, while cooler then #1 is still more or less a single sided solution
- Some sort of A/V box that I could plug into my Powerbook, and use to import all those old Sony 8mm camcorder movies I have
Number 3, seems to be what I need. A breakout box of some type, that I can plug into my Powerbook, that will accept multiple A/V input sources. I can watch TV using my Belkin extender, or directly from cable or the satellite box if I am inside, and will take a feed from my old 8mm camcorder and perform hardware compression on the fly, so I can edit the films, and put them on DVD's. It would seem to be the cheapest solution, and will provide multiple uses.
And the solution is... I don't know. I am hoping one of you will provide the answer. I have found several products that I believe will work, but I have zero experience with this side of technology, and so I am still looking for answers.
Posted by pmadsen at 10:28 AM | Comments (1)
February 19, 2005
My current TV and why I want a new one
I have been thinking about buying a new television for several week's now. I should tell you that I already have a really nice TV. It's a 40 inch Sony WEGA CRT television. The picture is great, especially when watched DVD's or the DirecTV satellite feed. So why would I want to change?
Let's start with the non-picture issues. First the freaking thing is HUGE. It stands close to 3 feet away from the wall, and weighs in at little over 300 pounds. The only stand that supports the weight of this thing is Sony's own stand. Which leads us to the next problem: the stupid stand. I, like most people, have a receiver, a DVD player, and a satellite receiver. Guess what, as giant as this TV is, the stand cannot hold all 3 components. Now in my bizarre case I actually have a fourth component - a cable box. Luckily I was able to squeeze the cable box onto the stand next to the satellite receiver. This leaves the DVD
player sitting on the floor stuffed behind a speaker. Of course this is a less than ideal situation, making the playing of DVD's a hassle. Since the DVD player is several years old, I am less concerned about the fact that the player is probably filling up with dust bunnies.
So that's the non-picture issues. Which leads us to the picture issues. Like I said before, the picture quality is very good, and I am quite pleased. Until I got HDTV hooked up. Again, the picture quality is great; actually the picture is amazing. However, a 40" television with the standard 4:3 ratio, becomes a 32" television at best in the 16:9 wide screen mode of HDTV (and the widescreen DVD's that I enjoy). I really feel like I am missing out on something. My buddy Brian says that I have become an HDTV snob. I guess in some way, I have.
If you have never seen HDTV, you don't know what you are missing. If you have watched HDTV, then you know exactly what I am talking about. So I want to fully enjoy the entire HDTV experience (especially NASCAR races, and wide screen movies).
As I re-read this it is pretty apparent my reasons for getting a new television are pretty superficial, but I still am going to look.
Posted by pmadsen at 04:24 PM | Comments (1)
