Gentle reader,
A few weeks ago, Nancy and I had looked at new TVs. We talked ourselves out of it because we couldn't think what to do with the old one that didn't cost more money, i.e., having to add a new HD cable box to the Verizon bill.
Where we'd looked was the local HH Gregg. They'd taken over the old Circuit City store location.
Turns out the two 43" ones we had looked at ($399 each) were both Plasma which, I've been told, are more expensive to operate.
Well, last weekend, grandson Anthony (age 3) suddenly has his own new 19" HDTV. WTF? Then I had an "Ah hah!" moment.
I could get say a 26" flat screen and build a framework on the racing simulator platform I made and therefore not have to drag it and the racing seat into the living room every time I wanted to "drive".
Well, Best Buy had a cheap one for $149, but then we decided to buy a bigger, 42" LCD set for the living room and "retire" the 32" Samsung to the den for my racing project. See:
So, at HH Gregg, we chose a 42" LG LCD unit on sale for $449 and a couple of HDMI cables to hook the Blu Ray and HD Verizon box to it.
Future son-in-law, Jonathan, was here when we brought it home. He helped me disassemble the old kit and install the new. Below is what it once looked like. In your mind, remove the HD radio tuner and center speaker, replace with an OPPO DVD player, move the Yamaha receiver to the bottom shelf with the silver Verizon box on top of it. Add a Blu Ray player to the middle shelf with a component switching box on top of it with a Sony PS2 on top of that on the left side and a HD TV digital tuner (off-the-air) box on top on the right and a whole LOT of RCA cables and we had a crowded, electrician's nightmare.
You can just see the switching box and PS2 sitting atop the Verizon box on the bottom shelf, above.
Now, below is what we have now:
Below are all the Liberty and other cables we removed. Just look at all of them! SO last millennium!
Gone are all the devices I told you to imagine. Why have a separate DVD player when the Panasonic Blu Ray plays DVDs and CDs too? The new LG TV has a built-in digital tuner, so no need for the off-the-air separate tuner. The Sony PS2 (and Daniel's XBox 360 are going into the den along with the Samsung TV) so no need for the switching box.
The two HDMI cables replace all the analog video cables (the red ones) below as well as the analog sound cables. I have an optical cable supplying sound from the Blu Ray to the Yamaha receiver and will be adding a second for the Verizon HDTV box. Then, aside from the subwoofer cable, all connections will be strictly digital.
So, how's the new TV? In a word, FANTASTIC! The Samsumg while nice, is only 720p and since the HDMI input stopped working (out of warranty, of course) it was limited to analog HD via the red Liberty cables.
The built-in digital tuner picks up 63 local TV channels. 63! AMAZING HD on those that are. Simple input button on the remote pops up a graphic showing the choices so it's a breeze switching instantly. The Samsung has a few seconds delay between each change. Still aside from it's one failure, that Samsung has served us well.
However, 1080p and HDMI digital cables make a HUGE difference in viewing pleasure. This is what HD TV is ALL ABOUT.
Soon, once I've built my contraption, I will report on the new racing rig. Where I'll fit it in the den is another story. Thanks for looking!
Scott
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