New Theater System
July 31, 2007
As mentioned in a previous post, I have replaced most of the components in my home theater system. I had set up the current system about 4 years ago when we moved into our current house in Arizona. HDTV was still relatively new and some wanted features weren’t available then. Some of these features were true HDMI, 1080p native and hi-definition DVDs.
There really wasn’t anything wrong with the current system and I hope I can recoup a few dollars in the sale of it. I have already had one guy come by and look at the HDTV. I should hear back from him in a day or two. The HDTV was a CRT projection set. It is still has most likely the best black color representation and essentially infinite contrast ratio. However, the unit is simply big. It is 26 inches deep and has totally useless speakers covering the bottom third of the set. I decided to go more slim on the TV.
I don’t like plasma or LCD displays as their blacks and whites are too washed out. To me, fast motion on them also causes artifacts. Thus, I decided to go with a DLP projection HDTV. Some folks have reported seeing color wheels on the sets if they turn their heads very fast while viewing. First, not sure why you would do that and second, I don’t have that issue. The new set is only 14 inches deep and and is 1080p with HDMI. It is a 61″ Samsung model. I am still playing around with doing a color calibration on the set, but am thus far very satisfied.
I replaced my Denon A/V Receiver with a Yamaha A/V Receiver that is HDMI compliant and can do input switching and upconversion. Both receivers were 7.1 surround sound receivers. Yamaha is well known for the DSP sound field programs, but I am not sure how much I will use them as I prefer to use the encoded sound directly off the DVDs. I much prefer DTS to Dolby though.
I also added a Samsung Blu-Ray player to my setup. The Blu-Ray replaces my Pioneer Elite DVD player. I am still not sure that I don’t technically prefer the HD-DVD format to Blu-Ray, but clearly the most source data is available in Blu-Ray, so I went that direction. The 1080p resolution coming off of the discs is absolutely stunning. There is a noticeable although not great difference between the 1080i and 1080p formats. Hopefully, it won’t be years before more source material (ie Satellite) will be available in 1080p. It is really hard for me to watch standard definition TV after having HDTV for years. It is likely that the 1080 Blu-Ray will due the same to 480p and upconverted DVDs.
The last, new component was the DirecTV HD DVR. We have long used Tivo, but it was always standard def. Suzanne and the kids have been using the Tivo up until now, but I have pretty much ignored it since I find it hard to watch standard def TV. With this new hi def recorder, I can again watch some shows of interest that I may have missed. The record quality is very good. It also has two tuners which allows us to record two programs or watch one while recording another. Technically, that’s not a new feature, but it’s new for us and has already come in handy.
The components in my system that I did not replace were my power conditioning unit, the battery backup (can’t lose my xbox 360 games or in progress DVR stuff), my Xbox 360, Suzanne’s karaoke system and my 7.1 speaker system.
This new theater system is really awesome. Folks need to stop on by and check out the future with hi-definition movies!
Family Update 7/28/07
July 28, 2007
Sorry for the dearth of posts lately, I seem to have picked up a nasty cold while in Anaheim for the Showstopper National Dance Competition. Actually, the whole family got minor colds except for me who got the doozy. We are talking serious chest and head congestion with a running nose and wicked cough. Yesterday, the right ear blocked up.
Now, I don’t get sick very often. In fact, it’s been almost 15 years since I have missed a day at work from sickness. The ear blocking is a good thing as it usually means the cold is on the way out for me. I do feel better than the last few days of last week, but I need to stop coughing at night so as to get some sleep – maybe tonight.
A Happy Birthday to my sister Kelly who turned 42 yesterday! I believe she is out and about in Michigan researching locals for our next family reunion up there next Summer. We are rooting for her to find some good places to enjoy each others company.
My computer also took a nose dive last week. After booting into Windows, it would just simply hang. About 1 time out of ten, it would come up with some errors but I could do most things. Finally on Friday, it just refused to come up. I got lucky this time as a repair attempt with my Windows installation CD was able to fix the problem. Still, I hate having to mess with it.
Suzanne finally finished with the our recent Alaska Cruise images. I have uploaded them here at Mr Papa’s World but we still need to add the titles and description of the images. That should be forthcoming in the next day or two. I will post when they are completely ready, but feel free to check them out in the gallery now if you desire.
Well, around the time of the Showstopper National Dance Competition, I finally pulled the trigger and bought new equipment for my theater room. We got a new HDTV, a Blu-Ray Hi Def DVD player, a new A/V Receiver and a DirecTV HD DVR. I will do a post in the next few days on the equipment specifics and why I upgraded. We had someone come over today and look at our old HDTV, so hopefully we will get that sold soon to offset some of the cost.
Just a couple more weeks of Summer for the kids before they head off back to school. I think the official date is Aug 13th. Seems a bit odd to already picking up school supplies for them, but with the traveling we did this Summer, it just flew by. Sean moves into Middle School so he is excited. They just got their standard test scores back from last year and continue to excel. Overall, they were both in the 90th percentile in Arizona. Sean topped out at 99 percentile in Math and Savannah at 95 in Reading.
I received another whole bunch of genealogy updates from John Butler on Suzanne’s side of the family. He has provided a lot of good info on some of her family members. I continue to be negligent in my genealogy research. I have a bunch of data to input, I just need to find the time. Maybe with all of our family vacations out of the way (unfortunately), I can get to them here in the next few weeks.
We watched our first Blu-Ray movie tonight on the new system. It was Fly Boys and looked absolutely stunning. The story and the movie were good too. Definitely worth a watch.
Okay, off to cook dinner…
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