Tuesday, February 03, 2004

 
Should I Dual or Single?

So as I have mentioned recently, I purchased a new HDTV receiver. I got it all hooked up and programmed, and working correctly, but I have a problem. The remote that the Zenith Receiver comes with uses an overpowered IR LED to compensate for a weak IR receiver in the unit. The problem is that my HK Universal remote does not have a powerful enough LED to work the Zenith receiver.

Side note: I LOVE my HK universal remote. It is the most compact, easily learned, and easily programmed universal remote I have ever come in contact with. (And I have come across a lot of them.) I got the HK u-remote by purchasing a Harmon/Kardon AVR320 Audio receiver, which I also like a lot. This Universal remote has successfully been programmed to take the place of every remote I have, so I only ever use it, and it works beautifully, but . . . this new device wont work.

So here is my dilemma. Do I stick with the cheaper Zenith HDTV receiver (which as I have stated previously gives me about 4 hours of viewing on one 1 station, and it’s not a station I watch that often.) Or do I take back the Zenith and spend almost $150 more to upgrade to the Samsung. Now I have no other complaints about the Zenith at this point, so the sole reason for returning it would be programmability of my u-remote.

So I am torn by my cheapness, and my laziness. Which one will win? Stay Tuned.

posted by Jason 3:42 PM |

Monday, February 02, 2004

 
HDTV for the Masses!

Ummm, No apparently we are not there yet.

So yesterday I had a Superbowl party. I decided to invite a bunch of friends over to watch the game on my big screen. Well I have a widescreen TV 16:9 (The only right sized TV.) so for me to watch standard cable I have a few options. 1. I can watch it at the standard 4:3 ration, which means I get letterboxes on the left and right side of the screen. It’s kind of annoying, and bad for the creen, so on to option 2. I can watch ion Zoom mode. This is my standard, it just enlarges the picture as if my screen was 4:30 at the same width, which means my TV cuts off the bottom and top of the picture. Well for most shows this isn’t too bad, nothing ever happens there anyway. In fact in this mode all the new adds that the networks keep showing us after our shows start get pushed off the bottom so I don’t seem them. I like this about this mode. But it does have a drawback, this is also the same place that they put the score, clock, and other important information about sports games, so On to option number 3. Full Mode. This mode just stretches the width of the 4:3 aspect to make it fill the screen. This cause everyone to get short and fat. After a while of viewing this mode you forget about the difference, and everyone in real life seems to be skinny for some reason. But for those that haven’t watched shows this way, it tends to be distracting. (There is a fourth mode but it is just stupid so we won’t go there.)

So I decided that I would fix the problem by going down and buying an HD receiver, so that I could receive the football game in High Definition! Well I got the receiver and set it up, and found out that only 1 station in my town is broadcasting HD, luckily for me it happened to be the station carrying the game. So almost $300 into this, I can now watch HDTV for approximately 4 hours a Day during primetime on 1 station. WooHoo! But I would get the game in HD so I was OK with the purchase.

So I have everyone over and we start watching the game. Let me tell you it was spectacular! It looked so good, I can’t even tell you. I even got the infamous boob shot in HD! Anyway back on topic, the story doesn’t end quite so well. Just after the 2 minute warning for the end of the game, the panthers go for a touchdown pass, and half way through the pass the screen freezes, and then goes black. (When HD can’t get through a good enough signal to decode, it stops displaying anything. Unlike standard broadcast that just becomes less clear.) There was an uproar at my house as people started scrambling for the family room where the other TV was on, and receiving normal broadcast. Well the reception of HD was botched pretty much for the remainder of the day, and we had to watch the final few minutes of the game in standard format (which after seeing the crystal clear HD, was just ugly.)

So hopefully cable companies can get with the program here soon and start sending out HD along with normal cable. Until then, HD will have to sit on the back burner.

posted by Jason 3:50 PM |

 
Poor Guy

I know that everyone has been talking about the now infamous Janet boob shot. Infact an entire web site has been created in its honor. www.janetsboob.com OK so maybe not an entire website, more of just a single picture. But anyway, I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about the Streaker.

I know this guy had to have been planning this little excursion for quite a while, and it couldn’t have been easy to get through all of the security, and then to make it out on to the field, and everything before being caught. My hat is off to such a well laid plan, except it didn’t go that well. The streaker had not taken into consideration the power of Janet’s boob. The all encompassing, overshadowing effect that a 300 nanosecond clip of a 40 year old boob on national television could have had. Had he taken this into account he might have done his deed just after 1st quarter. Which given the boringness of that quarter, would have given us all something to talk about until both teams realized they were actually playing in the Superbowl not just at practice. Anyway, then he could have literally had his 15 minutes of fame. Now I don’t even think he got 2 minutes. The following scenario is what I like to think of:

Fellow Jailmate: “I am in for driving my SUV into a crowd of people, what er you in for?”
Streaker: “I performed the river dance naked on the 50 yard line during the Superbowl!”
Jailmate: “No way, if that was the case I would have heard about it.”
Streaker: “Really I did, I ran out just before the kickoff for the second half.”
Jailmate: “Really? Just after half-time? Did you get to see Janet’s boob while you where out there?”
Streaker: “….”

I also found out that what we didn't see was the Streaker was tackled by a NE Linebacker, and then Hogtied and carried off the field! That had to of hurt!
posted by Jason 2:43 PM |