It is Big Screen HD TV buying time of the year.

[dmccarty]

3D Viera Plasmas may arguably have an even better picture but its a big price jump. 3D tv (in small doses) really is amazing but I think its too early to go that way. The big improvements will probably be in the glasses. They seem pretty primitive and expensive at the moment. Theres also talk of 3D tv's that won't need glasses but I suspect thats pie in the sky.

We certainly were not interested in 3D. Figured we could wait. But the Mitsubishi TV's built in 2010 have 3D. They are not boosting the price like the other TV makers. And it seems like the ability to do 3D is a programming issue. Some of the Mitsubishi's are getting a firmware update right now that is improving 3D.

There is also a deal with Mitus until 11/21 that if you buy one of their TVs they will give you the 3D starter kit which contains two glasses and an emitter. It looks like the new firmware does not require the emitter. The starter kid lists at $399 but I have seen it go for $350.

Reading what people are saying about 3D has gotten me interested....

But the real interest is in 3D games which I will save for another post.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

I actually got the PS3, slightly used, off the Internet so $$$ were less than retail. Got a couple of games, the new Move Motion thing and couple of guitars, microphone and drum set for the grandkids to play with when they come over.

The other thing with PS3 is it is wireless so can connect to home network and either share or download audio / video from your computers
or do the Netflix video streaming. Output from the PS3 is HDMI so it works great with HD TV's.

I thought about the PS3 but we already have an xBox and a Wii. We surely do not need a another game machine. The XBox is in the study though. We want to stream video from the computer to the TV. That is what started this snowball. The XBox is supposed to be very well integrated with Win 7's Media Center as it should. So an XBox would be a better fit but it does not have Blu-Ray.

PS3 is only has WiFi G not N. I really want N. But this is moot since I am going to fix one of the few mistakes I made when we built the house. Which was NOT running Cat 5/6 to the where the TV sits. And Coax for TV and radio.

So PS3 is still in the game except for the price.

Then I started reading that the PS3 does pretty good integrating with Windows. I have to dig into this some more though.

The big kicker is that there are 3D games out there. :laughing: PS3 has 'em. NOW. XBox does not and it is going to be interesting if XBox will ever have them. I read an article on this last night which left my head spinning.

So the PS3 is still in the game. We might just buy the TV and new receiver and wait and see about the PS3 and Blu-Ray.

No way will we buy Gi'tars and drum kits though. :laughing::laughing: It is mayhem and chaos in the house as is.....

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

I just bought a new tv last weekend. Was using my dads 62" Samsung plasma but he finally finished his house and wanted it back. I looked at the DLPs $350 for the bulb that they estimate lasts five years or 8000 hours at 4 hours a day. I have four kids and I'm home with one all day. I'd burn through that bulb in six months.

The lamps mail order are $150 for the Mitsubishi's which are the only brand still selling new DLPs. What is interesting is the Mitsu sells the replacement lamps on their website for $99.

Later,
Dan

 

[riptides]

I am hearing Black Friday specials on electronics from your (possible) local stores like 42" LCD's for 300 bucks. While not the high end features one would expect in a main entertainment/media hub, these offer the average user the upgrade the older equipment in the house - option.

 

[dmccarty]

There is a website that shows Black Friday adverts before the are released to the papers:

Black Friday 2010 Ad Scans - Black Friday Ads

You can sign up for the adds from your retailer to be sent to your email as well as viewing.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

I did find this website for TV and audio electronic discussions/reviews. These guys can go off into the nitty gritty. :laughing: But there is more info on this website than what I could find on media reviews.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/

Later,
Dan