No one probably noticed 
but I've been substantially off-the-grid for the last week or so, just checking in on the threads I had already subscribed to. I've made another go at trying to understand the massively complicated world of HDTV, so we could finally make our purchase. I'm a degreed scientist, with a whole career in international business management behind me, and pretty well into a new career as a software engineer, but this HDTV stuff is really hard!!! How do they expect someone like my mother to make an HDTV purchase? I wonder if that is why HDTV adoption is running slower than anticipated originally -- people just cannot figure out what to buy!
Anyway, it's coming together. I went with a Samsung 50" DLP (and the research and analysis that went into choosing DLP technology, and then the manufacturer, was basically as much as for my Master's thesis). My wife insisted on getting the model that just came out, instead of buying last year's model, which would have been my choice, because we saw them in Circuit City side-by-side, and picture quality so noticeably better with the new model. That was surprising because the feed wasn't anywhere as good as either of the televisions, so what that indicated to her was that the newer model handles variable quality feeds better than the old model. Okay.
We have had a little bit of a tough time tracking one down and getting it delivered. Saturday is the day, hopefully. Unfortunately, the matching stand won't arrive until early next week, so it'll sit on the floor for a few days. Not a big deal, since the stand is only 18" high. (Big televisions need to sit closer to the ground so your eyes are still center-screen.)
But wait, there's more.
So you have a television... what are you going to feed into it? Your same-old-same-old square box standard cable television signal? And waste all that extra space on the left and right of the screen? Noooo, of course not. So research project two commenced: Dish Network, DirecTV, and cable HD options were explored. The nuances that ended up making the difference between satellite and cable were subtle (satellite requires a much bigger commitment, causes more hassles with my condo association, and seems to risk more money long-term).
And it didn't stop there. What's the point in spending $2k on a great television when you're listening to the audio on speakers that came with the cheap stereo system you purchased 14 years ago? Good new speaker systems are a very small fraction of the price of a new HDTV (I got ours for under $200), but there are tons of choices there too, because the less expensive ones, now, all come with DVD players, and so you need to decide whether you want to pay extra for progressive signal or not (or something like that). I gave up with the research at this point and just bought the least expensive one that was recommended by the television manufacturer.
One thing I noticed is that there are online communities for this, as the DIS is for Disney theme parks. It does make me wonder what newbies coming here to the DIS think of it all, because the HDTV forums were mind-boggling to me. Most of the "relevant" threads I found were about 100 pages long, 30 messages per page, and contained some really arcane stuff ("Does the light come from the bottom or from the four corners?"), requiring separate research to understand what each thread was actually talking about.
So good luck anyone heading down this road soon. You've got less than three years to get your act together, so it might be time to start thinking about it!
but I've been substantially off-the-grid for the last week or so, just checking in on the threads I had already subscribed to. I've made another go at trying to understand the massively complicated world of HDTV, so we could finally make our purchase. I'm a degreed scientist, with a whole career in international business management behind me, and pretty well into a new career as a software engineer, but this HDTV stuff is really hard!!! How do they expect someone like my mother to make an HDTV purchase? I wonder if that is why HDTV adoption is running slower than anticipated originally -- people just cannot figure out what to buy!Anyway, it's coming together. I went with a Samsung 50" DLP (and the research and analysis that went into choosing DLP technology, and then the manufacturer, was basically as much as for my Master's thesis). My wife insisted on getting the model that just came out, instead of buying last year's model, which would have been my choice, because we saw them in Circuit City side-by-side, and picture quality so noticeably better with the new model. That was surprising because the feed wasn't anywhere as good as either of the televisions, so what that indicated to her was that the newer model handles variable quality feeds better than the old model. Okay.
We have had a little bit of a tough time tracking one down and getting it delivered. Saturday is the day, hopefully. Unfortunately, the matching stand won't arrive until early next week, so it'll sit on the floor for a few days. Not a big deal, since the stand is only 18" high. (Big televisions need to sit closer to the ground so your eyes are still center-screen.)
But wait, there's more.
So you have a television... what are you going to feed into it? Your same-old-same-old square box standard cable television signal? And waste all that extra space on the left and right of the screen? Noooo, of course not. So research project two commenced: Dish Network, DirecTV, and cable HD options were explored. The nuances that ended up making the difference between satellite and cable were subtle (satellite requires a much bigger commitment, causes more hassles with my condo association, and seems to risk more money long-term).
And it didn't stop there. What's the point in spending $2k on a great television when you're listening to the audio on speakers that came with the cheap stereo system you purchased 14 years ago? Good new speaker systems are a very small fraction of the price of a new HDTV (I got ours for under $200), but there are tons of choices there too, because the less expensive ones, now, all come with DVD players, and so you need to decide whether you want to pay extra for progressive signal or not (or something like that). I gave up with the research at this point and just bought the least expensive one that was recommended by the television manufacturer.
One thing I noticed is that there are online communities for this, as the DIS is for Disney theme parks. It does make me wonder what newbies coming here to the DIS think of it all, because the HDTV forums were mind-boggling to me. Most of the "relevant" threads I found were about 100 pages long, 30 messages per page, and contained some really arcane stuff ("Does the light come from the bottom or from the four corners?"), requiring separate research to understand what each thread was actually talking about.
So good luck anyone heading down this road soon. You've got less than three years to get your act together, so it might be time to start thinking about it!
I'm not really surprised, though, that you and I came to the same conclusion... that seems to happen a lot! :rmao:
I am the techy in my family. 
