Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Buy an HD-DVD Player

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Fri, 2 Nov 2007, Jonathan King wrote:

> On 11/2/07, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> > On Fri, 2 Nov 2007, Vern Green wrote:
> >
> > > Well, the big reason I would think for not having two machines sitting 
> > > in your stereo cabinet. I am not sure how it all works, but there 
> > > could also be a limit in the number of HDTV inputs you can have on a 
> > > product, so if you have HDTV and HD-DVD, you would not have HDMI 
> > > connection for a third product, (though you might still be able to use 
> > > component connections)
> >
> > That's a good point about the connectors.  One thing I know:  Ordinary 
> > DVD looks great.
>
> This is true...but only if you have never seen HD. And, man, do I *ever* 
> hate the fact that this is true.

I used to be able to use a crappy 15" monitor at 60 Hz, but then a 
"friend" at work got me using something better and that cost me plenty of 
money in the long run!


> > I grew up watching a crappy 13" B&W set that could get four channels on 
> > a good day.
>
> Let me guess: channels 2, 4, 5, and 7. And for those new-fangled higher 
> number channels, you could get 38 and 56...maybe.

I was near Springfield and Hartford.  We had these channels:

 3 VHF WTIC, CBS, Hartford (later WGGB)
22 UHF WWLP, NBC, Springfield
40 UHF WHYN, ABC, Springfield
24 UHF ????, PBS, maybe farther out, maybe New Haven - harder to get
38 UHF ????, independent?, very hard to get, very weak

Maybe we sometimes could get 56, very vaguely.  Maybe a very slight signal 
from a channel 10 in Albany.  And by "very slight signal" I mean that I 
might have actually watched it, but no one in his right mind today would 
be able to stand watching that -- all snow and static, total crap.


> > We had no cable and no VCR.  It will not be easy to convince me that I 
> > need HD anything.
>
> "So there we were, looking at four channels in crappy black 'n white 
> with snow on a screen the size of a postage stamp..and we LIKED it!!" 
> :-)

That's true.  It was all we had.


> Last year, 720p/1080i HD sets fell decisively below $1000, and this year 
> they can be found for less than $500. This year, the 1080p HD sets are 
> generally running somewhat above $1000, but they too will go down. 
> Assuming the dollar doesn't completely crash, by next year those sets 
> will also have fallen to the ~$500-$1000 level, at which point your set 
> will be 8 or 9 years old, and I will lay down even odds you'll get the 
> new HD TV, assuming that Netflix has enough titles in HD that you decide 
> you want to see. Especially if you find out, like me, that you don't 
> need or care about cable if you get enough over-the-air HD channels.

Exactly -- and they have to figure out which format "wins" so that I can 
get a player for a reasonable price to watch those discs on.


> > These companies really screw us with the new technology.  They try to 
> > manipulate our feelings about it using their advertisements and product 
> > placement.  Pretty soon you feel like a complete loser because your TV 
> > "isn't big enough."  Then they get your money.  I'm not that easily 
> > fooled.
>
> I agree that the "not big enough" ploy is pretty much a pitch to make 
> you think your man parts are not large enough. But HD really is 
> substantially better than standard def or your DVDs. I really wish it 
> weren't true, but it is.

Most of my friends don't have better TVs than mine, so it's easy to resist 
for now.  I don't have to watch the good stuff and then go home to my ugly 
little TV.  Someday they'll have screens 10 feet wide and 7 feet tall with 
a hundred million pixels on them and they'll be telling us we are girly 
men if we don't buy them.  Then people will say "the new megadef screens 
really are better than those ancient HDTV screens we bought near the turn 
of the century."


> > I do agree though, as I've said before, that if I didn't already have a 
> > decent TV, I'd buy some kind of HDTV.
>
> I am really proud of you that you are fairly impervious to manufactured 
> desire. But sooner or later, you will buy that HDTV. And the next thing 
> you know, you'll be voting for Republicans.

That would be Bizarro Mike.


> > I also think that $99 for an HD-DVD player is a good deal.
>
> Shopping at Wal*Mart is just one step away from pulling the lever for 
> Senator Coleman, ya know. :-)

I do Costco instead of Sam's Club!

Mike

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