Bravo Bravia

Well it took approximately half of forever but we FINALLY got our 40" Sony LCD this weekend. On top of all the other stuff I had going on this weekend I didn't get to spend too much time with it but my initial impressions are definitely positive.

I went from out of the box to watching TV in less than 5 minutes. Similarly getting my laptop on the big screen took approximately 32 seconds. The only true “High Definition” source I had was my laptop, and the only HD media I had was Call of Duty. My laptop is kind of balls anyway when it comes to performance but even with the lackluster 1024X768 resolution centered on the screen Call of Duty looked amazing! The dark places in the game got a little too shady but a quick bump up of the gamma slider in-game got everything right as rain.

We also threw on some Movies and TV Shows we had saved on our computers and they look fantastic. Once again the darkest parts of the movies seem a little too dark but it can be adjusted easily enough. Then the last test was actually watching normal analog cable on the TV. This is one I’ve heard horror stories about. Fortunately the Bravia shined here. At first the image looked way too blurry and stretched, but a quick jaunt through the display settings, to adjust the signal noise, aspect ratio and color temperature and everything was looking pretty darn good. Granted it’s not the sexiness of a 16:9 HDTV signal, but heck it’s free :p

Alls I can say is I’m looking forward to next Tuesday when I’ll be able to download the latest episodes of Prison Break and Heroes and watch them in all their glory ;)

My kingdom for a gaming PC

Big Screen Big Wait

The Wife and I don’t watch a lot of TV, but we’re on the computer all the time. By all the time I pretty much mean it. We both work in a computer-centric business all day and then come home and jump on our computers. Some might call this “a horrible waste of time” but some can also eat shit. It’s not that we don’t do other things with our time but where others sit and watch “the tube” we surf the web, play video games, shop, watch TV and Movies, etc… So when it came time to replace our 27” Walmart-Special TV in our living room my first thought was a “Media Center.”

For those “tech savvy” I guess you would refer to it as a HTPC or “Home Theater Personal Computer.” So we needed a screen that can support a computer resolution. At 400 X 200 pixels your standard TV doesn’t really make the grade. So once the boxing day sales came along we saw an opportunity to get a good deal on a LCD HDTV.

First I was looking at the Sharp Aquos 32” as an option. I did oodles of research and everything seemed to be looking great. The reviews on the web were favourable at best. Too bad reviews are absolute useless bullshit. 2 hours before the boxing day sale began I stumbled across AVSForum and a conversation thread about the Sharp Aquos 40U series. Not only did I find out that there are “Red Push” issues with the 26 & 32 inch Sharps, I also found out that they’re not even made with parts from Sharp Japan. In light of this disturbing information I decided to go to with a Toshiba 32”.

So that was fine and dandy, we managed to get our order in on December 24th, and were thinking "Big screen by New Years Eve!" Excellent. My brother in law has an XBox 360 which would've been perfect to try'er out. That was until my wife and I actually saw how big a 32" LCD TV is while boxing-day shopping. It ain't big.

So back to the research board and I finally decided on the Sharp Aquos 37", Japanese made and critically acclaimed. Perfect, then the Wife in a move that would make most guys giggle with glee said, "Screw it lets get a 40!" Not only did we opt for the big screen we also went for the big-boys of home entertainment. A 40" Sony Bravia LCD. Ordered on December 26th for sweet sweet high def goodness. Well, that was the plan anyway.

January fucking 10th! *sigh* So much for our Big Screen New Years. Oh well I guess I'll give you the update next week, 'til then I'll keep day dreaming :(