Back in the saddle after a most uneventful move from Algonquin to Streator. Sue’s 3 year old granddaughter got sick on the trip over here and the poor kid was up most of the night. Two changes of bedding and clothing later, my Zsu-Zsu has pronounced the house “christened.”
My new office is groovy. It’s kewl. It’s like, to die for. Roomy and quiet, I have a Lazy Boy set up in the corner next to the book cases with an antique floor lamp for my reading.
I will never buy another non-wireless keyboard and mouse. They are a joy to use and recommend them to anyone who needs a new one. And my new headphones are the bomb – extraordinary sound quality plus the cord is a lot longer so that I can use them while sitting in my chair.
As for the house itself (I had not seen it decorated) all I can say is that Sue did a fine job but that some adjustments are definitely in order. Entirely too much lacy and frilly stuff like curtains and furniture coverings. I will work my manly wiles on her (essentially throwing a tantrum while acting like a 4 year old little boy) and get some of the more egregious stuff changed.
One sour note; our 50” Viszio TV. The non-HD picture is an abomination. Joe tells me that it’s because the TV is set to display a picture in 1081 lines (1081i) but the stations are broadcasting in 480i which means the TV compensates by essentially stretching the image more than twice as far as it is meant to be.
Until all stations go digital next year, he says that our picture quality will remain an issue. Part of the problem may be solved when we call in the Geek Squad to adjust the TV. My reading about HDTV’s convinced me that getting someone to come out and fiddle with the settings so that we get the optimum picture at the number of feet we are away from the screen will be worth the $300 or so it will cost.
But the HD picture is drop dead gorgeous. Coupled with our new Bose 3-2-1-GS Series Home Theater System, it’s all one can hope for in a movie viewing experience.
Anyway, we’re here in Streator – home sweet home. Be back to regular blogging tomorrow.
8:11 pm
You should be able to change the zoom (aspect ratio) on the non-HD signal. Of couse, you’ll have the black bars on either side, but I prefer that to seeing a bunch of out-of-proportion fatheads.
2:12 pm
Congratulations, and wishing you much happiness in your new place!
2:36 pm
HD is such an old standard from ages ago that finally is seeing the light of day, but a lot of the issue is what you can get away calling HD which is anything that is not SD or standard definition.
Several add on video panels stitched around a standard screen right left and bottom and then melded together.
The standard came out way before digital was even a gleam.
Much of the HD stuff out there is also crippled with no HDMI or equal interface to enable full encryption end to end verification and when they finally demand that a bunch of people are not going to be happy when their HD stuff just plays SD only since it can’t do the security handshakes.
2:49 pm
As steveegg says, it should be pretty easy to fix your screen. Just look in your manual – probably under something like “Settings” and then under “Picture” or “Screen”. It’ll give you a menu to toggle thru. It’s not worth $30, much less $300, unless you’re one of those folks who has an emotional disassembly if the phrase “User’s Manual” is uttered.
9:12 am
Rick, if you’re running Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, be sure to give Windows Media Center a try on your HDTV. It has a very comfortable ‘10-foot UI’, lets you navigate through an play your digital pix, videos, and music, and brings you news, entertainment, and information via its Online Media menu. WMC also includes IPTV (Internet TV) in the TV + Movies menu, and you can add HD-quality IPTV by subscribing to TVTonic (it’s free) (www.tvtonic.com)
You can connect your laptop to your HDTV via VGA, DVI, or HDMI, depending on the video support your laptop includes.
Another source for HDTV IPTV, Adobe Media Player, can run on Windows Vista, XP, or MacOS (www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer).
Have fun!
8:29 pm
Not the Geek Squad! Check out consumerist.com – lots of stories about Geek Squad ripoffs on HDTV tuning.
Check out your manual – chances are there’s a setting to show you a non-stretched out picture. My Panasonic even has a setting that leaves the (SD) picture alone in the middle with extra stretching on the edges that looks pretty good. (because you pay more attention to the middle of the picture, the side distortions aren’t so noticeable)
We’ve got a setting like that called “panoramic” – it works very well – really sharpens up the picture.
Let me put it this way; I spent a lot of money to get a good TV and if there are things that are not in the manual that can help me get absolutely every cents worth of quality out of the gadget, then I am willing to spend a few hundred bucks to indulge myself. My understanding is that there are tech menus that are only available to service people. I am going to talk to Viszio next week to see if they have a similar service available (from my reading of the brochure that came with the set, they do). I really don’t care how does it just as long as I am satisfied that everything that can be done to improve the quality is being done.
ed.