HDTV, DVTV, ESTVTD, WTFTV???

My last blog was Thursday. Today is Monday. I have not blogged during this time. Why?

Because my mind is lost, that's why.

On Thursday, we went to Best Buy -- home of the worst business practices since Shea Homes (you heard me) -- to get our brand spankin' new TV. Well, after all the hassle, it arrived Sunday morning. And just as I was in the middle of a 4-hour run of Castlevania on NES, too. :-)

But that's later in the blog. ;-)

Well, it took an hour to get it all hooked up and test out the components, which all went fine. Then, after a Mother's Day feast at the In-Laws', we came back and had a couple hours to get our living room unburied from all the wires, devices, and extra TV's!

After getting all put in place, and reflecting on things, I have the following comments:

* Best Buy needs to tell you that if yer gonna buy an HDTV, you'll probably want Comcast HD service.
* Best Buy needs to tell you that unless you do a whole lot of component revisiting, everything you see on your TV will be "pillarboxed."
* None of our components are ready to pump out HD. :-)
* I may need to get an XBox 360 after all.
* I need a digital audio component and some nice speakers to really enjoy this.

SO, I still have some errands to do, and a DDR party on Saturday to do it by!

For starters, we called up Comcast and HD will be setup at our house Friday morning.

Second, we needed to address audio. The internal speakers on the new TV were pretty lacking...which is understandable, since it's a flat screen and options are limited and if you're going to buy a freakin' 32" LCD, you PROBABLY have a decent audio solution already!

So, we hooked it up to our few-month-old stereo and it sounds great...but, we didn't buy the mother of all stereos with the idea of supporting wonderful sound...so, a longer-term solution will be a component source (surround sound perhaps? ooooh...)

The next big of distress is where to put our stereo. You see, it used to be on our bookshelf. But, there's something wildly psychologically distressing about having your TV screen and the audio speakers sitting 3 feet away from each other. :-)

So, I had to integrate the stereo in with the TV. Normally, this is very good. The stereo sits in the TV stand, and the speakers are on either side of the TV.

In reality, this is a logistical nightmare. For one thing, the stereo cannot be controlled by IR where it is now. Secondly, the speakers can't sit next to the TV on the stand...so I really want some bigger, floor-sitting speakers instead.

And I don't want to punk down too much money for all this. Craigslist? Craigslist??

Next, is the wirey MESS behind the entertainment unit. it's a NIGHTMARE. I need to rewire everything once I solve my stereo issues.

On top of that, today I pick up my display case, which we bought on Saturday, to showcase all our cool new retro Nintendo equipment and such. :-) And somehow, we have to fit that in the living room as well. YIKES!

So tonight, I expect 4 hours of furniture rearranging, and since Michele is still recovering from surgery, all she can do is watch and laugh.

...

OK OK, now that the stress is building up, I must cheer myself up. :-)

On Thursday night, then Friday afternoon, we received our NES and SNES systems! Whilst the NES was not as "mint" as the auction led on, the SNEs was indeed elite! Michele and I had a ball playing the old games, and I even took some time Sunday morning to clean out all the internals with rubbing alcohol, and the NES plays great!

...

Ah, now I have a lead on a component source. OK, I need to go. So much to do!