Short story - I can’t find an HDTV that I like. Each model out there has both rave reviews and serious complaints. Also, I can’t trust CNET on their reviews as my sole source of trusted information anymore.

My Sony Wega CRT TV

Long story – In December 1999, I bought my first TV. I had started my first job out of college, but was still living at my parents’ place. As the story goes, I had seen the Sony Wega CRT TV at a PC Richard & Son in New Hyde Park, and was floored.  I loved it. It was heavy as hell (200 lbs.), but  it was a great picture for its time.

Fast forward to the past few years, and everyone I know has an HDTV in their house. I know one friend who hasn’t made the leap yet, but he’s not into HDTV. I desperately want an HDTV. A bigger, clearer picture. The glory of HD. Did I mention the bigger screen? What has primarily stopped me was the exorbitant prices (over $2000), and the fact that our Sony is working well after 10 years. Sony may have high-priced products (the so-called “Sony tax”), but the products work well. I was almost close to getting one back in 2005 after someone dropped our Sony during our move (I’m talking about you, Vijay.) However, Sears was able to fix a cracked board for just $200. Curses, foiled again.

The premium HDTVs are still at the $4000-5000 price point, but prices have come down significantly for the low end and middle ground TVs.  You can find very good HDTVs (with a good balance of features starting at the $1200. Why am I even explaining this? You probably have an HDTV already, so screw you. Let me move on to explaining my predicament.

My wife will tell you that I’m super particular about my technology. At a reasonable price, it has to have good features, multiple uses, and can scale up as I replace components within my Ipe ecosystem. For example, my home PC isn’t the fastest or greatest, but I can do work, edit movies, or play games. My PS3 can play games, but I can stream and watch Hulu’s TV shows and Netflix movies. I used my iPod Touch equally for listening to music and looking up facts on the Internet while sitting on the couch.

While I can’t afford every product, I continuously research to keep up on technology trends. One, I can be prepared for when I need to replace a product. Two, I can give advice when someone needs buying advice. A good example is my home theater A/V receiver. I’m not replacing it this year, but I’ve already got my eyes on a particular Yamaha among things will allow me to hook my iPod up and play music, and also supports HDMI (my current receiver does not.) CNET is my best friend, as I trust their reviews.

The good news is that we are finally in the market for an HDTV. Our Sony is still going strong (damn you, Sony), but we’re doing a little home redecorating.  Now, onto the problem at hand, and why I’m utterly perplexed, as recent developments tossed my plans out the window.  I’ve always been a big fan of plasma. CRT is dead. LCD has bad viewing angles. DLP is too big and the viewing angle is atrocious. Projectors wouldn’t work with our high ceilings. LCoS is dead, and LED is too expensive.

Plasma technology and my choices

Panasonic

Panasonic TC-P50V10

After Pioneer and Sony got out of the market for producing plasmas, Panasonic and Samsung are now the next best plasma manufacturers, but Panasonic is tops overall. Normally, I adhere to CNET reviews, since I trust their opinions. If they think it’s good, then it’s good.  If they can catch a problem, I might not have noticed initially myself, better still. While I’ve long desired the V10, and to a lesser degree the G10 model, Panasonic has been experiencing recent issues with their deep blacks turning grey over time. CNET never caught onto it, but the tens of thousands of people who have purchased Panasonic plasma sets have. I happened to have started looking at user reviews on multiple websites, and started to find this disturbing trend. Last week, CNET finally reported on the problem.

With that many customers having problem with all of their models, including new problems with image retention (IR), it doesn’t matter how much you spend. Panasonic has now acknowledged the problem, but for now, the entire Panasonic model line is suspect. Last year, when Panasonic announced the V10 at CES 2009, I was in love. How can anyone take a chance at this point?

Samsung PN50B860

Samsung

Samsung supposedly makes gorgeous plasmas, and their PN50B860 is thin and everyone who doesn’t have a problem will shout how beautiful and razor thin it is.  Notice that I said people who don’t have a problem. While perusing Amazon’s customer reviews, there is a tag for the word “buzz.” There is a significant portion of owners complaining about a their sets making a ridiculous buzzing noise. AVS Forum has multiple threads on it as well. While some people say they don’t hear a buzz (like a bad flourescent bulb), some say it can be ignored, but to many others keep returning or exchanging their sets. Samsung states it’s normal, but expensive televisions should not make an annoying buzz that people describe as a buzz that drives into your skull.

Who in their right mind would buy an expensive TV that may or may not make a buzzing noise that will drive you nuts? You may have a problem, but you may not. Uh, no thanks. I don’t win often at craps when I’m hustling in Newark on Saturday nights, and I doubt my luck is going to be better here.

LCD technology and my choices

Samsung

Samsung LN46B750

LCD? Really? I’m not a fan, only because LCD isn’t perfect. While plasmas are older technology and not as popular as LCDs. Sure they are bright and look good in bright rooms, but  people complain about the viewing angles, the motion blur when watching fast action movies or sports, and the lag when playing games.  BTW, did you know there is often a lag when playing videogames on some LCD sets? I didn’t know that.

Samsung makes a well-reviewed LCD called the LN46B750, in multiple sizes. It reviews well enough by sites and users, but some people complain primarily about the viewing angle. Specifically, people/guests in your house who sit off-center (more than 20 degrees from center) won’t enjoy it when the blacks wash out. Or if you play fast twitchy PS3/Xbox games on it, it’s going to lag. This is not encouraging.

Many other LCDs seem to have the same complaints. Good picture, but you may have problems playing games. Or sitting one or two spaces from direct center. Or the colors may be so so. It’s just “not as good as plasma.”

Are you kidding me? I’m not a big fan of LCD technology (except for with my home PC), but I guess it’s the nature of the beast.  I’ve spoken to other friends with LCD TVs, and they love them. I’m so confused.

These are my choices:

• Plasmas that look great initially, but the blacks get lighter and lighter after a  thousand hours?  Or you turn off the menu, and a ghost of the menu’s image is still displayed?
• TVs that drive you nuts with a buzz?
• LCDs with bad viewing angles? Laggy gameplay?

For a guy who finally knows what he wants, I now have no idea what I want. Strike that, I know what I want. I can’t find what I want.  I want a clear-cut winner, but everyone has a problem with every model out there. I feel like I’m in some sort of paralysis mode, since I can’t get a general consensus from the greater population. I’ve already been to Best Buy to see the G10, the V10, and the Samsung LCD. The G10 didn’t wow me, the V10 was nice, but hard to find and expensive. The Samsung LCD is nice, but most purchasers state that the viewing angle problem is not identifiable when you’re standing in the aisle, and when Best Buy has already jacked up the contrast and brightness. True enough, when I saw the Samsung LCD in person, the settings were off the charts. The Samsung plasma would be nice in person, but I doubt I would be able to hear anything out of the ordinary while in a big, noisy box store.

At this stage, I am leaning towards taking my chances with the Samsung LCD for a lower price and smaller screen. I figure that if I lower my investment, then it won’t so bad if I’m not happy later. Furthermore, we’re opting for the 46″ version (not the 50″), as it’s cheaper and probably better fits the size of our room. What I have learned so far is to not rely only on technology reviews by journalists. A great source of information is customer reviews, and I don’t mean just a few. Dig deeper into pages 5-10, and you’ll get a better, more complete, sense of people’s experiences. 

A final, funny anecdote to close this out. There’s a fellow out in the Bay area named P. Radakrishnan. I think he’s my long-lost twin brother. I don’t know what he looks like, but after reading his Amazon.com profile with his other reviews, he’s like a kindred soul. Appears to be a fellow technophile, Indian, and plays the same PS3 games. Weird. BTW, he ultimately returned his Samsung LN46B750 LCD TV, and bought a Panasonic G10 instead.

What is it about me that causes electonics to die a premature death? Do I radiate an aura that burns out circuit boards? I swear, some electonics will last for years, and yet others die ignominously. Is it in my mind, or do I have some useless Jubilee-type mutant power?

Our Uniden phones that are getting crappier each day.

Back in March 2008, just before Lily was born, we purchased new Uniden DECT 6.0 phones (4 of them.) We were now in a larger house, and needed more phones in more places, within arm’s reach.  The old Motorola phones used to work, until Josh threw one into a filled bathtub.  These Uniden phones were pretty good at the time. You could listen to messages from any phone, you could label each phone with a location, and then page someone in another room, and a good speakerphone to use when I’m working from home.

During the past 2 months, the usefulness of each phone is decreasing. It started with our master bedroom phone, and is spreading to the others. During various stages of a call, the phones lose their connection to the base unit. The phone call doesn’t disconnect, but you have to wait for the phone to initialize, find the base unit, and hit the call button again. Finally, you have to explain to someone where you went for 30 seconds. It’s not good. Why is this happening? Only our kitchen and living room phones are  operating properly at the moment. Very frustrating.

I’ve started researching new phones from Panasonic and other manufacturers, but I’m not impressed with what I’m finding. Isn’t it the year 2010? We have fiber optic coming into the house, and VOIP phones in our offices. Why aren’t there cool cordless home phones out there that everyone likes? Our cell phones are so advanced, but cordless phones are stuck in some sort of time warp of the early 2000’s.

The hunt goes on. If you have any recommendations, please leave a comment with your recommendations.

Joe Kittinger set the record for the highest jump in 1960, when he dropped from a helium balloon at an altitude of 31 kilometers.

I have never heard of Felix Baumgartner.  Have you? He’s apparently crazy. Crazy like a fox crazy? I’m not so sure. Mr. Felix Baumgartner plans to ride a pressurized capsule connected to a helium balloon, to the height of 36,575 kilometers (equivalent to 22 miles), and jump out. Can you imagine that? Attempting to go faster than sound, with nothing between you and the atmosphere, except a suit and mask?

Why the suit and mask? I read original the article over at New Scientist. In order to reach supersonic speeds in freefall, a diver has to start at a very high altitude of over 31 kilometers. At that altitude, without a pressurized suit and mask/helmet, the atmospheric pressure will cause the gases in your blood to boil out. That’s sick. What is the shock wave going to do to him?

I was wondering how this guy could afford all this. The hot helium balloon, the pressurized capsule, the practice flights, the wind tunnel test runs. Red Bull is sponsoring him. Geez, why am I not surprised?

I decided to look back to the one and only time that I went skydiving back on Aug 6 2004. For many, many years, I dreamed of going skydiving. Short of going into space, it was the ultimate type of event. After I did it, I felt good about it, but that was it for me. I got it out of my system. What is unexplainable is that I have no interest in doing it again. Strange, no? I didn’t have a bad experience, and I was only a little afraid while going up. I’m glad I finally did it.

Here’s the odd part. Still this day, I don’t know why I don’t feel a need to do it again. It was cool to do it, but freefall wasn’t this astounding experience. It was falling with the wind in your face. That’s probably what is holding me back. It was a cool thing to do, but it didn’t change my life. I’d do it again if Red Bull gave me money. Hell yeah!

Whoa. Geek alert. Calling all 80’s Transformers fans. There is a game. Xbox, PS3, and PC gamers (and fans) rejoice.

On IGN (bottom of page 5) this week, I stumbled upon a mention for a new game coming in 2010 called Transformers: War for Cybertron. Activision is publishing a third-person shooter based the Transformers property, but thank goodness, it ain’t the crap that Michael Bay put out. It’s kinda similar to the 80’s cartoon and comics, but less blocky. You can play as either Autobot or Decepticon faction, as they battle each other in the era before coming to Earth (if you follow the lore.)

The game trailer is available in SD and HD (full screen) on gametrailers.com. It’s a little hard to watch and focus in some parts, but I spotted Megatron, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Ratchet.  Even cooler? You also get to see Omega Supreme and Trypticon. Way cool. I hope the game doesn’t blow chunks.

I’ve been a bit MIA recently, but I’ve been working out of another office site for the past two weeks.  I’m currently riding the rails, and working in Jersey City, which is a first time for me. Sure, I lived in Jersey City in the past, but never worked there. I’m wrapping up week 2, with two more weeks to go.

It’s been an interesting change of pace:

1. I’m parking in New Brunswick, and riding the NJ Transit train to Newark Penn Station, and switching a few PATH trains to get to the office in Newport, a swanky area of Jersey City. I haven’t done the regular commute-to-work-a-la-train gig in many years, but it’s both tiresome and interesting. I do love the train, but I sometimes forget how spoiled I am that I get to drive to my regular office by car. I do like reading on the train, but rushing to catch it can be stressful at times. It does often result in good anecdotes!
2. Also, people are animals! I don’t remember people being so rude and pushy back in the day…… in 2005. Was it always like this? Maybe the Midtown Direct lines weren’t so crowded, but at least people were courteous. The folks riding the PATH and the Northeast Corridor will elbow and shove past you to make the train. Be nice, people. You don’t have to be jerks.
3. I like working in a new city. New faces, new places to eat, and Hoboken is close by for meeting with friends, and drinks. For example, last night, I went out for drinks with friends in Hoboken after work. It was swell.
4. Lovely views of the lower Manhattan skyline.
5. I’m learning a lot about the business side of the bank, and it’s phenomenal. Such complexity, and so many darn right smart people that I’ve never met before running the place.

I do miss being in my regular office, but this is a nice change.

I am shocked at how dumb network TV executives are, but I’m thinking the current senior management team at NBC should win some awards for myopia. We are all aware of the entire Jay Leno – Conan O’Brien fiasco, and there’s no need for me to elaborate.  Instead, I shall cite another example: Southland.

I missed Southland on NBC the first time around early last year. As I understand it, NBC aired the first season (7 episodes), then ordered additional episodes to kick off Season 2. Before season 2 premiered in October 2009, NBC cancelled Southland. TNT purchased the rights to 1st season, and the unaired episodes from the 2nd season. I watched the series pilot, and I was absolutely blown away by how good the show was. Gritty drama, tense action, great acting. Wow. Seriously blown away. Why would I want to watch the diminishing returns of former favorite Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which has become more boring to me every additional season?

Southland on TNT

At the current moment, TNT will air all of the episodes, and they’ve posted all episodes online for your consideration. They have not ordered new episodes, pending ratings. If you are looking for gritty police drama that will hook you for an hour and pull no punches, check out Southland. I think it’s excellent.

I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. I finished Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For weeks, I’ve been slugging away at each chapter of the game, painstakingly finding every treasure (thanks to the good folks at IGN and their game guides), and collecting achievements (trophies.)  Yesterday, I reached the last chapter, fought my way to the boss battle at the end. Again and again, I lost. Today, somehow, I finally beat him. I completed the last two action sequences, and was rewarded with a lengthy (and satisfying) cutscene movie that tied up the game very well.

Man, what a great game. Pulse-pounding action, great story, awesome visuals, and wonderful voice acting. I’ve embedded a short AP video (a la YouTube) where AP interviewed some of the key actors in the game. I can’t wait for the next installment (please tell me there will be another game) to see where the next adventure with these characters will go next.

Another movie in the can. Once the kids went to sleep on a quiet Friday night, we sat down to eat some Pappa John’s pizza, and watch our latest Netflix movie, Away We Go. It’s a 2009 Sam Mendes movie starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, with respected supporting actors/actresses like Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The premise of the story is that Krasinski and Rudolph are a couple who are about 6-months pregnant. Living near Krasinski’s character’s parents, they originally planned to have his family nearby to help. Turns out, the parents are soon moving to Belgium long term. Our intrepid couple heads out to visit various family and friends around the USA and Canada, in order to find a suitable home where suitable locale with family/friends that would be best for their future daughter. They end up travelling from place to place, finding these various people to be odd, or off their rocker, or whatever, unable to find the perfect spot.

I don’t think this was the best movie, per se. It was a decent rental. I liked Krasinkski and Rudolph in these roles, and I personally liked the characters they played. They didn’t have much, but they were two likeable people in love, surrounded by a sea of nutjobs. I could relate to them, even though they had “cardboard windows.” They were both approx 33 years old, deeply in love, and not exactly at the pinnacle of wealth and power. I’m 33, deeply in love with my wife, and not exactly rich and powerful. We don’t have the perfect life.  In the movie, they don’t have a particularly perfect life, and openly question, “Are we fuck-ups?” Hey, when you’re at this stage in your life, and you didn’t have the “perfect” life, you’d wonder if you were a fuck-up at times too.

In addition, the supporting actors/actresses establish those characters very well.  I will say that I could have done without the folksy, earnest soundtrack, which is starting to get cliched in some of these indie movies.

So final assessment — it’s a decent rental.

Away We Go (2009)

Last month, I started watching Men of a Certain Age, after I saw TNT running ads to promote their network lineup, including this show (see that, ABC? That’s how you promote your programming.)  So far, I’ve only missed the 2nd episode. The show features Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula as 40-something men in various phases of their lives. It follows the bonds that these three college friends have while dealing with the issues of middle age:

• Romano’s character is a neurotic family man with two kids, but his wife is divorcing him.
• Braugher’s character has a wife and kids, but is forced to work as a car salesman for his father’s dealership, in order to support the family.
• Bakula’s character is an actor and ladies man, but he struggles-and-despises the roles he’s getting, e.g Lifetime movies.

Men of a Certain Age (2009)

It’s a new show, so it hadn’t been getting stellar ratings, but I think it’s pretty decent. Good stories, and good acting. It’s interesting to watch these three guys deal with the crap in their lives, but still talk and bond with each other. In every episode, they meet up at a diner to talk about what’s going on. If my best friends lived nearby, I know I’d be doing the same thing. Out of all the characters, I identify the most with Andre Braugher’s Owen character. He’s a family man who hates working for his unforgiving father (and who constantly disrespects him), but needs to keep doing what he’s doing to take care of the family. I haven’t seen Braugher in much, but he’s a terrific actor.

The good news is that TNT renewed it today (January 14 2010) for a second season. Again, TNT must believe in letting a new show develop an audience (again, ABC, you suck.)

Last year, my wife introduced Joshua (and Lily via the trickle-down effect) to yoga for kids. Before I had even tried yoga myself, she bought this yoga-for-kids DVD set, featuring yoga instructor Marsha Wenig.  Joshua enjoys it a lot, and has his own yoga mat to along with my wife’s. Lily likes to participate too, but she’s basically hanging around.

Turns out that more parents are trying out yoga for the kids. According to CNN’s article, “Yoga helps even little ones channel energy, emotion“, hundreds of studios across country teach yoga to children. Wow, I had no idea.