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The pursuit of Happiness

I still haven't bought into the ultra-popular Tivo revolution because my life is so tabulated right now that the thought of recording TV shows and watching at a later time seems cramping. Besides, aside from sports i only watch Heroes, Cold Case, and the occasional Standoff on Fox (at least in terms of regular TV). I dislike watching the games on replay (or delayed telecast) because although i may not know the outcome of the game it's still second hand and i don't like that. It would seem a waste of money (and space on my tv stand) to record two shows and maybe some National Geographic special features...

It seemed not to long ago that the idea of watching Sports and TV shows on High Definition (LCD or Plasma) was such far fetched, at least in the Poker Room (my Den) where i hang out most of the time with my dogs. We've had the Hi Def stuff for a couple of years in the Living Room but i hardly consider it mine since it's my pops hang out place. Ever since that fateful day when the cool Direct TV guy installed the HD satellite dish and the profound HD receiver i'd imagined my own, in my hang out place. I promised i'd have my own place in the much coveted Hi Def plateau because those Sundays mornings when i watched Football on HD i felt like i was borrowing time from a mythical place where i didn't belong. Something had to be done, someday...

Retrospectively i was to make that long awaited fateful trip to Best Buy soon after my Philippine trip. The tv funding was basically sitting in my bank account patiently awaiting my return. But as fate would have it, i would miss my flight home and be forced to use the TV fund for the privilege of a first class seat on the very next flight Home or wait another 10 days. While staying longer, in concept, wasn't such a bad thing (my sister did it...) my employer couldn't pay me to stay (i was out of vacation). This was a big bummer to say the least. Next up, right around the time i was ready again to pursue my Hi Def dream, i got into Mountain Bikes... This would delay the long anticipated Hi Def gratification yet again (due to the cost of the Bike...) but at least this time for Good reason. You see unlike the LCD which would undoubtedly keep me in-house, the Mountain Bike offered a sort of escape so it was impossible to suspend (at least for me). As a result i wasn't sure anymore when my TV desires would be appeased...

Of course all of that would change with one fell swoop in Best Buy. I did not actually intend to obtain such a large sized LCD nor spend such a large amount of money for it. You see i spent an enormous amount of time (which is very difficult in itself) trying to convince myself not to do precisely what i wound up doing... Of course Best Buy was not any help to my somewhat frugal plan because the first two relatively inexpensive LCD's of my choosing were conveniently not in stock... This was the reason why i had no choice but to inflate the budget a smidgen (I have no patience when it comes to these things you see. At least when i'm already in the store)... The trouble with that was i suddenly couldn't escape the thought of going with a really big TV (or at least BIG for the size of my Poker Room). Not too long ago i felt they were all too outrageously priced... You see the difference in price between the 37", 42", and 50" LCD's are not quite as great compared to the 23" and the 37", they don't exact increase exponentially the bigger you go. And that is without the benefit of 1080P (the future standard for HD broadcasting). The ostensible truth about these large LCD's (37-42 inches at least) is that they're affordable. Besides why get a 37' if a 40' is only a few hundred dollars away (1080P at that)... Before long i was choosing between a 40" Sharp and a Samsung... I was not walking out of Best Buy empty handed, not that night...

The rest of the week was spent shopping for components (Many many many stores... gotta love those two hour lunches. Ssshh!). Somehow while picking out my beautiful TV i'd convinced myself it wouldn't warrant any new Components whatsoever, but once i set it up (with the Help of Frank) and got a good look at it, upgrading everything became apparent... A new TV stand was an essential upgrade first of because the 13 year old Magnovox Poker Room TV (the very first TV we ever bought here in the US) sat on a soiled Microwave stand (old old TV so i didn't care much for dressing it up). The 40" LCD looked just awfully awkward on there (just looked wrong) like Michael Douglas being married to Catherine Zeta Jones haha. The DVD player although capable of outputting digital audio is so old it lacked the technology of progressive scanning and 1080P up-convert (HD player or Blu Ray should come later...). Hardly a good marriage between two components i thought. In fact i didn't even dare hook it up, i just bought a new one. I was a bit in denial in the case of the Digital Surround Sound System (the last one to be upgraded). I thought it sounded loud and crisp (although not window rattling loud...) and it was unless you had a keen ear for these things. It became apparent that the old system while perfectly sized for my bedroom was a wee bit small for the Poker Room especially with all Five windows open (including the door) once i popped in a DVD. Another awkward marriage i thought. Naturally the only way to remedy that inconsolable difference was a divorce and concurrently a new partner. This time a real good system, a hefty Digital Yamaha Surround Sound system that may not rattle the windows at full song but loud enough to scare my dogs and at least annoy the neighbors, not your overheat-prone All-In-One DVD/Amp/Receiver package. Besides the Big amp looks cooler on the TV stand...

The setup could use an Xbox 360 with the HD plug-in but i suspect that would have to wait for later on this year coz' i'm pretty Happy with it.

So don't invite me out anytime soon because right now i am pretty much Married to the System...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Friday, May 11, 2007