Televisions as monitors: What are you using, and why?

[ddrueding]

Wow, 20-50K miles for an oil change?! Do you even check to see if it's low after that many miles?

I changed it as soon as the low oil light went on. It would go on first under hard cornering. I would change within a week of the light (temporarily) going on.

 

[ddrueding]

Sorry to hear that, Greg.

 

[Handruin]

Why do you let it go so long without an oil change? I could understand 10K miles, but 20-50K just seems like you want the car to die early.

 

[LunarMist]

Why do you let it go so long without an oil change? I could understand 10K miles, but 20-50K just seems like you want the car to die early.

Holy crap. Too much time on the PCs and not enough in the garage, eh?

 

[Stereodude]

Why do you let it go so long without an oil change? I could understand 10K miles, but 20-50K just seems like you want the car to die early.

Why take care of your stuff when you can just replace it when it fails? wneddnce:

 

[Stereodude]

Besides my mother passing at 10:30 Monday

That sucks. My condolences on your loss.

 

[ddrueding]

Why take care of your stuff when you can just replace it when it fails? wneddnce:

Close. I did take good care of the car for the first 100,000 miles, with all services and oil changes as prescribed. For the next 50,000, I did oil changes as specified, but skipped on the rest. Since then (considering I got my money out of it), I decided to put my money towards a new car instead.

 

[Santilli]

That sucks. My condolences on your loss.

thank you, ST and LM.

Just really started crying last night. Grief is not fun.

Triggered by watching an old episode of Magnum, about his grandfather dieing, and, the problems he has with his new stepfather. Almost EXACTLY the same problems I'm facing.

 

[blakerwry]

All the home consoles are objectionably loud to me, even the Wii. Based on my experience, I'll say PS3 > Xbox > Wii, but that's fairly subjective.

I'm at a point where even the noise from optical drive mechanisms annoys the crap out of me, but PS3s and Xboxes are both about as loud as a typical desktop PC with a stock CPU fan, which is not exactly what I'd call quiet and a long goddamned way from silent.

I just got a new slim 120GB PS3, it is quieter during gameplay than the wii - inaudible from where I'm sitting (~ 8-10 ft away).

The wii was audible during quiet moments in gameplay (like loading screens), due to the spinning disc. I haven't noticed this from the PS3, but I'm sure the PS3 will be make more noise during DVD/BD playback.

Up close, I prefer the wii's constant noise emissions to the subtle pulsating noise from the PS3 (I'm guessing this is caused by a speed reduced fan).

Both Xboxes are louder (from memory) than either the PS3 or the Wii. Incidentally, I have a PS2 slim, which is quiet until the CD actuator has to move - loading screens on the ps2 are louder than what I've heard from either the wii or the PS3.

A friend has an older PS3 and subjectively I would place it at twice the volume level. Overall, not silent, but the new PS3 is pretty quiet and not obtrusive during use.

 

[ddrueding]

My Wii cannot be heard at all, but it is sitting right next to my projector....

 

[Mercutio]

I have a 13U rack in my living room that's full of stuff that doesn't make any noise at all as long as the door is shut. Both my T60 and T61 are more audible than any desktop or rackmount machine I own, unless I've been playing games for a while and a video card is running its fan on high, I'm ripping a disc or a machine is rebooting.

The Wii is subjectively quite a bit louder than my Thinkpads. More than double, easily. Fortunately, I haven't had a reason to turn it on in ages.

I don't see why I'd want to bother with a PS3 to begin with. Sure, it has a BD-ROM in it, but I have several machines now with BD/HDDVD drives, faster CPUs and much better graphics hardware. What's the advantage?

 

[blakerwry]

I don't see why I'd want to bother with a PS3 to begin with. Sure, it has a BD-ROM in it, but I have several machines now with BD/HDDVD drives, faster CPUs and much better graphics hardware. What's the advantage?

My aging p4 2.8GHz shuttle HTPC was having problems playing the movies I was throwing at it and was in need of complete replacement. A ps3 was a nearly drop in replacement that would play my media, offer BD support, has solid HDMI compatibility and could play games. The PS3 was about half the price of a new system that could offer similar functionality.

 

[Mercutio]

The PS3 was about half the price of a new system that could offer similar functionality.

The PS3 also has limited playback support (no six-channel .flacs, for example, and I suspect the majority of h.264 container formats are also problematic) or support for regular web-based content. PS3 users on Fark.com were jizzing their pants a couple months ago over Netflix streaming, putting aside all the other ways that for-pay content could be delivered to an open system.

 

[Santilli]

Continuing saga of the TV. I want to try this with Bluray quality signals, so, I picked up a
Plextor PX-B310u external Bluray player, about 150 dollars, total. It comes with burning software, and PowerDVD 8, my main software interest. Figured I would get a full copy of DVD 8 for that price. WRONG. So far, the player only plays Bluray disks, and rather well.

Still, it kind of sucks not being able to use the software for the other players, and, not to be able to play DVD's without using another software package.

I did a complete clean install of XP, to see if the problems I was having with Nero were
the OS corrupted.

Now, back to watching the Alps by Greg MacGillvery.

 

[LunarMist]

Why don't you conect the Blu-ray directly to the TV? Isn't that their function? Why make everything so complicated?

 

[time]

It's surprising how one thing leads to another just by surfing the web, or in this case, Storage Forum. After Greg's success, I noticed this Panasonic 32" motion-processing IPS TV for < US$950.

Did you notice the IPS-Alpha bit? And yes, there's also a 37" version.

Of course, TV prices in Oz are way above prices in North America; the only snag is you may not even get this range.

I drooled over Panasonic motion-processing (100/120Hz) TVs a year ago. IMO, they were much better than the VIErA plasma offerings ...

 

[Pradeep]

The PS3 also has limited playback support (no six-channel .flacs, for example, and I suspect the majority of h.264 container formats are also problematic) or support for regular web-based content.
Netflix streaming looks like ass due to the heavy compression, certainly compared to netflix blu-ray. Even with a 5970 like dd, pc won't play games like uncharted 2, little big planet etc. Most 360 games eventually come out on pc so there is minimal reason for a 360.

 

[Mercutio]

The PS3 also has limited playback support (no six-channel .flacs, for example, and I suspect the majority of h.264 container formats are also problematic) or support for regular web-based content.
Netflix streaming looks like ass due to the heavy compression, certainly compared to netflix blu-ray. Even with a 5970 like dd, pc won't play games like uncharted 2, little big planet etc. Most 360 games eventually come out on pc so there is minimal reason for a 360.

1080p streaming works exactly nowhere right now, but content on demand is a real thing and those of us who have it generally like it.

I'm guessing the titles you're referring to are playstation games, in which case they're stuck in the sewer that is a closed system. If I really care, at some point they'll be emulated on a proper platform, just like every other closed gaming system.

 

[Pradeep]

PS3 plays content fine from a Linux box running ps3mediaserver. Gigabit ethernet is fine for performance. You can also copy content from network to ps3 hard drive. What do you mean by content on demand?

 

[Pradeep]

Time, we should see new tv announcements from panny next week.

 

[Pradeep]

Hmmm, Dell U2711 looks interesting, 27" 2560*1440 led backlit with dvi and hdmi. Need to wait for rev a02 so they can get the bugs out.

 

[udaman]

Hmmm, Dell U2711 looks interesting, 27" 2560*1440 led backlit with dvi and hdmi. Need to wait for rev a02 so they can get the bugs out.

Go into any Best Buy and take a look at the 27in iMac in comparison to the 21in iMac LED backlit screen...the 27in is *much* brighter/intense.

Same screen as the upcoming Dell, you can get it now, have been able to get it on the 27in iMac . But it's not a "Televisions as monitors" as the thread title specifies.

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1262001212

the 4k Sharp & JVC large screen monitors look *much* better I'm sure, and cost and arm and a leg...maybe a kidney too

 

[Santilli]

Why don't you conect the Blu-ray directly to the TV? Isn't that their function? Why make everything so complicated?

Panasonics' Bluray player was about 190 bucks at Costco.

I thought the Plextor would give me a full, functional copy of PowerDVD 8, which it didn't but, it does play Bluray, for 150 bucks, and the burner should work as well, and perhaps the burner software will work better then the PowerDVD.

Should have gone through the fine print, since the burner is not returnable for refund, according to newegg.com.

Still, it works....

 

[Pradeep]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1213454

Vizio announces a 72" LCD with 480 zones of local dimming LED backlighting. Also, a 21:9 58" display.

Choices, choices.

 

[ddrueding]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1213454

Vizio announces a 72" LCD with 480 zones of local dimming LED backlighting. Also, a 21:9 58" display.

Choices, choices.

Very neat. I'll get one of the 72" displays to replace a projector in one of the conference rooms as soon as it's out. Don't see an ETA?

 

[Pradeep]

August for $3500

 

[ddrueding]

If you own a 1080P display and a BluRay drive, you must watch the BBC "Planet Earth" series. It is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen on screen.

 

[Fushigi]

We opted for the Discovery Channel/US version of Planet Earth. The only difference is Sigourney Weaver narrates instead of that British guy. After listening to both versions, I prefer her voice to his. Odd thing is the BBC version is the only one I've ever seen in stores. You have to buy the US version from Discovery itself.

 

[blakerwry]

If you own a 1080P display and a BluRay drive, you must watch the BBC "Planet Earth" series. It is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen on screen.

It's on my netflix queue, with about a dozen or two other BD titles to test out the new Onkyo and PS3 combination with my Bravia.

 

[Handruin]

Which Onkyo did you get? I was eying the TX-SR707 during the holidays because amazon had a killer price, but I never pulled the trigger.

 

[blakerwry]

HT-RC160 as part of this system.

The 707 looks like a newer version of the 507 and 607 (what I was originally looking at), but the advantages over the HT-RC160 (extra pre-outs, svideo, front HDMI, and an additional coax audio) weren't worth the $300 price premium to me. Oh, and I really like the iPod dock mine came with.

I'm very happy with the set, but am only using it as a 5.1 setup (room didn't really lend itself well to 6.1/7.1). I plan to use zone 2 as part of a whole house audio setup sometime in the near future.

 

[Stereodude]

Which Onkyo did you get? I was eying the TX-SR707 during the holidays because amazon had a killer price, but I never pulled the trigger.

How much was it? My buddy bought one.

 

[Handruin]

I remember seeing it at Amazon for $499 and for $469 at 6ave.com. I called crutchfield to see if they would price match because I have some gift certificates I could have used but their best price was $660ish. The guy at crutchfield told me to buy it at amazon because it was a great price.

 

[Stereodude]

That's pretty inexpensive for the feature set. I would have gone further up the model line-up myself though. I typically go for the ~$1k receiver.

 

[Handruin]

I looked at the more expensive models (~$1000) and the only feature I found interesting (aside from a few more watts) was a CAT5 connection to the back of the receiver. My current home receiver is a 10 year old Yamaha 5.1 DTS. If I upgraded to this Onkyo, I'm making a decent jump in features and hopefully quality. I decided to wait until I move some day into a house or place where I can increase the volume. By then, this unit will either be a closeout or something newer will be available.

 

[MaxBurn]

Check into the Onkyo HT-RC180. Has all the HD audio options bluray can push. Also has the online updates, is THX Ultra2 Plus which meant nothing to me till I read this and it seemed like a really nice thing to have.
http://www.thx.com/technologies/loudness_plus.html
It also comes with a mic, you put the mic where you sit and it sets up the sound levels for you. Those two things are probably the singular most annoying things I was always fiddling with any previous 5.1 receiver. Only thing I think that one is missing is 5.1 analog in but you shouldn't need it as it supports every digital thing there is.

Slickdeals for $591, mine gets here monday.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1789604

 

[Mercutio]

Slickdeals for $591, mine gets here monday.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1789604

Argh.

I'm trying to hold off. I have a great Integra receiver now. I'm really trying to hold off on getting something with HDMI but oh that looks sweet.

 

[Stereodude]

I don't see how that one is very different from the 707. I'm eyeballing the Integra DHC-80.1 for my basement HT (should I ever actually start building it).

 

[Mercutio]

OK well the price they're showing me is $640, which is about what I can get it from Amazon without a discount code, so the link is bullshit.

 

[Stereodude]

You have to apply the coupon code...