auntiehill: Yeah, they're pretty funky. The Jango Fett has been restocked now, so I can link to a pic of that one too. I think CdG suits him... I haven't quite decided where I'm going to hang the three pics. I figure maybe one in the hall and a couple in the sitting room. I actually have more empty wall space in the kitchen, but they're not really kitchen sort of material. I went shopping today and picked up some nifty dark-green cords and a pair of tobacco suede chukka boots from Zegna, and a navy wool bowtie and cornflower blue pima cotton sweater from RL. With the boots and the sweater, I think part of me is wanting Spring to arrive!
I posted this in fan art, but sod it. Im in love with a hunk of plastic. My custom Enterprise F design for the Star Trek Online competition, made real by those charming dutch folks at shapeways.com
Nice. I'm contemplating a similar purchase. I saw a pretty cool Sony 40" 200Hz LCD today which is WLAN, HD and 3D-capable and I figure if I get that, it's also time to upgrade to a Blu-Ray/3D player and I'll need a new stand too. After negotiating a little the total cost is pretty similar whether I go through the Sony store or online at about £1-1.1k And I want a new VAIO laptop too, and found high-end one I liked at about £1.5k online (didn't try haggling in the store on that yet) So now I'm trying to convince myself whether to dump about £2.5k on new electricals or not. In a way, it's easier to buy it all in one go, and then forget about it again for at least 5-10 years, rather than buy them separately. The trouble is, my 9yr-old TV still works fine (but it's an old 36" CRT that weighs a ton, and can't handle HD or 3D), as does my old DVD player. And my 5yr-old VAIO still functions OK, though it's now slow to start-up and the WLAN switch is a bit temperamental these days. So with those still working, I feel it's indulgent to buy new gear. Damn my frugal nature.
Heh, I think I know what you're going through; my 27" 16:9-screen Philips CRT television still works just fine -I just can't make myself throw it away -- can't even give away anything that ancient any more And I've even saved up enough for the new flat TV I really really really want! A tube of Kalles Kaviar:
Exactly! I can afford it too; that's not the problem. It's just that I really HATE spending money when it's to replace a still functional product. It's worse when I think about how expensive my 36" 16:9 CRT was to buy, back in the day, and now it's worthless. I ddi find a way of getting rid of it though (the Sony salesman actually suggested it): here in the UK, the British Heart Foundation charity offers a free collection service for (working) old large electricals/appliances and they can reuse them. Plus, I reckon I could get them to provide a generous valuation, so I could file it as a donation on my taxes, and reclaim some of value. If there's a similar charity in your part of the world, that could be a solution.
^Did that, they don't want any analogue TVs -- I find it a bit strange as there are still many (used) game-thingies around and you can still get an analogue signal through your cable! But I saved 60 £ today! -by not purchasing a box to decode the digital cable signal to something my TV can receive -- but that just means I'm longing even more for the day when I actually do buy that modern-whatsmacallit-TV-machine.
That is strange, I agree. A basic digital receiver box is so cheap these days that it seems bizarre to decline an otherwise great TV. Hey, that's a point I didn't think of! I need to get a new digital TV box for the analogue set in my bedroom in preparation for when the analogue is turned off. But if I buy the new TV I mentioned above, I can then use the very good box currently used in the living room in the bedroom instead, saving me the cost of a new box. So that's effectively an extra £50+ knocked off the purchase price... add in the tax I might be able to reclaim on the old TV as a donation, and I might be able to get the total upgrade cost down to under £1k, which makes me feel a lot better about it! Hmm. Now I'm thinking I should go for it. I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow...
^Did I talk you into spending a lot of money? Funny thing: as I was reading that post of yours right now, Holdfast, I got the weekly mail from ALDI: 55" LED-TV at ~£1250 -- if I were in the market for a 16:9 I think I'd take a look at that one, alas I've got my eye on the Cinema 21:9 from Philips...
You're not going to talk me into spending an extra £250, that's for sure! Besides 55" is just insanely large. 40" is about right for my sitting room; I don't want it dominating the room. This is the Sony one I was looking at. The BR player I was looking at was this one. Any thoughts? Seems good to me, but I haven't compared TVs for years and years. The Philips you're looking at sounds awesome though.
Well, Sony is (just like Philips ) known for actually making good TVs - and from what I understand about the one you linked to; it's a great TV The thing is; I actually don't watch a lot of TV; it's mostly films I need a good monitor for... oh yeah, and Philips have the 'ambilight'-feature -which apparently is the best of it's kind out there (according to everything I've read/watched about it anyways). ETA: Do you have some LAN-server of sorts to hook up to the TV? -As mentioned (somewhere) above I purchased such a device recently --I'm kind of looking forward to being able to not have my PC being the hub of my home-entertainment...
I have wireless internet in the house, so was going to hook that up to the TV. From what I could understand from the salesman, the TV itself can access the internet through the router and display iPlayer, YouTube, etc, directly on screen through the Bravia Internet Video service and the software built into the TV. So no need for a server. Though if I get the new laptop I mentioned too, I could always use the old one as a server, I guess.
That's also how I read the specs you linked to. I purchased a "Synology DS411j" the other day; good for storing all kinds of media-files on -AND accessing them from any other (DLNA/UPnP-compliant (whatever that means )) device via LAN or W-LAN (or indeed: the internet). -which is why I'm in the process of loading a boatload of opticals onto the NAS -soon I won't even need the shelve-space my DVDs and whatnot take up!