So the broken TV in the living room as a constant reminder finally got to me. I started doing research into LCD HDTVs in the $1000-$1500 range (not ever spending $4000 on a TV again) and wrote down prices that I could find online for the various recommended models, which were almost all Samsungs.<\/p>\n
I planned on going by Fry’s on the way home from work to get a visual sense of the televisions, because no amount of “off-axis vertical luminosity percentage” and “optimal viewing distance” and “black color” numbers on a webpage is every going to make up for actually seeing the televisions next to each other. I told myself though, if I saw a model there that was significantly less than what I saw online, I would get it.<\/p>\n
After getting there and finding that most of the models were indeed on sale, and looking at the LN4XA650 model (both the 40″ and 46″ version) and finding that I could hardly see the picture getting dimmer even when looking at the oddest of angles when a salesman walked up. (Technically he’d walked up the second I set foot in the department, as they are oft to do, but I shooed him away the first time.) The price on the LN40A650 was $50 cheaper than I’d found online, which was not enough to get me to jump in, when he said “you know, that’s on sale for $1199?” Evidently it was a leftover Black Friday special, and even though he didn’t mention it, the special ended today.<\/p>\n
So in one of the quickest decisions that probably made that guy’s day, I said I’d take it. It even fit nicely in my car. Sadly, it doesn’t quite fit in the room on the stand that matches the old TV, it’s a bit low and now the couch is a bit too far away, but the picture is amazing. I didn’t have 1080p before, and the difference from 1080i with a signal that uses it (and DirectTV does) is scary. I watched the DVRed episode of Heroes and the image looked too<\/i> real. It was creeping me out.<\/p>\n
So now I need to get a stand that’s a foot higher or so. And then get rid of the old TV, probably via a Craigslist post saying “free TV, if you can get it working, all you have to bother with is getting it out of my house.”<\/p>\n
So, the real justification in my head for getting a TV? I need to DDR more. Changing my diet wasn’t enough, I’m still not losing any weight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So the broken TV in the living room as a constant reminder finally got to me. I started doing research into LCD HDTVs in the $1000-$1500 range (not ever spending $4000 on a TV again) and wrote down prices that I could find online for the various recommended models, which were almost all Samsungs. I … <\/p>\n