New to you...

New Stuff:

House:
Many/some of you know that we just bought a new pad. One of the cool things, which helps considering how many daunting things there are with regards to buying a new house and selling an old one, is that I get to buy a new TV. Also, because there is 6.1 surround sound in the ceiling of this house I need a new receiver to work that center rear speaker (for those of you that don’t know here is a break down of the different types of surround sound:

• 5.1 – 1 center speaker, 2 front speakers, 2 surround speakers – totaling 5 speakers and the .1 is the subwoofer.
• 6.1 – same as above but a center rear surround speaker
• 7.1 – same as above but with a left rear and a right rear
• 8.1 – same as above but with a left center and a right center

Receiver Specifics:
So this being said here is the receiver I will be getting from Harman Kardon. It is great since it is a) cheap, b) great reviews, and c) has multiple optical audio ins and the necessary surround abilities.

TV Time:
So we currently have a 57” rear projection HD Television which is in a word, great (anyone know someone that wants to buy it). Since this house will require us to place a TV on the wall above the fireplace we are going to have to get a plasma (or other flat panel) TV. Here is my rant on people buying plasma or other TVs in this day and age…. If you buy a TV that only displays 720p you are wasting your money, if you buy a TV that displays 1080p at this point you are wasting your money. Here is why… While many consider EDTV (720p) to be close enough to HD that you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference (and I am sure I cannot) it still seems like a waste when spending $1500 plus on a set not to throw another 10% or so into the TV to get the full HD output. This being said I am a hypocrite because for a premium of about 20-30% one can buy a TV that will output in 1080p which is the highest output available. The thing about 1080p is that there is a grand total of ZERO output in 1080p today. Blu-ray DVD will be 1080p and some TV stuff in 6 months will be but otherwise there isn’t any.

Okay that is it for my soapbox. Here is the TV I am getting from Pioneer. I have calls into all the Magnolia Hi/Fi stores in the area so that when an open box comes in they will call me and I will get my TV (they of course will also do the install). Pioneer has done something really quite brilliant where they have a receiver box that sits in the case with all the AV equipment and has 2 HDMI inputs, 2 coax inputs, 2 component inputs, 2 firewire inputs and other standard video inputs allowing you to not have to run tons of cables through the wall. It also manages the PIP for you even with HD feeds. Just seems like good tech to me is all.

So there you go. Drucker’s new stuff, well it will be new when I actually am allowed to buy it.