Karl Strauss Lunch

A hard-earned afternoon beer at Karl Strauss.

Season 3 Troi

Diamond Select Toys came through and shipped my free (with $60 purchase) gift as promised. I ended up with the Season 3 Troi. It was packaged inside a padded envelope, which luckily provided enough protection as she was not damaged in the mail. I opened up the clear plastic wrapper inside and removed the figure so I could display her on my Star Trek shelf. The set of accessories were in a separate bag which I will not open otherwise the little pieces will be too easy to loose.

Red Dress Glory and Star Trek Figures

I've been wanting to get the Red Dress Glory for a while, but waited until these Star Trek figures were available so I could take advantage of Diamond Select Toys' special offer. Because I spent over $60 on Buffy/Angle or Star Trek figures, I should be receiving a free T-1 Chosen Buffy or the limited Season 3 Troi. When I bought the figures from their online store, there was no mention of the free figures, but hopefully one will show up in the mail soon.

Cables, Computers and Televisions

I'm glad it was a rainy weekend, because I feel less guilt about spending most of my time indoors working with my new electronic equipment. Yesterday, I didn't accomplish all I had hoped to. On Saturday I planned to go to Fry's and buy a HDMI cable (or two) and a DVI to HDMI converter (to connect my Mac to my HDTV). I couldn't find the converter I wanted, but did buy a 10 foot HDMI cable. HDMI is the interface used to connect new high definition devices together, such as a DVD player and an HDTV. It carries both the HD video signal as well as the audio. I wanted to see if the picture on my new Sony HDTV would look better if I connected it to the cable box using HDMI instead of component (RGB - Red - Green - Blue). Well, this experiment failed. The picture on my TV was all red and very "posterized", for you Photoshop fans out there. After reading some posts on various audio/video forums, I found out that the HDMI port on my cable HD-DVR box is not supported by the cable company. However, some people have gotten the port to work. So I don't know if the problem is my box, HDMI cable or TV. I won't know without doing some more experiments. I'll leave that for next weekend.

Earlier in the day yesterday, I was sweeping my garage and when I went to move my camping chair, I couldn't because a coaxial cable had been strung through it. How on Earth did this happen? There is a cable splitter in the corner of the garage with four cables going out, one of which was put through my chair and then through the wall which I share with my neighbor. No cable person has been in my garage recently. All I can guess is that someone accessed the splitter through a plate that sits on the outside wall of my garage. They must have pushed the cable through and somehow it ended up between the supports of my chair. Last year sometime someone painted various lines on the pavement that lead to this plate, so it must have some importance. I wasn't able to remove the coaxial cable by hand, so I'll try using a pair of pliers. Doing so, I'll probably disconnect someones cable TV for a few minutes. Hopefully not mine.

Today I continued my computer upgrade by installing my new graphics card. It wasn't easy, because to get to the card slot inside the computer you have to remove a ventilation tube, held in my five screws. Once I got the new card installed, I turned on the computer which beeped at me like R2D2 and then shut off. How rude! Then I tried powering on my computer again and this time it sounded like a fan was broken. So I opened up the case again and found a wire had fallen against the CPU fan. So I pushed it away and that fixed the problem. My computer booted and I was able to install the new graphics drivers. I really can't tell a difference in the picture quality on my Dell monitor, but I haven't tried playing any games yet, not that I have any. This graphics card is a medium end card made for gamers. High end cards go for up to $500! Low end cards are closer to $100. The BFG Tech Nvidia GeForce 7950 GT card has 512MB of GDDR3 video RAM and runs at a speed of 565Mhz. What do all those numbers mean? The card is fast.

Since I'm connecting the card to my monitor using the DVI port, I'm now able to use this monitor with my old computer (using the VGA port), which I moved to underneath the desk. This freed up room on my other computer desk once I removed the monitor and keyboard. So I moved my printer to that spot, making more room overall on my desks. Also, I then connected my printer to my network (it was connected to my computer via USB) and installed the necessary drivers to print from my PC using the network. This also allowed me to use the printer from my Mac Book Pro once I installed the printer software on it. Luckily I found the Macintosh installation disk, one that I never thought I'd need.

One more advantage to all this rearranging of equipment, I have more wall space. You know what that means? Room for more action figures! I had several Xanders and Buffys waiting to be displayed. However, if I decide to move soon, this will all be for nothing, as I'll need to pack everything away and start over in a new, hopefully bigger, home.

Late Christmas Present from Diamond Select Toys

Just like last year, I got an unexpected gift from Diamond Select Toys, only it was a little late this year. Last year it was a Holiday Willow. This year it is a Cylon Elf. The mini figure has quite a bit of detail, all the joints move (in fact it came apart at the waist) and it is wearing a green "elf" cap. The card was signed by the employees of the company. I just ordered more Buffy and Star Trek action figures from DSTs, and I'm supposed to get a free gift with that order too.

More Info on my HDTV

Well, if I look closely at an all black screen, I do see the famous "clouds" that so many Sony Bravia owners complain about. However, I don't plan on watching a black screen. Some of these Sony Bravia owners are getting desperate. They are trying things like loosening the screws on the back and laying the TV on its back for one hour and then tightening the screws, but not too much. Others are talking about a class-action lawsuit! Sony is basically saying that the panels are fine and that's just the way that it is. Someone posted a "confidential" message from Sony which was meant to be seen only by authorized repair people. The memo basically says some of these observed problems on Sony TVs are normal and Sony will not pay to have them fixed.

I find myself watching only high definition channels because they look so much better. That limits my choices on what to watch, but luckily, some of my favorite programs are broadcast in HD including Bones and American Idol. I had no idea what I was missing all these years. Unfortunately, shows that might look really good in HD like Battlestar Galactica are not in HD, except there is one HD channel that broadcasts some repeat episodes in HD. I wish the SciFi network had a full-time HD channel. Also, The Simpsons would be good in high def., but probably very, very expensive to make.

On an unrelated note, what a sad ending for Anna Nicole Smith. She led a very interesting life, one that I could never imagine.

The Empire Strikes Back, In HD

All I can say is - wow! I just watched the broadcast of The Empire Strikes Back on Cinamax HD. Not only was is in high definition, but the sound was Dolby Digital. Why did I wait so long to buy a HDTV? I must admit that I paused the movie several times to adjust the TV settings, but the end result was worth it. Once I buy a new DVD player, I have many DVDs I've been waiting to watch on a HDTV.

Sony Bravia KDL-46V25L1

I finally did it! I bought a HDTV. After over two years of looking, researching, pondering and waiting, I decided to buy the Sony Bravia KDL-46V25L1 from Costco. This model is basically the same as the Sony KDL-462500, but it is a special Costco model. So far I've only viewed standard definition channels because I do not have a high definition source yet. I'll be calling the cable company very soon. I held off buying a HDTV until I found the TV I liked at a good price. Yes, there was always something new and better coming out in six months, but once the 1080Ps hit the market I decided that it was time. I was looking for something between 45 and 50 inches, and I believe this 46 inch will work fine in my living room, or even a bigger room if I move. I considered many brands, including Samsung, Sharp and even Vizio. Each time I found myself comparing each to the Sony, because the Sony had the best picture. However, I had read that the Sony suffered from a "cloud" problem, where people saw discoloration around the screen like there were clouds, and also a problem with "back light bleeding" and a "mura" effect, whatever that was. So far I see none of these problems, but I have yet to view DVDs or a high definition source. So stay tuned for reviews.

Edit:

Now I have HD programming! I picked up a HD-DVR at the Time Warner office down the road, as did half the population of San Diego, judging by the long line was that I waited in. It took a while to get my new cable box activated, but now I have all the HD channels, including some that require an extra $9/month, using a three month free trial. Since these premium channels include ESPN/HD, I'll probably get this. Why is everything associated with ESPN so expensive? Anyways, my next step is to get a new DVD player. Not yet a HD-DVD or Blue Ray, but one that "up-converts" the signal to 1080P. A DVD player by Oppo is highly recommended. It will play all types of DVDs, plus the two DVD/Audio formats.

03/21/2007:

Now that I have been watching this TV for over a month, I am still amazed at what a good picture it has. However, I must admit that I do see the "clouding" problem, mostly on an all black screen, but it does not bother me. My only real complaint is how hard it is to adjust the colors. I have tried the custom settings and I have customized the standard setting. My custom setting seems very flat, but more natural. The adjusted standard setting looks better, but the colors don't seem correct. People's faces seem to take on the color of the background. I see this mostly on ESPN's Sportscenter. If the background is red, then their faces look red, and the announcers lips look overly pink, even the men's. Maybe it's the broadcast, maybe it's me. Since I have nothing to compare the picture to, I'll just assume the Sony TV is working fine.