I watch a few movies too, on DVD, My 57" TV is about 20' from My computer desk, so cause of the size, I can watch tv easily and except for the tv needing new 150w lamps every once in a while, the tv has been very reliable, so it was worth the $1500 I spent on the tv initially, of the $1500 that the set cost Me, $400 was for shipping, the seller drove the tv here in person, He'd asked for $200 shipping originally and for Me to do a pickup, I doubled it and He delivered the tv in a van, straight from Arizona back in Oct 2006.

One day soon I might get a HDD Recorder, I'm looking at a
Taikwong Digital HDD 1080P HDTV HDMI Recorder to go with My TV and the DVR.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Scott, I haggle with AT and T every March and get the lowest advertised rate for my internet. I feel, I pay a bit much for my landline, but I have to have for friends and relatives to stay in touch.
Plus I had the same number for almost 35 years.
As to cable, we do nicely without it.

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

Scott, I haggle with AT and T every March and get the lowest advertised rate for my internet. I feel, I pay a bit much for my landline, but I have to have for friends and relatives to stay in touch.
Plus I had the same number for almost 35 years.
As to cable, we do nicely without it.

A way I deal with it is I discontinued long distance service on my land line, all can call in, I can call 800 numbers and retain 911 and directory listing. For long distance I use Magic Jack.

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Plus I had the same number for almost 35 years.

The same landline number that was assigned to my parents when they got married in 1962 now rings on my cell.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Definitely don't need a 'sound bar' here, or back in Devon. Good old CRT TVs still in use and to be honest, I prefer them, as per my monitors (LaCie Electron Blue 22 IV).

The TVs...well, last one we had here was a Toshiba 3787DB 37" (yep, the really big 4:3 format TV) and we've been using a 36" Toshiba Widescreen with all the standard Dolby Surround satellite speakers, for about 18 months. That sounds pretty damned good, but then in the older sets, there was room to put decent sized speakers in them. On my last trip down to Devon, I took down with me a 32" Philips Match-line (the one with the beautiful cabinet and stand) and yes, it did all go in my car, but it is quite a large car. I figured that it was about time Mum had something a bit better than the 27" Panasonic that my sister gave her last year. I got it for a silly price and it was in perfect condition. Crazy to think that when it was new, it was apparently around £1400! There again, this monitor was an obscene price when it was new and I can remember paying around £600 for a Samsung SyncMaster 17 GLSI 17" monitor in about 1997, so maybe not so bad for 2005 or so.

As one might imagine, I did struggle at the other end, to get the beast out of the car, but ingenuity won the day, thanks to a sack-truck that was there, some plastic conduit, some garden ties and some excellent Devon beer, before and after! I got it all connected to the new Freeview HD Box, the new DVD player and switched it on and in spite of having travelled 300 miles in the car (long story), it worked brilliantly on the Freeview. I stuck a Harry Potter DVD into the player and then the music started....I've never heard such a rich, full sound come out of anything with a screen attached to it, in my entire life. I was absolutely astonished; it sounded like the full orchestra was in the room and in the audio options, was a 5 band equaliser amongst many other things. I thought my Toshiba was good, but that Philips made it sound asthmatic! Of course, it does lots of other tricks, but a lady of 81, isn't one "for fiddling with things".

Plenty of life left in the old stuff, which applies to many of us here!

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Don't take life too seriously, as you'll never come out of it alive!

I currently have a iLo 32" TV, one of my computers has a TV tuner card installed and that allows it to do DVR duty.

Sound output is through a optical connection to a Sony 7.1 receiver.

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My TV sits on 2/3rds of a Gusdorf TV stand meant for a 27" TV, the upper part and the upper sections bolts were lost when I moved, so the TV sits on what's left and the TV stand acts like an isolation bearing for side to side ground movement, good enough for a 5.0 earthquake(there is 1 pair of long bolts in each corner holding this laminated stand together), a 5.0 earthquake hit this area a few years back, the TV just sat there, didn't tip over or anything. The stand houses My electronic devices for Internet and TV behind glass doors, plus behind the bottom doors My prerecorded VHS Tape collection, which one day I might convert to DVD-R Discs. Magnetic latches have been used here for years.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Internet prices in the US seem pretty steep. I'm with EE which gets me unlimited 17 meg broadband for just £2.50/month (yes, that's a two, the line rental is prepaid for the year at £130).
The media centre feeds into my 28" Sony flatscreen TV, small i know, but i only have a small living room so don't really want anything bigger. I was given it free by a former boss when he upgraded his telly.
Sound goes through a Sharp stereo system that's older than me, bought for a fiver in a jumble sale. Kicks out 80w per speaker, only stereo, but so is everything i watch.

Who needs to spend big money?

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Who needs to spend big money?

A movie fan.

My home theatre system is approx €5000 and worth every cent.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

Who needs to spend big money?

A movie fan.

My home theatre system is approx €5000 and worth every cent.

I'm not at home enough to warrant that. :)
Case in point, it's 6.30 pm, and i'm in my office at the university marking second year practical reports.
I might suggest a sound bar to my parents though, they've often complained that the sound on their fancy telly is below par. I think the problem is that although the tv is large, it's thin, so there's no room for proper resonance.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

$1500.00 57" Mitsubishi TV(includes $400 for delivery)
$   0.00 TWC DVR
$   ?.00 DVD player/VHS recorder(XMAS gift at one time)
$ 100.00 Gusdorf TV stand(it's a guess, as I've had this for about 20 years)

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

You can never upgrade to the best, someone always has something better down the road very soon.

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Cheers everybody
Life is short so don't sip
Beer speaks, people mumble

Wit 21C technology increasing an an exponential rate, there is never a "good" time to buy in. But by the time that all UK stations are transmitting in 4K my old HD set will need replacing anyway!

Chris I have to ask a question, back in my day you had to pay for a TV signal even though it wasn't on shore, is that true now?

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Cheers everybody
Life is short so don't sip
Beer speaks, people mumble

omstic listening bliss for me is a pair of Martin Audio F12, covering the mid and upper, with a pair of Hz International SB600 for the low end, a pair of QSC1802 amps, a Samson cross-over, a small Allen-Heath mixer and a pair of old Teac pro CD players.
I can sit back and hear a piccolo miss a breath, or can (having made sure all the neighbours are out) feel "The Ent" strut his stuff as if one is sitting a few feet in front of his bass cab in....

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Every household in the UK has to pay a TV licence for "receiving apparatus" which means that if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast. This includes the use of devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile phone or DVD/video recorder, that can pick up TV programs. That applies to a standard TV or a computer. A licence is currently £145.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/

Man that sucks> I'm thinking if it's in the air it's free. Maybe you can lobey to shoot it down....I know fat chance. Big buckes for the UK.

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Cheers everybody
Life is short so don't sip
Beer speaks, people mumble

Every household in the UK has to pay a TV licence for "receiving apparatus" which means that if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast. This includes the use of devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile phone or DVD/video recorder, that can pick up TV programs. That applies to a standard TV or a computer. A licence is currently £145.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/

Thankfully that tax (and that's all it really is no matter what the name) was dropped here about 45yrs ago. ;-)

Cheers.

Right now I'm still waiting for some new firmware for the 9 year old TV to show up in My Post Office box, why? I'm having some trouble with the tv and a cable card that plugs into the back of the 2006 Mitsubishi WD-57731 TV, right now I'm using a 1 way card, once a day I have to reset the tv(turning the tv off does not help), since before I do that drastic step, the TV won't change channels, the 2 way card is worse, the cable card menu would only partly show up and so that card can't be paired, yet, press enter for one of the screens to show up and nothing happens, so for the moment I wait. I think I should be getting the firmware on a 1394 card on or about February 12th, yes I did say 1394, My 57" TV doesn't have any usb ports.

Right now I'm waiting for FedEx to show up with a car part, a 1999 Ford Escort zx2 speedometer cluster with a low mileage tachometer with 45,599 miles on the odometer.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Right now I'm still waiting for some new firmware for the 9 year old TV to show up in My Post Office box, why? I'm having some trouble with the tv and a cable card that plugs into the back of the 2006 Mitsubishi WD-57731 TV, right now I'm using a 1 way card, once a day I have to reset the tv(turning the tv off does not help), since before I do that drastic step, the TV won't change channels, the 2 way card is worse, the cable card menu would only partly show up and so that card can't be paired, yet, press enter for one of the screens to show up and nothing happens, so for the moment I wait. I think I should be getting the firmware on a 1394 card on or about February 12th, yes I did say 1394, My 57" TV doesn't have any usb ports.

Fire wire ports. Long time no see. Waiting for the new USB Type-C ports.
USB Type-C

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Right now I'm still waiting for some new firmware for the 9 year old TV to show up in My Post Office box, why? I'm having some trouble with the tv and a cable card that plugs into the back of the 2006 Mitsubishi WD-57731 TV, right now I'm using a 1 way card, once a day I have to reset the tv(turning the tv off does not help), since before I do that drastic step, the TV won't change channels, the 2 way card is worse, the cable card menu would only partly show up and so that card can't be paired, yet, press enter for one of the screens to show up and nothing happens, so for the moment I wait. I think I should be getting the firmware on a 1394 card on or about February 12th, yes I did say 1394, My 57" TV doesn't have any usb ports.

Fire wire ports. Long time no see. Waiting for the new USB Type-C ports.
USB Type-C

Well short of the two hdmi ports or the cablecard slot, plus the component, s-video, rca and two coax inputs, one coax output, a DVI input and audio jacks for DVI, the two 1394 ports are all that is available, I doubt Mitsubishi ever made a usb upgrade for the TV, though that would have been nice. The tv even has split screen functionality.

I'm using both coax inputs, the component input and the CableCard slot, outside of the CableCard issue, I've had no trouble with My set.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I can't keep up with the johnson's I will run it until it doesn't work no more.
HDTV was a big enough blow to me.

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Cheers everybody
Life is short so don't sip
Beer speaks, people mumble