forgotten_aria

Our new 47LG7600 arrived today. A few thoughts:

1) the magic motion remote is a bit annoying, especially since you can't really replace it with a universal remote. That being said, our IR universal remote from ages ago can turn it on and off and theoretically change channels, (but couldn't select inputs easily, though we might be able to fix that with a little more research.)

2) the glossy front is mirror like. I just don't understand why they moved away from the slightly matt finish that doesn't reflect everything in the room. we plan to move the TV up 6" and reduce how much of ourselves we can see

3) if you want 3d, LG 3d (which is passive, polarized glasses) is the way to go. I tried the shutter glasses (used by almost all other 3d TVs right now) in the store, and you can still "feel" the flickering (it's faster than you can see, but you just feel a little off kilter.) There is no ghosting that I can see, You still get the same frame rate (though I would assume lose half the resolution for each eye. How that ends up in the brain, I don't know. It was also WAY cool that the ps3 could tell we had a 3d TV, that the game demo had a 3d option and everything just got set the right way (with the ps3 asking.) Though I think that 3d is still gimicky.¹

4) the settings seem to change depending on the app and in the netflix app we can't get "expert 1" settings to come up, which means we can't tweak all the parameters. I'm not sure how much we'll need that, but why are the picture settings menu different depending on where you are? I see wanting different picture settings for different inputs and appliances, but not having universal over ride or even a universal UI is kind of off.

5) despite almost not buying this TV because the "TruMotion" (LG's anti-judder) turned on, it gave live action TV a kind of weird plastic feel and seemed to move the camera around to do some of it's processing. That and artifacts were sometimes horrendous, so we've turned it off. We might turn it on for our next Pixar movie, though.

I think we'll have to test it a little longer to know if we've completely solved the bad dark differentiation that the old TV had, but so far it seems much better and I love that it's quieter and is expected to use much less power. A little more usage and time to sell the old plasma. yay!

¹ Someone (my mom?) recently said that when color came out, people didn't really know how to use it well. They kept putting in appropriate splashes of color everywhere. And everyone remembers how bad colorization was. I feel like 3d is in this stage. The film makers don't know how to use it right yet. They know all the 2d tricks, like pulling focus to make effective cinematography, but they kind of just put in some weird thing and go "ooo, look, 3d" and then it's kind of ignorable for the rest of the time. Recently I found out that they were taking old movies (like dial M for murder) and making them 3d. They're doing the "colorization" again but with the 3d. In another 5-10 years, people will start using it effectively, until then, it's a toy, which feels weird coming from me who 3 years ago was buying 3d computer glasses and 3d monitors.

Netflix will now do streaming to a PS3 (or wii). You just have to ask them for a free disk. The quality is nice, though their selection of streaming is still very limited, but I'm happy because it lets me watch more things on the nice TV and sound system which has been mostly sitting idle since we cancalled our cable.

While flying to LA, I got to watch some BBC america. The chef from Hell's kitchen was on some different shows. To my surprise he was nice, friendly and cheerful. Apparently US TV execs are selecting for people yelling at other people. Is this what the public wants, or just what they think the public wants.

We've been enjoying True blood, even though it's very closely based to the orignal books. It's been so long since we read the orginal books that we mostly don't remember stuff. It seems like the show would be more fun if we didn't know some of the things going on, though. Anna Paquin (who played Rogue in the X-man movies) is an interesting Sookie. I really like how they're making the vampires out to be really kind of disturbing and alien socially, even Bill, who is trying his best to be likable to Sookie. It makes me realize just how cartoonish-evil buffy's vampires were. I don't like the fang placement or semi-random lengths, but hey, small pet peeve. I think the casting is pretty good in general and I really love Sookie's grandmother. I'm hoping they don't try to put in any more awkward humor in. We're only three episodes in (watching on netflix.)

for liking Manswers?

The stargate atlantis with Dave Foley, Bill nye (yes, the science guy) and Neil deGrasse Tyson get's a huge thumbs up for casting.

Ironically, the science babble was kind of bad.

Some of the lines, however, were complete awesome.

Pushing daisies season premier tonight! I need tto buy season one on DVD.

Another book series I read is being turned into a TV series. I'm really not sure how effective it will be, we'll have to see. But it's the Sookie books! (Charlaine Harris) It's also staring the actress who played rogue in the x-man movies, so that might be a draw for some people I know.

It's on HBO, so I won't get to see it first run, but on to the netflix queue to goes.

I'm still sad that lifetime dropped Blood Ties. I was so hopping some Canadian channel would pick it back up. The actors were too. And of course it was sad about Dresden too.