A Dork with a Large Budget

With great power comes great responsibility ...

Over the last 18 months or so, I've made it my mission to create a full cinematic experience at my house. I've put together a pretty decent collection of electronics that really immerse you in the experience, whether from HD TV, HD-DVDs or the pretty picture from my Xbox 360. I started with the cornerstone of a good system, the TV. I picked up a 65" Mitsubishi HD TV from Sears. Junior helped me get it home and I've had some help moving it a few times since then. Now its sitting on top of a lovely stand in my loft.




The main reason I got the TV was to hook up my Xbox 360 and see all the pretty colors. I've picked up about 2 dozen games along with the HD-DVD add on that allows me to watch movies in high def also.

Until recently, I had DirecTV. I'm sure you've seen the ads that list over 100 HD channels available to subscribers with more coming all the time. The problem is the HD DVR, which is still $300 to upgrade to. I cancelled my DirecTV and switched to Insight cable. I'm paying the same amount for cable and internet as I was for satellite and internet, but I have 2 cable boxes that will pick up HD channels. The HD lineup is much smaller, but satellite had a lot of channels that I would not watch whether they were in HD or not. Insight has the local channels (except for the CW), ESPN and ESPN2 as well as NFL Network and TBS (starting Dec. 18th) in HD. The only HD channels I can think of that I would want from DirecTV are USA, SciFi, Comedy Central and Cartoon Network. DirecTV doesn't offer local channels in HD in this area, though. It cost me about $25 for installation on top of the monthly service, but its well worth it.

I recently picked up a receiver and front tower speakers. The receiver allows me to send all my inputs into it and then outputs everything to the TV via a single HDMI connection. The 2 cable boxes and the 360 display in 1080 with the non-HD channels and DVD/VCR combo showing up in 480. I don't really watch much that not in HD since I got the receiver. Most shows that are not in HD, I tape (on an actual video tape) and watch downstairs. I've really enjoyed watching the new TV season in HD and kicking up the speakers for Transformers and Knocked Up to name a couple of movies that I've watched lately.

The culmination of over a year's worth of work.