THE LOGICAL STEPS TO A FULL SYSTEM UPGRADE

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Being male, one of the first logistic thoughts to come to mind when the move was decided was that I can’t take over my old electronics gear. It is time for an upgrade.

Now I know, if you are not male, you are saying to yourself ‘Why are they interconnected?’ And as they say, if you have to ask the question … Well, you just won’t understand the answer.

STEP 1: So I started doing a ton of research (which, I have to admit, is a very fun part of the acquisition) and began with the plasma versus LCD. After much reading, I came to the following conclusion:

 

    • In a darker room a plasma is superior due to picture quality, depth of colour (blacks look better) and maturity of technology. But, in a bright light, they look washed out (Even the wicked Pioneer I was eyeing). And the arrival of the first kick butt 1080P plasma (Panasonic) is very interesting. The downside being that there are frequent write ups on the gas leakage causing a decline in picture quality over time (I don’t know if this is myth or not – was unable to determine) and the constant write ups about burn in (This is where the screen keeps the ghost of an image after it is gone. For example, put up a video game that has a static picture along the bottom and it could burn that image into the screen). This was a bigger issue a few generations ago but the concern in the industry remains. That being said, one must love the new price points.
    • LCD DLP was coming along and is an interesting lower cost technology if you have the room (it is not quite flat screen, about 14" deep). But, it is only 2nd generation and the first generation was plagued with problems. Pass.
    • LCD offers a brighter picture (which some see as a bit artificial because of the higher contrast) but in the past, was plagued with ghosting (i.e. The image moves too fast for the TV, so you get a bit of ghosting). What is interesting is that just as I prepared for the purchase, the new Sharp Aquos (Seen as the leader in the market)

      came out with their new DLP that supports 1080P AND has a 120HZ refresh rate (2X old LCDs) which completely eliminates the ghosting issue. Furthermore, LCD does not suffer from gamer burn in. Last was the price drop, the 2 52" LCDs I was looking at started at $4200CDN but were down to the $3600 range by the time I bought. You have to love competition.

So after much thought, going between a Samsung which had a higher contrast rate but a lower refresh rate and the Sharp, I decided on the Sharp. It is sitting in a box, waiting to head over to the UK (A true delayed gratification test).

 

STEP 2: This lead me to my next logical challenge: the Sharp has HDMI and if you want to watch true 1080P on the XBOX 360 HD DVD drive (Which I do, because I also bought the new BBC Blue Planet DVD), then you have to hook it up via the monitor (VGA) input cable or get a new XBOX 360 Elite and use HDMI. Of course the logical approach is an upgrade so off to search for a XBOX 360 Elite (they are sold out everywhere). I found one at a Blockbuster in Alliston.

STEP 3: Which lead to another problem. I also bought a multi region HDMI DVD player, I was going to quickly run out of HDMI slots! Plus, I would rather run everything through my receiver to make it simple with the Harmony remote. What to do? Upgrade the receiver to one that does HDMI switching and will convert a component signal to the HDMI cable. Now this is a tricky one, there are units that have HDMI switching but not all of them will allow you to take the component signal and ship it to the system via HDMI. So, I had the Future Shop guys plug in receivers and prove that it

works. Interestingly enough, the first 2 that they tried which they thought would work, did not. I landed on the Harmon Kardon 247. Can you imagine if I would have just trusted them, boxed it, shipped it to the UK, opened it up and it did not work? Strike one for taking the tie to make them prove it!

STEP 4: Realizing that a shiny new receiver really needs friends and our new townhouse is not like our current home where I have monster Infinity speakers that can break the windows, thanks to the room, it was clear that I needed to conserve space. And for that task, there is only one choice, a nice set of Bose speakers.

Interestingly enough, the toughest thing was trying to get a straight answer on whether the TV would work in Britain due to the PAL/NTSC difference in standards. Thank goodness that I have TV guys on my team and that Sky has a HDMI set top box.

Now, it all sits in a container, waiting for me. Logical right? 

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