Twelve Black Code Monkeys

Just picked up a new Sony TV this weekend. I did some research on the net and decided that this would be a good set for us. It’s gotten great reviews, can do high-definition with an additional receiver, and is not so huge at 34 inches that it’s going to visually take over our entire living room. Oh, it’s widescreen too, so I can now look at DVD’s in their full aspect ratio. So far we don’t have it hooked to anything but a normal antennae and so the reception is pretty horrible, but we’ll be getting DirectTV installed soon. I have watched a couple of DVD’s on it, though, and I must say that it brings a whole new dimension to watching them - especially animated stuff like Monster’s Inc. or Finding Nemo. There is just so much textural detail that I never noticed even on a 27″ Sony with good (but standard) resolution.

Now, although I should know this stuff already, I am learning that I will need to calibrate the thing properly in order to get the best picture. It is hard to understand this when it already looks so amazing, and I suppose being slightly color-blind doesn’t help either! I have ordered the Avia Guide to Home Theater Home theater information and setup DVD which I read was the best for those not already serious home-theater geeks. It helps you calibrate all the stuff you need plus gives you a lot of good information about the concepts. The one thing that has me a little confused is whether I’ll need access to some special “service menu” that I have no idea how to get into. The TV menu has some basic settings like color, brightness, tint, color temp, etc., but I got the impression from a little bit of reading at The Home Theater Forum that there’s a whole lot more.

I’ll try to post follow-ups to this with more information as I get more educated about it. Oh yeah, I got it from Circuit City, but I think you can order it from Amazon.com and pick it up from a local Circuit City. I don’t know why you would do this though. The thing is seriously heavy, and very bulky to boot! It weighs in at 201 lbs, which, even if I were to share that with another person I could manage for maybe ten seconds at best! I thankfully had it delivered for an extra $45. The guys who delivered it were extremely curteous and also hooked the unit up to my dvd player and satellite receiver and actually preconfigured the tv and the dvd player. Not a bad deal for avoiding a hernia! I had them put it on my current Ikea TV hutch, or whatever you call it, but we are getting a new one from Storehouse that will match the bookcases that are right next to it in the living room, so I will have to move the damn thing, if only sliding it a couple of feet. But still something I’m not looking forward to!