Haines His Way

I'm in the "getting close to" stage, of having a new plasma HDTV, as I have it ordered and I think I will get it around the first of next week.  It was only through the very kind help of a friend "in the business" that I can take my budget that was for about a 37" or 40" screen, and instead have been able to buy the Samsung 50" plasma.  I'm really looking forward to it, and have already upgraded my cable service to digital HD.

I'm going to do some work to a plain flat wall, so that the new screen is in a rather theatrical setting.  Here is a picture of the wall right now, before we make some modifications to it.......

And here is kind of the inspiration for a look for the "theatre wall" .....I have a pair of these fixtures in the TV room, and they were originally in a commercial building in Oakland, CA in the 30s.

This style won't surprise Dear BK, because he knows that I made my debut at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A.,....... not far from the Kiru restaurant!

DR Cillaliz - Is your original flight an early morning flight? or later in the day?  And is the weather supposed to be bad early or later in the day?

In any case... I'd say check in again on the weather forecast this afternoon, and decide from there.

Yeah, I'm thinking right now that I'll wait. It's close to being within what I'd be willing to pay, but a little outside the comfort zone.   They did tell me to check back to night and tomorrow morning to see if there is a weather waiver.   So I may just check tonight and go to Omaha in the morning to see if there's any change or if there is a waiver and I can get on the flight tomorrow.

Good moirning!

Beautiful here, but I've spent all morning watching a film and being on the phone discussing an acquaintance who unexpectly died on SUnday. Had no idea this had happened until this morning.

Eugene Ormandy conducting The Moldau - those who've read Kritzerland will know of the impact this recording had on me - sadly, still unavailable on CD as far as I know.  

Hmm...  I thought this rang a bell, and after a Google search, an e-mail to a friend, and a phone call*...

Have you seen this?

BMG Japan's Eugene Ormandy & The Philadelphia Orchestra Centenary Edition:  Volumes 1-15

See "Volume 6"

*A friend of mine who is a theatre director and part-time classical music reviewer for the Washington Post is a major admirer of Ormandy, and he has every recording - LPs and CDs and cassettes - in his library.  -And, trust me, it's quite the library!  ("Oh, you need a recording of Cosi fan tutte?  Well, let me loan you three of them for comparison's sake." -Out of the 28 that he has!).  In any case, I just gave him a call, and he tipped me off the above site.

Alas, they have a link to Tower Records Japan, so, I'm not sure if you can still get them from there - although TowerRecords.com (US) still seems to be active.  But you never know.

And here is kind of the inspiration for a look for the "theatre wall" .....I have a pair of these fixtures in the TV room, and they were originally in a commercial building in Oakland, CA in the 30s.

This style won't surprise Dear BK, because he knows that I made my debut at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A.,....... not far from the Kiru restaurant!

oooohh, I like "your fixtures" Mr.  Music Guy ( ) ......seriously, cool looking lighting.

And yes, I would love to go to Europe with you, Cason and whoever it was that you were going to put in a vat of butter... ... ...

DR JRand. DR Ron has comented on some of your points and let me do the same.


1. My DVD's using my "S" cable will be in HD if they have been manufactured that way.

You will not want to use an S-video cable with your DVD player. It's not the best resolution possible, and if you're going to go the HDTV route, you want to feed your TV the best signals possible. For most folks, that will be the component cables (three RCA coded red-blue-green on your DVD player and on the back of your new TV. Most old 4:3 TVs don't have the component jacks and that's why you were using s-video.


2. My cable runs through my VCR but I do not have HD cable anyway.  Do these TV's have an RCA connection so that I can connect my VCR?  

Yes, they do have numerous inputs. Before you buy any set, you need to ascertain what equipment you're going to hook up to the TV and which jacks each piece of your equipment will use. Make sure the TV you buy has MORE jacks than you need. You want to make sure that as technology advances, your TV will be able to handle it.

3. My 5.1 Surround is a separate device that runs from my VCR and my DVD player.

For most people who have what we call "home theater," this is the norm. You can choose to feed sound to your TV or not, but a new TV won't affect your present 5.1 surround set-up at all.

4. Can I watch HDTV from my local stations over the air, will I need an antenna?

You will be able to get HDTV over the air if your TV comes equipped with a ATSC tuner (that's the kind of tuner that picks up the digital high def signals over the air). Most new TVs comes with this built in now, but you have to be careful when you buy that it has this as some companies put out high def monitors which don't have the built in ATSC tuner.

Normal TV we have now requires an NSTC tuner, but all TVs that I know about have those. It's the ATSC (sometimes written as ASTC/QAM) that provides over-the-air high def.

Yes, you will need an antenna. If you live relatively near the towers that service your area (say 25 miles or so), indoor rabbit ears should do the job nicely. You don't need to by $100 HDTV indoor antennas that some places sell. $10 rabbit ears from Wal-Mart work just fine if you're within a reasonable distance of the towers. If not, you may need an outdoor antenna.

Hi DR Matt....... I have been told to use the new HDMI output and input connections, with an HDMI cable, for hooking up the best signal quality on my new set.  it also has the component jacks....

I liked THE PRESTIGE a lot, but it went from being a dramatic mystery of sorts into the realm of science fiction rather jarringly, and I liked it just a tiny bit less because of that. It seemed very realistic at the beginning, and if Nolan could have maintained the reality of the story (which was REALLY interesting), I would have thought it one of the year's best films. With the left turn it took about 3/4 of the way through, I couldn't embrace it totally enthusiastically.

Still, I bought it on Blu-ray because I admired both leading actors very much and knew it would look stunning in high def. Every review I've read of the Blu-ray version has said it's the new reference disc for the format.

The beauty of this wall and location Ron, is that there is a walk-in closet right behind it.  So everything will be cabled from the back, and the only thing that will show will be the screen, and the face plates of the cable receiver/DVR, and the combo VHS/DVD player-recorder-transfer dubber.  Just 2 neat little rectangles with all wiring (and speakers) hidden behind the wall.

M-o-o-n, that spells "fortuitous"!  I'm jealous.

Been listening to the new cast recording of Company and while I still find the concept ridiculous, it actually seems to work with the show, at least on CD.  Musically, it's not as dramatic as Sweeney Todd so you don't really miss that with this recording like you did with Sweeney.  However, I still think the concept is stupid

And here is kind of the inspiration for a look for the "theatre wall" .....I have a pair of these fixtures in the TV room, and they were originally in a commercial building in Oakland, CA in the 30s.

Do you have any more detail on the provenance of those fixtures?  They're beautiful!!!

Very Beautiful Fixture, Musicguy!

Well, I can get a decent price if I leave NYC at 6:00 AM on Sunday....so, I'm going to wait until tonight and see what the weather brings.  If it looks like it's really going to be bad, I'll bite the bullet, get an extra day in NYC and take the early flight home - otherwise, I'll wait and take my chances.  

I need to get some lunch and get back to that Japanese film for more study.

WBBL.