On February 17, 2009, all over-the-air televisions broadcasts in the United States will be digital only. This means your fancy in-car NTSC tuner, portable TV, etc. will be worthless junk.

I wonder how long before we can buy a 7″ portable TV/DVD player with a built-in ATSC tuner?

Okay, I posted earlier that I got a new 32″ LTV-32w6 (1366×768) high definition TV. Well, I had a few problems with it so I exchanged it. The replacement had the same issues. After a quick trip to AVSForum, I realized that others had the same issue. So back to the store it went. What do I put in place of it since the empty void in the bedroom seems kind of hard to watch?

A new 37″ 1080p display. Yep, 37 inches of 1920x1080p glory. I’m now officially a 1080p snob. In fact, I even have multiple 1080p inputs making me ready for the PS3 or other high definition sources. 1 HDMI, 2 DVI, 2 HD Components, 1 SV/CV — that’s a total of six inputs. Yee-haw. The DVR looks awesome at 1080i (using the TV’s internal deinterlacer), I’m even thinking of HBO-HD and STARZ-HD now.

I’m going to hook up the laptop soon and check it out, along with a full calibration to make sure the color and brightness are in-spec. I may also download some WMV-HD content for a quick peek @ 1080p to see how it looks. Am I stoked? You betcha!

FYI: You can get this TV for $1199 now, that’s an amazing deal for a 1080p monitor!

And if you can’t live with only 37 inches, the 42″ is only $1499 (albeit with a few quirks)!

I think I mentioned last year that the Sony Qualia 70″ SXRD (LCoS) display was going to be a big winner. Well, it was only available in select markets to the tune of over $10,000. This year, Sony is making it available as part of the Sony XBR line, something consumers may actually understand. I don’t know the details yet, but it seems like a pretty slick entry into the 1080p segment, albeit one that still uses a really bright bulb to pump the light engine.

Sony Press Release

Myself, I’m waiting for a pure LCD of 60-70″ to become available in the same price point. I can’t justify doing RPTV anymore after experiencing the pure image that LCD offers. But for many this could be a real good choice for picture size with real good picture quality. It’s certainly the best looking picture I’ve seen in this form factor. The article didn’t mention 1080p input, but with the PS3 launch this fall, you can bet on it for at least one of the HDMI ports.

While the title is short and sweet, I think it gets the point across. I picked up a 32-inch 1366×768 widescreen HDTV this past weekend. Sure, some of you are saying, “Bah, it’s not 1080p!” But I tell you what, it looks damn nice. Very damn nice. Pumped with a Cox (Motorola) dual-tuner HD DVR, the picture is stunning. The built-in OTA HD tuner is very sharp on PBS HD (how I missed you, Cox you suck for not carrying it yet). So far, I watched a CSI:Miami re-run (how those filtered, oversaturated colors glow in HD), a few sports games (including some NHL on a local network) and a couple of DVD movies. I must say, the picture and colors are absolutely stunning.

I’ve got the colors setup close to standard (6500K), but not perfect yet according to my colorimeter. I need to get the service manual to tweak it into perfect color bliss, since the AVSForum was zero help this time around. The brand is one you would not expect to look so good (meaning it is neither a Sony, Samsung, Panasonic or Sharp), but there are only so many companies that make panels and so far this one is very nice. Once calibrated, I’m expecting the reds to calm down a bit, but so far they look pretty good in the COLOR2 setting.

DVD looks good, not nearly as good as HD, but nice enough. I actually think my laptop looks better at close range for DVD, but that’s another story (1920×1200, nVidia decoder, TrueLife screen, Dolby Headphone, ‘nuf said). Perhaps it is my weak DVD player (Toshiba SD-3950, fully tweaked power supply, Burr-Brown custom audio section) that is the problem, it only has progressive out. I guess I’ll hook the laptop up to the panel via DVI/HDMI and see how movies look at that point.

The bottom of the panel is at about 6′ and lying in bed at about 3′ it’s a solid bright picture, no viewing angle problems that I’ve seen. It’s on the table stand for now, I may get a tilting wall mount later. The sound is decent, it even has a digital output for the DD5.1 audio section. I’m thinking about another set of DD headphones, but that is doubtful at this point considering the upcoming E500 from Shure.

I’m glad I bought the TV, it’s gorgeous and a nice upgrade for the bedroom. The living is still running a 9 year old 55″ SD unit, probably until it croaks. But after experiencing the powerful LCD picture @ 32″, I’m going to have to wait for the 65″ LCD units to come down in price because at this point, no other display technology comes close to LCD. Direct View FTW!

Oh, and for those dying to know, it’s a Westinghouse Digital LTV32-W6.

ABC started streaming episodes of popular shows on their web site today, in their entirety and with limited commercials. I must say, for free, this implementation gets my nod of approval. Now add more shows and get all the networks to follow suit!

ABC Streaming Site