Milwaukee HDTV User Group

I caught this last night and enjoyed it a lot as a packer fan.  It was neat to hear Jennings in-game comments on what routes were open (and the hit TP gave him on his 1st TD pass).

But the best was Matthew's alerting the other players that the Steelers were going to run to his side on the forced fumble play.  Also the cat-and-mouse gaming that both sides were engaged in prior to the forced fumble - the Steelers talking about CM's tendencies and what to watch for vs CM and Green's discussion on changeing strategy.

I see that ESPN2 and the NFL Network are showing this 30 minute special throughtout the day.

Yup, the wife and I each received our postcards yesterday too.

The weekday 12-4 timeframe is a little disapointing, but hey, free is free.  Can't complain about that.

Steve

Quote from: lepooner38;54179I am not in the MIL local area, but have noticed a big difference between OTA and cable or sat (DN). 1080I is not the same, compression ruins the signal quality and it really shows when there is a reference point. In HOUSTON, there is a major difference between the quality of the local ABC and CBS/FOX/NBC affiliates......ABC at 720P and the rest at 1080i is very noticeable on OTA

Isn't FOX 720P as well?

Quote from: Ralph Kramden;54346Thanks everyone. We got a great deal on a HP on sale at Staples. The Intel Duo Core processor, 6 GB memory, 640 GB hard drive, Windows 7, and a 21.5" LCD 1080p monitor for $599. It's so fast now it's hard to believe. Our old one was so slow and outdated.

Since it has 6 GB of memory it's running the 64 bit version (x64) of Windows 7 (vs the 32 bit version).  When purchasing software or installing peripherals, you'll have to make sure that you select the 64 bit software/drivers.  While there is increasing support for 64 bit, it definitely is not 'mainstream' and some products still choke even though they claim to support x64.

Enjoy your new computer!

Thanks Scott-

I've seen mixed reviews with switches.  They either work flawlessly or not a all.  Guess I need to work with a reputable on-line retailer in the chance that the switch I choose doesn't work.

Appreciate the insight.

Steve

Thanks - I'll give them a try.

My AVR only has 2 HDMI ports and would like to add another component that only has HDMI out.  While I'd love to 'upgrade' the AVR, I'm pushing it with the new components already.  

Blue Jeans has this 2 in 1 out switch for $25.

It looks like the switch knows which input is active, but I can't tell.  I want to use this with a BD player and a HTPC.  

Here are my questions:

1) I'm assuming that when the HTPC is 'on' it will always send a signal to the switch, regardless if it is serving content or not.  Can this switch handle that, or do I need another type of switch?

2) Is there any problem with the HDCP handshake between the BD Player and AVR?

In a perfect world I'd like a switch that doesn't need to be toggled, but if I need to toggle it, I'd prefer one with an IR switch that works with a Harmony remote.

Any comments and suggestions are welcome as I've never used a switch.

Thanks for the tip.  The survey was pretty painless, especially for 2 free admission tickets.

Not trying to burst your buble, but everyone can get the HD Extra pack for free for 3 months (it includes Palladia, and 5 other channels).  After the first 3 months it's $4.99/month.  The nice part is it's easy to drop via their web site, and nicer yet that you'll probably get another free 3 monhts if you add it agian latter (not that I'd know that that )

And they do ROCK! :rock:

Quote from: jeffski;52877Well,it's been a day now with Directv and my wife and I love it! Took cable box back to TWC about 2 hrs ago with 0 regrets. Am keeping rr tho(2 meg speed) The selection on DTV is incredible as well as the quality. The ONLY drawback I see is the channels take longer to change but we can live with that. So far so good and are even getting used to looking @ dish mounted on pole in yard :eek:

A quick way to change channels is via 'quick tune'.  Push the up arrow when on any channel, it should be pretty self explanatory.

Quote from: oz;52587I'll wait for the $99 players - maybe by Christmas time?

They're already here!  Meijer had a $99 Curtis Mathes Blue-ray player for sale last week.  It's currently sold out

http://www.meijer.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=121255&N=0&navparm=0&keyword=curtis%20mathes%20blu-ray

I'm with Talos4 on upgrade fatigue.  I was an early HD adopter and am not not eager to jump on the BD bandwagon just yet.

Digital download of HD content has a ways to go, but it sure 'looks' like things are heading that direction.  Right now bandwidth is a limiting factor, but I remember trying to find 1.0 meg download speeds in the Milwaukee area in '00.  It wasn't that easy - today it's relatively commonplace.  Heck I can tether my Blackberry to my netbook and surf considerably faster than I could at almost any time in the '90's.

I've been with DirecTv since 2001, with a break between from 8/06 to  4/07 with TWC.  I switched to TWC as I had upgraded to an HDTV and wanted to see what cable had to offer.  At the time TWC had a somewhat comparable HD selection.

TWC cons that I experienced in 06/07:
- Horrible set top box
- Extreeeeeemly loooooooong wait times when calling customer service (over 75 minutes on hold before talking w/ someone was not uncommon)
- Intermittant snowy channels, and channels that were black at times (csr response was to reset stb, then schedule a service call 1-2 weeks latter).  I attribute this to living in an area w/ old cableing/hardware, so you may not have the same experience.
- SD pic quality left much to be desired

TWC pros:
- VOD was a decent experience, good selection, instant on
- CBS 58 in HD

DirecTv cons:
- CBS 58 not in HD, although there are two work arounds (OTA and quicktune)
- Rain fade during severe weather
- For the most part VOD is dependant on internet.  Not a problem if you have a home network, although there may be a delay before you are able to start watching some VOD programming before it buffers enough content.

DirecTv pros:
- Excellent set top box
- Ability to integrate OTA channels into the DirecTv guide and easily record OTA on the dvr
- Great HD selection
- No "snowy channels" compared to TWC (other than the occasional rain fade)
- DVR can be used to stream pic/music/video from computer to your display
- Whole house dvr will be available soon (assuming you have a home network)
- Picture quality is excellent (both SD and HD)
- 1080i and 1080p pay per view available (as well as SD ppv)

I love DirecTv and honestly gave TWC a chance to have my business.  For me, TWC failed miserably and I'll never go back.

Like most anything, you pay for what you get.  In this case you are getting a 'basic' install for free.  My last install was about 2 years ago and the guy was great, the prior install 8 years ago was pretty shoddy.

You can purchase and pre-run all of the cableing prior to the DTv installer arriving.  Without a doubt he'll be thrilled not to have to do it himself.

Two years ago we looked around for a set and settled on this one from Lowes:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productList&N=4294961544&Ne=4294967294&Ntk=i_products&Ntt=swingset

Started w/ the tower set, swing arm and slide.  That took a solid two days to assemble (me and my father-in-law, he helped for a day and a quarter).  It's all pre-cut cedar and very sturdy.  We bought the tunnel and rock climbing wall and stored it away for the next year as I was afraid that they would change models and I wouldn't be able to add on.  

It's a little more expensive than than the build it yourself kit that jreinardy has, but was better for our needs.  We like it because it's smaller than most of the play sets we saw.

Quote from: tywest;51273I obtained a old SD Tivo DVR for our bedroom. Currently we have an sd box in there and use it infrequently. I already have DVR service so that is not an issue.
What do I have to do, to switch over the two boxes? I tried putting in our access card however it says it is the wrong card.

I believe that you have to purchase a new access card from DirecTv.  It's roughly $20.  If they activate an old card that is was not issued to you, you would be liable for any unpaid purchases that are associated with the card.

Also, the card is married to the receiver IRD, so you cannot swap cards between receivers.