Howdy folks!

My 60" Phillips HD finally broke. I was not as happy as I thought I would be. I guess the recession has effected my mood, if not my purchasing power.

Anyways, looked around at what's available (I have not been following TV stuff the past few years) and picked up a 50" plasma for $750! I remember when a TV like this would have been $5k! LOL

I'll post some pics of the new set-up later.

Still need a couple HDMI cables. It appears this place has become more tolerant of boutique wire aficionados?

I'm thinking of getting those $3 HDMI cables from the workers' paradise that is China. What do you think?

MARK! Where have you been!?!?!

I don't think you can really get American made cables, so just go ahead and buy the ones from Monoprice.

Is that plasma 1080p?

Great surprise to hear from you!

I found this in a recent magazine:

Three people (on average) are harmed in the production of the typical HDMI cable in a typical Chinese factory. Since factory owners get government kickbacks per injury as part of their overpopulation initiative, any company that chooses to use Chinese factories with bad worker safety records has a competitive advantage over those who do not.

Ok, yeah. I totally made that up.

But seriously, Mark, any of us are going to come off as hypocrites if we care more about the source of our digital interconnects than we care about the source of our televisions, halloween costumes, toys, shoes, shirts, etc...

Welcome to the world economy.

Monoprice.com or BlueJeans cable for your HDMI needs. if the length of run is short, just about any HDMI cable will work.

I think that BlueJeans Cable now have a 100% USA sourced and made HDMI cable, including the connectors. And they are not expensive, more than monoprice (isn't everything ? ) but still very affordable.

Thanks guys. I'll check out Monoprice (saw that using the search feature, but didn't know what it was).

Tom, the TV is 720p, but I don't have Blu-Ray, PS3, or any other use for 1080p at the moment.... I am enjoying HD cable sports now, though. Think I need 1080p capability?

And, more importantly, I've been enjoying some fine beers had at a very fine price. Been getting Affligem blond and Grimbergen dubbel at $7/sixer. Trois Pistoles at $3.49/750ml. Everybody's complaining about the rising cost of beer, but there's still deals around.

Howdy Mark.

What brand of TV did you buy?

With a 50" TV 1080P would be noticeably better PQ from closer watching distances like 4-8' away, if you are farther away than that you wouldn't see much bifference.

You would still enjoy Blu Ray or the higher def gaming consoles at 720P, it is much easier on the eyes and looks cleaner crisper than 480i/p, just like your TV box output is 1080i or 720P is just that much nicer to look at than standard definition 480i.

Hey, wid!

LG from Costco. New item they just got in. 4-09 mfg date. Assembled in Mexico.

Had to build the stand, remove the old TV and stand, disconnect the cables, hang the TV, reconnect,... I'm sure you're familiar with the routine. So I haven't had any time to look at it, but HD local news looked real good. I went with the plasma for the better HD sports viewing and the price for a screen that size was just too good to pass up.

I have a 50" RPTV and we sit between 10-12' away ( as you should with a screen that big or bigger). It is only a 720p but looks amazing ! There was a study done recently that said the majority of HDTV users sit too far away from their TVs to notice a difference between 720 and 1080p. You got a screaming deal at that price though for a 50".
I will be buying a 1080p projector next time around as the prices have dropped a lot and I have a 100" screen looking to go up to 120"

At 10-11 feet, viewing my screen you can notice a slight SDE with the 720. However if its just two of us watching and no other chairs are thrown in so others can watch, then you dont notice the SDE at all.

Oh yeah, that monoprice is just a few miles from my house so local pick-up is an option. Came to $6.74 for 2 cables (one purple, one red).

Nice call, fellas!!!!

Congrats. I'm still kicking myself for not jumping on the Kuro deal last month. It was a commercial version 50" for about $1300. I prefer the monitor type since I use the HT for sound anyways.

Ugh. I will find a Kuro before it goes the way of the dodo next year....

That's a nice TV ya got there Mark. I too went with a 720P plasma, for what it costs I couldn't resist.

Congrats on the new TV, Mark! And good to see you back on the boards again.

I went the same route and picked items up from Monoprice when I used to live in SoCal. Makes it an even better deal!

Mark, great to hear from you again. Nice buy on the LG(50PQ30?). As you probably have actually noticed, if anything, the tolerance for high priced cables is lower than ever with the availability of good quality/low priced stuff from places such as MonoPrice and the similarly priced Tartan line from Blue Jeans.

Dang, whenever I read the thread title I thought maybe somebody must have dug an old thread from the archives because we sure haven't seen the likes of you around these parts lately Mark ... good to see you again and congrats with the new digs.

I usually get all of the wiring needs from the liquor store for me and Monoprice.com for the electronics ... can't beat either place!

Very good, Rick!

Oh, Mark, tell me you didn't buy the purple cable! You didn't know?

Sounds like a good setup, Mark. I'm kinda pissed at you about the cheap delicious beer, though.

Ok, how many people did an autocomplete on the name when they saw bigw?

None of us oldtimers...

Welcome back, Mark!

Yeah, Fred; Mark Williams, formerly a prison guard who was referred to by the inmates as "Big Will"(among other terms).

I'm sure you will enjoy your 720p television just fine. However I must comment on the amazing attributes of today's 1080p tv's. I have a 1080p 65 inch Sharp Aquos that I use as my computer monitor. I recently installed a new video card that sends the picture from my computer by way of HDMI to my television so that I can set the screen resolution to full 1080p... the results are ASTOUNDING!!!! I had a bunch of pictures pulled up as thumbnails the other day and I got up off of the couch that sits 17 feet from the screen and walked all the way up and looked at the thumbnails from a few inches away. They were so crystal clear and detailed it blew me away, it was as if I'd stuck a regular picture on the screen... it was unreal!

Of course as others have said once you're a good 5 or 6 feet away you would probably never be able to tell the difference between a 720p picture and a 1080p one. At any rate, life is good bro!

Hey Mark-
I don't have anything to add to this discussion, other than: "Hey, Mark!"

LOL! I didn't do an autocomplete, but I DID do a double take to see if it was our old friend Mr. Wires. SON-OF-A-GUN! It turned out to be an even OLDER friend. Hiya Mark. It's good to see your screen name pop up again. There are too many who have faded away never to be heard from again (Big John, for example).

All the Big people are gone. BigWill, BigJohn....

We should note this when someone new joins the forums with a user name that starts with "Big".....

Whatever happened to BigWhoop?

Thanks, guys, it is nice to be remembered.

John, when I did a search here I remembered BJ cables being kinda pricey, if not full-on boutique style. (condolences on the state of UM f-ball, BTW. My Bruins are in even worse shape, I fear.)

Tom, I forgot to mention this delicious and affordable Belgian I found at Cost Plus:

http://40beersat40.blogspot.com/2008/03/abbaye-daulne-triple-brune-8.html

soft and estery, very satisfying, not cloying or over-done. very quaffable, but plenty of substance. I think I'm going back to today for more.

Micah, if money were not an issue (particularly with the wife) I would have gone at least 55" and 1080p. I suppose I could sell my ZX14, huh?

We sit 13' back so a 50" looks good, but it isn't overly large for the room. I wouldn't want to go any smaller.

Regardless, "House" looked really, really nice last night.

Thanks for the beer-tip, Mark.

The BlueJeans stuff is more expensive than Monoprice, but apparently is domestically-sourced and of impeccable quality. Plus, they're in Seattle, so we could work out some kind of outlandishly expensive personal delivery option or something.

It is impossible for Rick Neuheisel to bring lasting joy to ANY program.

Oh Yeah!!! Wanna bet on that???

Hey Mark - nice to see you show up again! Congrats on the TV.

There used to be a Yankees pitcher that Curt Gowdy called "Big Dick.......Tidrow".