Wanted: Recommendations on 32″ LCD HDTV

We’re moving into a new house this weekend and we’re pondering an upgrade to a wall-mountable, LCD, HDTV, 16:9, something reasonable like 32″, and somewhere south of $1500.

If possible, I’d like something with an HD-tuner already built-in.

Any thoughts?

Here’s what I’ve found thus far that looks promising:

Jen and I stopped by the Roseville Circuit City to take a look at some of these. Justin (Senior Sales Something) walked us through HDTV technology, wall-mounting techniques, over-the-air antennas, even how to connect our Tivo. Rock on.

Even showed us this Magnavox 32″ HDTV that we quite liked. Though it’s his least favorite.

UPDATE 02 May 2006:
We picked up the Magnavox last night. We’ve very happy with it. Though, I’m far less happy with Tivo right now for two reasons:

  1. Tivo freaked out because it couldn’t call home and I’m pretty sure we lost everything in our queue. Though, we won’t find out until we get DSL installed later in the week.
  2. Tivo doesn’t see the .# channels (i.e. 11.1, 17.5) that our HDTV can receive. Meaning, we’re stuck with the standard definition resolution for Tivo recordings. So, Tivo went from very useful to nearly useless in 48 hrs.

UPDATE 12 May 2006:
The Digital Tuner on the Magnavox died after just a couple days. We brought it back to Circuit City and swapped it out for another one. Fantastic experience. When I mentioned the problem to the sales guy, he replied, “That’s not uncommon.”

Podcasting is Still Underestimated.

Jim Cuene asks:

[Is podcasting the] Next shiny new object or real game changer?

It all depends on the game in question – and how long the game is (the future takes a while).

For existing ad-supported broadcast radio – yes. The game is over.

Case in point – this weekend we drove 6 hrs listening to podcasts through the car stereo. Some Croncast, some BBC Naked Scientist, some Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, some On The Media.

A year ago, we may have been lucky to listen to 2 of those programs during that drive. Today, these are the most “main stream programming” in my podcast backlog.

For the geographically-specific radio broadcaster to survive – they need to offer something the portable mp3 players can’t: Hyper-local and hyper-timely programming.

In addition, I don’t envy the marketing and customer acquisition teams for HD Radio, XM or Sirius satellite radio. Their job will only get more difficult as podcasting gets easier.

If the game is internet publishing – eh. Podcasting rounds out the capabilities. It’s now as easy to deliver audio, video, documents, and other files, as easy as it is to deliver text to a passionate, niche group of individual customers.

On a Blog, the Author is the Advertisement

It’s not a question of making money via an online publication (aka “blog”, “podcast”) directly or indirectly.

All money-making via distributing words, audio, or video is indirect. All of it.

Newspapers, magazine, radio, and television all make money indirectly – selling advertising space. Blog publishers like Doc Searls, Dave Winer, Kathy Sierra, Hugh MacLeod, Chuck Olsen, Kris Smith, and even Mark Cuban (and me) make money indirectly as well.

In their case (and mine), the blog is promotion and advertising for them and the other things they do. The things that bring in the bigger bucks.

UPDATE 28 April 2006:
This is what Jason Fried is talking about when he says, “It’s all the same.”

UPDATE 10 May 2006:
There’s something in here about standing on the wrong side of the binoculars.

NetGear Skype WiFi Phone Available for Pre-Order

I’ve been anxiously awaiting something like the NetGear Skype WiFi Phone. The potential is huge – if only to un-tether me from the laptop for podcast calls. This’d be great for taking calls around the house, out in the garage, or chilling in the backyard.

UPDATE 18 May 2006: Linksys just announced their WiFi Phone. Not specifically for Skype. Looks like any other SIP 2.0 protocol

Why Haven’t I Picked up the M-Audio MicroTrack Yet?

I’m putting together a strict list of requirements I’d like from a mobile podcast recording device:

  • 1/4″ TRS & XLR inputs
  • 1/8″ headphone out
  • Recording onto SD/MMC card
  • Big Red Record/Stop button (as the only control)
  • Rechargeable battery
  • That’s it. Nothing More.

Like my quest for a phone with a very specific and limited feature set, the key is what I’ve left out. In this case; a screen, ‘play’ button, and internal microphone are off the table.

While searching for a USB mixer with 4 XLR ins, I re-discovered the M-Audio MicroTrack. Looks like it’s the closest thing we’ve got to meeting my above requirements.

On the down side; it doesn’t have XLR input, records to CompactFlash not SD/MMC, and has more than 1 button.

On the up side; Steve Borsch gives the MicroTrack a great review

Amazing Race Season 9 – Episode 8

I’ve lost my passion for the Amazing Race.

Maybe it’s the time switch – from 8pm Tuesdays to 7pm Wednesdays. Dunno. It feels like the segments between the commercial breaks are so fast cutting that nothing happens – like I don’t have time to focus on what’s going on.

On the whole, the challenges this season don’t seem very challenging or interesting. Just there. Like the producers have run out of cleverness.

Then, as I finish writing that, they show uncover the Shuwa. That sounds real tasty. Yeah, I’ll dig for steamed lamb.

It’s real tough watching BJ & Tyler rise from the last to first then fall back to last. I wish the editing gave a more accurate sense of time passing. It’s easy when night falls, less so when it’s still day.

You gotta give Fran and Berry props for coming in first on this leg. (Un)fortunately, BJ & Tyler were non-philiminated.

Garrick’s Favorites

  • BJ & Tyler – #5
  • Ray & Yolanda – #3

Gillmor Gang & WSJ vs Hugh MacLeod & Dave Winer

Jason Calcanis says, “With three or four ad slots you’re gonna do a $3 to $10 RPM…So, if you can do 500,000 pages a month…you can make $1,500 to $5,000 a month.”

Gillmor Gang says Hugh MacLeod should sell his cartoons as an advertising-delivery channel.

“But journalists seem to have a problem getting their head around it. ‘Indirectly’ is too foreign to them. They’re too used to living in the “directly” universe.” – Hugh MacLeod

“A person with a blog is analogous to a source in the old publishing world. Sources don’t get paid directly, but we do get paid indirectly.” – Dave Winer

“Mark that on the calendar. I agree with Dave Winer.” – J Wynia