Path to HDTV 

Step 4 - The Purchase

It's been about ten months since I last talked about HDTV. At the time I was originally planning to purchase, some issues came up (such as the baby!) that caused me to put the upgrade path on hold for awhile to sort out other issues.

No longer. The time to purchase has arrived! 

It was one of those inspired moments. I haven't thought about the set for several months, barely even glancing at advertisements for it in the Sunday paper. During a quiet Saturday at work, I was doing my usual browsing through the Home Theater Forum and took one of the rare plunges into the hardware section. Since I haven't been looking to upgrade for awhile now, I've avoided that area for the most part so I don't get tempted.

It seems that's a good policy. One of the first threads I see is about the Toshiba set I want being available at one of the online retailers again. My mind starts swirling. I surf a bit again and check out a few threads about the set to see if there are any new problems. I scan the mailing list over on egroups.com. Desire has welled up again.

After work, I get home and tell my wife that I've decided I want the set. No more putting it off. I want it. Her response? "We can go now if you want."

Is it any wonder I've married her?

An hour or so later, we're in the local Tweeter store. The set is on display. They have them in stock. Unfortunately the base wasn't in stock, so I have to wait a few weeks for that. The extended base, which is about 6 inches in height I believe, does bring it up a bit and also has a slot for a component. It'll be the perfect place for the Tivo since that piece doesn't have any buttons at all and works solely from the remote.

So now the set is ordered. A short wait for delivery (no delivery information available on weekends! Argh!). Within a week or so, the new set should be delivered and set up and then calibration begins!

Of course, calibration is something that will take weeks to do across the varying modes that you can select, but I'm looking forward to it. It's been ages since I last tweaked my current Toshiba 36" set since it's exactly where I want it for my viewing.

One of the things I'm most excited about in getting this set is being able to go back and rewatch a lot of things to see how much better they look. Especially many of the region 2 anime movies that I have that are anamorphically encoded. Memories will get a new life breathed into it, Wings of Honneamise, You're Under Arrest and even the Pokemon movie. FLCL, which looked simply stunning before, should look even better even though it's not anamorphic.

And many region 1 titles will get queued up again for comparisons sake. I'm particularly anxious to get Bubblegum Crisis 2040 played in it as well as Sol Bianca: The Legacy, Blue Submarine No. 6 and Cowboy Bebop. Each new reviewing could be a new discovery of just how good these discs can be.

How will this affect reviews? Honestly, I can't say until I get some of these things playing on it and to see the differences for myself. I'm definitely looking forward to it though!