Not a leading-edge consumer...
Jan. 7th, 2008 02:29 pmMy weekend was mostly spent, with the gracious and patient assistance of ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tenacious_snail, refinishing an old Eicher wall cabinet, buying legs and hardware at Ikea, then yesterday attacking the dust-and-clutter monster that was our TV and A/V equipment stand in our living room. It itself was second-hand, a pressed-wood castoff inherited from one of patgreene's friends when they moved in 1988. (Pat's dresser is from the same source, different issue.) And it is falling apart, doors missing, spaghetti cables hanging out... it was time to replace it. But I wanted something architecturally-compatible, that matched the kitchen finish and I didn't want to shell out $500 for an A/V center from Ikea. So... Les and I disassembled the old one, the kids sorted and matched DVDs and CDs with their cases, and the new furniture looks much cleaner. Albeit at 16" deep, my 20" deep 10-year-old amplifier sticks out.
Outfitting the new stand involved going back to HomeTech, a purveyor of home networks and automation in Cupertino (on DeAnza near Apple). I'd bought my comms cabinet, filters, cables, junction box and other pieces of hardware from them in 2001-02 when I was designing and installing the house data/video/phone networks. Hadn't been there since everything was up and running. But this time, I was apparently deemed hopelessly out of touch...
I have two analog CRT TVs, plus one that Les scavenged recently from Craigslist. These are all >10 years old, none have digital or HD capability. Around my house, TVs aren't watched much... mostly they are video game monitors for D&K, who also watch "Forensic Files" and occasional Food Network programs. Pat watches much the same thing on the set in her bedroom, plus the occasional football game. None of these require HD or digital, so I remain a basic-cable analog-only subscriber. I have our lone DVD player output modulated to an RF analog channel and added to the home video network, so that either set can watch DVDs from it.
Next year, US networks are ending their over-air analog broadcasts, going digital-only. I asked the HomeTech guys if/when there would be a box to let me convert cable digital channels to their 60-80 RF analog equivalents, so I wouldn't have to replace my existing TVs or add cable-company boxes to every set. They looked at me as though I really had come from Mars, rather than designing future equipment for Mars missions.
I am driven purely by minimizing costs -- I don't care about better-quality video, or adding DVRs or satellite video or a home entertainment data server (the latter are apparently standard now in mini-mansions). I just want the kids to be able to keep watching "Iron Chef America" without having to sink $2K into new home electronics this year... the HomeTech floor consultant said that I was in the "tiny trailing 1% edge of the market, so don't expect much."
tenacious_snail, refinishing an old Eicher wall cabinet, buying legs and hardware at Ikea, then yesterday attacking the dust-and-clutter monster that was our TV and A/V equipment stand in our living room. It itself was second-hand, a pressed-wood castoff inherited from one of patgreene's friends when they moved in 1988. (Pat's dresser is from the same source, different issue.) And it is falling apart, doors missing, spaghetti cables hanging out... it was time to replace it. But I wanted something architecturally-compatible, that matched the kitchen finish and I didn't want to shell out $500 for an A/V center from Ikea. So... Les and I disassembled the old one, the kids sorted and matched DVDs and CDs with their cases, and the new furniture looks much cleaner. Albeit at 16" deep, my 20" deep 10-year-old amplifier sticks out. Outfitting the new stand involved going back to HomeTech, a purveyor of home networks and automation in Cupertino (on DeAnza near Apple). I'd bought my comms cabinet, filters, cables, junction box and other pieces of hardware from them in 2001-02 when I was designing and installing the house data/video/phone networks. Hadn't been there since everything was up and running. But this time, I was apparently deemed hopelessly out of touch...
I have two analog CRT TVs, plus one that Les scavenged recently from Craigslist. These are all >10 years old, none have digital or HD capability. Around my house, TVs aren't watched much... mostly they are video game monitors for D&K, who also watch "Forensic Files" and occasional Food Network programs. Pat watches much the same thing on the set in her bedroom, plus the occasional football game. None of these require HD or digital, so I remain a basic-cable analog-only subscriber. I have our lone DVD player output modulated to an RF analog channel and added to the home video network, so that either set can watch DVDs from it.
Next year, US networks are ending their over-air analog broadcasts, going digital-only. I asked the HomeTech guys if/when there would be a box to let me convert cable digital channels to their 60-80 RF analog equivalents, so I wouldn't have to replace my existing TVs or add cable-company boxes to every set. They looked at me as though I really had come from Mars, rather than designing future equipment for Mars missions.
I am driven purely by minimizing costs -- I don't care about better-quality video, or adding DVRs or satellite video or a home entertainment data server (the latter are apparently standard now in mini-mansions). I just want the kids to be able to keep watching "Iron Chef America" without having to sink $2K into new home electronics this year... the HomeTech floor consultant said that I was in the "tiny trailing 1% edge of the market, so don't expect much."
