HDTV == HDTV

So I went to Brandsmart tonight and pulled the trigger on an LG 47" LCD HDTV. When compared to the Sharp Aquos 52" we were thinking about, it just had better "pop" on the blacks, no matter what the settings. Also figured that sitting 8-10' from the TV, the 47" would actually look better.

Took this thing home and plopped it right next to the 3 year old LCD Projection 50" Hitachi that I currently have. I was thinking that I'd get a big upgrade in black levels, sharpness, picture quality etc etc by going to a "new" LCD TV versus the LCD projection that I've had for a while now.

After hooking both of them up to the cable box and tinkering with some settings on both TV's (got the LG looking great with the recommended CNET settings and then set up the Hitachi to look like the LG), we realized that its the same damn picture. While there is a slight difference in the black levels, its definitely only slight and can be noticed when viewing dark scenes. Watching normal TV, or discovery HD as we were, its hardly damn noticable. Maybe with a Blu-Ray player we could see it, but on normal HDTV and then upscaled regular DVD, there is just no way to justify the purchase.

I guess in the end I saved myself some $$ as it looks like we're just going to keep this 50" Hitachi till it goes away, or until OLED's come down in price, cause it ain't worth it going to a 1080P LG LCD right now. Color me surprised.

Uwharrie!

On the way home on Sunday, we stopped by Uwharrie National Forest with a few friends, Jeff, Mike, and Dante. Never having been "really" 4 wheeling, I had no idea what to expect. On the way in we stopped by the main outpost, got some maps, aired down the tires, disconnected the swaybars, and took off up the mountain. Dante, having been there numerous times, led the way to the hardest trail, Daniel. I was definitely skeptical of the Jeep making it over all the obstacles and rocks, but it took it like a champ! We finally found the secret of wheeling a Jeep without lockers, left foot braking. Dragging your left foot on the brake while trying to go up a slippery rock/hill slows down the tire trying to spin, and lets grab instead of it just spinning like crazy. Also, it really is about the driving and not your equipment. Dante with his mostly stock, lockerless, 4 door ran through all the obstacles like they were a cobblestone road.

We decided to keep Zoey in the back of the Jeep instead of tying her up at the campsite, and despite the constant bouncing in the back of the Jeep, I think she had fun. During one of the rock crawls at Kodak rock, she decided she wanted to sit in the front seat. Then exactly at the worst possible time, she slipped and popped the Jeep into neutral. It was a little scary at the time, as I thought I broke something :) I took plenty of pics as it was a beautiful day. Thats not a polarizer filter, the sky really was that blue. I realized afterwards I took mostly pics of our Jeep and Jeffs. Dante with his superior 4 wheeling skillz was always up over the rocks and then walking back to help the rest of us, so I only got 1 pic of his Jeep.

View the pictures using Picasa instead

Halloween on Franklin Street

One of the reasons we went up to Raleigh was to hit up Franklin street for Halloween night. Having it on Friday should have meant a great turnout. Unfortunately, Chapel Hill got tired of being invaded by 80k people for that one night, so they put in a bunch of measures to bring the number of people way down. They basically discouraged any out of towners from showing up, by blocking parking everywhere and all side roads/neighborhoods. We met up with Cathy's friend Lee and her roomate and went anyways.

I dressed up as a NJ guido, complete with the spiked hair, headband, sweet glasses and double polos with popped collars. Cathy went as facebook. She ended up with a "fail" rating for the execution of the book on the head, as we forgot to measure for the fact that the headband she bought would expand once we put it on her head. Her shirt was great though, and we were able to write her status on her through the night. Lee was a drama queen, and her roommate went as Bristol Palin.

While there was still a decent turnout, it was nowhere as many people as in previous years. Also, the quality of costumes seemed to be down a bit. We did see some funny ones, and even though I got a littly drinky ;) I took some pictures. I'll post them up here shortly.