CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[RogueChili]

No, not tube reflection!

In the endless struggle to achieve perfection we sometimes loose sight or maybe appreciation of the realities. Consumed by bits, scan rates, gamma and any other technical aspects of producing the perfect picture the actual appreciation for it diminishes. Well, here is a story that makes you think!

In a weak moment it was decided to take advantage of the current price wars and have HDTV service installed. Hmm..not sure who took advantage of whom? Anyway, your basic installation, run a wire from the street to the basement, connect a few magic boxes some cables and you’re good to go. So, here we are in the final steps, installing the HD box when I noticed the installer peering at the entrails of the 1292 stretched across the pool table. When I regained his attention he asked “Is that some old type of projector?” Yes I said, and after further examination he stated “I have been doing installations for 4 years and haven’t seen anything like this”. So I gave him the story as we continued with the installation. Now we have the box installed and connected to a TV verifying the system when he asked “Can you connect the projector to the HDBOX?” I must have sparked his curiosity when explaining its age and HD capabilities. So, the neck board was reinstalled, the projector connected and then it happened! Some strange dazed look as he stared at an almost life size image of Jonathan Papelbon firing a rocket over the edge of the plate. He was impressed and commented on the high quality of the picture and comparing it to movie theater quality. It started me thinking, for someone exposed to all the latest home display technologies to be impressed, as he was, certainly speaks well for our old CRT projectors! As for my moment of reflection, a welcomed evening of non-technical enjoyment and appreciation!

[Curt Palme]

Good story!

When I got started with CRTs on eBay back in 1999, digitals were more or less just hitting the shelves. I had a 9 PG, retubed (probably poorly back then!) with a DVDO line doubler and a cheapie Sanyo DVD player in my living room. I got lots of calls from people wanting an HT system, but all said they didn't want 'one of those old blurry things', they wanted a digital. Remember that was when digitals had a 200:1 contrast ratio, 600 lumens, and were about $10K.

My line was 'come over and see a CRT in action, and you can buy a digital if you don't like the image you see.

I lost exactly one sale, due to some wife not liking the size. Funny, she called me 5 years later, saying that they'd gone through 4 bulbs, had just bought the 5th at $350, and that it didn't solve the color bleeding. They sent the set to Panasonic who wrote it off (LCD panel defective) and started complaining about the digital 'quality'. All I could say to her is that's exactly why I didn't sell them, as I didn't want a customer like her being pissed at me for exactly that reason.

She didn't end up buying a CRT the second time around, but completely understood my point.

[Curt Palme]

Good story!

When I got started with CRTs on eBay back in 1999, digitals were more or less just hitting the shelves. I had a 9 PG, retubed (probably poorly back then!) with a DVDO line doubler and a cheapie Sanyo DVD player in my living room. I got lots of calls from people wanting an HT system, but all said they didn't want 'one of those old blurry things', they wanted a digital. Remember that was when digitals had a 200:1 contrast ratio, 600 lumens, and were about $10K.

My line was 'come over and see a CRT in action, and you can buy a digital if you don't like the image you see.

I lost exactly one sale, due to some wife not liking the size. Funny, she called me 5 years later, saying that they'd gone through 4 bulbs, had just bought the 5th at $350, and that it didn't solve the color bleeding. They sent the set to Panasonic who wrote it off (LCD panel defective) and started complaining about the digital 'quality'. All I could say to her is that's exactly why I didn't sell them, as I didn't want a customer like her being pissed at me for exactly that reason.

She didn't end up buying a CRT the second time around, but completely understood my point.

[Person99]

[kal]

[kal]

[dropzone7]

[speedyandre]

We don't have cable boxes installed here when we order a cable connection.
They just send the box and a manual, they only come if you ask for and pay for it of course

Last time when I sold my cdplayer the buyer wanted to listen to it.
I have a stereo setup in front of the screen and the surround audio is connected to it.
The first thing this buyer said when he came downstairs in my HT is 'what's that huge thing on the ceiling ????
Aren't you afraid that it comes down when you sit there?
I explained how the 1292 was mounted and that I could mount 2 more 1292's without getting worried
That man was completely impressed by the picture and it's size, he only knew how plasma's look like
I have hd cable too here but I only watch 'free' hd channels and upscaled sd and hd channels on satellite.

The funny thing was that I had to push a dozen of buttons on different remotes to get the 'tv' playing
After that I did the same thing using my Harmony 1000 remote with one push on the button.
That man was blown away but I don't think he wants to buy all this stuff too

André

[stefuel]

I had to kick the Fios guy out of my house so I could make it to a family party. I had ordered 2 boxes. One for the kids tv and one for mine. He did the kids one first then asked for the second location. I told him the garage. With a puzzled look on his face he asked " you watch HD TV in the garage" Nope, that's where the box is going, the TV is out in the back room. I walked him out to the back room where the kids were watching Shrek 2. Not a peep out of him for about 15 seconds and then "Holy $hit". He watched Shrek for about a half hour before I could pry him away to install the new box. I could see that something was bothering him so I asked what it was. There's not one remote to be seen in the whole room. How do you control it. Ahhh little grasshopper, touch the screen. From that touch screen, you can control everything in this house that is controllable The theater, Lights, HVAC, security and even the irrigation system.
Heck, if the doorbell rings, you can push a button and see on the projection screen who's at the front door. If you don't like who's at the front door, you can push another button to activate zone 1 for irrigation. Can you guess where zone one is?

[Heywood Jablome]

Did two FiOS installs myself, one in my house with two boxes and one at the ingrate neighbors house with EIGHT boxes. The poolhouse BG801/96" solicited a "Jesus CHEEE-RIST! What do you want me to do with that?"

"Verify the homerun, give me the box, and get out of the way." was my response.

[perisoft]

[stefuel]

[jask]