The future is BLU

HDTV and Blu-Ray are here, well they will be by the end of this week, and I must admit now its coming I’m pretty excited about getting it.

Upgrading from my existing CRT and DVD player had crossed my mind a few times, but the thoughts were easily dismissed with cost and the fact I was happy with what I had. Really I am happy with my Sanyo CRT, it’s a superb picture, my mid-range DVD player is great and region free. My Samsung HD recorder is an even better DVD but I struggled to get it region free, but the picture is outstanding on it. My Creative Labs Surround Sound system has done me proud, in fact I never really get it more than 6 on DS5.1 and 4 on DTS, so again no point in forking out loads of cash on a mega sound system which isn’t going to blast the room apart!
And I built my own TV stand which houses everything and even hides the sub woofer, and has done its job for 5 years now. So no point in going HD!

But how quickly things change, a trip to IKEA to look at kitchens and bedroom furniture sparked a living room shakeup. A TV cabinet was on offer big enough to hide everything, I mean the lot, well nearly all of it, the sub woofer would be a problem. And so the saga of getting the cabinet began, reduced by £100 and an end of line unit, at our local IKEA, they had none left except 2 display models. So I tried to buy one of those, and they would sell me one for another £50 off the current price, down to £99 and now a real bargain. So I got Tony down to help me disassemble it. That didn’t go according to plan; first it was a struggle to get a screwdriver from them. Then we struggled getting it from the wall fixing’s. And finally after finding the top section had been glued down we gave up and left with nothing. Well Warrington had 2 and Leeds had 2 but marked at £259, so we waited in the hope they would come down in price.
On the Thursday after Frightfest and a week after first trying to get the cabinet, we tried again. Leeds sold out, Warrington sold out!!!! Wednesbury in Birmingham had 6 priced at £259! Looks like we would have to pay full price, but we really wanted it. So the next day I was off work anyway and after dropping my parents of at Manchester Airport at 10.30 I was off to Birmingham. 4 Hours later I was back home with a new TV cabinet, one bonus though it was only £149!

The 2nd reason we were getting this was my 40th birthday was coming up quick and so we decided that I would get a LCD as my present from everyone, perfect for the cabinet and perfect for me at least I was starting my venture into HD TV.
And here comes saga number 2! I had measured the width of the unit, 1 metre wide, ample space for a 37” LCD.
So my search for a LCD began, and I found one pretty quick a Panasonic Full HD 37”, great it had good reviews and was around £600 which was what I wanting to pay. Brilliant how easy was that! My DVD HDMI, my DVD recorder HDMI and Virgin V+ HDMI, no need to replace anything else. Only needed to find an audio switch for optical leads – found at Maplins, job sorted. Happy Happy Happy!
Until I walked into Currys one Friday afternoon, and the Panasonic was behind a Samsung, and the Samsung just looked so much better, so I went home to check it out. By the end of the night I was buying a 37” Samsung, but it measured 658mm in height with the stand. This could be a problem. Nowhere on the Internet told me the actual height of the area for the TV in the cabinet. A big problem! So next morning I was back at IKEA to measure that. Out the window went the 37” and I was down to 32”, not a problem though. Everything sorted now it was just waiting to see how much I got for my birthday!

Well with what I got and what I can get the TV for, I could afford a Blu-Ray player as well. No point in not going the full hog, so the Sony Blu-Ray is ordered, the TV will be ordered tomorrow and my first 3 films are in the post!

Upgrade complete, all I have to do now is decorate the living room.

Then comes the dilemma of what to swap for Blu-Ray and what to buy in the future. Star Trek a must and is on order. Dark Night, Lost Boys, Casino Royale must haves. But what about Sin City, The Matrix, Watchmen, Final Fantasy, Ghost in the Shell, Hero, House of flying daggers. Ouch the list is a little bigger than I thought it would be. In the end I have ordered Bond, House of flying daggers and Australia, the last 2 as they were in a 2 for 1 offer. But they are on the way. The rest can wait, I'm sure the blu-ray film offers will come thick and fast in the future.

The aim to sit down and watch Bond on Saturday night – well that’s the plan.