A no-brainer (Off-topic, TV, Phone, Internet)

Andy · August 29, 2006

Man, I r dum. I've been paying through the nose for phone, tv, and internet.

* Cable Internet: $50/month (high-ish, b/c I wasn't using their Cable TV)

* DirecTV Satellite: $115/month (1Tivo, 4 sets, all the channels)

* Verizon Phone Service: $85 per month

Total: $250 per month

* Cable Internet
* Local and US, Canada Long-Distance
* Digital Cable TV Service ( 1DVR, 4 sets, all the channels)

$140 per month

That's $1320 per year and so I'm off to buy a new HDTV Widescreen :clap

This all started, I was checking out Vonage for Voip, and then I went to pay my cable bill, and remembered to look at the cable company website :huh

SpeshulEd · August 29, 2006

what service is that through?

our cable tv and internet just went up.

Andy · August 29, 2006

SpeshulEd wrote:

what service is that through?

our cable tv and internet just went up.

Cablevision
They're all expensive, but I was just shocked at the amount of money to save when things are combined

SpeshulEd · August 29, 2006

We have comcast right now, and for the past year had an awesome deal with internet for only $80 a month. Last month it went up to $120 and the easiest way to lower the price was to get rid of premium channels. :cry No more HBO for me.

Andy · August 29, 2006

I just spent all the savings:

Stustaff · August 29, 2006

You guys seem to pay a lot!

I pay

* Internet £25 up to 8meg

* Satellite all channels £50 with sky plus(like tivo)

* phone £12

Total: £87 per month or $165 thats for everything

THE TOUCH · August 29, 2006

Andy wrote:

I just spent all the savings:

Sweet! Congrats Andy! That's a very creative way to justify the purchase!:D

SpeshulEd · August 29, 2006

HDTV's are really coming down in price, its getting so tempting, but knowing that I may be moving in a matter of months, puts a damper on the purchase. I just don't want to have to move that thing half way across the country. But the minute I move in, the tv goes on the "to buy" list.

Stustaff, that isn't a bad deal at all. At the moment I have 3 other roommates, so all of our bills get split 4 ways, which is nice. The problem is, that they are all still students so they freak out when bills get expensive.

wxwax · August 29, 2006

What'd you get, Andy?

Andy · August 29, 2006

wxwax wrote:

What'd you get, Andy?

Our main telly is nearly 10 years old. It's a 38" monster from Sony. Must weigh about 300lbs. Well, when I was last in SmugMugVille, I got to see Baldy's new setup, a sweet DLP rear proj HDTV and man, I was poisoned from the get-go! Kinda like the first time I used L-glass

I bought this, it'll be here Monday or Tuesday

David_S85 · August 29, 2006

wxwax wrote:

What'd you get, Andy?

I'm sure Andy will answer that question in a moment or two, but from the pic he posted, it appears to be a Samsung 105" diagonal Plasma with 4880 x 2700 pixel resolution. Perfect for showing his photos at home.

EDIT:
It looks like I was wrong again on this guess. But trust me, that 46-incher will end up on andyBay in a few months in favor of the 105" version.

Jeffro · August 29, 2006

two kids at the babysitter 5 days a week....$6,000+ a year.

same two kids enter kindergarten.....$100 a year.

savings of $5,900 per year.

I'm shopping for a big screen too.....since the wife just bought a new car...:D

Andy · August 29, 2006

Jeffro wrote:

I'm shopping for a big screen too.....since the wife just bought a new car...:D

Yeah, that's the spirit!!!!!!!

wxwax · August 29, 2006

Andy wrote:

Our main telly is nearly 10 years old. It's a 38" monster from Sony. Must weigh about 300lbs. Well, when I was last in SmugMugVille, I got to see Baldy's new setup, a sweet DLP rear proj HDTV and man, I was poisoned from the get-go! Kinda like the first time I used L-glass

I bought this, it'll be here Monday or Tuesday

Very interesting. I've been on the fence for a very long time, still sitting on it.

wxwax · August 29, 2006

David_S85 wrote:

I'm sure Andy will answer that question in a moment or two, but from the pic he posted, it appears to be a Samsung 105" diagonal Plasma with 4880 x 2700 pixel resolution. Perfect for showing his photos at home.

EDIT:
It looks like I was wrong again on this guess. But trust me, that 46-incher will end up on andyBay in a few months in favor of the 105" version.

ChrisJ · August 30, 2006

wxwax wrote:

Very interesting. I've been on the fence for a very long time, still sitting on it.

Yep, me too... but if I was going to buy right now, it would be something like Andy's choice. Plasma is still subject to burn-in...

End of 2007: SED technology [canon.com] by Toshiba and Canon. The blacks are crisper than LCD, but no burn-in problems as with Plasma.

My 10-year old set is doing just fine, for now... maybe by the end of 2007 the whole Blu-Ray/HD-DVD thing will have resolved itself, or at least shown that it won't ever be resolved!

ian408 · August 30, 2006

Hey Chris, what about one with an Equator chip in it

ChrisJ · August 30, 2006

ian408 wrote:

Hey Chris, what about one with an Equator chip in it

rofl

bwg · August 30, 2006

Andy wrote:

Our main telly is nearly 10 years old. It's a 38" monster from Sony. Must weigh about 300lbs. Well, when I was last in SmugMugVille, I got to see Baldy's new setup, a sweet DLP rear proj HDTV and man, I was poisoned from the get-go!

I'm sure Don can get you a HD-DVD player on the cheap too!

gus · August 30, 2006

Stustaff wrote:

I pay (almost the same)

* Internet £25 up to 8meg

* Satellite all channels £50 with sky plus(like tivo)

* phone £12

Total: £87 per month or $165 thats for everything

I pay

* Internet 24 quid for 40 gig @ 6 Mpbs

* TV is 40 quid/month for bit over 100 channels

* phone is 11 quid.

Total 75 quid/month...$142 USD

NB..the word Quid has been substituted for the pommie pound symbol because i dont know how to make the sign on my keyboard.

JohnR · August 30, 2006

I pay $45 for cable internet
$15 for vonage
$50 for Directv

I refuse to go with cable tv. They charge MORE for more junk that I don't want.

SpeshulEd · August 30, 2006

ChrisJ wrote:

Yep, me too... but if I was going to buy right now, it would be something like Andy's choice. Plasma is still subject to burn-in...

End of 2007: SED technology [canon.com] by Toshiba and Canon. The blacks are crisper than LCD, but no burn-in problems as with Plasma.

My 10-year old set is doing just fine, for now... maybe by the end of 2007 the whole Blu-Ray/HD-DVD thing will have resolved itself, or at least shown that it won't ever be resolved!

Last I read the new DLP's were the way to go over both plasma and LCD.

As for Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, there's a laser shortage right now, which may push that stuff back even further.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/29/2025216

Andy, make sure to calibrate your tv when you get it. Its very important that you do that, as when they ship from the factory they're set on the brightest settings possible which will burn out the tv much faster than if it was set on more normal settings.

gus · August 30, 2006

SpeshulEd wrote:

Last I read the new DLP's were the way to go over both plasma and LCD.

As for Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, there's a laser shortage right now, which may push that stuff back even further.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/29/2025216

Andy, make sure to calibrate your tv when you get it. Its very important that you do that, as when they ship from the factory they're set on the brightest settings possible which will burn out the tv much faster than if it was set on more normal settings.

I have a DLP...& for my money it is still the clearest. Its just 6" thick instead of 4.

Andy · August 30, 2006

gus wrote:

I have a DLP...& for my money it is still the clearest. Its just 6" thick instead of 4.

And I know how you measured it

gus · August 30, 2006

I have already had this argument with ian...he said it was about this big.

Andy · August 30, 2006

gus wrote:

I have already had this argument with ian...he said it was about this big.

But I was talking about your skull... :uhoh

gus · August 30, 2006

Andy wrote:

But I was talking about your skull... :uhoh

I even had a bit of envy at someone elses size. You ever felt like that ?

ChrisJ · August 30, 2006

Here is a very nice comparison table of all the different technologies (bottom of page). The article [audioholics.com] itself is also worth a read. It's an old article, but was updated in Feb 2006 with the latest stuff.

Andy · August 30, 2006

gus wrote:

I even had a bit of envy at someone elses size. You ever felt like that ?

OK. You win!

pathfinder · August 30, 2006

The LCD displays are so cool!!

One reason I have not gone to VoIP and kept my local phone comany, Andy, is that when the electric power goes off, the VoIP phone is out ( isn't it??) , whereas my hardwired local phone still works, even if the elecricity is finito, and I can notify the power company about the electrical outage.
Maybe my electrical power is less stable - we used to lose power at least once a month for several 6-8 hours. It has been better the last year of so.

John Mueller · August 30, 2006

I dont own a TV.
I only watch when I go on vacation.
Savings for lots of L glass:D

A no-brainer (Off-topic, TV, Phone, Internet)

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