Speaking of which, did you ever post photos of the finished product? I remember some in-progress photos...

I think Google is quite pleased with the way Android has turned out. I don't think they'll crack down at all nor make the user experience dramatically better.

They're making money hand over fist in ad revenue from Android. They're in the ad business. Android is a vehicle to pushing ads to people and it does it as well as it possibly could.

Microsoft is in the software business. They have to deploy something that works and looks half decent as they're actually charging money for it.

No, not yet. The entire shelving/cabinet assembly still needs paint unfortunately. It was all up and in place, albeit unpainted over the whole summer. I've also more recently done a reno on the room in early December, having put in Bamboo flooring and run the rear speaker cables in the walls (only the single outside wall was difficult). Now I'm in the process of doing lighting and then finally paint for the walls. At that point I hope to get the shelving/cabinets FINALLY painted and back up on the wall.

I've had the amps in use with a pair of old speakers since before the summer and in November I finally picked up the DVDO and new speaker system. I super eager to get it all hooked up and put into use. I'll hopefully be doing the lighting next week (waiting on my brother who's the muscle/workmanship guy for this).

I too would just like my TV to be a monitor. I have a Samsung 47" flatscreen since 2008, and I used its USB reader only once out of curiosity. It even came with a server software to be installed on a PC so that the TV itself could turn in some sort of music/video/picture player. It was slow, bulky, and mostly useless.
I am happy the TV comes with several HDMI inputs, but just because I never had time and never really wanted to spend money in getting a proper audio system, which of course would include a receiver/amp, making the entire cabling system just as simple, as you point out.
But, that's my plan anyway: all I am planning to do is to get a receiver and connect to it a HTPC (to include a DB player), XBOX, WII, Squeezebox classic. The HTPC may even make the squeezebox not so needed, even though having to use the TV itself to browse through my music collection is just not as practical, and a HTPC case with a built-in monitor is quite expensive (and probably unpractical as well, compared to the squeezebox).

My problem is that I still have not furnished the wall where all this is supposed to go, and it is still too a time-consuming and expensive project for me to really sit down and start it. But again, yes, I just do not want integration, at all.

I am also quite happy with my samsung video quality, but not very pleased with Samusung frimware/software. It is slow and in some aspects really poorly designed, but that's definitely not something that would make me want to change the TV in the forseable future.

I think you were mixing contexts. That statement was about the tech press, not the manufacturers. I have no doubt that these added features are little more than ways to entice consumers to more frequently upgrade their sets.

That high the manufacturers are chasing (the one they tasted from the HDTV boom) is becoming a problem for consumers. Fortunately, I don't think these companies are exerting nearly as much product movement as they'd like. I'm certain they thought that when they started making 3D TVs, they would sell as many sets as they did when people upgraded from SD to HD, but they grossly underestimated how compelling it would be to make that upgrade. Most people are now comfortable getting the new technologies when their natural upgrade cycle occurs.


Ugh, I can't do a thing about my hideous speakers. This is my TV. For some reason, they decided that not only would they make the speakers non-removable, they'd make them stick out even further (I guess to improve the virtual surround). I really just wish they weren't there at all, as they haven't been used for five minutes in the set's entire life.


Oh, sure, I have no problem with built-in speakers if you aren't going to put the TV in a situation where there's a receiver and speakers. They're great for saving space in that case, and usually those are locations I don't care about having great sound, just "good enough" sound

I was a little surprised when I asked a local AV store employee how many people connect 50"+ sets to a receiver and speakers. He said about 50/50.

Makes sense. You don't need awesome sound to watch sitcoms, soaps, and football.

Or rather, many don't think you do. Having good sound for properly produced NFL games is wonderful. I get the commentators through the center channel, and the crowd noise everywhere else. It really feels immersive.

[yet another spell-check fail: Chrome doesn't know the word "immersive" - where on earth do they get their dictionary for these browsers?]

I need a blindfold and ear plugs to watch the NFL.

I'm with you

Our TV here also has a pair of USB host ports, from which it can play videos and the like.

But it can also find the MythTV box over ethernet/DLNA. This does have its uses -- the TV can upconvert videos to 120Hz better than the NVidia hardware in our MythTV boxes can.

Normally, the difference isn't enough to bother with the clunky TV user-interface. But tonight I was watching a 720p BD rip of Star Trek (2009).. it plays perfectly on the little Zotac Ion2 Mythtv box in my office, but when I went downstairs to see it on the big screen.. playback was very jerky with the main MythTV box, despite superior hardware in all respects..

So I used the TV to watch the flick, over DLNA from the MythTV box. Worked perfectly, and the picture quality was very impressive.

Why did the big MythTV box fail, when even the tiny Atom/Ion2 box could handle it? Software. Our main MythTV box is running 0.23, whereas the Ion2 system has 0.24, with better support for hardware acceleration of more formats. That's the first time I've run into a video that needed the newer software.

Cheers

You should try my 1080p rip then. I've been very pleased with the performance of the Sigma SoC (in the Sage extender and a bunch of other products). So far the Boxee has been able to keep up, but i've already seen some issues on smaller videos which I'm chalking up to software issues with the current firmware.

I'm not sure if my TV can play video over its USB connection of whether it's limited to images. The only other experience I have with this type of integrated playback was on friends' DVD players with USB ports - none of them had terrific codec support though, nor container support for that matter (no MKV, no H.254)

Yeah, it's pretty impressive seeing 1080p play flawlessly on both of the MythTV boxes here, too. Looks Real Good!

That little Zotac HD-ID11 is a fantastic media box, either as a simple MythTV Frontend (aka. "extender") running from an SD card, or as a full-blown recorder/playback unit with a big (notebook) hard drive. Heck, it's even got eSATA.

Cheers

Ooh! That's actually a good idea. Make it happen!

I have no doubt that it's wonderful, but that doesn't change the basic truth that you don't need it to enjoy a game. Indeed, the last time I watched football, the volume was completely off.

Our TV downstairs is hooked in with a reasonably good stereo system, and it's on whenever the TV is in use. (And, thanks to HDMI, it even turns off when you turn the TV off.)

My observation is that the "benefit" of HD video, versus old crappy SD, is immediate and obvious. It just sucks when you're watching an SD video signal.

Conversely, it's relatively rare that a show comes along that really exercises the sound system. I was watching a football game the other day, and the main innovation is that they were piping crowd noise as ambiance into the rear channels. If you did that from the front instead, would I really notice or care?

Now, if I get out a Bluray disc of a live concert recording, then it's clearly worth the bother. For daily whatever TV watching? Not so much.