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Idol 5
I watched Idol tonight. I thought most of the boys were somewhat weak tonight, but there were a few shining stars. Chris Daughtry (Vin Diesel) won the night, hands down. Yamin (underbite) and Makar (Fred Savage) were decent too. Covais, although seemingly a nice guy, is way overrated. Radford (Berry Manilow), although pretty, is too narrow in genre. “Bucky” is just a hillbilly. It is amazing to me that someone who can’t speak English well can be considered an “Idol” finalist.
March 1st, 2006 
Tags: New TV
I’ve been wanting to buy a new TV for several years. We finally went out and bought a 50″ Sony Grand Wega DLP HDTV this weekend, as our big Christmas present. It’s simply amazing. I was surprised to find it only weighed 72lbs! When I picked up the box, I thought the TV was missing because it was so light. I’ve had tube units half the size that weighed as much. The picture is quite impressive, and it has a really nice zoom feature that shows 4:3 video in wide-screen, and it actually looks good! We did a channel scan and it even found some local HDTV content. You can actually see the picture well from very acute angles. It’s the first new TV I’ve had in 7 years.
Now all I need to do is hook our DVD into the TV through the component video ports so I can get progressive scan, and maybe invest in some HDTV programming, the wife permitting, of course. For now, we have it in the entertainment center upstairs because we don’t have anything to set it on downstairs. Once we do, I’ll be able to hook it into my receiver and get some media center with Bose speaker goodness.
Wish List
My birthday is coming up. If anyone is looking for ideas, check this out. Don’t be fooled by the price, it’s close to half that price at local retailers. Yes, still expensive, but I will have this TV. Looks like I’ll need to increase the deposits in my Christmas club. 
American Idol Down to Three
Curses! My Idol favorite, Anthony Fedorov, was axed last night. Carry has a great voice, and probably should win, but her music isn’t my style. Fedorov has a great voice. There’s no way he should have been axed before Vonzell, and I liked him better than Bo Bice too.
I feel like I have less interest in watching the show now. I look forward to Anthony’s first album. Seacrest was right when he said Anthony is “a total class act.”
Looking back, I think my favorite moment in this season was Constantine’s rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” That was great.
Time Warner HD DVR
A couple of weeks ago, Wanda and I signed up for the Time Warner HD DVR package to go along with our new HDTV. Although we were very fond of our media center, I decided to try the HD DVR for the following reasons:
- It tuned HD content.
- I assumed it was easier to maintain than an actual computer connected to the TV.
- The media center took up more room, and I thought the slim DVR would look nicer in our cabinet.
Ultimately, we ended up cancelling it and just reverted to our trusty HP media center. Here’s why:
- The user interface was lousy. It looked like something that was designed in the 1980′s using CGA graphics. We also thought it was much less intuitive than Windows Media Center Edition.
- The extra HD channels I received over the ones I already got over the analog service were non-impressive.
- The remote sucked.
We now have our HP Media Center hooked up to it, and we like it much better. We hooked it directly to the TV via the monitor port, and the resolution is quite impressive (as compared to a composite connection which we were using before). It doesn’t tune HD, but we don’t really get any HD content we’re interested in anyway, and even if we were, we could switch to the normal tuner for that. Windows Media Center is definitely one thing Microsoft got right. Easy to navigate, intuitive interface, and simple remote with all functions a few clicks away.
American Idol #4
I watched American Idol last night. Even though I usually ignore the early episodes where they taunt the tone-deaf, I thought last night’s was pretty good and most of the comments were well-deserved. 
What amazes me is some of the worst performers seem to be crushed when they learn they have no tallent at all. Have you ever listened to yourself sing?! It should be a good season, though.
Fantasia Wins Idol
Ok, so the whole world knows now that Fantasia won American Idol tonight. Sad, but true. Maybe she can play the voice of Simba in the next Lion King movie, since Jonathon Taylor Thomas grew up. Anyway, Diana was obviously my favorite, but I’m hoping she’ll pull a Clay Aiken and pump out some great albums. Go Diana! You got my vote.
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