jennanddave.com

David here. I wanted to relate last night's tragic adventure. Last night, Jenn insisted (quite forcefully) that I go straight out to Best Buy and buy an HDTV. I protested with great sincerity, but she shoved me out the door with a clear mandate. Dreaming of hundreds of thousands of pixels I dutifully went to the local Best Buy. I was certain I would soon be cramming the HPLC3760N LCD TV in the car. Yup, I'd done my internet research and this little beaut with unusually deep blacks, builtin HD tuner, lots of ports, and a well rounded picture quality was my idea of a perfect entry-level HDTV that would make us happy for many years to come. Remember that : HDTV = happiness (this will come up again).

I ask the first sales person,"Can you comment on the performance of this HP? I'm thinking of it for watching DVDs mainly". He says,"For DVD's you gotta go BluRay" and whisks me off to the store BluRay demo. "This 1080p setup", he utters in an oddly husky voice getting very serious and solemn,"would come to about $3300, and you don't want to get stuck with those 720 line TVs."

No good - I stared at HDTVs until the next sales person came around. There were about 10 of them and in turn each of them asked me if I needed help and in turn I asked each one about my beloved HP3760N. "To be honest", pipes the next one,"it's overpriced and no better than those generics", and he leers insultingly at the generic TVs.

I'm clinging to the memory of the fast 6 ms refresh time, the 176 degree viewing angle, and the digital comb filter when I realize I'm really not asking the right question. I say to the third one,"can you compare this HP screen to this smaller samsung screen?". "Sure!", she exclaims joyously,"the Samsung is better!". I helplessly mutter something, but she carries on,"it's down to Sony and Samsung now - that's what you want to look at, esp. for DVDs".

I consider this nugget of advice when approached by the next one who says,"Yeah stick with Samsung or Sony because you know they're putting good parts inside" and then I see him go off and talk a pair of eager customers out of a plasma HDTV that was (gasp) not a Sony or Samsung - and he went to good lengths to assure them that despite how good it looked, they would be disappointed unless they went with (yes, you guessed it) "Samsung or Sony". (we'll call it S&S for short from now on)

I started working through the remainder of the sales teens. Each of them had the party line down, proclaiming that S&S were the best and I should steer clear even of Best Buy's own generic brand. I expressed my interest over and over in the HP and in turn each of them looked at me as if,"you aren't geek enough to deserve an HDTV". I went to MIT - I memorized every line in Ghostbusters - I *AM* geek enough, the thoughts fill my head like a thousand interdimensional Enterprises in episode 11 of TNG season 7. "If you can't buy a 1080p TV, you might as well not buy.", another one comments.

And just like the guys who were talked out of a 50" Plasma TV, I give up and I realize - they're all right. The standard wars are bloody and fierce and unresolved and who knows what will be obsolete in a couple of years; the TV's have too many weaknesses like pixelation, bad blacks, ghosting, shimmering, burn-in, etc. In fact after I spent an hour training my eyes on them I realized that most HDTV's are pretty crappy, even the S&S ones. I could see the flaws, shimmers and outlines and realized it - it's all a scam. In geek speak, HDTV != happiness. I can't wait to go home and hug my warm CRT.