season 1, ep. 1 (torrent)

He didn't say welfare hurts the poor, he said inflation hurts them (ie- running a deficit to pay for welfare). Perhaps his view on welfare is a little more complex, but that's what I took from this particular video.

I do agree with him on "easy credit". Using credit to invest in means to increase income is generally a positive thing, but many people use credit cards to buy stuff simply because they want it. That new HDTV or sound system might be nice, but it's unhealth to pay for it with debt. They may have sudden expenses or lose their job, but that debt still grows exponentially.

here's torrent link

They auctioned off the airwaves and made a nice chunk of change, too (billions, I believe). Though nothing compared to what is needed to revive the economy.

Also, the whole digital thing is overrated. All it amounts to is interactive menus. The picture quality is the same.

Watching standard def on an HDTV though definitely improves the image quality. Simply using an LCD screen does something right there.

As far as broadband deployment, I think that's great. However, Internet connection speeds need to be improved. There should be a forced switch to a minimum 5 megabit connection.

Supposedly the national average is 2 megabits, but that is a lie. The average HARDCORE GAMER on Steam has a .766 megabit DSL line, according to Steam surveys.

We invented the Internet. We should be in the top 5 countries in the world for connection speeds.

Japan's national average is supposed to be 50 megabits. Ours isn't even actually 2.

There's a problem.

>> ^JiggaJonson:
As much of a nerd as I am for things like HDTV and what not I often ask myself wtf our country is doing spending money on something like "the digital switch" when we still have so many other problems.


To free up more air space for more channels, and/or new technologies like for example long range wireless internet for rural areas.
Yet somehow I doubt that the freed bands will be used for anything other than more channels for the big companies, they are after all the ones with the money.
And if your digital systems are anything like ours, it will allow for encrypted channels trough your antenna. Pay TV without cable or satellite.

Why are you forced to switch? Because there is money to be made.

As much of a nerd as I am for things like HDTV and what not I often ask myself wtf our country is doing spending money on something like "the digital switch" when we still have so many other problems.

If they wanted to drop big big cash on something tech they should invest in bringing broadband internet to rural/small urban parts of America.

KP, I have seen a TV from HP and 1 other brand that have built-in streaming features, but the unit was much more expensive than just buying an HDTV + game console (or that Roku player), so I would find a TV you like first.

Some other points related to some comments above:
1080p- a few years ago this cost a lot more, but nowadays it's only marginally more expensive than a 720p, many blu-ray discs are encoded 1080p, so it's worth getting a 1080p screen today. (I have a 720p LCD TV that I bought 2 years ago, and it's fine, though I use it mostly for games).
^MycroftHomlz, p (progressive vertical lines) is not dpi (dots per inch) (a 46" 720 dpi display would cost over a million dollars and have 225 times the resolution of 1080p)

120Hz- this is the new fancy feature on higher-end hdtv's. it doesn't magically make your content any better. Even the best Bluray movies are still recorded and encoded at 30fps. It will make some DVD content look better, because 120 is an even multiple of 24, whereas to display 24fps content at 60Hz (standard refresh rate of LCD's) you have to drop or add frames (called inverse-telecine) so sometimes you see tearing. So movies, sports, games, with lots of motion or many small moving details will look better. I've asked several Best Buy "tv specialists" some specific questions about 120Hz that I already knew the answers to, and NONE of them got it right. and instead of just saying "I don't know" they talked out of their ass and tried to sell me some special hdmi cable that supports 120Hz... epic lolz. If your total budget is $1500, don't waste your money on this feature.

LCD vs Plasma vs DLP- The quality depends a lot on the manufacturer. It used to be that LCD screens simply could not be made as big as plasma, but they are getting larger and cheaper each year. Plasmas still have burn-in problems (more problem for games than movies), and a shorter life span (about 7 years vs 10+ years for LCD- both assuming you use the TV several hours per day). Plasmas are also more fragile, so be careful when moving them. That said, I think the picture does look slightly better on plasma, but would still get LCD. (samsung, sony, mitsubishi- all great choices. other brands, try to look at it in person before you decide). DLP is a rear-projection TV, and I've found these to not be as crisp as LCD/plasma (sometimes the pixels blur and/or you can see horizontal scan lines). They are usually 80+ lbs vs an LCD being 30 lbs (base detached). Some people can see a flickering of the color-wheel with DLP (personally I can't, depends on lighting conditions and how sensitive your eyes are).

streaming content- if you have a PC with windows XP media center or Vista premium/ultimate, and all your content is windows compatible, an xbox-360 will make a nice front-end that you stream videos from your PC. If you use other formats, the PS3 has a better chance of playing them (also recommended since it plays bluray). I have both consoles, and the PS3 is much better at playing H.264 videos from CD-R/DVD-R and wired network. I haven't seen Roku player in person, and I don't have netflix, but it looks like a nifty device. If you subscribe to cable or fios, many of their DVR's can stream content that was recorded in other rooms.

projectors- not sure if you will find a decent 1080p one under $1500, but you can get a very large screen. Keep in mind the cost of replacing the lamp/bulb can be several hundred $$ (lamps usually last 2000+ hours in eco-mode). I have a 480p (widescreen but not high def) projector in my bedroom with an 8' diagonal screensize. Upon advice from someone else, I bought a 4'x8' foam board, and painted it with brightest white but non-glossy paint, and hung it on a wall for my screen. $380 projector + $30 screen + $37 progressive DVD player + $15 component cable + $30 black curtains. Compgeeks has a electric roll-up screen for pretty cheap.
Choosing a projector also depends on your room size, visit www.projectorcentral.com and use their calculator for any given model you are considering.

cables- buy online. someone mentioned monoprice, they are good, just check their in-stock status to be sure. they always ship ground from CA, so can be slow depending on where you live. HDMI and DVI are electrically identical, so it's a passive adapter. HDMI includes extra pair for sending digital audio. Component and VGA are analog, HDMI/DVI is digital - means more accurate colors, less ghosting/interference effects. Although analog is capable of carrying a full 1080p signal, content creators (namely Sony blu-ray) will cripple devices stating that you need HDMI to do 1080p output. This is because HDMI support encryption in the form of HDCP, which they think will reduce piracy (obviously they have been proven wrong already). fiber (sometimes called TOSlink) vs digital audio over copper (RCA jack) doesn't make a difference in quality, digital is digital. Look for a stereo receiver with many inputs and outputs.

antennas- hdtv's can pick up all the local broadcast channels with perfect picture and digital surround sound, if you get the right antenna. check www.antennaweb.org to see where channels are broadcasting relative to your home and to pick the correct antenna. It's a 1-time fee, unlike month-to-month cable/satellite. www.titantv.com is a tv-guide style website, lets you sort by broadcast type.

internet speed- 1.5Mbps should be fine, as long as you have patience to download the video before watching it. Will stream standard def no problem, but high-def or netflix downloads would take longer-than-realtime. Most services let you download in advance, so I wouldn't upgrade your 'net connection until you try it out for a month or 2.

buying online- go to best buy or walmart, and look for a screen you like, so you can see it in person. a lot of times the specs "on paper" look good, but the display is mediocre at best. Then look for exact model online, try to get a pricematch. Get the extended warranty if it's not outrageous (a single repair could be $500+ without it). We bought a 46" LCD for work from www.lcdtvs.com, they are New Jersey based, and their salespeople might try to up-sell you some cables, but we got free shipping and a free hdmi cable from them, and 3rd-party warranty was cheap (service is actually provided by best buy locally). Took about a week to arrive (western PA). If you buy online, make sure you factor in shipping costs, it could be $150+ since it's considered freight.

wireless vs wired- Roku, Wii, PS3 have wifi built in. xbox-360 is $99 for the wifi adapter (all except wii have wired ethernet built in). It's not too hard to run cat-5 cable if you are a DIY'er, but would be really expensive to get an electrician to do it. Ethernet hubs/switches are cheap, put a 4-port hub at your TV, run single cable between hub and DSL/cable/fios router, and all devices are online.

hope that helps. sorry for the long post. I'll answer specific questions if you have any.

Sorry I'm late to this party, but I do have some relevant information. First, it sounds like you are only interested in Standard Definition (SD) content (no HD on NetFlix), in that case go no higher than 720p. However, if you are still curious about that 1080i/p stuff you've been hearing about (game consoles, HDTV over the air or from cable/sat, blu-ray), I worked out some numbers a couple of years ago (when 1080p was very expensive). I'm too lazy to double check the numbers.

the thing you have to keep in mind is the maximum angular resolution of the human eye. I'll spare you the details, which you can look up yourself, but for a person with 20/20 vision (corrected, in my case), assuming a 16:9 aspect ratio screen and 1080 by 1920 picture size (resolution is a misnomer) you need to be 1.5 diagonals OR CLOSER to resolve the difference between pixels.


This makes sense if you think about movie screens or IMAX screens, or a graphic artist computer work station. Most TV viewers don't think about (being that close to a screen) | (having a screen that big).

That means if you have a 32 inch TV and you are 6 feet away, you will not see all the detail on a 1080p TV, so you can save a few bucks with a 720p.

Now that the price of 40"+ LCD TVs has dropped dramatically, you should consider a 1080p screen, but keep in mind you viewing distance.

In my case I could resolve 1080p for videogames since I sit up close for that, but I haven't upgraded because we sit way back on the couch for movies. I wouldn't be able to see the detail of a 1080p blu-ray without a 42 inch (or larger) TV. Or if I pushed to couch up.

Buying HDTVs is confusing especially since both commentators and people often throw marketing jargon and necessities at you that you really don't need. Most important is to see them set up in shop and compare and contrast, most places usually loop the same kind of content over all screens so you can quickly see what is good and what is not for your eye.

I would recommend a Plasma over and LCD, I own an LCD but I watch movies at my buddies place and he has a Viera Plasma that gives a much better picture and it looks less like a PC display which is what I feel with my LCD. Plasmas now offer the same brightness as LCDs, the Viera sits in a living room that has no curtains on the 6th floor in Kuwait. Sunlight has never been a problem. But this is neither here or there, anything you will buy will be good. Unless you buy something called Wansa or Chanachong or Leakwong (Lots of unheard of chinese brands in Kuwait).

Don't bother with Full HD or HD TV Ready, all that means is whether or not you will get 720p or 1080p. Now people will tell you that you MUST have 1080p, but that's really a false economy, as that increase in quality is marginal over increase in price. Almost 90% of HD content right now is 720p, and it's more then enough. P means progressive as in the whole picture is rendered at the same time, essentially.

Don't bother with 120Hz, it's all marketing jargon. It doesn't make that big of a difference unless you watch an ungodly amount of sports. But even then I will bet you hard cash to convince me there is a tangible difference from 10 meters away.

You must ideally look for a combo deal that will get you the TV and a home theater system at the same time, but be sure that the home theater has HDMI out (best TV quality), several RCA red/white audio inputs (connecting other audio) and a Optical In (future proof).

What you are trying to achieve is have all video separately to the TV via HDMI or composite connections and then route all the audio routed to your home theater. This will utilize both systems fully. I hate seeing systems when they have the DVD home theater but the satelliate audio is only from the TV, its just retarded.

For streaming content you should really look into the Xbox 360, mostly because it's idiot proof and every easy to setup. You plug it to your TV, then plug the Ethernet cable and you are pretty much set. If you want to watch Blu-rays you could get a PS3, as it is far cheaper then a standalone Bluray player. But its totally atrocious and much more fiddly feeling then the Xbox 360. Plus your son is bound to love the games on the 360 more then the PS3.

If you download alot of content from the Internet its fairly easy to set up a streaming TV server from a PC to PS3/Xbox360 using Tversity, and its also fairly easy to set up. I have done this several times, however it is also fiddly if something goes wrong and it won't really let you play MKV movies unless you do transcoding to a lower format that can be streamed from PC to TV, as real time conversion is a bitch.

Personally I have a Sony Bravia with the Sony home theater system, I use a Western Digital HD TV player to play all kinds of shit I download. Its a small unit that is really cheap, it plays almost all the current video formats as well as HD Blu-ray rips encoded in X264. You would need a separate USB drive that you hook up content to, but those are cheap and allow you to expand storage however much you want (think 500gb USB drive for family movies, 8Gb flash disk for kinky Cambodian sweat shop porn). It has HDMI, RCA and optical connections. It's only fault is that it doesn't do digital to stereo sound conversions, so you must have a optical in on your sound system to enjoy DTS streams, or your files will just have no sound.

I hope this helped.

I'm not sure I'll be of any help, because I'm not sure I've given any thought how to connect my HDTV to my computers. But, for the price you really can't go wrong with a 1080p Vizio. They're the best bang for the buck. Since owning my Vizio for a while now, my sights are set on something with at least 120 hz update freqs and a higher contrast ratio for my next HDTV.

When planet earth was first released on blu-ray this scene was used to sell HDtv's and blu-ray players.

swampgirl, is it an HDTV.XviD or an HD.720p torrent?

Even if you've already grabbed the latter I'd suggest you re-download the former as the latter may require another playback software (Media Player Classic) with additional codecs (video decoding software) and further configurations and a rather powerful CPU to actually play HD video (all in all = rather complicated).

If you've downloaded the HDTV.XviD version in a single file (it should weigh around 350MB), and you have the VLC player installed, you can just navigate to wherever it is you downloaded it to (the folder) and drag-and-drop the file onto the open VLC toolbar and it'll play no problem. Most torrent clients have the "Open folder" option if you right-click on the torrent in the main menu.

If you've downloaded a torrent consisting of a number of files (again, this may be verified by opening the folder), you have to have an archiving software installed to extract the contents of the many archive packages (which would be the episode) - use WinRar - it's alight piece of shareware with no strings attached and comes with an integrated Windows right-click option to "Extract here" - just use that option on any of the .rar files in the House torrent after you've installed the program.

Hope I was of any help. Feel free to PM my profile if you need any additional help with this

>> ^BillOreilly:
Crap, so the 52" hdtv and the new car aren't my signing bonus for the coast guard reserves? I was lied to?
I CAN'T QUIT EITHER, OR I'LL HAVE A WARRANT FOR MY ARREST! SOME1 HELP PLZ!?


Yes, it figures Bill O would defend and minimize the act of lying.

After all, deception is his bread and butter.

Crap, so the 52" hdtv and the new car aren't my signing bonus for the coast guard reserves? I was lied to?

I CAN'T QUIT EITHER, OR I'LL HAVE A WARRANT FOR MY ARREST! SOME1 HELP PLZ!?

Yup. Everyone's out to make a buck. Good on you for fixing it yourself.

The same situation happened to me:

The company that's shipping my stuff when I make my move wanted $70 to crate up my HDTV. Not bad,I thought. "What kind of crate will you put it in?" I ask.

"Oh, the guys will get some really heavy duty cardboard and make sure it's all secure."

Yeah, no thanks. A trip to Home Depot, a sheet of plywood, two 2x4s, a table saw and a hour or so later I had myself a wooden trunk for my tv. Not only do I trust it a lot more than cardboard, but I don't have to just throw it away when I get there. It'll go in the closet and hold blankets or something.