I'm not interested in BluRay at all, or in 3D for that matter (which my cousin is pushing as "the newest thing"). DVDs are good enough for me. I'm 60 and while most of my life I had excellent sight, as I get older I'm at the point where I need glasses anyway. I even have a pair of glasses for working on my iMac here at my desk with a 2' focal length. To make it weirder, I'm far sighted in one eye and near sighted in the other.
I do have an HD Roku XR with wireless (which I assume is not totally obsolete) in the closet from when I had my last TV (which I gave away last fall as it was over 15 years old and I just wanted it out of here). I got the Roku so my lady friend could watch Netflix on it without running the TV as a second monitor on my iMac after I ditched satellite TV.
I'm not really into Hulu and such. It's been too long for me to remember all the stuff the Roku will get other than Netflix, and it probably gets more these days than it did when I first bought it. Other than Netflix my main interest is to be able to play the many videos I have in different containers (e.g.: .avi) and codecs in the containers (e.g.: divx).
Comparison_of_container_formats
That's in large part behind my interest in a MacMini and being able to use it as a monitor - I use VLC a *lot* (VLC will play just about any container and enclosed codec), especially now that I have an iPhone which has a free VLC Remote "app". I have lots of old movies and TV shows on hard drives and they're in a lot of different containers and codecs including .flv files.
On my iMac I can open VLC and drag files to the playlist (easier perusing drives than navigating through all the disks and files from within VLC or other front end). Too bad Apple's Front Row has such a sucky interface and won't play a lot of the files. Even Quicktime sucks in a lot of ways in my opinion, and like Front Row doesn't play a lot of the files I have.
I do have the DVD .iso file aspect to consider as well. When I get a DVD I burn it to an .iso file. VLC will play DVD VOB files, but for it to really work like a DVD player (menus and all that) on an .iso file I have to open the .iso file so it mounts on the desktop like a 'normal' disk and then use the Apple DVD player.
Until December 2009 I has Dish satellite but since then I haven't had any TV "service" such as satellite or cable or even OTA. I'm mainly wanting to get a TV so that I can work on my iMac without having to set things up for my lady friend to watch something on the TV as a second monitor (which is why I bought the Roku and subscribed to Netflix). Personally I watch what I want on my iMac. I found that unless she is here I have no need for a TV.
I know a lot of people have several TVs but I only watch TV in one room. Heck, my cousin has a big TV in his bedroom and he practically lives in bed. Years ago I had a TV in my bedroom too, but I noticed that I only sleep in the bedroom (I have no desire to lay in bed and watch TV or movies) I don't need a TV there and haven't had one in the bedroom for at least the last 6 to 8 years (if not 10). I have a small, simple place and simply don't need TVs in every room.
One of the things I am thinking of is buying something like this to put it on: TV Stand with Casters. My desk is at one end of my living room and I plan to put something like this at the far end: Log Bunkbed / Futon. With the TV on rollers (and I have porcelain tile floors so it will roll easily), I can roll it over to the desk (Tracey likes to sit next to me at my desk) and watch here, or if I "want some 'privacy' to get some work done" I can turn it around towards the futon and she can watch there and use my wireless Sennheiser headphones. I'm looking at the Log Bunkbed / Futon from the aspect of having an extra bed (why waste space?).
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Oh well - Just thinking. Nothing I have to do right away.
I do have an HD Roku XR with wireless (which I assume is not totally obsolete) in the closet from when I had my last TV (which I gave away last fall as it was over 15 years old and I just wanted it out of here). I got the Roku so my lady friend could watch Netflix on it without running the TV as a second monitor on my iMac after I ditched satellite TV.
I'm not really into Hulu and such. It's been too long for me to remember all the stuff the Roku will get other than Netflix, and it probably gets more these days than it did when I first bought it. Other than Netflix my main interest is to be able to play the many videos I have in different containers (e.g.: .avi) and codecs in the containers (e.g.: divx).
Comparison_of_container_formatsThat's in large part behind my interest in a MacMini and being able to use it as a monitor - I use VLC a *lot* (VLC will play just about any container and enclosed codec), especially now that I have an iPhone which has a free VLC Remote "app". I have lots of old movies and TV shows on hard drives and they're in a lot of different containers and codecs including .flv files.
On my iMac I can open VLC and drag files to the playlist (easier perusing drives than navigating through all the disks and files from within VLC or other front end). Too bad Apple's Front Row has such a sucky interface and won't play a lot of the files. Even Quicktime sucks in a lot of ways in my opinion, and like Front Row doesn't play a lot of the files I have.
I do have the DVD .iso file aspect to consider as well. When I get a DVD I burn it to an .iso file. VLC will play DVD VOB files, but for it to really work like a DVD player (menus and all that) on an .iso file I have to open the .iso file so it mounts on the desktop like a 'normal' disk and then use the Apple DVD player.
Until December 2009 I has Dish satellite but since then I haven't had any TV "service" such as satellite or cable or even OTA. I'm mainly wanting to get a TV so that I can work on my iMac without having to set things up for my lady friend to watch something on the TV as a second monitor (which is why I bought the Roku and subscribed to Netflix). Personally I watch what I want on my iMac. I found that unless she is here I have no need for a TV.
I know a lot of people have several TVs but I only watch TV in one room. Heck, my cousin has a big TV in his bedroom and he practically lives in bed. Years ago I had a TV in my bedroom too, but I noticed that I only sleep in the bedroom (I have no desire to lay in bed and watch TV or movies) I don't need a TV there and haven't had one in the bedroom for at least the last 6 to 8 years (if not 10). I have a small, simple place and simply don't need TVs in every room.
One of the things I am thinking of is buying something like this to put it on: TV Stand with Casters. My desk is at one end of my living room and I plan to put something like this at the far end: Log Bunkbed / Futon. With the TV on rollers (and I have porcelain tile floors so it will roll easily), I can roll it over to the desk (Tracey likes to sit next to me at my desk) and watch here, or if I "want some 'privacy' to get some work done" I can turn it around towards the futon and she can watch there and use my wireless Sennheiser headphones. I'm looking at the Log Bunkbed / Futon from the aspect of having an extra bed (why waste space?).
Oh well - Just thinking. Nothing I have to do right away.
I'm still thinking about the sound aspect, though. My old Toshiba 27" had really good sound, but when I hooked it up to my stereo as one would expect I got much better sound.
