More Excuses to Sit on my Ass
Got a Philips MX5900SA home theater system, and wow… what a friggin’ difference! My neighbors are sooooo going to hate me. It’s a 5-disc DVD changer 500-watt multi-channel (6.1) system. I can’t believe I’ve had a HDTV for 2 years and hadn’t paired it with something like this until now.
And no, this isn’t like buying a Corvette. I wouldn’t of gotten it if it weren’t such a steal.
Speaking of HDTV, my TV’s got DirecTV built into it which is all digital and at least partially HDTV. I’ve even got the dish, but my landlord won’t let me mount the thing, so I’m left with sucktacular Comcast. I’ve got them coming next week to install a HDTV cable box, but I’m skeptical as to how it’s going to really play out since my TiVo won’t take high-def feeds and the TV’s only got one composite input for high-def, currently being used by the Philips box. We shall see.
Only major gripe, which isn’t Philips fault: my TiVo remote doesn’t have a code to control the volume/mute on it.
I also got a second TiVo. Ratio of TVs to people in my house now 2:1. The pricing for the service and HMO is bullshit, but the “sharing” between rooms is nice as are the music and photo features. Although, it’s not like I couldn’t do it… watching something recorded in another room without getting off my ass is pretty sweet. Major gripe there: no AAC support for music.
Oh, also got a new stove. But haven’t used that yet. Priorities, dammit. 😉
SprintPCS to carry T608, but BIG cavaet
Seriously stupid Sprint has finally decided to carry the T608… a phone which they sat on forever due to SonyEricsson’s decision to stop producing CDMA phones. It will be the first (and only that I know of) SprintPCS phone to offer bluetooth.
But here’s the catch: they will not offer unlimited Vision on the phone, presumably to prevent people from using it as a wireless modem.
Even though I have “unlimited” Vision, I use it maybe once a month at most… granted, given the wireless modem thing, I might use it a lot more, so I kinda see their point, but this is a serious slap in the face for a lot of us who have been waiting for this phone.
To make matters worse, there’s only a limited number available. So get yours now if you want it… 1-866-PCS-AUTO
Of course, if I get the phone, I’ll need the Bluetooth capable car to go with it.
New Toys… no, not those kind
Picked up the Samsung A600, totally on impulse, and got an iSight this week. (That was really last week’s impulse that got delivered yesterday.) There’s a theme here — cameras — but I already have a shitload of digital video devices with which I do nothing. Perhaps if my life suddenly turned interesting, I’d be prepared to prove it to unbelieving friends. Hell if I know.
Anyway, this A600 is kinda whacky — flip-phone with a swivel screen and rotating barrel camera. I keep swearing I’ll swear off Sprint for good, but I’m locked into a contract until October 2004. (Granted, the termination penalty is $150 and the phone I just bought was $330.) It’s cool, and thankfully my car adapter and home charger from my A500 work with the A600.
The camera is “good” quality for being from a phone. Pics are 640×480 — that’s high resolution for a tiny pocket phone. It also has a CCD sensor rather than the cheaper CMOS ones found in most phones. All in all, not a bad phone. Reception, a notorious sore point with Samsung phone owners, is also much improved in this phone.
In addition to the A600, Sprint also launched the VGA 1000, a cheaper camera phone which Samsung labels the A620. Costco has a coupon this week good for $50 off select Sprint PCS phones, including the VGA 1000, but sadly not the A600.
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