Another of Scott's Homes on the Web

(This is the post promised in a later bottle.)

We're upgrading to DirecTV's Genie device / service. Our DirecTiVo that we got in ... 2002? 2003? is dying - it is randomly locking up, and sometimes not finishing a boot after being power-cycled. We've been loyal DirecTV customers for sufficiently long that the hardware upgrade (include mini-Genie for a second room, and new satellite antenna) is free - we're paying $21.50 for the installation, and our bill is going up about $19/month.

This means that our TV that was new in 2000 is finally getting replaced by an HDTV.

And I need some help / pointers.

We'll be sitting 100-110" from the TV. We have a low awareness / high tolerance for digital artifacting.

Research is leading me to believe I'm looking at wanting a 35-70" TV. The space it's going into is about 51" wide - our current theory is that we're going to get a new media center with a built-in support for the TV that will fit the space. The media center that the old TV is in has a hole 28" wide for the TV - the HDTVs that would fit that space are way too small.

How important is 1080 vs 720? p vs i? (I know i is interlaced, and that I should prefer p.) 60hz vs 120hz? What are the trade-offs of bigger vs. smaller? Got any pointers to a good 'I'm almost totally ignorant, educate me on the pros and cons'?

Finally, any brand recommendations? Pro or con accepted.

Unfortunately, this is probably only going to be of interest if you read it within the next two hours, and you live in the US! Well, you might have longer if you live on the West Coast.

ION is showing the BBC production of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather tonight, 25 November, from 6:00-10:00pm CST. I'm told it's four hours starting at 7pm for EST. I don't know what it'll be for other time zones.

For those of you who live in the Twin Cities, MN area, iraunink informs me it's being broadcast on Channel 41.

We just watched the first two episodes of the SciFi channel series. It's been a few years since I read any of the books - I only really remember the first one. I enjoyed it. I liked Bob. It looks like it could be a good series.