Review of the Samsung LN-T5265F TFT-LCD Television.

Samsung LNT5265F 52-inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Holy freakin’ God, this television rocks! I cannot tell you. If God has a television, this is what he watches. It is bright and gorgeous. It’s completely riveting. I am probably going to die sooner than I should because I’m buying a bean bag chair and I’m going to plant myself in front of the television and watch movies and play games for the rest of my life.

It has 3 HDMI inputs and 2 component inputs. It also does s-video and cable and the rest of the lower res stuff. The money is in the HDMI, computer and component inputs. Right now, I’m using a component input for my cable box and I’m running my Xbox 360 through the PC input. It is with this setup that I’m able to get 1080p output and watch movies in 1080p on the Xbox HD DVD drive.

The brightness of this TV is amazing. It’s sitting in a room facing 4 5 ½ foot windows. The television is bright enough to watch in full daylight. Strangely enough, there is less glare than the CRT television this TV replaces. Also the viewing angles are incredible. I had originally planned on getting a Mitsubishi DLP. The viewing angle on a DLP is nothing like this. You can watch this TV from essentially the same viewing angles as you would with a conventional television.

On my set up, I use the optical audio output to send audio to an Onkyo surround sound system. Honestly, the first time I plugged in this television it brought a tear to my eye. Gaming is in a class by itself. The 360 does not disappoint. I can’t imagine going back to my PS2 after this. In fact, if there is one weakness, I did try running my PS2 on it and it looked terrible. My cable box upconverts so normal channels look ok.

I looked at every LCD Best Buy had to offer in picking this TV. The contenders were from Sharp and Sony. Still, the Samsung stood above them all and I obviously couldn’t be happier. As I’ve said before, it’s reawakened my interest in movies and games. I’m a lucky man indeed.

MMMmmm Asparagus.

Actually, it’s probably not asparagus, but I had that for dinner (with melted butter). I always like asparagus. I probably eat it a couple of times a week. So I’m going through a Flickr browsing page. Bear with me. Flickr browsing eases my stress. That’s worth a lot, really.  Until I get past this extraordinarily stressful period, I’m going to be looking at a lot of pictures.

Awesome Kites

I was looking at pictures of octopii on Flickr today and I came across these kites:

So pretty and carefree; they are a perfect antidote to my stress filled existence.

I really enjoy looking at pictures on flickr. I often go “wallpaper hunting” for pretty things to look at on my desktops. Flickr is wonderful for that.

/edit:  I’m getting a ton of hits on this entry from kite fans presumably looking for more kite information.  Ah, such is the nature of the blogosphere.  I know nothing about kites, but here’s some more awesome kite pics:

Row Your Boat.

I had recorded this for my kids.  Then a post on Scottfree2b’s blog made me upload it and post a comment.  Then, I thought, why should he have all the fun?  He’ll probably think it’s spam!

Gadgets and Super Powers.

It occurred to me the other day that my adolescent desire to be greater than my fellow men is why I like gadgets.  Call it a Batman complex.  Batman has no super powers.  He does have a utility belt and a whole lot of other stuff.  He is the consummate gadget guy.

Admittedly, no cell phone is going to make you a superman.  An iPod is not going to help you leap tall buildings anytime soon.  Having a really fast laptop is not going to make you invulnerable, even to viruses.

Yet the coolness persists.  Given my sedentary proclivities and the fact that I generally abhor the outdoors, life saving gadgets aren’t even really likely to help me much.  For example, I could take to wearing a Kevlar vest every day, but all that would accomplish is making me buy new clothes and probably making me sweat more.  I’m not Batman, after all.

I think GPS units are really cool, but if I have to drive anywhere further than 4 hours, I fly.  If I’m going somewhere I’ve never been, I take maps and I never veer off main highways.  Since 99% of the time I’m going to and from work or perhaps to a store, my need for a GPS is slight.

My Blackberry does give me the power to be away from my office and answer email and that’s important.  My iPod lets me listen to informative podcasts while I’m driving so that’s a plus in the advantage column.  My Nintendo DS lets me waste time while I’m not near a computer.  It’s certainly not an advantage, but it can be entertaining.

Someday, a gadget is going to come along that really does give a person an advantage in modern life.  I’ll be first in line for that one.  Of course after everyone gets one, it won’t be an advantage anymore, it will be a requirement.  Until then, there’s always something new to play with.

Shameless eBay Plug: CDs, games & more!

Gentle reader, you know I have no ads on my blog.  You know that I don’t hawk things here and when I review something, it is always unbiased, honest and not tied to compensation.

Well tonight that’s all out the window!

Tonight, I’m promoting my eBay auctions!

See I feel compelled to do this because I don’t like having reserves on my auctions, but my lot of 7 CDs that I’m selling is currently only going for a penny!  Boy, if that guy wins that one, he’s going to walk away with $70 worth of music for…  (wait for it) a song!

I’m also selling old PS2 games, and Star Trek and Firefly DVDs.  So, my loyal friend, check these out and if you like what you see, make a bid.  Your ol’ pal Thaed has been on eBay since 1999 and you’ll get your merch quick after that paypal money hits the internets.

Blackberry 8703 e

For me, buying a significant new gadget is like welcoming someone to the family.  Of course, in this case that means showing the old cell phone the door.  I don’t much mind, though.  I’ve been using a Treo 600 for 2 ½ years.  That phone sadly never lived up to its potential.  I ended up using it only as a phone.

My new phone is a Blackberry.  It made sense to go this route as it appears that we’ve worked out the issues with pushing in work email.  Also, I wanted a Bluetooth headset.

I just got it today, so it’s too early to really rate it.  It seems, however, to do the things that it does very well.  The Bluetooth headset worked fine, the email is good and it seemed to synch with Outlook.  If all goes well, the functionality will be much better than I’ve had in years.

Also, it’s black (my favorite color).  More to come on this folks…

Hot Dogs and Scarlett O’Hara.

How do you relax after a day where everyone comes at you from every different direction? What’s you’re favorite stress reliever? When I got home today, I grilled hot dogs. I like hot dogs. Boil ‘em, fry ‘em, steam ‘em, they’re all good! The best hot dog, hands down, is a grilled hot dog. Oh, my mouth is watering all over again after eating three of them. I didn’t even put sauerkraut on them this time. I just had mustard and pickles. Truly to die for, and with what’s in hot dogs, I probably will.

I also got Wired magazine in the mail today. Lying on the couch reading Wired takes away the stress too. Of course this means that the work I brought home tonight will not be finished, but what of it. In the famous words of Scarlett O’Hara, “Tomorrow is another day.”

Soap

This is a blog post on soap.  That’s right, I’m talking about the stuff that most of you use to lather up your skin every morning (or night before).  Well, hopefully, you’re a soap user.  If you aren’t, this post isn’t for you and frankly, I hope we never meet in real life.  We can still be Internet friends though.

Anyway, I’ve been experimenting with new types of soap for the freshest, cleanest experience.  As usual, I’m not like normal people.  Even though Lever soap has been recommended to me by dermatologists, it causes my legs to break out.  I like the soap, but I’ll pass on the accompanying rash.

Ivory has been very good to me.  It’s cheap and it doesn’t bother my skin.  Unfortunately, it’s also not the strongest soap with which one could clean one’s self.  Ivory is good if you’re having skin problems, but there are better things out there.  I often wonder after I use Ivory if people aren’t giving me a little more room than usual during the day.  Maybe that’s a good thing?

When I was in Las Vegas and lucky enough to be staying at the Winn, they had this soap called Bambu.  Smelling like lemons, I really enjoyed it.  I haven’t been able to find it at the grocery store, though.  I suspect that I’d have to go to one of those fru-fru places to find it or look online.  Yet, there are limits to what I’m willing to do for my soap fetish.  I am, after all, still a guy.

One very perfectly good soap for men is Dial for Men:  Full Force.  I’m liking this one a lot.  For one thing, it comes in a manly blue bar.  It’s not the longest lasting soap.  I think I burned through a bar in a week.  But that just means it’s working, right?  This soap is a deodorant version and it’s very strong.  I definitely know that I smell better coming out of the shower than going in when I used it.

Far less masculine, but definitely nice smelling is Zest:  Linen Fresh.  In terms of all round smell, this is a nice one.  It does smell like clean linens with maybe a hint of lemon.  That’s one a whole family could use.  It’s not just for guys.

In the end, I suspect I’ll stick with Dial for Men.  I like the fact that it’s strong.  When you use it, you could probably forget to put on deodorant and still get away with it.  Maybe it’s a belt and suspenders approach to smelling good, but whatever, I’ll take it.

Owned.

My failure to use an overclocked PC over the long term has engendered mirth among my more geeky friends. I’ve mentioned before that Geeknights is one of my favorite podcasts. They have a forum which I frequent and I cross posted my experiences with overclocking in their forum. They had advised against it and I went ahead anyway. My failure resulted in my being owned. Oh the shame!

Well, not really. It was a learning experience for me, albeit an expensive one. It will be fine though because I think I’m going to get a cheap mobo for the slower processor and then I’ll have two dual core machines. That will be great. At least until the quadcores come out.