Author: jcalvert

So I am off to Nottingham today.  Get to spend lots of time on plans and trains, so it will make for a not so fun trip.  I think by the time I get to my hotel I will have spent a good 18-20 hrs traveling.  Yuck!

Funny thing about Calvert #3 is that my gaming has rapidly decreased.  It is not like I do not want to play anything, but finding the time or energy is another story.  A good example; it is five minutes short of 4AM right now, and I am up with Joseph, giving Tonya a much needed break.  So I am watching bad TV, not getting a lot of sleep, and pretty much killing any chance I have of wanting to play anything tonight.  After work, soccer practice, and getting the kids to bed, I am going to be completely shot.

It has been this way for the last six weeks.  I am going to have to make a WoW decision; I just threw away $15 in February, not even logging 5 minutes with the game.  Then there is the stuff I would like to play – MVP 07 (still pissed about the rosters, but I do want to play), and the Christmas games – God of War, Gun, and Final Fantasy XII.  My UK trip this weekend will give me some playing time, but probably not enough to write home about.  Maybe that in itself will be worth a story.

Meanwhile, at 4AM, the TV viewing sucks.  There is a lot of bad programming on at this time of night/day.  I am a big fan of educational type programming, but you can only watch so many reruns on Discovery, Discovery HD, History, History International, and Science channel.  It looks like there is a new Girls Gone Wild video out, but even that sucks because of the little black bars that obstruct the better part of my curiosity.  At 4AM there should be an understanding that black bars are not required.  My $5/month sports package is giving me some Boca Juniors on Fox Soccer, which is OK, but I do not like watching random soccer matches for less than an hour (I hope to get back to bed in the next hour).  What else?  Surfing, Women’s basketball, college hockey, and some no name division college basketball.  Not that I was expecting that much, but this is fairly ridiculous.

Last week I mentioned that I was surprised at the cost of high-end HD cables, so I did some research, and came to the conclusion that a $15 cable is almost as good as a $200 cable.

I decided to place an order with monoprice and I can report that the cables arrived quickly, and more importantly, they work great. I picked up a 6ft Gold Plated HDMI DVI (24AWG) cable for $15.77, and a “premium” 6ft (22AWG) RCA audio cable for $3.39. As I have mentioned several times, I am not a huge AV buff, but I think these cables give a great picture, even on SD stuff like History channel broadcasts.

Are the high-end HD cables from Monster and other vendors better than what I just purchased? While I have not done any sort of side-by-side comparisons, I would be hard pressed to imagine that my picture could be any better than what I am seeing right now.

The cables from monoprice are nice and think, look well shielded, and the connectors look very sturdy. I am going to place another order for my various analog cables used in my video game switch box to see if I can get any sort of signal upgrade.

Yes spring training is in full swing, but for me the sweet melody of spring is watching a bunch of four-year-olds chase around a soccer ball on a neatly trimmed pitch.  Funny that Chris just mentioned soccer in his previous post, because I was about to do the same.  Today was opening day at the Columbus Soccer Complex, and Nathan found the net twice.  Happy days (and proud dads) are here again.

I love The Hardball Times (the site as well as the yearly annuals). If you are a baseball fan, you owe it to yourself to make the site part of your daily surfing.

John Brattain recently wrote an interesting article titled Whom would You Choose? where Mr. Brattain debates “Suppose you had a Hall of Fame ballot with one spot left and you had to choose between Schilling and Smoltz: Whom would you choose?”

Before I started this column, I would’ve voted for Curt Schilling. My mind is changed. If I have one vote to cast between the two at this point, I vote for John Smoltz.

It is a fascinating article, but there are a couple of decent follow-ups.

The first is via a blog (The Pastime) where the author makes a compelling case for Schilling.

The second is a subsequent article by Mr. Brattain titled “You Said It” where Mr. Brattain quotes (and answers) a serious of well-written emails to his first article, mostly in support of Schilling.

All three articles are a great way to start your work week. BTW, I am biased towards Smoltz. I think being a top closer adds to his legacy, and in no way detracts from John Smoltz’s Hall of Fame credentials.

Blu-ray: So I am walking around Target yesterday (my wife sent me to spend money at her favorite store since she was not feeling well) and while I was looking at the DVDs, I overheard a couple of young dudes talking about Blu-Ray. Conversation was along the lines of

[dude 1] “What is the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD?”
[dude 2] “Beats me. Never heard of it before.”

The interesting part of this conversation was that these guys are obviously GIs (Fort Benning is in Columbus, GA). Stereotype coming, but I expected young dudes to know the difference between Blu-Ray, DVD, and HD-DVD formats, but they did not have a clue. Sony may have missed the boat on this one.

HD Hockey: Every once in a while I try to get into hockey, but it never works. Everyone says that you have to watch the game in person, and while we do have a decent lower level minor league team in my area (not to mention the Thrashers are 90 minutes away); I can never seem to get into the sport. Last night, one of the HD channels had Nashville (vs. some other team that I cannot recall), so I tried to watch for a few minutes. I can see why everyone raves above HD hockey (better puck viewing, and more action shows on the TV at one time); I still could not get into the game. I am sure I will try again, but for now, hockey is still not sticking with this Southern boy.

How the other half live (Part I): In the February 26, 2007 SI, I read that Ken Griffy Jr. (Reds often injured outfielder) broke his left hand “horsing around with his kids on the family’s yacht in the Bahamas in December.” I can only imagine.

How the other half live (Part II): Or maybe we should title this one “how many millions is really enough?” I read in this morning’s paper that Atlanta Falcons defensive end Patrick Kerney has voided his contract. Boo hiss. I realize that he is coming off of surgery, and he can make more money as a free agent, but what ever happened to team loyalty? Kerney was quoted by the AP as saying:

“I’ve only got about five more years to play, and I’ve got to make the most out of it. As great as it would have been to finish my career with Atlanta, where everybody, especially the fans, have been great to me in my eight years there, the business side is there.”

Thanks for that Patrick. I cannot honestly say what I would do in his position, but what happened to the days when players would spend their entire career with one team? The reality is that the Falcons could cut Kerney at any time – contracts in the NFL are not guaranteed – at the same time, the Falcons were not looking for a change in direction.

EA Sports is lazy: Unbelievable. Why would EA Sports be so lazy as to swap MVP 06 rosters with MVP 07 rosters? I knew that UGA did not look right, but I was really off the mark. UGA has Nebraska’s MVP 06 roster.  Seriously, WTF? I previously posted that the game was easily worth $29.99, even as a slightly updated version of last year’s game, but I have to retract that statement. MVP 07 is a lot of fun, but come on, how much money would it have cost EA Sports to update the rosters? I would suggest that PS2 owners only buy this one used or when it hits the bargain bin; $14.99 is probably a fair price.

Holy price gauging Batman!  Has anyone seen the prices of HDMI cables at Best Buy (presumably the same at other electronics stores)?  Yesterday I was in Best Buy to pick up a DVI (HD cable box out) to HDMI (TV in) for my new Sony 40″ BRAVIA V-Series HDTV (KDL-40V2500), but was shocked at the prices of HDMI cables.  We are talking about $80 or so for a “low end” cable, while the top end cables will set you back about $145 (plus tax).  There is also the $35 to be spent on the DVI to HDMI adaptor.

This is completely insane.  First, I spend two grand on a TV.  Next I spend some money to upgrade to Charter HD service.  Now I have to spend another $100-200 on cables.  Where does it end?  I assume if later this year I decided to pick up a 360 or PS3, I will have to spend even more money on more digital cables.

I have been doing some reading/research at it seems there are two camps.  The first firmly believes that spending top dollar on high-end cables such as those provided by Monster are an absolute necessity.  The other camp believes that a digital cable is a digital cable (assuming reasonable cable length), and you should go as cheap as possible.  I sure hope that the latter is correct because I do not want to spend this much money on cables.

I am sorry that LaDainian Tomlinson’s father was tragically and unexpectedly killed when his truck flipped over on a Texas highway last Friday afternoon. With that said, why would ESPN run the following headline – “Tomlinson says he’s ‘devastated’ by father’s death”? Of course he is devastated, as most of us would be at the news of a parent’s unexpected death. Why not just report the news with a simple headline such as “LaDainian Tomlinson’s father killed in traffic accident” and then use the “devastated” quote within the story? Maybe I am becoming a prude in my old age, but I am getting sick and tired of shock/sensational journalism.

Pretty solid game for the PSP. My wife got this for me as a Christmas present; I think it was probably $39.99 (or $49.99) at the time, but is now a nice $29.99 at most stores. I opened it for the first time earlier in the week on the flight to Costa Rica, and managed to put in a solid couple of hours with the game. On the flight back I did not play as much (maybe an hour). I think people either love the GTA series or they cannot stand the games; not a whole lot of middle ground for gamers to take it or leave it. I have always enjoyed the games because I find them fairly compelling – free roaming immersive environment, tons of fun missions, plenty of cars, great for pick-up-and play rampant destruction, great soundtracks (especially Vice City games), and just downright fun.

The only problem I have with the game is that I can only take GTA games in small doses, and I have never finished one. Of course I cannot play the game (or the PS2 counterparts) in front of the kids. Something about cussing, shooting, and hookers does not make for a family experience.

Vice City Stories features standard camera and control issues that we have come to expect with the GTA series. No real show stoppers, but it is a pain to target multiple folks, and the camera does tend to do squirrelly things from time to time.

I have not seen a deeper (non sports) game on the PSP, and the graphics are remarkable. It is hard to believe that the developers managed to get Vice City into a PSP UMD.

I purchased a Sony 40″ BRAVIA V-Series HDTV (KDL-40V2500) at Circuit City a couple of Sundays ago, but decided not to write about it until I actually got to see some real HDTV. It took Charter almost two weeks to schedule me for an install, and while I am not going to go into the shity Charter customer service I received, I will say that the technicians (apparently it takes two guys to change a light bulb) did not connect the set correctly. Seriously, why would you connect a blue component cable to a green component input?

The good news is that the picture quality is absolutely phenomenal! The viewing pleasure while watching a praying mantis documentary on Discovery HD last night was fabulous. I just wish it was still season because I have no desire to watch the NBA on ESPN HD. Braves HD broadcast cannot start soon enough, or maybe some soccer action in HD. Maybe I will get into some college basketball this year as a tribute to my late father. It is going to be along haul until September.

I need to figure out if I am getting the best picture quality possible; I assume I at this point I am not, but the picture still looks damn good. The HD receiver does not have an HDMI output, but it does support DVI, which of course explains why the technicians decided to set me up with an analog component connection. Did I mention that they set this up incorrectly, and did not stick around to make sure it was working correctly?

The avs forum has been extremely helpful with info on my new TV, calibration suggestions, and an assortment of other useful information. I was worried about the “cloudiness problem” until I came across a post that convinced me that this is not a show stopper.

“The so called cloudiness problem is a non-issue unless you want to be super critical or like to watch a blank screen. It is not something you would ever notice during normal viewing.

There is some faint unevenness across an unused input, but who wants to watch nothing. If you are watching TV with bars at the sides or top/bottom there is no trace of cloudiness in the dark bands.”

Now I am jonesing for some HD gaming action, but I want to wait for a while before picking a system.

I am not really an AV expert; probably apparent from this post. I do not understand why the cables matter so much if the signal is coming from plain-jane coaxial cable. That has to be analog, right? So maybe the box does some type of up-convert, and then it is up to the signal carried in the cables to the TV to provide the best picture quality possible. Ignorant. Certainly, but the HD broadcasts are clearly superior to my old stand-by Sony 32″ Trinitron.

Yes, actually still around and kicking, and surprise, surprise, I have actually been playing some games. I am sure it is not what you think. For the month of February, I have laid a rotten WoW egg; $14.99 pretty much down the drain.

Earlier this week I picked up Winning Eleven: Pro Soccer 2007 (PSP) and MVP 07 NCAA Baseball (PS2). Both games are top notch, and worth the entry price. My only concern with WE is the load times, which to me seem far worse than last year’s WE9. WE is pretty much the best sports game available for the PSP, and perhaps the system’s only saving grace.

I am not sure that MVP 07 is much of an improvement over the under appreciated MVP 06, but I am a college baseball fan, and decent PS2 games are few and far between. I love the analog pitching (“rock and fire”) and batting controls, which are nicely implemented. The gameplay is spot on, fielding, throwing, variety of hits, etc. The commentary gets redundant after a few innings, and the rosters are a mess (have only explored UGA and Texas they seem way off to the 2006 0r 2007 real life teams).

I have several upcoming trips, including one to Costa Rica this weekend, so this is pretty much now or never for my PSP. If I do not feel like I can get decent value during 32 hours in the air, then it is past time to cut my losses and throw this thing up on eBay.

As I continue to research HDTV options, I came across an interesting site (AntennaWeb.org) that shows what free HDTV broadcasts are available in a given area, and what type of antenna is the best choice for picking up the broadcasts.

I am not really inclined to climb up on my steep roof (it was an adventure getting up there, right after Joseph was born, to fix a leak over the sunroom) to install an outdoor antenna, and then run a cable through the attic, and eventually through my 100+ year-old plaster walls. Nope. Not so much fun.

So I am looking for a decent indoor antenna, which could tide me over for a few months until I make a decision to stick with charter or switch to DirectTV.

After doing a lot of R&R (reading and research) I convinced myself that a 40″ LCD was right for my living room. 40″ is about all that will fit where I want the TV to sit (or eventually be mounted), and while I could go a little higher (say 46″), a 40″ LCD seems to be the best value for my money.

I decided on LCD over plasma for a couple of reasons. First, I really wanted the highest resolution possible (1080p seems to be the way to go), and my living room is bright (lots of windows), which may present a problem for plasmas.

I was pretty convinced that I was going to go with a Samsung LN-S4095D 40″ 1080p LCD HDTV, but I finally decided on a Sony 40″ BRAVIA V-Series HDTV (KDL-40V2500). The Sony is a little more expensive, but seems to be the better set based on specs and my test viewing earlier today.

I am close to picking up the Sony today at Circuit City ($2249.99 + tax), but then I came message board that seems to indicate a serious ‘clouding’ issue with the Sony BRAVIA models. I am not sure if I would notice, but still, do I take the chance?

So now I am going to hold off for at least anther day to re-evaluate plasma, DLP, and do some more research on the Samsung and Sony models mentioned above. I wonder if this is kind of like the golden days of videogame reviews – things come up and average folks are never going to notice.

Anyway, I am a little disappointed that I did not get my HDTV set today, because I have been shopping around for over a year now (before finally deciding to get the thing done). I have a feeling that I am not going to pick up a new set for a couple of weeks. $2K (or more) is a lot to spend on a TV, plus I am traveling next weekend. No sense in rushing a purchase.

A little over a year ago we moved into The Gatewood Mannor, and while I absolutely love the house, it took a large chunk of my savings to restore the house to its deserved glory. Taking on a restoration project left precious little money for things like, oh say, actually buying decent furniture, custom blinds (all 22 windows are handcrafted frames, and thus require custom blinds), and other niceties.

My eight-year-old 32 inch Sony Trinitron TV has been sitting on the floor of the living room since we moved into the house, which has not made my wife a happy camper. She hates clutter, and having a TV on the floor, complete with game systems, controllers, DVDs, games, etc has not gone over well with my Tonya.

So now the time has come for a new TV. Reading between the lines, my wife has given the green-light for this big ticket item purchase. It is high time to get the TV off the floor. Funny how things like that work.

I figure that my allotted space will allow me to take on a 42-46 inch TV. Plasma? DLP? 1080p? Time to spend some time researching options, putting forth a budget, and seeing which set provides the best viewing pleasure for my money. If all the local channels broadcast HTDV over the air (and I think several do) then this may be the perfect time to pick up some DirectTV. Say hello NFL network.

HDTV suggestions welcome.

I just got my copy of Eddie Murphy’s Delirious DVD from Amazon.  Man, what a great stand-up act Mr. Murphy was back in the day.  I just watched this great DVD a few minutes ago, and while the language was a little too much for my wife (Tonya left a few minutes after the fag jokes), this DVD is just brilliant.  Long before we had to worry about political correctness (I just said fag), Murphy went after various topics like there was no tomorrow – gays, AIDS, racism, sexual topics (he is right about 18-year old boys), and so on and so forth.  Good stuff!

It was a little disappointing that there was not much more than the Delirious footage; you would think the DVD could have held more extras, SNL footage, something.  Some limited extras (Buckwheat thing was funny) and an interesting interview with Mr. Murphy says that he “might” do stand-up again one day, are included; really nothing to write home about.

I have not seen Delirious for at least 10 years so I was happy to see it again, and while I wish there were more extras, this DVD was well worth the $14.98 (DVD plus shipping) that I spent.