Technology Can Still Amaze

So far 2009 has partly been a year of technological improvements. First was my purchase of an iPhone which is still managing to surprise me with it’s capabilities to more I use it and find things on it. Now I have upgraded my entertainment with the purchase of an HDTV.

Prior to yesterday I had been using a 19-inch tube TV. A format that our parents grew up on and watch evolve from black and white to color in their lifes and a format the my generation has known since birth. And while HD was originally too expensive for the regular everyday person, it is now becoming the standard in television. And now that my old tube TV has gone the way of technology like Walkmans and 8-Track, I am amazed by what an HDTV does.

The obvious improvement is the wider screen which allows for more to be seen than the tube TV that I grew up on. It also allows for easy reading of on-screen text. For example, as I write this I am watching Ninja Warrior on G4TV and the commentation is in Japanese resulting in subtitles. Because the screen is wider it’s easier to read when my old 19-inch it was a strain to read it.

Now the screen size i purchased is a 26-inch, but it’s what I would say equals what you would be used to viewing on a 19-inch. My original plan was to purchase a 22-inch but when I saw it in store it gave the illusion of watching a 13-inch tube TV. So I recommend if your buying an HDTV you go at least two sizes larger then the tube TV you are replacing in order to have the same visual feel that you are used to.

As for the overall visuals I am truly amazed. The colors are so much clearer and brighter than ANY tube TV I had watched growing up. Watching TV is just amazing and I don’t even had my HD cable box yet. I can only imagine how things will look once that is set.

And as a gamer I truly feel that ALL gamers have been deprived over the years by playing in tube sets. I own a Nintendo WIi and although it’s design didn’t take HD into account it still shines brighter than expected. Colors and details in games, even the older 16-bit games, look so much better. It’s like experiencing something brand new even though it’s from my junior high school days.

I’m still trying to figure out setting the HDTV and everything to my new stereo receiver but it’s best to wait to get my HD cable set first. Though once I get the sound set I know that it’ll be like my own personal movie theater, only without the fancy seating.

It makes be wonder what is still to come in technology. With touch screen computers just hitting the market how much longer can it be before we are using TV’s and computers with just eye movements. Or even brainwaves?? Only time will tell.

— Posted from my iPhone