Lots of stuff happening here…

Lots of stuff happening here, but I haven’t been finding the time to write about it.

I have a visitor staying with me – Sovay is a collie belonging to and , who are off for a few days. It has been pretty painless, apart from her thinking that my trying to get her to bed last night was actually a really fun run-around-the-room game. Am blatently using her as an excuse to get out more regularly for walks.

Meanwhile, the garden is coming along nicely, courtesy of and his dad, Nev. We have been blessed with the weather – the plan was to do the garden as long as it was fine, but if it turned bad, move indoors and start on the bathroom, instead. However, it seems we are havng an indian summer, which – after the summer we had – is quite pleasant. Of course, having Nev working on the garden means that Sovay has another familiar face to see, which helps.

New toy time now. I have bought myself a 3D TV. I’ve needed to replace my TV for a long while, but have been holding out, as every month it seemed they had new features. In the end, I have gone for a fairly light featured 3D TV, which allowed me to add a Bluray, which has the various internet connectivities etc. Doing it that way, should features change (as they are likely to), I am only looking at replacing a set-top box, rather than the whole TV.

Interestingly, the TV (an LG 42LW450U) uses passive 3D, rather than active 3D. This is the same method used by cinemas, utilising polarised lens, rather than shutter glasses. This has some benefits, not least that the glasses cost a quid or so, rather than 30 quid a pair. My TV came with 7 sets included, and the ones I bring home from the cinema also work.

The one hiccup is that although the TV has a great range of horizontal viewing angles (i.e. it is 3D whether you are directly in front of the set, or sitting off to the side), the vertical angle isn’t that big – notably, viewing from below screws up the 3D. This would not normally be a problem, but when I laid out my TV area a couple of months ago, I deliberately positioned the TV at just below standing eye level, for comfortable use when I use the Wii. Seated, it is a very comfortable viewing angle and good picture for normal 2D pictures, but for the odd 3D movie so far, I’ve had to physically tilt the set by sticking a book under the back. Precarious, but fortunately I have bounce-free concrete floors. With the TV thus tilted, the 3D is brilliant.

Long term the solution would be either to buy a shorter unit for it to go on, bringing it to seated eye level height (and perhaps move the Wii upstairs, on the old TV), or have the TV wall mounted at its current height, allowing it to be tilted on the wall mounting. I will be experimenting over the next few weeks, to decide what is best for me.

One Comment

  1. September 29, 2011
    Reply

    I’m hearing a Talis lyric: “…to the obvious delight of young Sovay…” =;o}

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