Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Before reading further, if you haven't read my initial article on this project (and the follow-up), please check it out for the background and design goals of this project.

Remember the digital wall project I talked about in July 2008? In the latter part of 2008, it was finally completed: the results are shown above [high-res photo available]. I love how it turned out, and everyone who sees it for the first time has the same response: "Wow, that looks great!". Like any home renovation project, this one had several stages; the final stage was trauma recovery. The project as a whole was so drawn-out and frustrating that it's only months after it's finished that I feel I can write about it without spewing expletives on your screen. My hope is that by detailing the process, and results, anyone attempting a similar project will learn what to do - and what not to do, because I had never done anything like this before and have learnt a great deal from it. Let's get started! Read more...

"Likewise, tech historians may point to February 12, 2009 as the official fall of the plasma empire—even though new models have just been announced. That’s the day that Pioneer—arguable the maker of the best plasmas ever—announced its complete exit from the TV business and that Vizio—the number-three plasma retailer in the US—gave up on the tech in favor of LCD. That leaves just Panasonic, LG and Samsung defending the diminished borders of the once-great empire. (And the latter two are also the two largest makers of LCD panels in the world. Only Panasonic still stake its life on plasma.)"

Word of Pioneer's exit from the Plasma TV market has got Plasma afficionados in a panic, wondering if the market is viable anymore. Sean Captain of Popular Science believes so. Plasma TVs have been given a bad rap from the beginning. Cited as being extraorindarily expensive and power hungry, they were discounted as a niche product in comparison to their LCD bretheren. The past few years have seen this change. Plasma TVs are much closer in cost and power consumption to LCD TVs while providing a stunning experience. Unfortunately, I believe that it lost the war because of the "race to the bottom" syndrome. People as a whole largely buy based on price, and LCD TVs were able to reach the sub-$1000 and now even the sub-$500 price points first. I admit that I too bought largely due to financial constraints, and with the economy going the way it is, I don't see many people spending enough extra cash to get a Plasma. For those of you who have been eyeing one, better act quick before they all dry up!

2008 is "The Year of the House" in the Dunn household, and that means upgrading our living environment. Ashley and I have been in our house for nearly seven years now, and seven years of living in the same place tends to create wear and tear. Beyond some of the basics such as getting the walls re-painted and a few yard-based projects completed (have I mentioned how much I loathe yard work?), we've decided to re-do the main wall in our living room. Here's how it looks today:

It has suited its purpose thus far, but we want to evolve it further. Beyond the LCD TV hooked up to a computer in my downstairs office, the only TV we have in our house is the Toshiba DLP in the bonus room upstairs. That's our media room, and it's set up nicely for our use - but it can't accommodate more than three people on the single couch. We can fit more if they don't mind sitting on the floor with big pillows, but it's not ideal. We've discovered this year that we really want to be able to watch a DVD, or looks at pictures, in an environment that can fit more people - so we're going to transform our living room (which can fit eight to ten people comfortably on three couches) into something that will allow us to do exactly that. Read more...