Dave’s new HD rocks

by on October 22, 2006

Dave Winer has a new Sony 46-inch LCD TV. It’s smaller than mine, but thinner and sharper and his Mac plays full screen on it instead of just partial screen like on mine. It is stunning. He calls it a “life changer.” I agree.

Last night I was at a party where the host showed a video of him and his wife jumping out of a plane. That was cool.

But, we’re turning off the HD and going for a walk and a visit to the Apple store. That makes Patrick happy.

  • Do you know what model of Sony he has? What model do you have?
  • Dude....it's a TELEVISION.

    Don't care how nice the picture is, it's still an idiot box.
  • John: you do realize that Dave has his Mac hooked up to it, right? It's a freaking awesome 46-inch monitor too.
  • It's a monitor that costs more than my MacBook Pro did, and that's fully loaded.

    When the prices come down into the range of "sane", (read: Less than the down payment on a car), then they get interesting. Until then they're still toys for technophiles with more cash than sense.

    As for the monitor part...um. So?

    Wait...so what?


    It's a display. Maybe a nice one, although I have yet to see an LCD that didn't turn to pixellated ass during a baseball game, but it's still just a display. If buying a new display is a life - changing experience, then I'd posit you're desparately in need of two things: A real life - changing experience, and a life to be changed BY said experience.

    I'll bet you can't go for a week without internet access of some kind.
  • John: I went 20 years without having Internet access of some kind. Why would I want to do that now?

    And, having a great display does change your life. Sorry you're so cynical. But why don't you go back and use an original Macintosh? After all, its nine-inch display should be just fine for someone like you who claims not to have his life changed by nicer displays.
  • LOL! I have a 23" Apple screen, going to get a 30" soon, plus a 43" Pioneer HD Plasma in one of the lounges and I LOVE them all.

    PS I can't go without the net for a day, let alone a week. ;-)
  • Christopher Coulter
    just partial screen like on mine.

    Still? Yah sure? I thot I fixed that glitch for the LOST stuffs. ;)
  • In light of Dave's almost religious like comments about his HDTV experience. How critical will it be for him for Apple's new iTV contraption to support HDTV? Apple has not publicly said that this device will support HDTV when it comes out. How is Dave getting his HDTV today?
  • Dave
    Totally agree with John - why would anyone spend $4000 on a TV?

    HD is the most overhyped technology for years too. It offers the owner absolutely ZERO advantage over traditional TV (apart from hurting your eyes a bit more, and making everything look fake - but I don't think they are really advantages!)
  • Dave: when you say it offers "zero advantage over traditional TV" you mark yourself as clueless, ill informed, or, worse, a total raving lunatic.
  • Dave
    Traditional TV presents the viewer with a perfectly clear image and sound. HD presents the viewer with a perfectly clear image and sound. My point still stands.
  • John: I went 20 years without having Internet access of some kind. Why would I want to do that now?

    I'd love to get to a point in my life where I no longer need it. When I get my house in the U.S. Virgin Islands maybe. Life's dream. Nothing more complicated than which shorts I wear, which flipflops, and if a hurricane blows it all away, come back and rebuild my little shack on the beach.

    If you think that I love tech for it's own sake, you're SO wrong.

    And, having a great display does change your life. Sorry you’re so cynical. But why don’t you go back and use an original Macintosh? After all, its nine-inch display should be just fine for someone like you who claims not to have his life changed by nicer displays.

    Strawman and bullshit.

    Yes, that's what that paragraph is.

    The usefulness, or lack thereof, of a 9" B&W monitor has nothing to do with HDTV being a "life changing experience". Strawman.

    The bullshit factor is the "life changing experience". You're talking about an evolutionary step in VIDEO DISPLAYs. That's all. That TV sitting in your living room is not going to to change your life. Nor will it somehow make what you're watching magically transform into a life - changing experience. The CONTENT you watch through it may change your life, but the TV is just the conduit. It doesn't make the content any more or less life-changing, just prettier.

    You really have to get away from tech for awhile Robert, it's killing your critical thinking skills.
  • Dave: when you say it offers “zero advantage over traditional TV” you mark yourself as clueless, ill informed, or, worse, a total raving lunatic.

    No more than you when you insist that the mere ownership of a TV like Dave Winer's will be a "Life-changing experience".

    Here's the test Robert. Turn your HDTV OFF. Leave it that way. No watching. For a month. I guarantee its presence will not change your life. It will sit there and gather dust.

    Of course, the idea of you not glued to a glowing screen like some Gibsonian junkie is never going to be a reality. You're addicted to it. You can't take an honest vacation away from tech. I think you'd have the shakes. You can't even go to a baseball game without a computer, be it a laptop or your phone.
  • When your eyes are first opened to HDTV it is indeed an almost religious experience within a certain framework and context of technology and television consumption. It is pure power for the eyes.

    It is similar to the epiphany that one gets when they time shift TV for the first time.

    From a broader cultural level whether or not a debate exists that we should all tune out and turn off more is one thing. But to say that there is no difference between HDTV and standard definition is just crazy and coming from someone who probably has not spent much time with HDTV.
  • Angel
    @Dave - You don't see a huge difference between HD and a traditional TV picture? Zero advantage? Either you're spouting nonsense just to be argumentative or you've never seen a true HD picture. Either way your comment is absurd.
  • When your eyes are first opened to HDTV it is indeed an almost religious experience within a certain framework and context of technology and television consumption. It is pure power for the eyes.

    Sure, if your entire life revolves around a glowing screen, and little else, then yes, I would imagine that it would mean a lot. It would also mean that you've failed at being a functional human being.

    The TV is a big damned chunk of metal plastic and glass. it is NOTHING sans content. Lemme run 24x7 repeats of "The Surreal Life" and "Flavor of Love" on your big, overpriced religious experience, and you'll be begging me to let you go play in the big blue room under the glowing day ball.

    TV is a delivery system for information. It is the INFORMATION, not the DELIVERY SYSTEM that matters. Important, critical information is not created just because you receive it on 1080p and Dolby. HDTV would not have made Watergate, Johnson's refusal to run speech, "I have a Dream" or any other *TRULY* life - changing event more or less important. They were important on their own. TV was just one of the delivery systems.

    You guys really need to stop worshipping tech just because it exists.
  • I think I get what Dave's talking about, and I understand where Robert is coming from, but life-changing?

    As I said on my blog: Dave may need to get out more.

    http://www.sparkplug9.com/bizhack/index.php/200...
  • Dave Triffid
    Life changing?

    Becoming a father was life changing.
    Learning how to program was life changing.
    Spending time with bushmen in Botswana was life changing.
    The internet was life changing.

    But A NEW TV?
    If that's your life you're welcome to it.
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