I'm aware that the US provides significantly less state-funded medical care than most European states, but surely there is a minimum baseline system that they run?
Yes, there is a minimum baseline system (it's called Medicaid). The problem is that the maximum income allowed to be covered under it is much lower than the minimum income required to afford decent private health insurance, so a bunch of low-income-but-not-quite-abject-poverty people fall into the gap. Plus there are bunches of exclusions related to age, health, marriage status, number of children, whether you're a student or not, etc. (For example, as an unmarried, childless college student slightly too old to be covered by my parents' insurance, I'm entirely screwed.)
What sort of library is that petty? Mine always forgave late fees every 6 months or so (but then again, I only ever accrued a few dollars in late fees, not "sizable amounts").
My guess is in ten years linux TV distros won't support ten-year old hardware.
I would think that a Linux distro for TVs would take the longevity of TVs into account, and be rather more focused on supporting old hardware than a Linux distro for PCs would.
In your shoes I'd plan on the TV's feature set going obsolete within a couple years and make sure I had the right inputs to get whatever might be coming down the road into it.
That TV is the one I'll probably get, too (the other candidate is probably a 40 or 46" Samsung LCD). How do you like the other aspects of it? More specifically:
Have you had any problems with burn-in (if you've hooked it up to a static picture source, like a computer)?
Is the UI good?
Are the controls responsive (i.e., no significant delay to adjust the volume, change the channel, or change the input)?
Is there anything annoying about it (loud fans or electrical buzzing, takes too long to start up, etc.)?
Sony just rushed it into use without checking it out.
What, and that should make me feel better?! Why should I reward negligence?
Did you know that Sony actually sued the company who made it, bascially saying, "This is NOT what we wanted."
Did Sony recall all the rooted "CDs" and apologize/compensate the victims?
You have to remember that Sony is a big company whose divisions don't entirely have the same goals. Sony BMG wants one thing, Sony Computer Entertainment another. So sometimes SCE (or the other manufacturing divisions) win, sometimes they lose.
And I suppose it was Sony BMG who decided to push the proprietary MemoryStick? The Sony hardware designers invented it against their will?
I'm suggesting completely ignoring the internet features and picking based on just display, power consumption, and HDMI connections.
Okay, let's assume I've done that and there are 3 HDTVs left (say, a Samsung, a Panasonic, and a Sony), all with identical specs. Now which do I choose?
Of course, in reality the TVs aren't identical, but they can be hard to compare because they have different trade-offs that make it hard to pick which one is better "overall." For example, I'm seriously considering the Panasonic TC-P50G10 and the Samsung LN46B630. The Panasonic is bigger and has a better picture (presumably -- I can't tell, especially in the bright store and without calibration), but it's also a plasma model (not so good for displaying computer UIs, due to the risk of burn-in) and uses more electricity than the Samsung. I honestly can't decide between them, so differences in Internet features or hackability could help tip the balance towards one or the other.
Yes, I know that -- the Discovery channel on 103.5 that I'm referring to is 480i. But I'd rather watch 480i on 103.5 without a set-top box of any kind (and with only one remote!) than watch 480i on channel 40 with a flaky box that keeps breaking and having to be exchanged, or in 1080i that costs an extra $10/month!
And it should be illegal for Comcast to turn on the encryption for channels that I have a legitimate right to watch, especially since they're doing it to force me to pay extra every month to rent a set-top box! If there were a good technological reason for it and I had the ability to buy my own box or "digital-cable-ready" TV instead that'd be one thing, but they're just being greedy and anti-competitive.
The prices fluctuate wildly (for example, the Panasonic TC-P50G10 varies from $1800 to $1350), so if you can afford to wait the selection is bigger.
Besides, even within the 6 choices the only easy things to compare are the numbers in the specs, and those don't matter all that much anyway (since they're all more-or-less equally great). It's the less-well-defined stuff I need advice about, such as if one has a better menu UI than another (especially in terms of responsiveness -- having a half-second delay after each button press, like my current TV does, would bug the Hell out of me!), or which is better between Samsung's "Internet@TV" and Panasonic's "VieraCast," or which manufacturer's TVs have a bigger community hacking effort behind them. These things are not found in a spec sheet!
The problem with that in my case is that the computer and TV are on opposite ends of my apartment, with both against walls that I don't have access to the other side of. And being an apartment, I wouldn't want to put holes through the wall anyway.
First of all, I got lucky -- these warranties don't pay off often enough to be worth it.
Second, I wasn't the one who bought the warranty (or the TV!) in the first place. My girlfriend's parents, who didn't know any better, did that and then gave the TV to my girlfriend and I after getting fed up with Sears Repair Services' bullshit. Being a college student whose time is less valuable, I was able to persevere through all the wasted afternoons waiting for the tech to show up that my girlfriend's parents didn't have time for.
Third, the current TV that's getting replaced is a DLP model. Getting a service plan on that makes more sense because it's got a bunch of moving parts (e.g. color wheel) and/or stuff that can wear out (e.g. lamp). The LCD or plasma it's getting replaced with should be much more reliable.
Fourth, tampering does not void the warranty unless the fault was actually caused by it, and the burden is on the manufacturer to prove that that was the case. The law says so!
I wrote that way because it explains why I don't want to spend less than $1200 and also why I don't want to spend much more than $1200. Otherwise, I'd get a bunch of responses like "spend $800 on the TV and hook a $400 computer/TiVo/whatever to it," which don't do me any good (if I spend less than $1200 on the TV I don't get that cash back; I just lose it). I still got those sort of responses anyway, but I at least tried to avoid them...!
Everything else is just showing you're intimidated by possible responses by people that don't even matter.
It's not an issue of being "intimidated;" it's an issue of wanting useful answers, and getting them without having to wade through tons of crap. Nevetheless, I'm so sorry that my attempt to concisely direct the discussion offended you!
Actually, I have Comcrap and I'm currently able to watch all the digital cables I'm supposed to get in clear QAM, albeit not on their correct channels (Discovery is on 103.5 instead of 40, for example). I don't care that I don't get "On Demand;" it's better than a shitty box! Unfortunately, the fascist assholes at Comcast recently told me that they're getting ready to start encrypting everything for no good reason...
I think that mrchaotica should just build a small HTPC.
You and a lot of people, apparently. (Sigh.)
The problem is that Sears will pay for a $1200 TV, but won't pay for an $800 TV and a $400 HTPC. And I don't want to pay any money out-of-pocket if I don't have to. Not to mention that I loathe set-top boxes to begin with (in fact, I've had several arguments with Comcast about the fact that I should be allowed to use my perfectly good QAM tuner to watch digital cable instead of being forced to use their shitty set-top box!).
More to the point though, that simply wasn't the question I asked. I know perfectly well that there are all sorts of HTPC/TiVo/Xbox/whatever options available; I didn't need to ask Slashdot to figure that out! What I don't know about is specifically stuff built into TVs! I apologize for not making that more clear...
You don't understand: I'm getting this TV essentially free, because it's a warranty replacement of the flaky Toshiba DLP that I already have. Any non-zero cost of building/buying a computer/ApplTV/set-top box/whatever is more expensive than having Sears pay for the built-in stuff for me!
Your downloaded content isn't completely tied to the hardware - if your hardware goes bad, and you send it to them, they'll fix it up so that you can re-download it to another console.
That's not the point. I should be able to re-sell it just like any other piece of my property, as a matter of principle. I have refused to buy anything from the Wii Shop Channel for this reason.
It's too bad Nintendo had to screw themselves over like this; I would have really liked to be able to buy World of Goo, Tetris Party, and some other stuff. Alas, I'll just have to play OpenTyrian and SuperTux via homebrew instead...
But yes, more browser options would be better - probably in the Wii2 (or would that be WiiII or WII or WiiWii or WiiSquared or WiiHD or Wii++ or WiiSharp?)
I'm going to take a wild guess and say the Wii's successor will have HD support, but will be at least as locked-down as the Wii, if not even more so. I think the only hope for a non-Opera browser is homebrew.
Unless you can get the computer to output 24Hz while watching Bluray.
Yes, that's exactly what I want 120Hz for (since 120 is the LCM of 24 and 30). Although I don't have a Blu-ray player right now, I might eventually get over the DRM and grudgingly buy one in the future. (Or I might find some 1080p/24, non-DRM'd source to use -- who knows?)
For ~$1200 (for 1080p, by the way), and from Sears?
And (although I didn't mention it in the summary) usable as the primary TV in an apartment where the living room is 12' wide, including for casual viewing during the day (with the curtains open)?
I'm sure it would be trivial to create a widget for browsing and playing movie files from my home network - but either because Sharp does not use Linux, and/or they don't release the API - that is never likely to happen.
Are you sure Sharp doesn't use Linux? None of them advertise it; I had to explore the dark, dusty corners of the on-screen menus (in the Samsung and Panasonic I've checked so far) to find the screen showing the GPL (which is only there because it's required by the license).
The TV is good, but I should have asked questions like mrchaotica here.
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with this concern!
Picture quality and power consumption goes without saying (or at least, it should have...), and of course any TV I'd consider would be good in those areas! But once you've narrowed it down, these Internet features are all that's left to differentiate the remaining candidates.
Besides, the fact that technology is changing quickly and this stuff is at high risk of being superseded is the very reason why I asked Slashdot about it: I want to pick one that's as future-proof (a phrase I should have used in the submission) as possible. That's why specified "Linux-friendly;" the best support is community support.
Whatever happened to just using the PC input most HDTV ship with?
I have several reasons for not doing that:
I have to choose a TV worth at least $1200 (or at least, there's no advantage for me if I don't), and many of the TVs in that price range have some sort of extra Internet stuff anyway.
I don't have a HTPC now, and I have no intention of spending the money to build one any time soon.
If the choice is between a TV that supports Free Software and one that doesn't, why not pick the former?
Slashdot Mirror
How does that help anything? It's still not a credit card, and therefore won't make a damn bit of difference to his credit score!
Yes, there is a minimum baseline system (it's called Medicaid). The problem is that the maximum income allowed to be covered under it is much lower than the minimum income required to afford decent private health insurance, so a bunch of low-income-but-not-quite-abject-poverty people fall into the gap. Plus there are bunches of exclusions related to age, health, marriage status, number of children, whether you're a student or not, etc. (For example, as an unmarried, childless college student slightly too old to be covered by my parents' insurance, I'm entirely screwed.)
What sort of library is that petty? Mine always forgave late fees every 6 months or so (but then again, I only ever accrued a few dollars in late fees, not "sizable amounts").
I would think that a Linux distro for TVs would take the longevity of TVs into account, and be rather more focused on supporting old hardware than a Linux distro for PCs would.
All that means is HDMI, and every HDTV has that!
That TV is the one I'll probably get, too (the other candidate is probably a 40 or 46" Samsung LCD). How do you like the other aspects of it? More specifically:
What, and that should make me feel better?! Why should I reward negligence?
Did Sony recall all the rooted "CDs" and apologize/compensate the victims?
And I suppose it was Sony BMG who decided to push the proprietary MemoryStick? The Sony hardware designers invented it against their will?
Okay, let's assume I've done that and there are 3 HDTVs left (say, a Samsung, a Panasonic, and a Sony), all with identical specs. Now which do I choose?
Of course, in reality the TVs aren't identical, but they can be hard to compare because they have different trade-offs that make it hard to pick which one is better "overall." For example, I'm seriously considering the Panasonic TC-P50G10 and the Samsung LN46B630. The Panasonic is bigger and has a better picture (presumably -- I can't tell, especially in the bright store and without calibration), but it's also a plasma model (not so good for displaying computer UIs, due to the risk of burn-in) and uses more electricity than the Samsung. I honestly can't decide between them, so differences in Internet features or hackability could help tip the balance towards one or the other.
Yes, I know that -- the Discovery channel on 103.5 that I'm referring to is 480i. But I'd rather watch 480i on 103.5 without a set-top box of any kind (and with only one remote!) than watch 480i on channel 40 with a flaky box that keeps breaking and having to be exchanged, or in 1080i that costs an extra $10/month!
And it should be illegal for Comcast to turn on the encryption for channels that I have a legitimate right to watch, especially since they're doing it to force me to pay extra every month to rent a set-top box! If there were a good technological reason for it and I had the ability to buy my own box or "digital-cable-ready" TV instead that'd be one thing, but they're just being greedy and anti-competitive.
The prices fluctuate wildly (for example, the Panasonic TC-P50G10 varies from $1800 to $1350), so if you can afford to wait the selection is bigger.
Besides, even within the 6 choices the only easy things to compare are the numbers in the specs, and those don't matter all that much anyway (since they're all more-or-less equally great). It's the less-well-defined stuff I need advice about, such as if one has a better menu UI than another (especially in terms of responsiveness -- having a half-second delay after each button press, like my current TV does, would bug the Hell out of me!), or which is better between Samsung's "Internet@TV" and Panasonic's "VieraCast," or which manufacturer's TVs have a bigger community hacking effort behind them. These things are not found in a spec sheet!
The problem with that in my case is that the computer and TV are on opposite ends of my apartment, with both against walls that I don't have access to the other side of. And being an apartment, I wouldn't want to put holes through the wall anyway.
First of all, I got lucky -- these warranties don't pay off often enough to be worth it.
Second, I wasn't the one who bought the warranty (or the TV!) in the first place. My girlfriend's parents, who didn't know any better, did that and then gave the TV to my girlfriend and I after getting fed up with Sears Repair Services' bullshit. Being a college student whose time is less valuable, I was able to persevere through all the wasted afternoons waiting for the tech to show up that my girlfriend's parents didn't have time for.
Third, the current TV that's getting replaced is a DLP model. Getting a service plan on that makes more sense because it's got a bunch of moving parts (e.g. color wheel) and/or stuff that can wear out (e.g. lamp). The LCD or plasma it's getting replaced with should be much more reliable.
Fourth, tampering does not void the warranty unless the fault was actually caused by it, and the burden is on the manufacturer to prove that that was the case. The law says so!
Good suggestion, but I'm boycotting Sony (due to proprietary formats/DRM/rootkits).
I wrote that way because it explains why I don't want to spend less than $1200 and also why I don't want to spend much more than $1200. Otherwise, I'd get a bunch of responses like "spend $800 on the TV and hook a $400 computer/TiVo/whatever to it," which don't do me any good (if I spend less than $1200 on the TV I don't get that cash back; I just lose it). I still got those sort of responses anyway, but I at least tried to avoid them...!
It's not an issue of being "intimidated;" it's an issue of wanting useful answers, and getting them without having to wade through tons of crap. Nevetheless, I'm so sorry that my attempt to concisely direct the discussion offended you!
Actually, I have Comcrap and I'm currently able to watch all the digital cables I'm supposed to get in clear QAM, albeit not on their correct channels (Discovery is on 103.5 instead of 40, for example). I don't care that I don't get "On Demand;" it's better than a shitty box! Unfortunately, the fascist assholes at Comcast recently told me that they're getting ready to start encrypting everything for no good reason...
You and a lot of people, apparently. (Sigh.)
The problem is that Sears will pay for a $1200 TV, but won't pay for an $800 TV and a $400 HTPC. And I don't want to pay any money out-of-pocket if I don't have to. Not to mention that I loathe set-top boxes to begin with (in fact, I've had several arguments with Comcast about the fact that I should be allowed to use my perfectly good QAM tuner to watch digital cable instead of being forced to use their shitty set-top box!).
More to the point though, that simply wasn't the question I asked. I know perfectly well that there are all sorts of HTPC/TiVo/Xbox/whatever options available; I didn't need to ask Slashdot to figure that out! What I don't know about is specifically stuff built into TVs! I apologize for not making that more clear...
I've seen those threads, actually... but two forum threads does not a community make. I was hoping for a project with more momentum behind it.
You don't understand: I'm getting this TV essentially free, because it's a warranty replacement of the flaky Toshiba DLP that I already have. Any non-zero cost of building/buying a computer/ApplTV/set-top box/whatever is more expensive than having Sears pay for the built-in stuff for me!
That's not the point. I should be able to re-sell it just like any other piece of my property, as a matter of principle. I have refused to buy anything from the Wii Shop Channel for this reason.
It's too bad Nintendo had to screw themselves over like this; I would have really liked to be able to buy World of Goo, Tetris Party, and some other stuff. Alas, I'll just have to play OpenTyrian and SuperTux via homebrew instead...
I'm going to take a wild guess and say the Wii's successor will have HD support, but will be at least as locked-down as the Wii, if not even more so. I think the only hope for a non-Opera browser is homebrew.
Yes, that's exactly what I want 120Hz for (since 120 is the LCM of 24 and 30). Although I don't have a Blu-ray player right now, I might eventually get over the DRM and grudgingly buy one in the future. (Or I might find some 1080p/24, non-DRM'd source to use -- who knows?)
Correction: "And [would it be] usable..."
For ~$1200 (for 1080p, by the way), and from Sears?
And (although I didn't mention it in the summary) usable as the primary TV in an apartment where the living room is 12' wide, including for casual viewing during the day (with the curtains open)?
Are you sure Sharp doesn't use Linux? None of them advertise it; I had to explore the dark, dusty corners of the on-screen menus (in the Samsung and Panasonic I've checked so far) to find the screen showing the GPL (which is only there because it's required by the license).
I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with this concern!
Picture quality and power consumption goes without saying (or at least, it should have...), and of course any TV I'd consider would be good in those areas! But once you've narrowed it down, these Internet features are all that's left to differentiate the remaining candidates.
Besides, the fact that technology is changing quickly and this stuff is at high risk of being superseded is the very reason why I asked Slashdot about it: I want to pick one that's as future-proof (a phrase I should have used in the submission) as possible. That's why specified "Linux-friendly;" the best support is community support.
I have several reasons for not doing that: