[Ghoulish Delight]

We could have gone 60" for cheaper, but 55" definitely feels like the limit for our room. A 60" wouldn't physically fit well in the room. On top of that, sitting in front of the 55" I can tell that any bigger and I wouldn't be able to watch anything without having to pan-and-scan with my eyes.

So far the biggest benefit can be seen with the xBox. I can actually read all the text from the couch without squinting or scooting forward! I will never understand, however, what manufacturers are thinking with their preset "game" picture modes. Not one TV I've owned that had that setting have video games look any good in it.

I'm off to Fry's today to grab the one extra HDMI cable I need to hook up the new receiver. Nothing fancy, just a 500W Yamaha. Haven't even added any speakers yet, sticking with just our 2 Kenwood floor boxes that do a find job of filling our room. Maybe come birthday time we'll consider adding channels.

I spent a while debating whether I cared whether any of the AV components (TV, blueray, or receiver) was "smart" (i.e., internet connected with streaming apps built in). It felt stupid to get a brand new system that lacked such a forward-looking feature. But with a real computer connected to the TV I just can't see the point in worrying about whether my TV had slow, featureless apps that I can't even use a keyboard to input with. That made shopping much easier since we didn't have to compare any of the connected options between models and in the end we ended up with zero connectivity (actually, I think the BlueRay player can connect for firmware updates).