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(I'm going to be doing a series of postings regarding my adventures transitioning from my current analog TV and SD SageTV media PC to HD everything. They'll all be marked as HDTV, so if you don't care you can ignore them. I'm sure there are still some people out there considering a switch, and I'm hoping this will be informative for them. Assuming they ever see it.)

I've been watching HD CRT prices since 2000, and nearly purchased a 27" a couple times now. Then I got married and it became less of a priority. Good thing, too. Now HDTVs are almost universally widescreen and whatever I purchased then would be obsolete. With LCD prices dropping like a rock, and my main floor up a nasty flight of stairs I decided to go that route.

I've ordered a 32" Visco LCD from Walmart. From some investigation, they seem to make LCDs for several other brands including Westinghouse. It has not yet arrived. Hopefully by the end of the week. It supports 720p natively, has HDMI and VGA inputs as well as component, svideo and composite.

Currently I'm using a Dual PIII 1GHz media server. It has a crappy video card, 250GB of space (can't remember exactly), Hauppauge PVR-150 and PVR-500 for a total of three analog tuners. Replacing it is my old Sempron64 2800+ with a Nvidia 6600 video card.

For tuning I've purchased an HDHomerun. This device has two ATSC/QAM tuners and an ethernet port. All it does is tune HD and stream it onto your network. Software now exists for it to play nicely with SageTV as well as GBPVR. XP MCE support is coming soon. This helps reduce complications of adding hardware and the additional heatsource that the tuners provide. I do have this device in hand, and when I get home from work I'll hook it up and see what Comcast is giving me unencrypted.

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=196767&cid=16122724

This guy is great! He fit a stereotype that is hated on /. and so many people bit. It's a beautiful thing.

I ran across this thread today on the Anandtech forums and just had to share.

The initial problem: New computer, slow CD burning. Computer is stuttery while burning CDs.

Here is a sample of the solutions that people are offering:

"Did you try leaving the RAM at the speed, timing, and voltage at which the Bios detects it?"

"sounds like a potential PSU problem to me...what psu are you using?"

"You might try giving the RAM some more voltage, and maybe lowering the timings to 4-4-4, if it is stable at that setting."

"Too much load on a single circuit? Would be my guess anyways, although I remember seeing some article or post somewhere recently about how newer circuits are being built to include extra devices that will break the circuit during moments of instantaneous high loads/rapid load fluctuation, similar to what happens when a high-end PC is turned on."

"Try taking every screw that's holding your motherboard down out, and put the piece of anti-static plastic that it came in underneath it. Then, turn it on (with it laid on it's side, and no screws screwed in), and see what happens. It almost sounds as if you've got a short somewhere."

If it wasn't PCIe someone would have suggested changing the AGP aperture size.

Another favorite, not from this thread but on one of the Anandtech forums a while back: "Shut off your computer and let it sit for thirty seconds to make sure the memory clears."

Update: He finally figured out that the drives are in PIO mode. And it only took him 24 hours!

Sometimes this website bugs the hell out of me. I don't know why I come back, but for some reason I do. I think it's a sickness. I know that one might say "If you don't like it, go somewhere else!"

I guess I do know why I come back. The site is exceptionally educational. Sure, there is a lot of incorrect information. But if you read through, it's usually pretty easy to sort through the crap to find the gems. I've learned a tremendous amount from the discussions on quantum physics, and I think I've improved my job skills as a SysAdmin by reading advice/thoughts/comments from experienced IT guys.

So what irritates me? It seems that 90% of this site's posters have yet to achieve the revelation that other people can be completely reasonable and intelligent and still not agree with them. (Did that sentence suck or what?)

Don't like Macs and admit it? You'll be assaulted on every side. You'll be told how Macs are actually cheaper or how a single button mouse is proof of its superior user interface. There is not one negative you can say about a Mac without getting a response telling you how that negative is actually a positive or how it's still better than a PC.

Try saying anything positive about the United States. You will get a flood of replies telling you how that is not actually true and that you are simply a victim of (generally right-wing) propaganda. Apparently, the US is the worst country no matter what specific evil we are looking at.

Don't believe in global warming? You bought into propaganda.

Creationist? Propaganda.

The evidence that supports the views of person A is dismissed as propaganda or FUD by person B, and vice-versa.

Both, person A and B will believe ANYTHING that supports their views, no matter how ridiculus and will dismiss anything that opposes their views, no matter how damning. If pressed hard with damning evidence, the discussion degrades into "Well, it's still better than ..."

And at the end of the discussion, you look back and think "Wow, that guy is an idiot. He has been totally deceived by ... even though the evidence is clearly against that view." Want to know that the other guy is thinking? THE SAME DAMN THING!

What the bloody hell makes you sure that you are right and he is wrong? How do you know that you haven't bought into the other sides's propaganda? Sure, you've investigated for yourself. SO HAS HE! Is it so shocking that two intelligent people can come to different conclusions from the same data?

My point is simple. Most of us come into these discussions with the goal of convincing others that our viewpoint is correct. When everyone comes in with that goal, nothing is accomplished. It's just a bunch of yelling.

Instead, try to come into discussions with the goal of learning about opposing views. Try to view them with an open mind and attempt to improve yourself by increasing your knowledge on the subject. Your goal is to improve yourself and your opinions by seeing other's views. Maybe, just maybe, you'll discover that you were wrong about something.

Remember: changing your opinion is not a bad thing. It doesn't make you wishy-washy or a flipflopper. It makes you a better person.