OTHER TECH

In the den, since height wasn't an issue so much as size, we went with the excellent JVC 61-inch HD-ILA rear-projection TV. At only $2,600, nothing can match its size-to-cost ratio.

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The six bedrooms, the kitchen, and the bathroom all have variously sized Sharp flat-screen TVs. I like them because they have black cases, they don't have side speakers that stick out way beyond the picture area, and they produce images that are sharp and crisp, with decent, contrasty blacks.

Everything in Telluride is a challenge - including the Internet. I met Sean Greer, who installed all of this equipment, when he was a consultant for the technology company that supplies me with Internet service via microwave from a mountaintop a couple of miles above Tom Cruise's spread. Before the microwave setup, I was getting Internet via dial-up, a slow, dreary process for me since I have to download all sorts of video for the movies I direct. Being out on the edge of the microwave system created some challenges, of course, so I got to know Sean quite well.

When he started his own company, Experience AV, integrating all of my equipment became his problem. (And I essentially doubled his problem by supplying him with gear from many different manufacturers for the different rooms and functions. Reading the equipment list, you'd think I'm schizophrenic.) Nothing arrived when it was supposed to, some of the gear had difficulties with the altitude, and halfway through the job we got that single Godly bolt of lightning that not only shattered the tree but fried computers, components, cables, and nerves. When we replaced all of the dead equipment, we made sure every piece was plugged into a manly surge suppressor. (For Sean's recounting of this disaster, see Danger Zones.) Of course, just like building a house, one element couldn't be installed until the next arrived - and of course, being on the cutting edge of new technology, the DirecTV DVRs with the new HD hard drives were delayed for months.