The Big Picture

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The Big Picture
Waddya Want?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 09, 2008  |  First Published: Jun 10, 2008  | 

A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from Bogeun Chung, general manager of the LCD TV product-planning team at LG's headquarters in Seoul, Korea. He wrote that he would be passing through L.A. with one of his engineers on Monday, June 9, and asked if we could meet at Grayscale Studio, the video-testing facility for <I>UAV</I> and <I>Home Theater</I>. I value any personal contact with manufacturer representatives, so I quickly agreed. Little did I know how interesting that meeting would turn out to be...

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The Big Picture
The View from the Floor
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 02, 2008  | 

My wife Joanna was on a business trip last week, and she found herself in a hotel room with an LCD TV. As she was doing her daily stretching routine on the floor, she turned on the TV and noticed that the colors looked very weird from that angle, "almost like a color negative" as she wrote in an e-mail. "What's up with that?" she wondered.

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The Big Picture
1080i vs. 1080p
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 26, 2008  | 

In the comments following my blog last week, Neil Richards asked a follow-up question that is the cause of much confusion. I wrote a bit about it in the comments attached to that blog, but I thought it deserved a more thorough treatment this week.

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The Big Picture
1080p vs. 720p
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 19, 2008  | 

Here's a question I get a lot. This one's from Kevin Iole, a boxing and MMA columnist for Yahoo! Sports:

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The Big Picture
Japan, Day 1+1
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 15, 2008  | 

It's really strange&mdash;and a little unsettling&mdash;being without Internet access, though it's also kind of refreshing to unplug from the constant torrent of incoming information and spam for a little while. After a long day of bus rides, factory tours, and presentations by Epson execs, we ended up at a hotel in Matsumoto (near Nagano) with futons for beds on woven-wicker <I>tatami</I> floors.

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The Big Picture
Japan, Day 0
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 13, 2008  | 

As I write this, I am 34,000 feet above the Bering Strait traveling at 575mph aboard a new Boeing 777-300. We just crossed the International Date Line, turning Monday into Tuesday, after passing over Adak Island, a small member of the Aleutian chain stretching westward from Alaska. I can't help thinking of my father, who spent much of his Navy service there during WWII as a member of the band that played for high-ranking officers and other dignitaries who stopped at the remote base going one way or the other.

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The Big Picture
Pain at the Pump
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 04, 2008  | 

As I drive around L.A. and see gas prices approaching—and exceeding—$4 per gallon, I wonder how this might affect people's entertainment activities. I'd love to know how it's affecting you...

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The Big Picture
The Mathematics of Value
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 28, 2008  |  First Published: Apr 29, 2008  | 

Once again, I am very gratified at the thoughtful responses to last week's blog that were posted here and e-mailed to me. Clearly, <I>UAV</I> has many intelligent, articulate readers, and I thank you for sharing your insights, which will help me select the best products to review. Instead of posting inline replies to the comments left during the week (sadly, an activity I don't often have time for), I'll summarize my thoughts here, partly so I can devote some undivided attention to them and partly in the hopes that the discussion will continue...

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The Big Picture
The Readers Have eSpoken
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 21, 2008  |  First Published: Apr 22, 2008  | 

First, I'd like to thank all of you who responded to my query of last week. I got more than 30 replies that expressed a wide range of opinions on what products <I>UAV</I> should review&mdash;not only specific products, but types of products, price ranges, and other criteria. Here's a summary and a follow-up question...

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The Big Picture
Riddle Me This
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 14, 2008  | 

In this blog a couple of months ago, I asked readers to vote on whether you wanted more audio reviews with fewer objective measurements or fewer reviews with more measurements, a choice I had to make in the face of budgetary constraints. Your input was very helpful, so now, I have another question for you...

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The Big Picture
Get Ready
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 07, 2008  | 

As I'm sure most <I>UAV</I> readers know by now, analog-television broadcasting will cease on February 17, 2009, less than a year from now. On that date, all analog TVs receiving their signals via over-the-air antennas will display nothing but snow on every channel. Cable and satellite delivery to analog TVs will be unaffected&mdash;in fact, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that cable companies continue to provide analog services until at least 2012. But that still leaves some 14 million US homes in the dark on that fateful day next year.

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The Big Picture
Starting From Scratch
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 31, 2008  | 

I've been engaged in an interesting e-conversation with Steve Gutierrez, a builder/developer who won a Panasonic plasma at his workplace and wants to install a complete home-media system. Here's the gist of our dialog, but I welcome any comments from readers with suggestions I might have missed.

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The Big Picture
Get It Together, Blu-ray
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 24, 2008  | 

Okay, I said I wouldn't use this space for pontificating, but I really can't resist this week. I want to add my voice to Tom Norton's, who, in a <A href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/thomasnorton/030708Gone/">recent blog</A>, wrote about what the Blu-ray community needs to do to succeed in the packaged-media market now that HD DVD is out of the picture. I'd like to elaborate on some of the issues he raised.

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The Big Picture
Burn, Baby, Burn!
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 16, 2008  | 

Merrill Bauer of St. Louis, MO, sent me a question that echoes some thoughts I've often had myself:

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The Big Picture
Non-Profit Help
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 09, 2008  |  First Published: Mar 10, 2008  | 

Here's an interesting set of questions from Thomas Beasley, who's helping a non-profit organization set up some video displays in its lobby. Of course, he needs to keep costs down as much as possible.

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