Amazon FireTV Stick announced

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by wizwor

You should get a nice 42" or bigger plasma TV with great reviews for picture quality.

One thing to consider is running cost. An LCD TV typically uses 40-50W of power; a large plasma screen can use 500W or more. Not an issue if you only have the TV turned on for an hour or two a day, but if you're the sort of person who turns the TV on when you get up in the morning, and leaves it on until you go to bed at night, the cost can really add up.

Let's take an extreme example and say that you have your 500W TV turned on for 16h a day. 500W x 16h = 8kWh. I'm currently paying 14.09p/kWh for electricity, so that would cost me 8 x 14.09p = £1.13 a day, or £411 (about US$660) a year to operate my TV.

Something to consider!

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Thanks very much, guys and gals!

You may or may not find interesting that very few of the DVDs I've purchased are available in Blu-Ray. I guess they are too old.

Most blu-ray players 'upconvert' standard DVDs to near blu-ray quality. The Sony players are particularly good at this.

[wizwor]

Cost varies by set, what you are watching, and your television settings. I don't think your numbers are right. Take a look at this tag...



It's the 'official Energy Guide label for a 65-inch 2013 plasma TV'. Even in your extreme usage situation, 16/5 * 346 kwh = 1107.2 kwh annual consumption. At 14.09p/kWh, that only comes to £156/year ($251 US). (I think I got the math right, but it's 4:00 am.) And that is for a 65" plasma.

If you look at the chart at that link, it cost about 2.5 times as much to run a plasma as a similar sized LED. If you divide your £156 by 2.5, the cost of running a comparable LED would be £156/2.5 or £62.4 (US$100) so the premium would be £93.6 (US$150)/yr or £7.8 (US$12.52)/month or £0.26 (US$0.42)/day. Again, for a very large television running sixteen hours a day.

Even with that math, plasma is worth the premium, IMHO.

I have 60, 50, 43, and 42 inch plasmas in my home plus an AVR, four LCDs, a 36 inch CRT, four desktops running gaming video cards, five laptops, an electric clothes dryer, two refrigerators, a chest freezer, electric stove, electric washer, 13 DVRs, four air conditioners, and countless tablets electronic devices and a family that does not know how to turn things off and my electric bill averages £125 (US$200)/month -- US$2418 over the last twelve months. The 43" plasma probably is on sixteen hours a day.

I'm exhausted...time for bed. Gonna drift off in front of that 43" plasma television.

Originally Posted by HarryT

One thing to consider is running cost. An LCD TV typically uses 40-50W of power; a large plasma screen can use 500W or more. Not an issue if you only have the TV turned on for an hour or two a day, but if you're the sort of person who turns the TV on when you get up in the morning, and leaves it on until you go to bed at night, the cost can really add up.

Let's take an extreme example and say that you have your 500W TV turned on for 16h a day. 500W x 16h = 8kWh. I'm currently paying 14.09p/kWh for electricity, so that would cost me 8 x 14.09p = £1.13 a day, or £411 (about US$660) a year to operate my TV.

Something to consider!

[wizwor]

We do use CFLs and consolidate car trips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Mw5_EBk0g

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't even use Blu-Ray. It's DVDs for me.


Can anyone recommend a cheap good HDMI switch or splitter? I need one for my DVD player and Roku. I plan to leave the Fire Stick connected to the TV through that adapter cord it came with.

Check on Monoprice.
They have a full range of quality cables and switches and stuff, at rational prices.
(HDMI cables $3-$5, not $30-50)

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't even use Blu-Ray. It's DVDs for me.


Can anyone recommend a cheap good HDMI switch or splitter? I need one for my DVD player and Roku. I plan to leave the Fire Stick connected to the TV through that adapter cord it came with.

This is the one I have, purchased it over a year ago (and paid $2 more for it then) and it works perfectly to auto-switch between devices for me. I even forget it's there. I only have 2 HDMI ports on my TV and it's just not enough, so I opted to get the 3 ports so I still have room for one more if needed.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

This is the one I have, purchased it over a year ago (and paid $2 more for it then) and it works perfectly to auto-switch between devices for me. I even forget it's there. I only have 2 HDMI ports on my TV and it's just not enough, so I opted to get the 3 ports so I still have room for one more if needed.

I was looking at that one and worried it might not work right. I think I may take a chance on it. Thanks.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't even use Blu-Ray. It's DVDs for me.


Can anyone recommend a cheap good HDMI switch or splitter? I need one for my DVD player and Roku. I plan to leave the Fire Stick connected to the TV through that adapter cord it came with.

I bought this one for my girls room. It works fine, though it has a blue light on it that's bright enough to signal the mother ship in space. My girls like it.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Can anyone recommend a cheap good HDMI switch or splitter? I need one for my DVD player and Roku. I plan to leave the Fire Stick connected to the TV through that adapter cord it came with.

This is the best, IMHO...

http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-501BN-P...bn+hdmi+switch

It's best feature will be defeated by most streamers (Roku/Fire TV) since they never toggle power to the display. It auto switches which means that it notices when you power a device on and switches to that port. When you power the device off, it looks for another powered port. Pretty clever. If you put your uncooperative streamer on one port and everything else on this switch, you will not need to keep track of this switch's remote.

If I were using a streamer for mainstream apps (Netflix, Prime, etc.), I would go with a BDP-S5200 just because it will power off the display port after inactivity which allows it to work properly with this switch and, more importantly, shut off my tv when I fall asleep.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I bought this one for my girls room. It works fine, though it has a blue light on it that's bright enough to signal the mother ship in space. My girls like it.

Thanks I just order the one above Ripplinger suggested. If the other doesn't work and I have to send it back I will try that one.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by wizwor

This is the best, IMHO...

http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-501BN-P...bn+hdmi+switch

It's best feature will be defeated by most streamers (Roku/Fire TV) since they never toggle power to the display. It auto switches which means that it notices when you power a device on and switches to that port. When you power the device off, it looks for another powered port. Pretty clever. If you put your uncooperative streamer on one port and everything else on this switch, you will not need to keep track of this switch's remote.

If I were using a streamer for mainstream apps (Netflix, Prime, etc.), I would go with a BDP-S5200 just because it will power off the display port after inactivity which allows it to work properly with this switch and, more importantly, shut off my tv when I fall asleep.

I believe all the others ones do that too. I read you plug the Roku in port 3 for it to work right and the other in Port one. We don't use the DVD player all that much so even if I have to get up and switch I don't mind. Mine only concern is how it works with Sony stuff. They are not as temperamental as Samsung but it can be hit and miss.

Oh if anyone looking for good cheap HDMI cables. We use these. They work great on our Sony Brava and for the price you can get all you need.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Oh, and don't even consider buying one that doesn't allow you to set the closed captioning font size, line spacing, or margins, and in no way consider one without an SD card slot!


<ignore that if you don't know the context>

Hilarious!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't even use Blu-Ray. It's DVDs for me.


Can anyone recommend a cheap good HDMI switch or splitter? I need one for my DVD player and Roku. I plan to leave the Fire Stick connected to the TV through that adapter cord it came with.

I use one of the <$10 intelligent three way switches from Amazon. I see one that looks just like mine for under $6 today.
http://www.amazon.com/PORTTA-PET0301.../dp/B00B46XUQU

It's been perfect, and it's little blue light is hidden behind the set. I keep my Chromecast and laptop on it.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Most blu-ray players 'upconvert' standard DVDs to near blu-ray quality. The Sony players are particularly good at this.

Well, Bluray RESOLUTION perhaps, but not quality, unless comparing to a poorly made BD with only SD image data on it. The upconversion isn't going to add any of the missing HD picture detail.

And any 1080P TV is going to do that same upconversion anyway, so it's really a matter of which device has the better up-converter built in.

I'm very lucky. I sit so far from my 'little' 42" set that any decent SD picture is indistinguishable from HD to me, so it's all good. :-)

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Most blu-ray players 'upconvert' standard DVDs to near blu-ray quality. The Sony players are particularly good at this.

I bought this Sony last year, and I really love it. My old DVDs look great and it can also play mp3 CDs and media from a flash drive, in addition to the various streaming services.