About a year ago, I bought a spankin' new big-screen TV and thought I was set for a long while. It was HD ready, utilized the latest screen technology, and had more inputs than I could imagine using. But now, just a year after breaking it in, I find myself flipping through magazines and flyers looking at all the things my TV doesn't have. I'm starting to feel those familiar pangs of regret as consider what I could have gotten if I had held off making my purchase when I did.
It seems like any big-ticket purchase is inevitably accompanied by the "what if I had waited...?" thoughts. Still you would think that in the TV space, there couldn't be that much innovation in such a short period of time. Or that blowing a few grand on a "state-of-the-art" television would hold you over for a few years - but no.
What I Ain't Got
Here is the list of things my TV doesn't have:
- DVD/VCR - Why buy three separate devices when you can get 1 that does it all? These combo devices have already made it to the checkout isle at WalMart and for good reason - now why doesn't my TV have them?
- Flash Memory Slot - It is starting to sound real appealing to me to stick in a SD card or Memory Stick from our digital cameras and view the pictures right on the big screen.
- HD PIP - As I find creative uses for the picture-in-picture mode, I am becoming more and more frustrated that I can't send any of the high-def feeds to the "little screen".
- HDMI Inputs - I have DVI and HD Component but yet I find myself longing for the newest type of connector that for some reason will deliver sound along with the video signal to a device that is not at all equipped to handle it!
- Built-in Surround Sound Speakers - Now that Yamaha has gone crazy and figured out how to simulate full surround sound using only one, center-channel-type speaker, why can't I have that in my TV instead of these puny little speakers?
- Network Port - Is it so wrong to want to browse media files on my home network through my TV? Apparently not as vendor after vendor is trying to do just that - only with external devices like game consoles, DVRs, and home media center PCs. What about just being able to bring up a basic browser on the main screen or PIP window so I can look up something I just heard on the news?
- CableCARD - Now I'm a Satellite TV subscriber but all this talk about integrating Cable into the TV through some new-fangled card has me intrigued. I think I need one of those:-)
- Hard Drive - I saw this at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and it makes sense. One of the TV vendors was proudly displaying a big-screen TV with a built-in DVR (think TiVo). This certainly seems to make things a bit easier - less wires for sure.
I guess you could argue that I don't really need any of these innovations and truthfully I am quite happy with my television - for now. I'll just keep telling myself that there is nothing wrong with my setup and those other people aren't having more fun than me. I'll be fine. Really. But wouldn't a built-in printer be cool...
