either get a plasma or save some money and get an RPTV imo

if it has to be a soundbar I'd get this one http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YAS-70B...6353998&sr=1-1

That is an awesome TV IMO, my folks have one and whenever I go over there I am blown away.

Sony Bravias get lots of bad customer reviews. I'd read some of those before getting one. Amazon and Best Buy have tons of reviews on sets. Look through reviews on different sizes of the same models too.

Blarg,

The set I have there/linked gets a 4.5/5 from 137 customers including multiple 1 star reviews based on amazon apparently putting up the wrong price and not honoring some orders (so, in other words, nothing to do with tv)

110 five stars, 10 four stars, 1 three star, zero two stars, 13 one star (amazon issues)


CNET rated the 56incher at 3.5/5 "Very Good"

Just from poking around it seems like people like them.

I wouldn't rely too much on consumer reviews when it comes to something like a TV.

I would definitely take them into consideration. You can't tell quality control from specs.

But if you want to do more serious research, check out this link.

I'm not sure a 3.5/5 rating is something I'd be comfortable with.

It's not even worth the time pouring over them for quality control imo, any significant issues will be covered in a proper review.

I think that's wrong in a few ways:

1. Lots of reviews are far from comprehensive
2. Many are written with some prejudice for a variety of possible reasons
3. Reviews often don't even tackle quality control
4. Reviews sometimes couldn't tackle quality control even if they wanted to, because they are often written as soon as an item hits the streets if not before. Nobody has had the time to see how a product holds up yet.

On a related note, this is why when a new model comes out -- car, camera, TV, anything -- it's often wise to wait a while before buying, until actual usage reviews come in (which are almost always written by consumers after paid reviewers have long since moved on to something else). It can be nice to have the latest cool thing, but you are taking what could be quite a chance if you don't see if any problems have been developing in a product before you buy it.

i can't think of too many recent PC exclusive FPS besides crysis and idk how long you've been out of PC gaming but these are some i would look at...half life 2 (and all the expansion packs), S.T.A.L.K.E.R. any of the battlefield games, counter strike source and F.E.A.R

I'll look at Stalker, I've heard the name but never read anything of substance about it.

Ironically my introduction to BF2 was on the ps2 and I used to play it all the time like I do COD4. I understood the PC version to be way better so I will definitely check that out. Thanks for reminding me of that one.

Any advice for finding servers without hackers?

Second on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the follow up, Clear Sky. Both very solid.

most games have some kind of anti hacking software, CoD uses punkbuster, steam games us VAC etc...for the most part you don't have to worry about people hacking, it happens but its pretty rare and often times they'll be kicked and banned by a server admin

I was referring to TV's specifically, where the reality is that most people buying a big screen TV are probably replacing a 5+ year old model, in which case most anything, even the low-end new tech will look better. And they will never tell you that they thought they wasted their money and could've made a better decision.

You're right that people usually overhype whatever they bought as self-justification.

However, the corollary of that is that when they do say something sucks, it's going way against a lot of human nature. I always take a look to see if there's something I should know. It's the glowing positive reviews I tend to cast my most wary eye at.

Thanks for this link. After a week of rigorous research, I was on the verge of purchasing a 50" Plasma T.V. But now I'm having second thoughts, have no idea what to buy, and am back to square one.

edit: Now I also think that my budget has suddenly increased by 50%.

I had real difficulties choosing too. I got advised that I'd probably wind up liking a really big screen more than all the latest bells and whistles, and I found that true, because the screens really do seem to magically shrink when you get them home and are sitting across the room from them. And I don't even get super obsessive about what bells and whistles I did get, so getting more would have probably been a waste. Might be something for you to think about too when deciding where your trade-offs will be.

I'm trying to play SC for the first time in ages and I can't log on to Bnet because my computer "isn't processing UDP packets through port 6112". Wtf can anyone tell me how to get this problem fixed please?

http://www.google.com/search?q=isn%2...ient=firefox-a

apparently your OS matters, according to links picked from here

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22is...ient=firefox-a


try reading thru this?

http://us.blizzard.com/support/artic...l=true?rhtml=y

Is it just me or is there no halo wars thread?

here you go Suigin

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/75...lo+wars+anyone

Thanks LML, I guess I missed it since I didn't go that far back. Not a whole lot to see there, but I appreciate it anyway.

If you connect to the internet through a router you probably have to configure port forwarding for ports 6112-6119. Knowing the manufacturer of the router would help you in configuring it, since you need to enter a specific IP address into your web browser.

If you are also using a software firewall (such as windows firewall) you will need to configure that to allow traffic through ports 6112-6119.

The link provided in the above post explains this but you may need some help in finding where to change the settings.

Thanks for the help guys. Somehow my firewall was causing the problem, so I'm glad to say I'm able to own up on SC again.

lol! whoops, i seemed to remember that thread having more posts. i hate my brain