Well, I thought that my day was pretty hectic yesterday, but...

It seems that if I have a bad day, my wife has a worse day. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. Yesterday, no exception.

We have 3 kids at home. My 10 year old daughter (11 on Thurdsay) my 8 year old daughter, and 4 year old son (5 on All Saint's day.)

In an otherwise particularly nasty day, which involved a lot of running in circles getting very little accomplished, aside from the ruining of one meal (And, in fact the cookware that said meal was being prepared in) the computer getting screwed up, and a wild goose chase for sea salt... My son manages to flood the bathroom. Not just a little, either. A LOT. The bathroom is on the second floor, above the kitchen. Often when there's flooding near the tub, we get water in the flourescent light fixture in the kitchen. This has resulted in some excitement in the past. Today was at the sink. When that happens the water ends up somewhere else. Like dripping down over the entertainment unit.

I'm not sure WHY the TV was still on at this point, but it was. One small "Pzzt" later and it wasn't anymore. My wife and daughter managed to get the TV to turn on again, and they got a white line across the center. Turn off, wait a while, and there was a badly synched picture. It was apparently working okay after a while, until (So they say) the moment I walked in the front door, at which point the picture got badly scrambled, and hasn't gotten better.

So, fix the computer, pull out the TV (The stereo seems to be okay) and check the other components. Seems that the TV was the only casualty... I've had that TV for a long time, so I guess it doesn't owe me anything.

In the meantime, I put in a 19" CRT monitor and my N6, but the N6 is acting badly. It seems to lke turning hte picture green. I thought that it might be the monitor (Though it works fine on the computer) but it also does the same thing to my 22" LCD. I'd use the LCD if the N6 could support native res on it, but it doesn't so...

Anyway, I think that my N6 just needs more juice than the DC adapter that I have is supplying, so I got one with more current capacity. If that does the trick, thn we're all good. If not, then it seems that my N6 is toast, and I may have to replace it.

I've decided that I'm not going to buy another TV until I can get a proper high-def model. This leaves me with only a few options, if the N6 doesn't like the better PSU.

1. Move a projector. I could use an eVo, I suppose, but the living room gets a lot of sunlight, and the projector is going to be on a LOT and it's also noisy.

1a. Actually finish my 10.6, and use that.

2. Replace the N6, either with another, or with something that will support the 1680X1050 res of the LCD that I have. This is probably the best choice.

3. Cobble together a MythTV box. I probably have the parts, including a fanless mobo with an Atom processor, just needs a cheap TV tuner card, and I can probably just use a 2G USB key as a system drive. I'll figure out remote control later.

I'm not sure that my wife/kids will be comfortable with a mythbox. This is probably the cheapest (In that I have most of the hardware already) solution, but not very efficient, and it'll be kind of ugly, since I don't have a good case for the board. For the $$$ for a mini ITX case, It then is no longer the cheapest solutuion.

The N6 replacement is probably the most acceptable to the wife and kids.

I don't think that the projector solution is practical. Too much light control to work out, and another box hanging from the ceiling isn't going to win me any popularity contests with my wife...

Then of course there's the wife's suggestion... Get a TV from Goodwill.

My N6 is toast. After being on for a couple of minutes the picture goes all kinds of funky colours. I think that it may be a heat issue, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time troubleshooting it.

I think I'll put together a mythbox, while I look for a replacement for the N6.

Damn Dude....how come no one ever lands a 52 inch TV in YOUR lap?!

Then again...think of how well adjusted your kids will be with no TV! I'll bet you will get LOTS of "Quality Daddy Time!"

Seriously though...just think about this...

No TV means bored kids during certain times.
Bored kids often nag parents for entertainment.
Guilty parents will often take kids to movies and other expensive places.
Hence you longterm savings for a boob toob may actually be negative when you consider the big picture.

It may actually be worth it to pony up now because you will save money down the road.

Buy a TV with the idea it will eventually go into your bedroom...

Heh. Well, I don't want anything that big. I'll settle for "works well enough to show SpongeBob."

The bedroom has an eVo in it, no TV channels, but I don't want to watch TV in the bedroom anyway -- I never watch TV anymore except with the kids -- the basement has the 130" projector (Which is attached to a computer that has a TV tuner card.) I suppose that they COULD watch down there, if they need to that badly.

Watching movies isn't a problem, even on the main floor. I've got more than enough DVD capable computers hanging around, so if worse comes to worst, I'll rent a couple of $0.99 SpongeBob DVDs.

Still, something has to be done, and a Myth box seems to be in order. I'd like to build something with a mini ITX board, but for now, I think that I'm going to have to re-use a full sized board/case. I have an AMD 2800+ lying around that ought to have more than enough grunt for standard def TV.

Its days like that when I walk over - grab a smoke and announce I'll be on the *(&^(* porch.

You have a *(&^(* porch too?

Doesn't every Vermonter?

Supra, I just had an idea. I dont know where you are aside from whats listed on your profile, however perhaps you can pick up a dead RPTV and either fix it or make your own strange brew

Naw. I talked to a local guy who wanted to make a DIY projector. He'd bought an Asus 22" LCD (1920X1080) and a Benq TV tuner box. I had a 12.1" LCD and controller lying around that I was keeping "just in case" I ever get finished my 10.6" LCD project and want to do another one. I traded him the 12.1" 1366X768 panel and controller for the 22" panel and Benq tuner box. (Monetarily, he got the better end of the deal, I could have bought both new for about $260 CAD, and I picked up those parts a while back for a bit over $300 USD -- shipped -- off of eBay.)

Look for a new 12.1" PLOG starting up... If the guy doesn't just phone me and ask his questions that way. (And I thought that it was amusing how many build questions that I get via PM. Now it's going to start on the telephone!)

So now, I have a 22" flat screen high-def TV.

Upside, when Blu-Ray players get cheap enough that I will buy one, it'll take DVI or HDMI and get me the full 1080p, albeit on a relatively small screen. By that time, I'll probably also have a WUXGA for my projector though, and I'd be more likely to use it there.

Downside, the Benq tuner box lacks many of the features that the N6 had, (though my N6 is busted.) No component input, no widescreen resolutions, 1024X768 VGA output ONLY.

So this means that I have to run my Xbox off of composite, which means that it won't give me the option of widescreen, it'll only do 4:3. XBMC can be "fooled" however in the screen callibration section, 'cause it can handle non-square pixels. It still thinks that the screen is 16:9, but with a compensation factor, it works nicely -- for video media.

Cool, he made out well. the 22" would have been a MONSTER pj lol wow.

The 22" would have been a farce. The throw would be horribly short, the corner focus would be terrible, lighting would be very uneven. I think that the 12.1 will come out as a much better overall panel, even if it's only 720p instead of 1080p.