GetItNext Blog

Today’s Top Five HDTV’s

HDTV has revolutionized the way we watch television. The High Definition technology produces crystal clear images, at times prompting the surreal feeling of actually being there, whether it is watching shark week on the Discovery Channel to NHL games on V.S., In short, the HD experience is truly amazing! This week Cnet ranked the top five HDTV’s on the market. Through GetItNext you can find great deals on all of these HDTV’s.

1. Pioneer PRO-111FD

2. Panasonic TH-50PZ800U

3. Sony Bravia KDL-55XBR8

4. Samsung HL61A750

5. Panasonic TH-42PX80U

Top eBay Product Searches, You'll Be Surpised

The top 10 product searches on eBay for the month of October might surprise you.  Well maybe not the first, one which is Webkinz, 4th month in a row on top.

1. webkinz, 2,857,000
2. halloween costumes, 2,415,000
3. games, 1,410,000
4. music, 876,000
5. dress up games, 693,000
6. dish network, 670,000
7. blackberry storm, 650,000
8. direct tv, 621,000
9. wii, 479,000
10. shoes, 429,000

Tivo Back In Bed With Directv Viewers

After a 3 year war, Tivo and Directv have called a truce and once again are teaming up.  The new deal will enable Tivo to sell high-definition digtial video recorders to Directv subscribers.  As many of you know I am a huge Tivo fan and also a Directv sub as well.  I've owned various tivo boxes over the years but eventually switched over to Directv's HR-21 recently. 

The new deal will net Tivo $1.50 per unit per month and will cost Directv subs a little extra each month.  The new dvr will be released in 2Q 09' and I for one am very anxious to check out the new HD Tivo and all its features.

Top 10 Ground Breaking TV Shows

My top 10 most influential TV shows of all time.  Let me know if you agree or disagree with my picks.

1. Sopranos - awesome writing, kept the audience guessing, cmon whadda expect I'm from Jersey
2. Seinfeld - the only showed that dared to be about nothing turned out to be the best sitcom of all time
3. All in the Family - Carroll O'Connor's brilliant acting pushed the envelope and helped spin off other risky shows such as the Jeffersons and Good Times.
4. Mary Tyler Moore - another ground breaking show that pushed boundaries and starred a woman.
5. 60 Minutes - this show is still going strong and wrote the book for news shows.
6. 24 - revolutionary format is still on but fading.
7. The Simpsons - still going strong after all these years, who doesn't love Homer and Bart.
8. Hill Street Blues - a real cop show, 20 years ahead of its time.
9. Saturday Night Live - while its lost its luster long ago this show was one of the funniest edgiest shows ever.
10. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - Another original that so many have copied yet never perfected.

Two Trilogies worth checking out...

Hey Everyone,

One of my current favorite actors is Matt Damon. For those of you who haven't heard of him, and I'm not sure what planet those people have been living on the last 10yrs, he first came to Hollywood's attention by writing a screenplay with his pal Ben Affleck called "Good Will Hunting" . This movie was directed by Gus Van Sant and went on to become not only a blockbuster hit, but also an Oscar winner, including Best Screenplay for its two young writers. Now, after that , Matt went full-guns into the acting world, scripts were being offered all around, and to his credit, he has picked some really choice roles. Two of my favorites are the characters he portrays in these series of movies : The Oceans Trilogy and The Bourne Trilogy. Each role required Matt to act in very different ways: The Oceans requiring a comedic bent with some insecurity thrown in for good measure and the Bourne trilogy requiring Matt to bring his cold, ruthless and hard-hitting aspects to the fore. For my money he carried both of these diametrically opposed characters off with equal skill and likability. And it's just not his characters that are great, the movies themselves are really enjoyable to watch as well; good direction, great production values, lots of laughs and never a dull moment. What I've also heard about him personally is that he's a really nice guy and despite much success, he's still manages to remain a non-diva, always a plus. Matt has definitely grown into an actor to be reckoned with in Hollywood, I'm sure we'll be seeing alot more of him, and that's okay by me.

Be sure to catch Matt in these other great films: The Good Shepperd : The Departed : Syriana : Rounders : Stuck On You : The Talented Mr.Ripley : Dogma : Saving Private Ryan

I hope everyone has a great 2008!

P.S. Tonight I'm going to a special screening of "Cloverfield" and I'm quite stoked about that!

Dish Network vs Directv The Choice is Crystal HD Clear

Last February I finally had enough of the Directv promises of new High Definition (HD) and had Dish network come out to install 2 vip622 receivers and switch over to their service.  I was sick of watching watered down HD and lousy Standard Definition on my Sony 1080p tv.  Dish Network at the time had triple the amount of HD channels and were rumored to be getting MSG HD.  Having the most HD channels and MSG HD were the 2 biggest reasons for switching.

Well luckily for me Dish Network screwed up the order and would not honor the deal that their CSR rep had agreed to on the phone.  Through the years I've had my issues with Directv but they've always been willing to keep me happy (mostly in the form of credits).  Dish on the other hand not only refused to honor the deal their rep made with me but they didn't even care if I (high value HD customer) left their biggest competitor or not.  The installer was at my house, ready to go and they basically lost me over $200 bucks.  Even though the Dish 622 receiver is a great unit I have grown to love my Directv HR-20.  I would also be going bezerk if I had canceled Directv as I am truly enjoying all the HD offerings and have been rewarded with MSG HD to watch my beloved NY Rangers.  Meanwhile Dish has barely added any new programming and still does not even have the YES Network in HD let alone MSG HD.  For anyone deciding between the two, I think the choice is very clear, crystal HD clear.  Of course this could change in a year or two as Dish will undoubtedly counter Directv's HD advantage.

Directv Adds 2 More HD Channels Tennis and College Sports TV

Directv keeps rolling out more and more High Definition Channels, today they added 217 Tennis Channel HD and 610 College Sports TV HD.

For a guide to all of Directv's HD channels check out my blog titled: Complete Directv Lineup Guide.

If you've tuned to any of these channels and cannot receive them you might not have the proper equipment.  You will need the following in order to receive the new HD channels: a 5 LNB Dish, and one of the following MPEG 4 boxes: a HR-20, HR-21, H-20 or H-21 model.  Without this equipment you will not be able to receive the signal from the new bird.

Directv Offering Nascar Hotpass in High Definition in 2008

Nascar fans things are about the heat up for you next season.  Directv has announced that their NASCAR HotPass will be available in glorious High Definition next season.  There is one catch, it will only be available in MPEG-4-HD. 

This means that fans that subscribe to Nascar Hotpass will need the following in order to receive it in HD: a 5 LNB Dish, and one of the following MPEG 4 boxes: a HR-20, HR-21, H-20 or H-21 model.  Without this equipment you will not be able to receive the signal from the new bird and therefore not be able to enjoy Hotpass in HD.  Prices for HD Hotpass have not been announced.

GetItNext makes searching eBay for Nascar products easier.

50 Hottest 2007 Technology Products and Trends for 2008

Listing of the top 50 coolest and hottest technology gadgets / gizmos for 2007.  Most of these are going to be the hottest sellers and biggest trend setters in 2008:

1. Apple iPhone
2. Intel Core 2 Duo
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Sony XBR5
5. RIM Blackberry 8800
6. Parallels Desktop
   
7. Pioneer Elite 1080p PRO-FHD1
8. Apple Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
9. Adobe Premiere Elements 3
10. Apple TV 
11. Nikon D80
12. Samsung SyncMaster 244T
    
13. HP DV9000T
14. Apple MacBook Pro
15. Direct HR-21
16. Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite
    
17. Motorola Razr2 
18. Nikon D40X
19. Samsung BlackJack
20. Apple iPod 80GB
21. TomTom One
22. Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP 
23. Slingbox
24. Guitar Hero 2 
25. Shure E500PTH
26. Apple iPod Nano (8GB)
27. Nikon Coolpix S51c
28. Dell UltraSharp 2007WFP
29. Archos 704 Wi-Fi
30. Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet 
31. Canon EOS 30D
32. Shure SE210
33. Asus Crosshair
34. Dell XPS M1210
35. Creative Zen V Plus (8GB)
36. Fuji FinePix F40fd
37. Sony Playstation 3
38. Canon MP600
39. LG Electronics BH100
40. Samsung i760 Smartphone
41. Nokia N800
    
42. Adobe CS3
43. Aliph Jawbone
44. Logitech Harmony 880
45. Dell XPS 410
46. TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder
47. SanDisk Sansa Connect
48. nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX
49. Panasonic HDC-SD1
    
50. Canon Pixma iP4300
    

Complete Directv HD Lineup Guide - Updated 12/29/07

Here is the complete updated list of Directv High Definition HD channels (12/29/07).  I've provide the channel number and name:

• 70/501/509: HBO HD East
• 71/537/543: Showtime HD
• 72/209: ESPN2 HD
• 73/206: ESPN HD
• 74: Universal HD
• 75/245: TNT HD
• 76: HD Theater (was Discovery HD Theater)
• 78: HDNet Movies
• 79: HDNet
• 101: CD USA
• 135: PPV HD
• 136: PPV HD
• 137: PPV HD
• 145: PPV HD
• 146: PPV HD
• 147: PPV HD
• 175 PPVHD
• 176 PPVHD
• 177 PPVHD
• 178 PPVHD
• 179 PPVHD
• 202: CNN HD
• 206/73: ESPN HD
• 209/72: ESPN2 HD
  
• 212: NFL Network HD
• 215: NHL Network HD
• 217: Tennis HD
  
• 220: Big Ten HD
• 229-1: HGTV HD
• 231-1: Food Network HD
• 242: USA Network HD
• 244: SciFi Channel HD
• 248: FX HD
• 247: TBS HD
• 255: MGM HD
• 265: A & E HD
• 266: Biography HD
• 267: Smithsonian HD
• 269: History Channel HD
• 273: Bravo HD 
• 276: National Geographic HD
• 278: Discovery HD
• 280: TLC Learning Channel HD
• 282: Animal Planet HD 
• 284: Science Channel HD
• 296: Cartoon Network HD
• 299: Nickelodeon HD
• 325: Spike HD
• 327: Country Music Television HD
• 331: MTV HD
• 335: VH1 HD
• 355: CNBC HD
• 359: Fox Business HD
• 362: Weather Channel HD
• 504: HBO West HD
• 512: Cinemax East HD
• 514: Cinemax West HD
• 518: Starz Kids and Family
• 519: Starz Comedy HD
• 520: Starz HD East
• 521: Starz HD West
• 522: Starz Edge HD
• 538: SHO Too HD
• 540: Showtime HD West
• 544: Movie Channel HD
• 604: Versus HD / Golf Channel HD
• 607: Speed HD
• 610: College Sports TV HD
  
• 612: Fuel TV HD
• 620-1: Comcast Sports Net New England HD
• 621 MSGHD
• 622: YES HD
• 623: New England Sports Network/NESN HD
• 624 FSNYHD
• 625: SportsNet New York HD
• 629: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic HD
• 630-1: FSN South HD
• 631-1: SportsSouth HD
• 632-1: Sun Sports HD
• 633-1 FSNS+HD FSN South Plus
• 634-1: FSN Florida HD
• 636: FSN Detroit HD
• 637-1: FSN Ohio HD
• 638-1: FSN Cincinnati HD
• 640: Comcast SportsNet Chicago HD
• 641-1: FSN North HD
• 643: FSN Southwest HD
• 644-1: Altitude HD
• 645-1: FSN Rocky Mountain HD
• 649-1: FSN Arizona HD
• 651-1: FSN Northwest HD
• 652: FSN West HD
• 653: FSN Prime Ticket HD
• 654-1: FSN Bay Area HD
• 655-1 FSBAHD (Fox Bay Area)
• 661-1 ALTaHD (Altitude Sport Alternative)
• 663-1 FSINHD (Fox Sports Indiana)
• 667-1 RSNaHD (FSN South West Alternative)
• 769-1: NHL CI HD
• 770-1: NHL CI HD
• 771-1: NHL CI HD
• 772-1: NHL CI HD
• 773-1: NHL CI HD
• 774-1: NHL CI HD
• 775-1: NHL CI HD
• 776-1: NHL CI HD
• 777-1: NHL CI HD
• 778-1: NHL CI HD
• 779-1: NHL CI HD
• 780-1: NHL CI HD
• 781-1: NHL CI HD
• 782-1: NHL CI HD
• 783-1: NHL CI HD
• 784-1: NHL CI HD
• 785-1: NHL CI HD

If you've tuned to any of these channels and cannot receive them you might not have the proper equipment.  You will need the following in order to receive the new HD channels: a 5 LNB Dish, and one of the following MPEG 4 boxes: a HR-20, HR-21, H-20 or H-21 model.  Without this equipment you will not be able to receive the signal from the new bird.

Please check back as I will update this blog as more channels get updated.