boob tube

work was hectic when rob appliance (dasma) was on sale the entire month of (was it)...july? since then i gave them a rain check regularly just in case another sale comes around. they do have discount offers every now and then but none of those proved appealing to me.

i was just interested in one item. samsung 32" ldc tv with a dainty bezel that looks like a crystal border (actually it's just a thick acrylic plastic...boy, what appearances can do). but not without a 'free' home theater. of course i know that it's not really free in the truest sense but still the sound of it is enough to wash away whatever guilt that i may have for letting go some P24k+ for an idiot box. hehehe.

pacman's fight last 13th november was a mere coincidence how i finally carted away the lcd tv the day before. it was a usual grueling day at the office the whole morning of 12th november. i practically strained my eyes on the computer finalizing quotations for the clients. the phone-in concerns from different sites divided my focus and concentration. as soon as i was done with all the paper works, i was hurrying again to go to the site only to realize that i haven't had lunch yet. in fact, nothing solid and substantial in my tummy since breakfast.

robinson's mall was a convenient stop. besides i also needed to pickup some items from handyman. rob appliance center is next to handyman and the foodstalls are down the corridor. it's inevitable to go to the food stalls without passing by the appliance store from handyman.

lo, and behold. assorted lcd tvs are all parading right at the entrance of the store. some have bundle offers while others got outright discounts. ok...ok...they are old models but for P17k and above, 32" all, they are still a good buy if not the best. i was instantly zapped inside, keeping my grumbling stomach in check. sony's still expensive for me. anything more than P25k actually IS unreasonable. hehehe. my hunch was telling me that samsung has a good deal but i kept my curiosity at bay and decided that it'll be my last stop. lg is um-um. sharp looks ok...but. devant (was it?) didn't deserve a second review. and finally...samsung.

it was a toss between lcd and led. the latter should be it. but then again, my criteria for bringing home a tv is only with a free home theater system. hahaha. babaw ko talaga. a 32" led is P26k+ if my memory serves me right. and anything extra is additional cost. with a home theater it would be like P30k+. unreasonable!!! it's the 32" lcd that goes with a 5.1 home theater system plus additional discount of P1,300. and the clincher: it's a wee bit below my threshold of P25k.

no brainer.

i know that the samsung home theater is just a temporary fixture at home...until i have my trusted harman kardon ampli got fixed. there's an annoying problem with the intermittent audio output. good thing about the samsung 5.1 black cubic speakers is they come in handy, small, and therefore certified space savers. pero ang linis ng sound quality. at the price of P4.5k if bought separately, panalo na. nestling them on top of my jbl speakers was never obtrusive.

the set up was almost perfect until i realized that i got no place to keep the 29" philips flat tv that used to lord over the living room. i only have two room in my rented apartment now and each room has a tv. i can replace any with this relatively bigger size but still there would one odd out. there's no space either in the storeroom. selling any of the three isn't easy that i can lick them at the snap of a finger. sure i can dump the philips in another room but for how long will it be a blight?

honestly, i didn't forsee this glaring scenario when i considered replacing the tv at the sala. my handicap. in my line of work i was trained to have an eye for details a-l-w-a-y-s but i seem to gloss over it in my personal life. hay ang clutter ko.

last resort. (parang supreme court lang, hahaha) i called up some friends who would be willing to adopt a tv. for the meantime at least. pinasa ba ang kalat sa iba? good thing there's one who did! but not the philips. it was quite heavy and bulky to boot. hauling was the problem. hahaha. philips stay. the poor 24" samsung from one of the rooms has to go.

i know the expenses don't stop with having an lcd tv. i need a cable connection to maximize the potential of the unit. after comparing prices, performance (according to colleagues) and the program channels under the corresponding plan, i settled for dasca (dasmarinas cable), a local provider that offers 100 channels for a straight monthly fee of P500. not bad. not bad at all. after all, i'm not big in variety shows, sports, drama series. i'm after in news channels and docus. movie channel pwede rin but not much. more often than not nakakatulugan ko. hahaha. that's the very reason why i stock on dvds. kasi kahit anong oras pwedeng balikan where i left off.

except for the PIP function which i don't know how to activate so far (it remains 'grey' in the menu or maybe the model that i bought doesn't carry the said feature), samsung LA32D550 together with the bundled 5.1 home theater system met my expectations.