All I Want for Christmas v3, by MissingRemote Staff
Now 3 years strong, our tradition continues. In the first year of our list, we saw some good, some bad ideas. Year two was a lot of the same. Let’s see how everyone feels about our staff’s wish list for 2011 Christmas time!
Andrew van Til (Babgvant)
In my case it reads a little better backwards 🙂
- The AVR-3311 didn’t find its way under the tree last year (or the months that followed), mostly because with the the AVR-1909 still performing well it was smarter to add surround sound to the secondary viewing location via Mike’s choice – the Yamaha YSP-2200. With more 3D Blu-ray titles trickling out, and my kid’s increasing demands to “watch it in 3D” it’s getting more cumbersome to connect up another HDMI cable to the TV on movie night so I’m hoping to solve the HDMI 1.4 problem this year.
- For that reason my wish list is just getting a number bump to the 125W Denon AVR-3312. With support for Audyssey MultEQ XT, 0.05% THD, and built in Ethernet providing IP control, firmware updates, DLNA and access to some audio over the top services it’s has all of the good stuff that put the AVR-3311 on last year’s. Adding in an extra HDMI port and a slightly more modern look; I can’t complain too much about the wait.
George Schmauch (Skirge01)
Last year, I asked dear, old Santa for the complete series of Rome on Blu-ray. I apparently was on the naughty list (my sources say multiple times), so I wound up with a lump of coal instead. Truth be told, it was simply too expensive at ~$90. Even at the current $75 price point, I find it difficult to justify. I will see this series eventually, though!
This Christmas, I’m looking for a double-play of not one, but two SSD’s. Specifically, I’m looking at the speedyOCZ Vertex 2 120GB model for my HTPC client, so that resuming Windows is nearly instantaneous and launching SageTV will be equally as fast. However, in order to ensure SageTV is as fast as can possibly be, I also want a super-sonic OCZ Vertex 3 240GB (Max IOPS) model for use in my server. This will also assist with my virtualization plans, detailed in a recent blog. Please, Santa? I was good this year. I swear!
Mike Patnode
I’m the last of a dying breed as I insist on having a physical querty keyboard on my phone. Although it’s embarrassing to admit, I’m still hanging on to my HTC Tilt 2 running WM 6.5! But the fact my Tilt 2 can tether as a WiFi router without paying an extra $20/mo makes it a little harder to let go and AT&T (and others) have figured out how to block or detect this on the newer operating systems.
But give me a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430, Super AMOLED display, 1080p HD video capture, micro SD/USB/HDMI and compatibility with the existing Motorola Lapdocks the temptation becomes overwhelming. I might even be able to replace my laptop with this thing. Now if Santa can get me an unlocked version that I slip my existing AT&T sim into, maybe I can continue tether on my old data plan.
Zachary Christiansen
Last year Santa came early and I had everything set up in time to record the ball drop live on four channels in HD. This year I think its time to give my HTPC a facelift as my current setup is starting to show its age. Currently the top spot on my wish list belongs to the SilverStone GD05B. In the 5 years since buying theThermaltake Bach I have transitioned from a one PC environment to a HTPC + WHS setup. Many of the features which made the bach useful for me (7 expansion slots, 5 internal 3.5 bays and 3 external 5.25 bays) are no longer needed and I have become acutely aware of its large footprint and loud fan noise caused by the 2 60mm exhaust fans and 80mm intake fan. The GD05B fits perfectly into my current use scenario, it has ample internal storage space with room for 3 hard drives (2 x 3.5, 1×2.5) and it utilizes three 120 mm fans for cooling therefore it should run whisper quiet in comparison to my current case. With its small footprint (12.8 x 17.3 x 5.9 inches ) and affordable price ($84.00) it should fit nicely into both my A/V stack as well as Santa’s budget. Now if I can only convince Mrs. Claus that just because we can record every single episode of Real Housewives doesn’t mean that we should I think I will have a merry Christmas. 🙂
Aaron Ledger
Last year, I wished for a Denon AVR-3111CI to replace my Denon AVR-3300 that was more than a decade old. About mid-year, I purchased the newer Deonon AVR-2112 because it had the feature set I wanted in an AVR with an Ethernet port for firmware updates (which has already come in handy) plus support for HDMI and HD audio formats. The Audyssey room correction feature is great. Overall, the fidelity of my sound system was greatly improved.
My wish for the coming year is a bit tougher. I had been thinking of upgrading my speakers from my current Klipsch KSB 3.1 Synergy speakers; however, I’m moving from a single-family home into an apartment which probably means some amazing new speakers would not be the best choice. Instead, I would like to update my second screen. I have an old 32″ no-name LCD panel in my spare bedroom/play room for guests or for when my wife and I decide we both want to watch something different. The 720p panel is not great quality and it has simply become unwatchable for my snobbish eyes.
The first thing to come to mind is one of Panasonic’s 42″ S30 panels (TC-P42ST30) which offers a lot of bang for the buck. Sure, it’s not a flagship panel, but the performance is still leaps and bounds beyond what I currently have and this is a secondary screen where the best performance isn’t a necessity. The only problem with this solution is that it doesn’t fit the current wall unit that we have. Honestly, the wall unit isn’t that important so I’m going to stick with this wish 🙂
Matthew Miller (millpub)
I joined the team over the summer, so I wasn’t around last year to pass along a Santa wish. How fortunate for me that he was extremely generous. Hopefully he will be again this year.
My Cambridge Soundworks New Ensemble speakers are getting a bit long in the tooth and don’t offer the dynamic range of many home theater speakers today, but they sound so fantastic with music that I have a hard time considering an upgrade. However, the New Ensembles also date back to the early days of home theater and do lack in one area: rumble-in-your-chest bass. To that end I hope Santa might see fit to send a HSU Research VTF-2 MK4 Subwoofer my way. Our family room has high ceilings, but is relatively small making the VTF-2 a better fit than some of it larger siblings and provides the tuning controls to dial the levels in with my current speakers and with whatever comes down the road later. I rarely missed the deep bass with my old pre-Dolby Digital receiver, but since upgrading recently I have become more acutely aware of what we are missing out on. Honest, Santa, I’m thinking of the whole family experience here.
Rome the Complete Series on
Rome the Complete Series on Blu-ray is on sale over at Best Buy for $57.99. I saw it the other day in the store and was very tempted to pick it up myself.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rome%3A+The+Complete+Series+%5B10+Discs%5D+-+Widescreen+Subtitle+AC3+Dolby+-+Blu-ray+Disc/9588966.p?id=2017757&skuId=9588966&st=Rome&lp=2&cp=1
Damn… nice find! Sadly, I
Damn… nice find! Sadly, I can’t buy it yet, since I don’t know what the wife bought me. I screwed that up royally one year by buying something around Christmas. If it’s still on sale Monday, I’ll probably pick it up.
Yeah you could always pick it
Yeah you could always pick it up and just not open it up. Then return the more expensive one if you got it as a present. I love The Mentalist so I’ve considered several times picking this up since it is created by the same guy. I just have never got around to it.
I was late getting my
I was late getting my Christmas list ready so I didn’t make the post but…better later than never?
Last year I asked for a Dell Inspiron Duo. I got it and well I should have asked for something different. The dock is nice and it looks cool but otherwise it sucks. As a tablet it was too heavy and even with a SSD stuck in there too slow. As a kitchen HTPC….the touch screen wasn’t responsive enough and grease from cooking turned the screen into an eyesore. As a positive note I really like the alarm clock app Dell provided….though tried to use it as an alarm clock for a few weeks but the fan was way too loud….
With Christmas only two days away….what do I want? Thanks to the new job I have enough InfiniTVs to watch more TV than I have time for but I’ve had HDTV envy for a few years now. Mike, Andrew, Aaron, Motz, etc all have nice new plasma HDTV goodness while I’m sporting a clunky Sharp LC52D92U LCD. I’m hoping to see a Samsung PN64D8000 64-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Plasma 8000 Series Smart TV for Christmas this year. I went back and forth between it and a comparable Panasonic but Mike and Andrew already have a Panasonic so I wanted to join Aaron in giving Sammy some love.
Remember….if haven’t done your Christmas New Years Chinese New Year Easter etc shopping yet….don’t forget to use the Missing Remote Amazon search above 🙂
Well you’ve got me beat…I
Well you’ve got me beat…I have HDTV envy over your lcd with my 32 inch LG 32FZ4D-UA CRT tv.
@Â George I made that mistake
@ George I made that mistake 5 years ago, and I’ve been reminded of it every year since.
KustomKid wrote:@Â George I
[quote=KustomKid]
@ George I made that mistake 5 years ago, and I’ve been reminded of it every year since.
[/quote]
Same here. The worst part was that I liked the cheaper one I bought myself than the one she spent quite a bit of time researching. Talk about shooting your own foot! I’m really lucky to have such an understanding wife!
Met up with my brother and my
Met up with my brother and my nieces today and opened an early gift from them. For a kids toy, the IR goggles/camera are a lot of fun. http://pic.twitter.com/EhB7DpJu I think I may have more fun with this than anything “high tech” I actually wanted.
oliverredfox wrote:Met up
[quote=oliverredfox]
Met up with my brother and my nieces today and opened an early gift from them. For a kids toy, the IR goggles/camera are a lot of fun. http://pic.twitter.com/EhB7DpJu I think I may have more fun with this than anything “high tech” I actually wanted.
[/quote]
pretty darned cool!
So I too was behind on
So I too was behind on getting my list together for the post this year. The last two years i’ve asked for receivers and every year I keep pushing it back thinking I wanted something different.
Last year was the Denon 5308CI, and honestly this year I really don’t know what I want. I am still happy with my setup, even thought I am still only doing 5.1 surround and not taking advantage of the next gen audio, spdif just works and not sure if I could really tell a difference of the audio formats as my home theater setup is not the most ideal setup acoustically.
This year on my wish list is a 1080p projector. I currently have the Panasonic PT-AX200U i’ve had it for a few years now, and I absolutely love it. High lumens (2000 lumens) and relatively high contrast ratio. It is a great projector. My media room setup in my basement is 100% light controlled, so I don’t have the light from the sun to contend with, and my basement lights are fully dimable. What I love about the projector is that I can have the lights at 75 – 80% and still have a crisp clear image for those days I have the guys over for watching football. That was the biggest thing for me is I hate watching sports in the dark, I want the lights on and have everyone enjoy each others company and still have a good quality image and this projector is never disappointing.
The only down side of the projector is that it is only a 720p projector, so feeling a little inadequate in resolution for my monster 120″ screen I want to give that gorgeous screen its due justice and fill it with 1080p of pure bliss. While I am at it I would love to dive head first into 3D, so what better than getting a 1080p projector with 3d?
So this year on my Christmas list is the new Panasonic PT-AE7000. The AE-7000 is the latest bad boy on the market for 1080p 3D projectors and with a street price of just under $3,000 it is one of the best bang for the buck 3D projectors on the market. The AE-7000 builds off of the all the previous Panasonic projectors including the AX-200U (my current projector) which again includes 2000 lumens, full lens shift, and 30,000:1 contrast.
So we’ll see if “Santa” brings me my wish list this year…..
-Josh