Unsavviness

The self-proclaimed HDTVexpert chimes in with a comparison of Blu-Ray, HD DVD and the Oppo I previously mentioned:

At normal viewing distances, the close-up shots of faces and floating objects, appeared to have near-equal detail and texture, a testament to the quality of the video scaling engine in the Oppo. Objects somewhat farther away were slightly softer in red laser, while there were clear differences between the red and blue laser pressings when it came to showing fine details. Those differences became less apparent as I relocated 10 feet away from the Panasonic plasma (50") and 16 feet from the projection screen. In fact, at those points, the red and blue laser pressings seemed nearly equal in overall sharpness, except with shots with lots of background detail were seen.

I only mention this because after 4+ days of debating whether or not to take the plunge on the this weekend's deals, I finally did. The unsavvy part was waiting (and reading!), rather than just doing, ie, the first deal I came across would have fit our needs best (using a very loose definition of needs). In the end, Joanne ok'd the $7.50 non-refundable expense while I decide if the plunge is necessary. The above review is somewhat damning as my vision is questionable and our viewing distance is over 10', which means little difference between the Oppo and A3. Of course, we don't have an upconverting player yet either, and the A3 comes with 10 movies for $50 more. Hmmm...

I'm going to segue into something unrelated, but completely on point. I'm in desperate need of an information diet. The amount of time I spent on this since Thursday is completely ridiculous. Actually, sad is the better word. You may have heard the phrase before, which has become more en vogue because of Tim Ferriss's The Four Hour Workweek. Ferriss promotes an 20-80 principle--also known as Pareto's law-- which states 20% of activities contribute 80% of benefit, so focus on that 20%. Naturally, this demands a good understanding of what is important versus what some fervor on the internet/other entity convinces you (or me in this case) is important. But in terms of information, how much is necessary (ie important) versus noise (time wasting)? One blog I read puts the Information Diet into the perspective of consumption versus production. All that time spend on consuming information (which can be very (time) filling) can be spent on other productive means (writing a blog entry for example, rather than reading one). And I'm simply not good at that.

As for another tangential leap, there was various levels of shock at my goldmine--who spends $500+ on 10 CDs? Or who even still buys CDs? While I have some limits in terms of value, I am very prone to getting whipped into a "have to have" mentality because of random internet message boards. I find it odd that I'm fairly good at not buckling to individual peer pressure, but random groups of internet posters can do me in. That's probably even more unsavvy. But isn't this how something like this happens? People get sucked into some form of peer group that places some level of importance on some commodity or activity and then is willing to commit resources that others outside of the group deem unnecessary/outrageous.

I blame this all on one thing: disposable income.