The living room still isn't done yet. There were 2 major bumps this week.

Everything was humming along quite nicely until we wanted to watch a football game in HD. I tuned to our local Fox affiliate and the game was in SD. I'm a little spoiled at this point and I can barely stand SD, especially sports. I did a guide search, it showed a HD Fox East channel 88 and Fox West channel 89 showing the game. But when I went to the channel, there was a "you don't have this channel" message. Huh? Don't I have the mega primo HD subscription + local channels? After a call to my neighbor (who has both digital cable and DirectTV) and an email to DirectTV, the nasty little secret comes out: yes you can get local channels via satellite, but only in standard definition. I have a second ugly dish on my roof just to get the local news and programming... in standard def only. Getting the Fox East HD feed is only available to those people that absolutely cannot get a local broadcast in their area. At no point did anybody made it clear just what it took to get Fox in HD on my TV.

After some research, it turns out that I just needed to add an "Off The Air" antenna to the system to pick up the local station's HD broadcast. I remembered I had some old rabbit ears stashed away and I tried pulling a signal with them. (I should mention the DirectTV receiver is very antenna friendly- it shows you a signal meter to help you see your strength and it also integrates the Off-The-Air channels into the guide seamlessly by pulling the program guide down for you.) I was beginning to worry that I would need to add a 3rd aerial to my roof which would simultaneously lower my curb appeal while increasing the space station factor. But first I picked up a powered indoor antenna at my local Lowe's for $25. To my delight, it easily picked up the Fox HD broadcast. Since that's the only UHF channel I have and care about, I can't comment on how well the antenna picks up the VHF channels.

Also this past week we finally found a buffet style cabinet that satisfies both requirements of hiding the DVD's and providing a nice area for the receiver, satellite box, and Xbox to sit on top of. After putting the cabinet together, I proceeded to relocate the components with a little disconnecting as possible. Everything moved over easily and I powered up to see if things were good. I wasn't getting a picture. This happened when I first hooked up the new receiver. That time, just rechecking all the HDMI cables were seated seemed to fix it. This time, it wasn't working. So I pulled out the main HDMI cable and the end was broken off in the Home Theater box! Of course this was the large gauge 35 foot one that I special ordered to run from the receiver, up one wall, through the attic, and down another wall to the TV. I tried fixing the bad solder job and even graft a new end on, but it wasn't happening. I could've run out to Circuit City and paid $150, but I decided it was best to re-order a cable online for $50. I know I'm taking a gamble again, but I just can't support the ridiculous mark up these big box stores force on less savvy consumers (shame on you, Monster Cable). Hell, I already think $50 is still too much for this cable.

So right now, there's an umbilical of component cables running across the room to the TV while I wait for the UPS man to deliver yet another opportunity to climb around in the attic insulation and then lift the 200 lb plasma over my head. But man, that HD football sure looks sweet.