This day is extra. The 29th of February only comes along every 4 years. It is one more day to earn more money or do something special. It defines leap year. Don't waste it.
One of the more affluent members of the family has purchased a "Blu-Ray" DVD player to compliment her HDTV. Apparently "Blu-Ray" won the lottery for HD technology and it will be the standard of the DVD business. I am not familiar with "HDDVD" (the competing company) but I do understand the concept. Years ago in the late 1970's, Beta competed with VHS for dominance in the video tape business. Beta was better by far and our family bought a new unit. It took about 3 days to find out that we couldn't get "tapes" at the video store for BETA, so I exchanged it for a VHS unit. It is called capitalism. VHS destroyed BETA with marketing and "money". It was Sony who lost the BETA wars.
So now Blu-Ray which is the basic software of Sony (and PlayStation) has a victory. You are free to purchase the new HD Blu-Ray technology and be assured that it will serve you for a few years. It is only part of the puzzle however. The signal you receive is only 760p (or is it 720). An improved transmission of 1080p (or is it 1060) is planned for the future. Who cares? The point is that the signal now coming into your home is less than optimal. Then you buy a HDTV with 1080p capability receiving a less than optimal 760p signal. Blu-Ray that comes with 760p transmission capibility (or is it 1080p). Obviously I making a spoof of the whole situation. The truth is that all TV's have a better picture as the transmission of digital HD gets better and better. The question is how much you are willing to spend for this pursuit of perfection. Did I mention you need a special box to receive HD properly from the Cable Company?
Now lets finish off the Blu-Ray technolgoy with the choices of HD DVD's. You can buy a high quality Sony HD DVD player for $400. You can buy a Sony Play Station with HD technolgy which lets you play HD games along with playing HD DVD's you've rented from the store. The Sony Play Station software lets you download HD quality movies from your computer (and the internet) and play them on your HDTV. Same Price, $400. It seems like you'd buy the Play Station because you get so much more but the quality of downloads over the computer has had lots of problems. The family member of which I spoke bought the simple HD DVD Blu-Ray Sony player unit. Somewhere in my training I learned that "complexity eventually brings decay". I think the right choice was made. The Geeks would disagree with me.
So now Grasshoppers, as you receive you tax stimulus (rebate) checks and are encouraged to spend your money to stimulate the economy, you have all the information you need to p--- the money away on Blu-Ray and HD stuff. I think it falls in the category of "want" not "need". You can worry about food for the table and college for the kids later. It is like going to the "poor house" in a Cadillac.
Love,
Dad