Mike Jutan's World: Getting the largest and heaviest TV known to mankind

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Getting the largest and heaviest TV known to mankind

Yesterday I took off to the Ferry Building for the usual coffee. Instead of the standard bread and cheese I hit up the 1/4 chicken and potatoes, which just might become a regular occurrence. Good times!! Then off on the Ferry to Larkspur. That was really fun and a nice way to get up towards San Rafael area!! Definitely plan to do that next time I am visiting Frank.

Then we took off to Petaluma, where Alan lives (the guy who I bought the TV from)... now check this out. Alan is the video engineer at Skywalker Sound, so clearly he is probably one of the best people in the world to get TV advice from... or in my case, to buy his old TV. :) He said he spent months researching TVs, and this one was by far the best. It was manufactured in 1999, so it's about 7 or 8 years old. But it's in pristine condition, and he said he was going to give it to his in-laws but they wanted a flat-screen TV, and he's just upgraded to this amazing Samsung Flat Screen that looked really nice. But he told me to contrast and the blacks on this TV are still better than the TV he just got. Pretty sweet. Anyway, long story short, he paid $1700 for this TV, and the listed price if you look online is more like $2400!! So that's insane. And... he sold it to me for $100!!!!!!! He also had a really sweet SVHS player, which is actually totally awesome and he said he didn't really need it so he'd give it to me for $10, I gave him $20 since he was giving me such a good deal anyway. Crazy. This TV is AMMMMMMMMMMMAZING. Crazier than any TV I've ever seen before. Insane. So it was a great deal. Only problem? It weighs 216 lbs. Yes, Frank said it well... "so it's like we're lifting me into your apartment."

We got the thing back here and parked on the sidewalk. Then Jess opened the door for us (THANK GOODNESS I AM ON THE FIRST FLOOR) ahh!!!!!! We managed to hardly get the thing off the end of Frank's truck. Then slowly up and into the front door of my building. Then we almost passed out. I got gloves to help lift it and they didn't help at all. We ended up getting it up a couple stairs at a time, heaving and being careful to lift with our knees and not our backs, and trying not to drop it on each other's hands. Then Frank caught his thumb and I smashed my palm with the corner of the TV. Awesome. So that hurt but we were both ok and thankfully didn't totally slam the TV on the steps. Then we braced it on the stairs, and took a break... and then discovered we could almost slide it up the stairs slowly on the screen, and with an insane amount of effort. Finally after 30 min, we had got it up literally 12 carpeted steps. Wow. Then to get it into my apartment? We slid it on the carpet and then lifted it onto a towel on the floor. Then dragged the towel across the floor to place the TV, and then lifted it off the towel. Man. Like 45 min later, we'd moved the TV a grand total of maybe 15 metres from outside in Frank's truck, up 12 carpeted steps, and into my apartment. Whew. Then we plugged it in and magically it worked even though there were a couple of rough jolts we gave it along the way. Amazing.

Pretty hilarious review I just saw of this TV...

Pros: BEST audio/video content, flat screen, aesthetics
Cons: Pricey, weighs like a sumo wrestler