Iamyourzero

quote: Originally posted by FooF: its not the same card at all. lacks eax 2.0 support and the control panel doesnt even have bass/treble controls. its going back to the store Wow, didn't know that...sorry you had to find out the hard way. Are you going to spring for the Acoustic Edge or go for another card? ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

I'm waiting for LCD monitors to become cheaper and better. They are currently doing both. I've heard a lot of bad about the early LCD's, but apparently they are getting much better. But even the newer ones have their problems and are still kinda pricey. I want to know 3 things about LCD monitors: 1) Is it reasonable to conclude that an LCD monitor will last longer than a CRT screen? CRT monitors can get pretty darn warm, and heat is one of the causes of the death of electronics. LCD screens supposedly run MUCH cooler than a CRT, so there is really no heat present to kill the unit. And you won't get the harmful heat up/cool down cycles that harm computer components and CRT monitors. Or is there reason to believe that a CRT monitor would last longer? 2) Will the picture quality of an LCD monitor degrade over time? I remember reading that if a CRT monitor lives a long life, it will get faded, blurrier, less bright and crisp than when it was new. Since there is no electron gun or supporting wires in an LCD screen, will an LCD that's 8 years old look like one that's brand new? Also, a lot of LCD screens I've seen that are fairly old always have defects. In portable gaming devices, calculators, and electronic organizers there are common defects over time such as dead pixels, dead rows of pixels, and pixels that seem to stay illuminated no matter what. Will LCD monitors also develop these defects or are they much higher quality and immune to such problems? 3) With CRT monitors, it seems like brand matters very little when comparing similar tubes (except in the case of a KDS Trinitron... ). That is to say, if you buy a monitor with a Diamondtron tube, it doesn't matter if it's a Samsung or a generic monitor since they use the same tube because both will look nearly identical (though one may have more features). Is this the same with LCD monitors, or does quality vary greatly by manufacturer? Would a Viewsonic LCD be much better than a KDS, or would they both be equal in terms of reliablity and image quality? Thanks much to all that can help. I'd really like to learn more about these.

I'm waiting for LCD monitors to become cheaper and better. They are currently doing both. I've heard a lot of bad about the early LCD's, but apparently they are getting much better. But even the newer ones have their problems and are still kinda pricey. I want to know 3 things about LCD monitors: 1) Is it reasonable to conclude that an LCD monitor will last longer than a CRT screen? CRT monitors can get pretty darn warm, and heat is one of the causes of the death of electronics. LCD screens supposedly run MUCH cooler than a CRT, so there is really no heat present to kill the unit. And you won't get the harmful heat up/cool down cycles that harm computer components and CRT monitors. Or is there reason to believe that a CRT monitor would last longer? 2) Will the picture quality of an LCD monitor degrade over time? I remember reading that if a CRT monitor lives a long life, it will get faded, blurrier, less bright and crisp than when it was new. Since there is no electron gun or supporting wires in an LCD screen, will an LCD that's 8 years old look like one that's brand new? Also, a lot of LCD screens I've seen that are fairly old always have defects. In portable gaming devices, calculators, and electronic organizers there are common defects over time such as dead pixels, dead rows of pixels, and pixels that seem to stay illuminated no matter what. Will LCD monitors also develop these defects or are they much higher quality and immune to such problems? 3) With CRT monitors, it seems like brand matters very little when comparing similar tubes (except in the case of a KDS Trinitron... ). That is to say, if you buy a monitor with a Diamondtron tube, it doesn't matter if it's a Samsung or a generic monitor since they use the same tube because both will look nearly identical (though one may have more features). Is this the same with LCD monitors, or does quality vary greatly by manufacturer? Would a Viewsonic LCD be much better than a KDS, or would they both be equal in terms of reliablity and image quality? Thanks much to all that can help. I'd really like to learn more about these.

Can I make a suggestion? I've been reading extensively about the 2 cards you suggested, because I own a VIA KT133a board and I too was tired of my SB Live causing lockups and crashes. Both sound like really great cards. It sounds like one thing putting you off about the Hercules is the cost. Did you know that the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is basically the same card as the Hercules Game Theater XP (it just doesn't include the external rack of connectors, which is what drives the Herc's price toward $150)...so if you don't need the rack, which I'm assuming you don't since you're considering the Acoustic Edge, you could just get the Santa Cruz and have the same sound card as the Hercules... Just a thought!

Get the 4.1's...that way if you ever have the extra room, you'll have the extra speakers. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

quote: Originally posted by d3vi0s: I got an AE, and it by far beats anything in sound quality. To show you how much better it really is. I basicly had to delete any of my 128 kbit mp3's and get at least 192kbit encoded one's. I could literally tell the diffrence between the two in sound quality. Ehhh...I can do that with my SB Live! X-Gamer. Not knocking the AE at all, it's a great card. I'm just saying, don't say that it beats everything in sound quality before you've compared it side-by-side to a SoundBlaster Live!, a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, a Hercules Game Theater XP, etc... But, glad you are happy with the Philips card. I'm considering buying one myself. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

quote: Originally posted by kleggatt: At half volume my v.2-400's are uncomfortably loud. Mabye you got a bum set. I listen to these things below quarter volume. Ditto. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

Philips Acoustic Edge, or Hercules Game Theater XP. http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/sound_cards/hercules/game_theater_xp/001.htm http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/sound_cards/philips/acoustic_edge/001.htm

Thanks Paragon. Yeah, I saw somewhere on a site where AMD might make the Thunderbirds all the way up until 1.533 GHz, and start the new Palomino core at either 1.4 or 1.5 GHz. My next system will almost certainly be a Palomino if there are no problems with them, as they should run MUCH cooler than Thunderbirds. I have even heard that they can run with just a heatsink and no fan is required. That would truly rule because these 7k Delta fans sound like small hairdryers! I see you have the FOP38 also. I'll probably put the Palomino on a DDR board. I would have gone DDR for this new system but I wanted to wait and see which of the 3 major DDR chipsets came out on top. The AMD 760, the ALi MAGiK chipset, and the VIA KT266 chipset all seem to have their ups and downs, but one major downside is they don't overclock very well at all (the KT133a's are the champs) and are still fairly buggy. So I'll wait it out until the DDR stuff matures. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

*boingy* ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

I know many of you will say Hercules simply because of the hype lately but I find that a huge reason many people buy this card is because of the cool external rack it comes with. It's a thoughtful and useful addition, but let's just compare the bare cards here. Which produces better quality sound and is more compatible? I read reviews of both on www.gamersdepot.como and the Acoustic Edge got a 5 1/2 while the HGTXP got a 5. Both look like truly kickass cards but I want the one that will give me better quality sound. What are the ups and downs of each? The Herc XP seems to support more API's but the Acoustic Edge has plenty to brag about too. Philips Acoustic Edge What can I say? This is the best consumer-level sound card Ive run into, knocking the SoundBlaster Live! from the lofty perch its sat on for years now. The technology used in this card to simulate and to enhance surround sound is revolutionary, and other card manufacturers will be hard-pressed to come up with something this good. Hercules Game Theater XP Where the XP really shines is in gaming. Thanks to its support of all the major APIs, and the addition of Sensaura audio enhancements, the XPs surround effects were spectacular and very well done. Using our reference Klipsch 4.1 gaming system, we heard sound placements done with very good precision and accuracy. Its rather apparent that Hercules took the time to listen to the needs of gamers and deliver a product that makes a very good choice for both the hardcore and casual gamer who are looking to add a new level of ease-of-use, and great sound quality to their existing system and want excellent game compatibility. With so many choices hitting the market, begging for your hard-earned dollar, the Game Theater does a nice job of separating itself from the competition by offering a very robust hardware and software package that makes for an incredible value at under $150.00.

What was wrong with your first set? You ARE talking about the 4.1's, not the v.2-400's, right?

That's crazy. I could buy a nice car for that much money. There's a guy near me who spent around $80,000 on a new home theater setup. He sent the projector unit for his projection screen to Ferrari for a custom paint job that cost a few grand as well... For 80k, I think I'd rather have a nice home or a Dodge Viper. Of course, he probably already had both...

He's offering $250 for the P3-866 and the CUSL2 motherboard. I paid about $259 for the chip and $150 for the mobo a few months ago. I will be taking a loss of course but that's just the way it is when you sell computer parts. They depreciate in value so quickly and so much (especially CPU's and graphics cards). I paid $300 ea. for 2 12MB Diamond Monster 3D Vooodoo2 cards a few years ago and recently sold them for $70 for the pair...man I couldn't believe it. But, I've been wanting an AMD system for a while, so I guess it's about time I hopped on this huge bandwagon. Everybody is dissing Intel due to their higher prices so I'm going to see what AMD has to offer and if I can be satisfied with them. It seems that with AMD you pay less for the same performance but you have to do more to get everything to work right. My Intel setup ran like a dream after I built it. The first time I powered it on, it ran flawlessly. I hope I can say the same when my AMD parts arrive later this week.

Yeah...just posted my stuff on there, got a bunch of emails, and picked the guy that I thought was most serious and gave me a good offer.

quote: Originally posted by kaila: Good luck with the T-bird. Whatever fan/sink you get, if you are at all worried about heat (or have a hot vid card) get a case fan. It really helps out the cpu fan, and keeps your whole system cool. You DO realise you are trading in the most stable m-board (CUSL-2) ever made........ Yup, this CUSL2 has been great to me. Very very stable. But the fact is, stable or not, my P3-866 will get smoked by a 1GHz or higher Thunderbird paired with a KT133a board. It is time for me to make the move to AMD while I can still get a good amount out of my Intel parts.

quote: Originally posted by fawwaz: Thats good to hear ,I want to upgrade but don't seem to find an apporperiate buyer .Ah , well the p3 700 runs everything fine though. By the way , what about Ram ,didn't you sell them? the T-Bird works best with DDR. for cooling check this: http://www.taisol.com/ Tell me who bought from you ,was it on e-bay? No, not eBay. I frequent a computer message board over at www.3dfiles.com and posted my system in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum over there. Nobody wanted to buy my whole system for more than $600 (see sig) so I said "screw that" and just sold the CPU+mobo combo. No, I didn't sell my RAM. I have 256MB of Crucial PC133 Cas2 which is very good SDRAM. DDR memory looks promising and will definitely be mainstream in the future but right now I'm not impressed with the T-Bird DDR boards. They are not as stable as the KT133a boards, and the KT133a boards can actually outperform them when overclocked. I realize that later on, the DDR boards will become the performance kings but right now stability is important to me. Plus I don't want to have to buy an extra 256MB of PC2100 DDR memory. Thanks for the reply d00d!

Found a buyer for my P3 866+Asus CUSL2 combo, so I'm ordering a 1.33 GHz 266fsb Thunderbird and KT133a motherboard soon. I know these faster T-Birds run pretty hot. What's the best heatsink/fan, within a reasonable price, to keep my 'bird cool? I was thinking of the Alpha PEP66 or the GlobalWin FOP38. I know the 7k Delta fan is loud but it gets the cooling job done very well. I've also heard good things about some Vantec and Taisol coolers. I would go with a quieter FOP32 or SuperOrb but I just don't think they'd cool as well as I'd like. They are probably fine for Thunderbirds around 1 GHz or less... Help me decide please! I'm ordering my new parts soon...

That's a good price, man. I might consider taking it if I wasn't hearing so many awesome things about the Hercules Game Theater XP...now THAT sounds like an awesome sound card!

Paragon, thanks for the reply. Did you buy yours at MWave as well? I'll let you know if/when I get it fixed. Even if this thing doesn't go away after I break-in the monitor, it doesn't change the fact that MWave did not go even an inch towards satisfying me. And that's a bad thing for them.

quote: Originally posted by janko10: yeah.... ya know there are alot of decaffienated brands on the market that taste just as good as the original. J LOL, what does that have to do with anything? I wanted a Sony, so I got a Sony.

It's on its way!! Check UR PayPal account! I mean uh, what? Where am I?

Hahahahahahahahaha! I've been watching my mailbox like a hawk for the past 2 weeks!! IT FINALLY CAME! No, not my SuperDeluxe Inflatable Doll you sillies, my TAX RETURN!!! $3700 smackaroos to do with as I please! That would buy a HELL of a system. Now the hard part is to decide whether to go all out or put it toward paying off some bills. Maybe a bit of both, eh?

Just want to clear something up before I get any posts telling me I should have bought the monitor locally: I DID check around. Where I live there is no CompUSA, no OfficeMax, no Office Depot, no Staples, no Best Buy, and no Circuit City. There are a few local computer shops in town but they do not carry Sony monitors. I made THREE attempts at going out of town to find a monitor. First trip was to Christiansburg, VA. No luck. They only had an OfficeMax which only carried ProView monitors. Second trip was to Roanoke, VA. They had a Circuit City, which carried the E400, not the G400. They couldn't even order me the G400. So then I looked in Best Buy and they had Viewsonic and Samsung and KDS but no Sony. Then it was after 9:00pm so everything closed and I headed back home. Third attempt was to a Sam's Club but they only carried CTX and KDS. So, as you can see, I tried to get the monitor myself, but nobody carried it. I gave this a lot of forethought and knew it would be better to get it locally, if possible. Unfortunately when you live in the hills, you have to order all your stuff online because it just isn't available anywhere within driving distance.

Please take the time to read this if you ever plan on dealing with MWave or Sony. As some of you may know, I recently wanted a new monitor and spent many days agonizing over which one to get. I definitely wanted a flatscreen monitor, and I definitely wanted at least 19". So I read and read and read online user reviews of Samsung, Iiyama, Sony, and Viewsonic monitors and ended up going with the Sony G400. The other monitors certainly had great reviews as well, but I like and trust the Sony name (and the rave reviews didn't hurt either ) It's basically just a personal preference for the Sony brand, so please don't give me sh!t over it or say "U should have gotten an NEC...same quality at a cheaper price"... Anyway, I was very excited when I called MWave to place my order. I was afraid of shipping it UPS Ground, since I have heard horror stories about what "fun" they have with various packages that come through. So I paid $92 to ship the monitor by FedEx Overnight. And to cover all my bases, I asked the person on the line if I could return the monitor for an exchange if it arrived damaged or DOA. She said, "Sure, just give us a call and we'll take care of it!" OK, everything sounded cool. Well, I ordered on a Thursday night so the monitor didn't ship until Friday. Well, of course that meant the soonest it would come was Monday. Somehow paying for overnight shipping but still having to wait 4 days kinda disturbed me, but it was the soonest I could get the monitor so I dealt with it. Well, it did come Monday. I had read on an online site that you should check your monitor thoroughly after it arrives, to make sure it wasn't damaged during shipping. It said to check for cracked plastic, a loose bezel, geometry problems that could not be corrected, and discoloration in any of the corners. Unfortunately, I did detect a very small discoloration in the lower left corner of the screen. It was kind of a bluish tint, almost undetectable. Actually, it IS virtually undetectable on anything but a pure white background. But, I am basically a perfectionist and I couldn't live with the fact knowing that I had shelled out major cash for a new monitor and it had anything at all wrong with it, however small of an issue it may be. So I called MWave to arrange for an exchange. I described what had happened and the girl told me that the monitor could not be sent to MWave for exchange. She told me that Sony had a policy where any defective product purchased had to be sent back to SONY, not MWave. Well, I slightly protested but accepted it and hung up. I then called Sony and they had me do the typical run through the convergence/moire/degauss diagnostic procedures. Well, it still didn't get rid of the discoloration so I asked what could be done. Sony told me that I could send the monitor in for repair and they would take a look at it, fix it, and send it back. But, I would have to pay shipping to send it in the first time. I obviously didn't want to do this because I had JUST shelled out for it, so I didn't feel that I should have to bite the shipping charges. Sony also told me that they did not have a policy that says any defective products have to be sent to them. Hmm, interesting. They suggested that I call MWave back and try to take further action. So I did. This time I asked to speak with a supervisor. I told her that I had called once before and had also called Sony and they denied having the policy that MWave claimed they did. She said that MWave absolutely could NOT accept this monitor as a return, and that ALL Sony items that were defective had to be sent to Sony. I told her that I had read about MWave at the message board I frequent and that they came highly recommended, and that's why I decided to purchase from them. I told her that customer service was very important and that I thought she should make an exception in this circumstance. I told her she could call Sony and ask them about that policy, and they would confirm that it wasn't true. She said "Well, it may not be a Sony policy, but we have vendors that we get our merchandise from and it is their policy." Sony said I should tell her that MWave should stand by their products, since buying from them was like buying from Wal-Mart. When you buy an electric razor from Wal-Mart or Target and it doesn't work, do you call Remington and have it replaced? NO, you take it back to Wal-Mart or Target. Sony said the place of purchase is supposed to stand behind their products for the 30 or 90 days that they should allow. The girl at MWave basically told me that their hands were washed of the matter and that I needed to call Sony. I was getting pissed at this point. So I called Sony again and told them what happened with MWave. They found it outrageous that MWave was giving me the runaround, and were very sympathetic to my situation. They suggested that I call MWave back and give them everything I've got. They said to threaten them with the Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General, and the Postmaster of CA for mail fraud. The guy said he had done that in the past and it had worked wonders. Companies tend to take action when they risk losing their right to ship stuff. ; ) Well, I told him that I was a very good-natured guy and was bad at threatening people, so I wanted that to be a last resort. So he suggested calling my credit card company and telling them that I was unsatisfied with the product and that I wanted to return it. I remember reading on a couple of my credit cards that there is something like this available...supposedly there is a customer protection clause that allows you to be defended up to a certain dollar amount per year against any unsatisfactory merchants. I told him that I had used my debit check card and he said that ANY card with a Mastercard or Visa logo should be able to take action and credit my account or take further action against the merchant. He said that I should then call MWave and tell them that I had called my credit card company and wanted packing materials immediately in order for me to ship the product back to them. He said to tell MWave that I did NOT want the product because I was unsatisfied, and to tell them what all I had been through. So I called my bank and told them what had happened, and she said since it was a debit card, no action could really be taken on their part. She said a debit card was basically like using cash, and unless MWave was willing to do something for me, I would be out of luck. She said that it would be entirely up to MWave whether or not to credit my account or send me a new monitor. Needless to say, she said to call them and deal with it at the source. Well, this I did, and MWave still would not budge. No matter who I talked to, they all claimed that they could not, under any circumstances, accept any Sony monitors for exchange. I should have threatened them with all that BBB stuff but I am a bit of a poos when it comes to that stuff so I just hung up, with the intent of never dealing with MWave again. Not because of that specific "policy," but rather their unwillingness to help me despite what I had been through, and their general disregard for how much I was satisfied. So I called Sony one last time and explained what all I had been through. I asked them if they could call MWave for me and tell the customer service manager that such a policy did not exist, and tell them what I had been through, and tell them that they needed to accept my monitor for exchange. I was put on hold while he asked, and he came back saying that I would have to deal with MWave myself. Fair enough, I can't expect them to do my bullying for me. But it would have been nice. It's just that I feel like a very tiny person up against a huge nasty online vendor (MWave) and a gargantuan business (Sony), and I considered Sony as my big brother who would help me out. Well, the guys I spoke with at Sony were very nice and tried to help all they could. They finally said that if I could not get anything out of MWave or my credit card company, he would connect me to the shipping guys and write a memo explaining what I had been through and suggesting that they give me free shipping if I wanted to send the monitor in for service. When shipping finally took my call, they told me that unfortunately they could not pay for me to ship the monitor to them. I reminded him of what all I had gone through to get help but he said that they could not change company policy for one person, or they would have to do it for all. I asked him not to CHANGE company policy, but to make one exception in an extreme circumstance. Still no go. I was disheartened but not pissed. I was, and am, pissed at MWave. At least Sony was very courteous and TRIED to help. That's a lot more than I can say for MWave and their practice of d!cking me over. End of story: I think I am keeping the monitor. It would only be about $20 to ship it to Sony, but the more I am at my computer the less I notice the discoloration. I am trying to look for it right now, on a perfect white Word background, and I fail to se it. Maybe, hopefully, it will go away in time, or at best I will get used to it. I am going to accept it for now...it could be a lot worse. Most people can't notice it at all; my wife had to look very hard on a white background to finally admit she barely saw it. I know a lot of you may think I'm an idiot for making such a big deal out of it if I am not going to even send it in to Sony. The thing is, I can barely notice it, and sometimes don't. But like I said, when I shell out over half a grand for a product I want it to be perfect. If it is not, I expect the merchant to do something for me, which MWave clearly didn't. Perhaps the thing that MOST irritates me is that the girl that took my order at MWave told me that I COULD exchange the monitor, that something would be done if something was wrong. Then when I tried to do just that, any and all help was denied to me. I do not want pity. I don't want you to say "Poor Zero, we're so sorry." I just want people to be aware of how great Sony products and especially support are. And to never buy anything Sony brand from MWave (I personally will not be dealing with MWave at all in the future, but I know that won't change most of your opinions). To all the guys who say you've spend thousands of dollars at MWave, well, either you never bought Sony stuff or you never had to return it to MWave. Or maybe I'm the only one who has gotten screwed in the @ss by MWave in the entirety of their online presence. Heh, that's my luck, but doubtful. And as a note on the side, I have a very hard time seeing these so-called "annoying" aperture grille wires. I thought they would be very annoying and prominent on a white background, but as I said I am currently typing in Word and I can barely barely barely detect them. I guess different people have different tolerances. But anyone who says these things are very noticable and distracting must be in the pickiest crowd on the face of this planet. Or maybe they are just less noticable on Sony monitors. Come to think of it, I DID notice them a lot more on the KDS Trinitron that I viewed. They seemed to stand out even on darker backgrounds. Thanks to all the guys at Sony for being EXTREMELY courteous and helpful. And MWave, **** you.