My tv is worthless without the remote control that came with the tv. Well maybe if you have special near sighted wide screen glasses so you can sit on the floor in front of it while doing setup.... That one little setting button on the front just doesnt get-it - takes a half hour just to wade through the menus , sooooooo many settings. You certainly can't see the screen sitting that close unless you're a kid. ~ Half hour after delivery and install of a new HD digital cable box by brite-house ,,, that TV suddenly said I was stealing service and my service was disabled. Of course they sent out a second guy to fix it... who I again had to wait for,,, he spent 45 minutes on his cell phone to straighten out what the original installer or the office typed in wrong .... the box id.

I just checked, and it doesn't appear to be stuck. Then I checked the batteries, and discovered they were the original Sonys, now five years old. So I changed them, but that didn't help. The red light still goes on when I operate the remote, but it's off when I don't push a button. So that would indicate that the button isn't stuck, yes? Thanks for the suggestion.

Well my daughter was off on Monday and we tried again to hook it all up and still nothing. We got it all hooked up so you can view either the DVD player or the VCR player but can't record from either one. I KNOW there HAS to be a way we can record from one of them. There has to be since BOTH are capable of recording. BUT we just can't figure it out. The VCR is hooked so that it can be viewed through the video 1 on the TV and the DVD is on video 2 for viewing. The TV has 2 in areas on the back of it and the DVD player has only one out area in the back of it. She says we need TWO out areas on the DVD player to record. ????? BUT it's a recordable DVD player so that doesn't make sense. I'm so confused at this point I'm ready to say the heck with it all! :( The back of the TV only has one out and has 2 in hookups. Then the TV has an in hookup on the front of it and the DVD recorder has an in hook up on the front of it as well. The VCR has a hookup on the front of it but it's only yellow and white in colors. The others, the DVD and the TV plug ins have red, yellow AND white plug ins on the front. I used to record from the TV onto the VCR but don't know how to do any of that now since we got the DVD and it's hooked up. Anyway just wanted to tell you guys that and to also thank you for trying to help me get it hooked up!!!

thanks for the thoughts and suggestions. oaktown and writersblock, I love the idea of a projector! I hadn't even though about that. We're calling an AV person to see if they can help us with that. louisana, you're correct, the wall between the open kitchen/family/dining does not fully separate the living room, so there will be sound transfer. Actually, one of the bedrooms does not have a wall going to the ceiling so there is a lot of noise carrying around the space. Here's how the space is laid out (pre-remodel): ineffable, I'm a TV listener too. We have Sonos speakers we've installed in the house and I could be perfectly happy just listening to Pandora and watching Downton Abbey and SNL on my iPad, but my husband would be so lost without a TV of his own. tom_nwnj, thanks for the recs -- I will check them out. Good luck with the remodel! robotropolis, thanks! I like the idea of putting all the comfy seating in the formal living room and just making the den/space next to the kitchen just a "lounge" area -- for drinking wine, playing games, etc. I think it would significantly enhance our use of the house as we don't currently use the living room. That room is bathed in light most of the day and has the best views of any room in the house -- it seems like a waste not to utilize it. linelle, we were just visiting friends recently and they had a TV (LARGE ones!) in every room, including several of the bathrooms. The owners both work in the entertainment industry, but it was slightly overkill. karenseb, thanks for the nice words. In our upcoming kitchen renovation, we plan on replacing the double ovens with a pantry as we have no pantry and limited food storage space. A tv at the end of the bar is still definitely an option if we can recess it -- we're going to have an AV person come out to measure. If all else fails a TV in the master bedroom is an option, but I'm not generally a fan of TVs in bedrooms.