Hi Everyone, We are back from our trip. It was fantastic. we had a blast. Melinda, I would love to trade with you sometime, I have a lot of dl's, but love other plants, and have many. Joy, I am so sorry to hear about your beloved kitty. we have had to do that a couple of times, one was with our very first dog my dh and i got. we had him for 18 years, it was very difficult. My heart goes out to you. Marea, Again, I am so sorry. They are family, and it hurts so much.Especially when you werent there with them. *hug* Nancy, So happy to hear that your surgery went well. Maybe you can watch someone else do the work in your gardens while you sit in the shade and relax and get better. =) Whoo hoo, I am trading with Jean. I will check your list, hope I have something on it. If not, I will send you a list of what i have, maybe you can find something. Also, I will check locally to see if there is anything i can purchase. I have a dl farm about 20 mins away. And several nurseries I have discovered in the last year. Debbie, What a great box of goodies. Marea, When do our boxes have to be sent. I may have missed it if you posted that. I am very excited to be back trading with you all again. We bought 6 blueberries, and 6 fruit trees, so got a lot of work ahead of us. Plus we have to finish our raised strawberry bed to get all our strawberry plants in. I also found a clematis I have been wanting. Fairydust!! It was the only one they had, and I nabbed it. Only $10 Got lots of cool projects planned for the garden this summer. I cant wait. hehehe Take care everyone, stay safe Hugs Jo

HDMI is an interface to allow for the transmission of video, audio, and control signals in a digital format. There is nothing inherent about it that will produce a better video or audio signal than other analog alternatives. Your HD cable box however is capable of receiving HD digital signals and sending them to your HDTV without a digital-to-analog, analog-to-digital conversion taking place that will cause degradation. I'm not aware of any STBs (set top boxes) offering HDMI from an analog signal. Most HDTVs nowadays can do a pretty good job of upscaling a standard definition video source to HD resolution. While not getting true HD signals from your other boxes, you may wish to try the component video outputs from the boxes to the HDTV, if the boxes have them available. Even 1080i from a STB is not going to look any better in HDMI than component. A conversion from the "coax" (i.e. composite) to HDMI will actually only degrade the overall quality. While "digital" has become a buzz word, really what it mainly offers is simply reduced bandwidth and storage space over analog signals, while attempting to not reduce the "perceived" video quality.

Lpink, Dcarch is right, you need a good antenna. I purchased this roof antenna (link below) recently at a local Fry's Electronic. It was on sale for $65 at the time. Amazon has them too. I am finally able to pay someone to install it on the roof for me. This antenna can be installed in the attic too but my home is only 1 story. The roof will give the extra height. Before purchasing an antenna, you'd need to find out where is the nearest Antenna Farm to your house. Find out the distance from the Antenna Farm to your house. You can use google maps to determine the distance. This way, when you search for an antenna, you can purchase one that will reach at least that distance length. Also, if you know where the Antenna Farm is, you'd know which direction to point the antenna to. ie: From my home to the nearest antenna farm is approximately 33 miles due South. The antenna I've purchased will reach up to 45 miles for VHF and 60 miles for UHF channels. It covers for that distance and may pick up more channels beyond the 33 miles (from the antenna farm). When installed, the antenna will point toward South. The digital signals from using OTA is so much better than cables and dish satellite networks. Those companies compress their digital signals and that's why the picture quality is not as good as of those from the OTA signals. If you don't have one already, you may want to save up and get an HDTV (High Definition TV). Their prices are very affordable now. You can get a 19" HDTV for less than $150. And, you won't need a converter box because they have a digital tuner already built in. You just need a good antenna. OTA delivers true High Definition digital signals, if you have an HDTV. The pictures are crispy clear. LOL... I do sound like a saleslady, don't I. Here is a link that might be useful: Channel Master Antenna

It also stinks that when I had an online chat with someone at Samsung, asking if there was an audio jack like the one in our previous Samsung of the same dimensions, all they told me was "No." I made it clear that being unable to use headphones with the TV was a problem for me, they still gave no hint of any workaround that might accomplish it. I was probably chatting with someone who was just going down a list, and the list didn't suggest any alternatives to the jack; but that and our frustrating experience trying to attach the new-type of stand to the TV make me think that S. is not, or is no longer, a very customer-friendly company. Still like the electronics themselves, though. As to the Toslink cable, I understand from online comments that there is not a standardized size for the port. That means that it would be nice if the people selling the cables, and the people selling equipment with Toslink noted the sizes somewhere. Perhaps some did and I happened to miss them. I'm grateful that Radio Shack was there and that I had the sense to consult them, even though their fiber optic cable was more than double the price of the first one I bought. And since this cable is quite thin compared with the first one, I also spent a bit more to have the reassurance that I could get a free replacement if it should stop working. It also had no little protective caps on it, so I sent a nod of gratitude to you for the warning not to touch the tips. A lot of stores where we are in CA have disappeared or are about to. Von's (still available, but now 6 miles or so away), and KMart (now only available maybe 8 or 10 miles away, and in a direction we seldom take), to mention the ones I am most upset about. Yard-goods stores are also on the decline. I make most of my own clothes, so that is a real PITA, too. Fortunately, one such chain has a big store in a nearby city and a smaller one 4 miles from us. There are some things you don't want to buy online, or that you may want immediately. Ah well! We do still have Best Buy (which doesn't always have what we want), and WalMart, right in the same mall. No electronic junk store any place near, so far as I know. But then, I tend to want someone to help me figure out exactly what I need so as not to have to return things. There is a big Fry's Electronics within 1/2 hour's drive, but they seem to be hiring fewer and fewer people who could help you out if you could only find them. The new TV has two HDMI ports, and it uses one to connect with the indispensable Cox Cable mini-box that unscrambles digital signals. HDMI is still an alien creature to me! For example, I don't know why I must use HDMI-2 and HDMI-1 won't work for that purpose; am wondering what HDMI-1 would be used for. So long as this ignorance is not depriving me of anything I need or want, it shouldn't matter, but not knowing does bother me a little.