We’re right on the verge of Christmas and Santa has already started packing his sleigh. Do you have any last-minute wish list items you’d like the jolly fat man to put in your stocking this year?
M. Enois Duarte
If we’re going with the most far-fetched possibilities, I want a brand-new 4k remaster of ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ better than the one actually coming out next week.
On a more realistic level, I’m eyeing B&W 804 D3 speakers. However, coming in at just under $10K, these beauties are still out of my reach. Something a little more feasible would be a pair of 702 S2s, but I’m going to be kind with Santa and just ask for a pair DS3 dipole wall-mounts.
Luke Hickman
I’m so far behind in upgrading my home theater that my wish list isn’t likely to become a reality for another year or two. One thing I didn’t anticipate with homebuying was how much of my extra spending cash would disappear thanks to regular maintenance, wear and tear, and simple improvements. With that, I’d gladly take either of the upgrades that I’m dying for.
First, I’d like to make the jump to a 4k set. While standard 4k TVs aren’t that expensive, when you get into HDR and Dolby Vision, the prices quickly jump. Mrs. Hickman has been asking me what I want for Christmas. I tell her nothing because I’m sure my 1080p set will crap out within the next year, which will force me to make the anticipated upgrade. I don’t have a specific brand or model in mind yet because I’ve been hesitant to do too much research, since that will only make me want to upgrade immediately.
After that, I’d like to finally make the plunge into Atmos. I’ve been extremely pleased with my 7.1 Onkyo system. For being on the low-cost end, it hasn’t given me any problems over the last six years I’ve owned it (knock on wood). I’ve looked into a few Onkyo Atmos receivers and will likely go that route again.
Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)
I have kind of a skewed way of looking at Christmas gifts. Whereas most people’s lists are overflowing with things they desperately crave, I’m hoping for gifts I sort of want but can’t bring myself to crack open my wallet to actually buy. Ultra HD Blu-ray is getting the brunt of that this year. I actively dislike the two ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ movies and am only slightly nostalgic about rewatching Sam Raimi’s uneven ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy, but part of me can’t resist the siren song of their UHD re-releases just the same. I’m in the camp that Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman’ trilogy got progressively worse as it went along, and yet I feel honor-bound to subject myself to it all over again in 4k. (Maybe my New Year’s resolution will be to stop buying things out of a sense of obligation.)
The Christmas present I’m most excited about is my shiny, new house. We’ll have closed on it by the time you read this, and the finishing touches will be put on the home theater just before the calendar flips over to 2018. We’re down to getting the height speakers installed and proper wall plates connected. After that, I’ll be living out my longstanding OLED, Atmos, and UHD gaming fantasies, and I’ll be unlikely to see the light of day for many months to come.
Many of my Christmas gifts will be a surprise, but among the things I asked for are ‘Atomic Blonde’ on UHD BD, the most recent season of ‘Game of Thrones’ on Blu-ray, ‘Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ and ‘South Park: The Fractured But Whole’ for the Xbox One, Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Card Game, the PEARS / Direct Hit split album, and boring, practical things like a new toaster and a kitchen scale.
Josh Zyber
It’s about time I got a new laptop. My main computer now is getting to be quite aged and has recently given me the dreaded Blue Screen of Death a few times more than I’m comfortable with. Some days, I can’t even watch a movie trailer on YouTube without the whole system crashing. While I also have a tablet, I just can’t get any serious work done on that.
I’ve put myself on notification lists at a couple of deal sites, but unfortunately most of the budget laptops in my price range seem quite inferior in specs and performance to the old one I’m already using, and the good ones are all a lot more money than I can spend at the moment.
Santa, please help!
—
This may be your last chance to drop a hint. What special present would you like to unwrap this Christmas?
Note: The blog will take a day off on Monday for obvious reasons. We’ll be back on Tuesday, but our posting schedule will likely be light for the last week of the year. Happy holidays to all our readers!
Chris Livingston
I really want a new laptop too. But, the one I want is over a thousand dollars. It would have to support playback of the new 4 UHD movies, but at the present time those features are only in the gaming and business computers and slightly financially out of my reach. I should keep dreaming, damn!
NJScorpio
I would love a native 4K projector. I can’t justify replacing my “regular” flat screen tvs with UHD displays, as they are all working fine and I do all my movie watching on my projector. So, I have an Xbox One S, a PS4 Pro, and substantial UHD digital library, yet no UHD display…yet…
Csm101
I’m really starting to crave a region free 3d bluray player. Something reliable. There’s so many options and I haven’t decided what I want to spend. Maybe 300. I don’t know….
I got an email from svs stating that I could trade up my sub before it hits the three year mark for one of their new models, the pb4000. I haven’t called about the details, but I find that pretty enticing. I’m thinking about the pb16 ultra as well. I love my sub and haven’t grown tired of it at all, but this is just wish list talk. On a more realistic note, I still really want the Amicus box set from Severin, some Shout! Factory titles, and a few Twilight Time titles. I wish I could get my hands on the Atmos version of Gravity at a reasonable cost as well. I’m thinking if and when it goes uhd, I’ll be able to finally hear it for myself.
William Henley
Well Christmas has passed, but I will still play.
I wanted a SNES Classic Edition. I knew I probably wasn’t going to get one, and I was right.
On my super duper wish list, I would love a new house and a new car. Yes, I bought a house 2 years ago, and it is turning into a money pit. In fact, it was turning into a money pit even before I closed, as the seller ran out of money and I had to pay for a few things out of pocket to get the bank to approve the loan. Already had to get a new air conditioner unit and a new furnace installed, because the previous residents never replaced the filter, and this also meant bringing wiring and gas lines up to code, but now I am having issues with the subfloor in the back room of the house. I was going to have the drive way paved and carport put in two years ago and get new windows put in, but the other things keep popping up to eat my money. The only plus side is that I am in a hot housing market, and the place is already worth $15,000 more than I paid for it, even in its current condition.
My car is also turning into a money pit. It is getting to the point where I am like “do my yearly repairs still add up to less than I would pay in car payments on a newer car?” Right now that answer is yes, but still… I may bite the bullet in spring after bonuses and income taxes come in
Home theater wise, I would love a 4k projector and one of those CIH lenses like Josh has, but those are out of my price range at the moment.
A more realistic thing I am looking at is installing some Philips Hue bulbs. I am really getting in to the whole home automation thing. Already have two Harmony hubs, a wifi thermostat and a couple of Echo Dots around the house, so it is really cool to just roll over in the middle of the night and tell Alexa to adjust the temperature or to start an activity in the home theater and have the projector and everything setup by the time I walk in there. Having the Hue bulbs will allow me to adjust lighting and have it queued to specific home theater activities.
That is really about it.
Oh, and there are a couple of people I would love to reconnect with. One just cut off communication a couple of months ago, and others I don’t know how to get in contact with, and a couple live too far away to just “hang out” with.