Time to Upgrade my Home Theater System..

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Sucks re: Docking station display. That's kind of annoying.

I tried doing a quick search to see if there was an app that would do what is built into laptops, to allow for 2 different power saving setups and switch to "non-saving" mode when plugged in.  But it's really hard to make the search specific enough since there are thousands of battery saving apps.  There are lots of apps that put all those settings together so you might find one that at least makes it quicker/easier to switch the screen timeout and other battery saving options on and off.

[Bob]

Here I sit, waiting for the 2013 Panasonic plasma hit the stores.......ANY second now.

They think about three weeks.

I can wait......Il Duce will tap fingers.

Got the new AppleTV device waiting for the TV.

Time to kiss 720p goodbye and welcome 1080p

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I'm sending the stereo and speakers back. They're too big for my office, and make it too messy and crowded. It'll cost me $50 in UPS fees to return them, but them's the breaks. :/

That's the drawback of ordering online, hard to picture how something will fit if you can't see it in person.

I assume you are keeping the tablet and dock?  Or did that not arrive yet?  I got those black speakers I pictured above at Target, so you can see them there.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

 The room filling part from little speakers would cost a bundle.  I've never heard a Bose system but they claim to do it.

But it does sound like you should have stuck to the mp3 player instead of the tablet, my setup only takes about 1 foot of space:

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Arrrrggghhh, my Panasonic Blu-Ray quit sending surround sound over the HDMI cable.  No matter what settings I try all I get is downmixed LPCM stereo.  Was working fine last week.  Odd thing is, if I plug in an optical cable I can get surround. 

Still getting surround over HDMI from my Roku and AppleTV boxes so it's not the receiver.

Not sure if I'll switch to optical or get a new player, it's only 2 years old.  The only disadvantage of going to the optical cable is a slight downgrade in quality, optical has a lower max bit rate than HDMI so you don't get the full uncompressed surround from the Blu-Ray.

Update:  After hooking up the optical cable and using it for a few days, flipped my receiver back to HDMI and found the player was sending surround again over it...  Weird...  So it seems to have fixed itself.  Guess I'll leave the optical cable there in case it stops working again.

[gbeenie]

Arrrrggghhh, my Panasonic Blu-Ray quit sending surround sound over the HDMI cable.  No matter what settings I try all I get is downmixed LPCM stereo.  Was working fine last week.  Odd thing is, if I plug in an optical cable I can get surround. 

Still getting surround over HDMI from my Roku and AppleTV boxes so it's not the receiver.

Not sure if I'll switch to optical or get a new player, it's only 2 years old.  The only disadvantage of going to the optical cable is a slight downgrade in quality, optical has a lower max bit rate than HDMI so you don't get the full uncompressed surround from the Blu-Ray.

Update:  After hooking up the optical cable and using it for a few days, flipped my receiver back to HDMI and found the player was sending surround again over it...  Weird...  So it seems to have fixed itself.  Guess I'll leave the optical cable there in case it stops working again.

HDMI is notoriously delicate.

[Bob]

And wonderful, like a Russian ballet dancer........

[Variety of Cells]

HDMI is notoriously delicate.

Which is why I have no idea why it was used as an output on low end professional video cameras and monitors.  Video cameras and small monitors are made to move around, often quite roughly.  HDMI cables slip out, stop working, and many times just fall apart at the slightest tough.  I do hope they've stopped doing that.